Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong and I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Hey, what's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Today, we're going to be talking about a continuation of the previous podcast, a little bit about how to work different areas, and things you should consider when trying new areas or new markets.
Speaker: So all that and much more coming up
Speaker: And welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker: If you are new, we're as usual here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong, and we are recording this podcast actually today live from Orlando at a little convention, a little conference.
Speaker: It's called Funnel Hacking Live.
Speaker: Those of you that are into the digital marketing stuff.
Speaker: You can appreciate it, but always something we haven't talked about in a while is to always be learning.
Speaker: I love coming to conferences, those that have been long time.
Speaker: Podcast listeners know that I'm a conference junkie.
Speaker: Sometimes I go to too many of these things, but it is good to always continue your education.
Speaker: Hey, and I'll probably be sharing some nuggets from the conference.
Speaker: Always a different thing.
Speaker: We got to hear Jocko Willink talk yesterday, the extreme ownership guy.
Speaker: Great speakers on marketing, on mindsets, sales.
Speaker: So excited to share some stuff from the conference.
Speaker: But today we're going to continue a little bit on the topic of knocking new areas, starting new areas, knocking new markets.
Speaker: I recently just finished up knocking the Boise, Idaho area.
Speaker: it was a new market and had to do some things a little bit different there than I'm used to so I'm going to share some things that I didn't think about as much mistakes I made and I think you can apply these to any new area new market you're trying okay so we're going to break it down into three different points here
Speaker: three things you should consider.
Speaker: And as usual, I love to hear other people's perspectives, other comments.
Speaker: Feel free to shoot me a DM, hit me with an email.
Speaker: We do have a Facebook group, which I have not been as active on.
Speaker: I plan on going on there, so you can also leave us comments in that.
Speaker: So here's the first point.
Speaker: When you're starting a new area, a new market, specifically a new market, right?
Speaker: It helps tremendously to talk to someone that has been in that market or area for a while.
Speaker: You think of any person that goes on a journey or movies come to my head, Star Wars, Luke Skywalker.
Speaker: had Obi-Wan Kenobi to guide him, right?
Speaker: And usually there is someone to help the hero out.
Speaker: So you are the hero of the new market, of the new area you are starting.
Speaker: You need a guide, you need a mentor, someone to help you.
Speaker: We did a blitz last year in the Dallas area.
Speaker: And it helps our team a lot to have, we had my buddy Rick Martinez, he came out, many nomas, no soliciting bruh, on Instagram.
Speaker: But he came out, he's been in that market for a while.
Speaker: He came out, helped our team, told us the things we should think about as we're knocking, told us how to talk to the Texas people, said, hey, you guys are from California, you probably shouldn't bring up, you know, this is like a government program, everyone has guns, a lot of people there want less government.
Speaker: So things to consider when you're in a new market.
Speaker: So get with someone that knows about that market.
Speaker: At the very least, utilize social media or hit me up.
Speaker: Figure out a way you can be introduced to people that have been in that market for a while because you'll learn from their mistakes.
Speaker: You'll learn what not to say.
Speaker: And it just helps a lot to have a guide, especially if you don't know as much about the area or market you're knocking.
Speaker: That's the first point.
Speaker: Number two, know the local issues with the grid.
Speaker: When I was knocking Idaho just barely, I was with my buddy down down pan carry, who is also there's my guide, someone else that had been in the market for a while.
Speaker: and he was telling me here's what you need to bring up when you're at the door here's what you need to bring up in the appointments and this is just an example for Boise, Idaho where I was at but in Boise there is a ton of people moving in from out of state a lot of Californians a lot of locals hates all these Californians that are moving in and other people I'm sure some like it because
Speaker: increase the value of their home and things like that.
Speaker: What comes with the growth like that is the electricity infrastructure needs to be upgraded.
Speaker: And so he told me this, he's like, when you're out there, make sure you're bringing that up as a problem that the market is facing, right?
Speaker: There's so many people moving in, it's putting stress on the grid, they're having to upgrade the infrastructure, they're having to import energy from out of states, and that's why our rates are going up.
Speaker: So massive problem that if I hadn't talked to someone,
Speaker: probably wouldn't have known, and you can figure some of this out, just Google it, right?
Speaker: So I would do that too, definitely Google it.
Speaker: But if you can talk to people, get that mentor person, this is the question you should ask them, hey, what's the issues, what's the energy crisis in your market?
Speaker: Why are the rates increasing?
Speaker: What can I bring up?
Speaker: What are the pain points?
Speaker: Another thing that I would not have known, he told me that in Boise,
Speaker: It might have been near the area we're knocking, a place called QNut.
Speaker: There is apparently Meta, you know, the people behind Facebook.
Speaker: They are putting in like this massive headquarters or some building.
Speaker: But they're bringing in just a bunch of people to work there.
Speaker: And it essentially makes like a new, a whole new town that they have to provide energy for.
Speaker: That's the amount of power this thing's pulling.
Speaker: I guess they're putting like their servers and, you know, using the massive amount of power.
Speaker: So they're working on that.
Speaker: And that's another thing that we brought up on the doors.
Speaker: And most people knew about it.
Speaker: Hey, you guys heard about the servers, the headquarters that Meta is going to be building here pretty soon.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So a lot of people are doing this program because they know that the rates are going to go up like crazy with that.
Speaker: It's a new town they have to provide energy for.
Speaker: The reason we're getting this in right now is because people want to prepare for that and make sure they have their power covered.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Give us just more ammo, more tools in our toolbox.
Speaker: Okay, so enough about Idaho, but you get the picture.
Speaker: Figure out what the local issues are in the area.
Speaker: Figure out local circumstances.
Speaker: And some, maybe they don't even have to be about power.
Speaker: Okay, but whatever is going on in the local area, use that to your advantage.
Speaker: And just a side note on this, if you are working with someone that knows the area, also it's a good idea to ask them what the names of the towns are.
Speaker: Okay, in Idaho, we were knocking in this town called Kuna.
Speaker: It's spelled K-U-N-A.
Speaker: So I was calling it Kuna, like Hakuna Matata.
Speaker: So I was saying that for like the first two days we were in this area.
Speaker: And finally, Dallin stops me.
Speaker: He's like, dude, you need to pronounce it Kuna.
Speaker: People are going to think you're just some stupid Californian out-of-state kid.
Speaker: And I could tell people...
Speaker: you know, were giving me weird looks when I wasn't saying the name, right?
Speaker: So that's a side note.
Speaker: Make sure you pronounce the name of where you were knocking the town you're in.
Speaker: Figure out how to pronounce it, right?
Speaker: Reminds me, I'm from southern Utah, and there's this town.
Speaker: It's spelled Hurricane, but if you go in that town saying Hurricane, people are going to
Speaker: look at you like you're crazy and know you're not a local right off the bat because the town the town's produce or pronounced hurricane but everyone from out of state it looks like hurricane you would never know unless you're a local so same thing uh that's just a you know uh side note here to point number two
Speaker: Okay, and then last but not least, make sure you don't overcomplicate things.
Speaker: When we did this blitz in Dallas last year, we noticed it was taking us longer to figure out.
Speaker: We had closed some deals, but a lot of appointments were canceling.
Speaker: We had some deals cancel initially.
Speaker: So the biggest thing with this, maybe more important than the other two points, is just remember...
Speaker: Solar is solar wherever you're selling it.
Speaker: Some states there's gonna be more savings, some states there's gonna be less savings, but really it's mostly the same benefits, right?
Speaker: You're gonna own your power, you're gonna own the power plant on your roof, you're gonna be independent from the grid, you're gonna have rate protection, you're gonna lock in a set rate, you're gonna add value or equity to your home in the case that you buy it and own it, right?
Speaker: So just remember, go back to the basics,
Speaker: Those are benefits in every market you work in and don't get inside your head.
Speaker: When we're in Dallas, so many people on our team, myself included, were thinking, oh, this is too hard.
Speaker: We don't see people saving money like they were in California.
Speaker: Just maybe this isn't a good market.
Speaker: We got in our head and it definitely affected us during that blitz.
Speaker: So remember, go back to those basics, track your numbers, right?
Speaker: You always need to be paying attention to how many people are you talking to.
Speaker: how many of those people are booking appointments with you, and at the end of the day, focus on what you can control.
Speaker: Because if you start a new area, you get in your head, it's gonna make it way tougher on yourself than it needs to be.
Speaker: Okay, so those are just a couple
Speaker: things that came to my mind as I was trying out a new market.
Speaker: And I haven't tried out a ton of markets.
Speaker: I've been in California.
Speaker: Listeners of podcasts know that I started in California in 2016.
Speaker: I've pretty much been there ever since, except for a few small blitzes.
Speaker: And really the only places I've sold are Idaho, Utah, and Texas and California.
Speaker: So I haven't sold in every market, but I know that it's
Speaker: I can have success in every market because solar is solar.
Speaker: Don't overcomplicate it.
Speaker: Have confidence in yourself.
Speaker: Fake it until you make it if you need to.
Speaker: And you can have success in any markets.
Speaker: Okay, so next episode, we're going to be hearing from my mentor in the Idaho market that I just knocked down, Pencray.
Speaker: He came on the podcast.
Speaker: It's been like three years now.
Speaker: But what's cool is he's the one that recruited me in solar.
Speaker: and got me to come out to California.
Speaker: Now he left me.
Speaker: He's in Idaho.
Speaker: I don't know what he's thinking.
Speaker: He's crazy for not selling store in California.
Speaker: But he is doing great things up in Idaho.
Speaker: And you're going to hear about his transition from California to Idaho, different lessons he learned.
Speaker: He actually went from managing a team in California to now starting his own dealer in Idaho.
Speaker: So he has a lot of things to share on how to start your own dealer.
Speaker: what it's like transitioning to a different market, starting in a new market.
Speaker: And we both won our Golden Door Award in 2019, so we talk a little bit about that too.
Speaker: A great conversation coming up with Dallin.
Speaker: Make sure you tune into the next episode.
Speaker: Love hearing from y'all.
Speaker: I hope that was valuable today.
Speaker: Things you can consider if you are blitzed in a new market or even
Speaker: just in your home area, right?
Speaker: So remember number one, talk to someone that has been in that area for a while, get someone that can guide you, help you consider things you didn't think about.
Speaker: Number two, know the local issues with the grid, the pain points that you can bring up that are going in in that area.
Speaker: You can also Google it.
Speaker: And number three, don't overcomplicate it.
Speaker: Solar is solar wherever you're at and go back to the basics.
Speaker: So hopefully that's helpful.
Speaker: Can't wait for the future guests we have coming up on the show.
Speaker: As usual, if you have someone you'd like to hear from, if you have topics you'd like to hear about, shoot me a DM or an email, taylorsolarpreneurs.com, and we will catch you guys on the next one.
Speaker: Hope you close lots of deals and keep crushing it in solar.
Speaker: Peace out.
Speaker: Hey Solarpreneurs, quick question.
Speaker: What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day.
Speaker: For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
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