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93: Leveling up your solar sales game (Ty Williams VP VSLR)
53 Plays6 years ago
Ty Williams is Regional VP of sales for the west coast of Vivint Solar. He helped grow the company from 4 reps when he started in 2013 to now dozens of offices and hundreds of reps. Hear his secrets to success and the things he has done to help grow his company and build teams while maintaining great culture.
Connect with Ty on social media and be sure to subscribe to his podcast Electric People too!
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Transcript
Introduction to Ty Williams and Vivint Solar
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, what's up, solarpreneurs?
00:00:02
Speaker
Taylor Armstrong here.
00:00:03
Speaker
Wanted to give a little intro for this episode.
00:00:06
Speaker
We've got Ty Williams, and he is a solar stud, definitely one of the leaders in the industry.
00:00:12
Speaker
You're going to hear a lot more about him, but he highlights he is the VP of the West Coast Vivint Solar Region.
00:00:19
Speaker
He started in 2014 with about four dudes.
00:00:24
Speaker
Now he's growing it into around 30 offices, hundreds and hundreds of sales reps.
00:00:30
Speaker
Definitely knows what he's doing.
00:00:32
Speaker
Before we jump into the episode, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you about another opportunity we have going on.
Beta Test for Solar Sales Mastery Program
00:00:37
Speaker
We're working out the final details in our solar cells mastery program.
00:00:42
Speaker
Right now we're accepting 10 people to do a beta test of the course.
00:00:47
Speaker
We want people to get results.
00:00:49
Speaker
We want people to come in and test the program, give us feedback.
00:00:54
Speaker
So be one of the 10 people.
00:00:56
Speaker
Obviously we're going to do it at a super discounted rate.
00:01:00
Speaker
We're going to get feedback and we're going to give super personalized attention to get those people results.
00:01:06
Speaker
So if that's something that interests you, head over to courses.solarpreneurs.com.
The Rise of Solopreneurs in Solar
00:01:12
Speaker
That's courses.solarpreneurs.com.
00:01:17
Speaker
And enroll in the course today.
00:01:19
Speaker
What do you call an underground group of solar professionals on a mission to create a more sustainable world?
00:01:25
Speaker
We call ourselves solopreneurs.
00:01:27
Speaker
And while some might call us crazy, foolish, and dissatisfied with the status quo, we're the ones taking action to create a better future for ourselves and the world.
00:01:37
Speaker
Solopreneur is dedicated to give you, the solar professional, the tools, skills, technology, and mentorship to take the industry by storm and sell more solar with less
Ty Williams' Insights on Solar Industry
00:01:49
Speaker
effort.
00:01:49
Speaker
We are solopreneurs and this is our story.
00:02:21
Speaker
What's going on?
00:02:22
Speaker
What's up?
00:02:22
Speaker
What's up?
00:02:23
Speaker
I am excited for today because we have my man Ty Williams on the show.
00:02:31
Speaker
And if you don't know him, we're going to give an introduction separate from the episode.
00:02:36
Speaker
But he is the regional VP of sales for Vivint Solar.
00:02:40
Speaker
Did I get that title right, Ty?
00:02:42
Speaker
That's what it is.
00:02:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:44
Speaker
So super, obviously, high up in the industry.
00:02:48
Speaker
I would say one of the top dogs of the industry, and what an honor to have him on the show today.
00:02:52
Speaker
So thanks for coming in the studio and coming on the show, Ty.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah, man.
00:02:56
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:02:56
Speaker
I'm sitting on the other side of the microphone today, so we'll see if I don't try not to screw it up.
00:03:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:01
Speaker
Well, I know you're on Sam Taggart's Story Door podcast, but have you been on the other side of the mic?
00:03:07
Speaker
Too many other times?
00:03:08
Speaker
I've done a couple podcasts myself.
00:03:10
Speaker
So I have a podcast that I co-host now, and I had one before that.
00:03:15
Speaker
So I'm usually the one asking the questions, not receiving them.
00:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:03:19
Speaker
So if you haven't checked out his podcast, it's the Electric People podcast, and it's one of my favorite
Vivint Solar's Growth and Operations
00:03:25
Speaker
podcasts.
00:03:25
Speaker
Definitely go check that out.
00:03:27
Speaker
And I'm sure we'll talk more about that.
00:03:30
Speaker
But Ty is, well, obviously he's over a whole region.
00:03:34
Speaker
He's built up, what, 27 offices you said you have?
00:03:37
Speaker
Yeah, there's 27 West Coast sales teams.
00:03:42
Speaker
There's 68 total sales teams in Vivint Solar now.
00:03:46
Speaker
Insane.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a crazy ride.
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's not, well, are you guys the largest, would you say?
00:03:54
Speaker
We're the largest direct-to-home by a margin.
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, and we're actually, the way that I look at it, we're a full service solar company, right?
00:04:02
Speaker
So we do, we get our own funds and financing.
00:04:05
Speaker
We do our own, you know, we carry our own inventory.
00:04:08
Speaker
We do all our own ops.
00:04:10
Speaker
We do all our own marketing.
00:04:11
Speaker
We have a captive sales force.
00:04:13
Speaker
So when you look at like top to bottom solar companies, yeah, Vivint Solar is by far
Ty Williams' Journey from Alarms to Solar
00:04:19
Speaker
the biggest.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, huge company.
00:04:23
Speaker
Not too many people can compete.
00:04:25
Speaker
Well, I don't think anyone can compete with Vivint and off the mic.
00:04:28
Speaker
We're just talking about that.
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker
Obviously, Vivian has so many resources and a ton of stuff going on.
00:04:34
Speaker
So it's awesome to hear about what their vision is.
00:04:37
Speaker
And then you guys are trying to be the largest renewable energy.
00:04:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:42
Speaker
We want to be the largest power company in the country.
00:04:44
Speaker
And eventually the world.
00:04:46
Speaker
The thing I like about solar, and I know that on this, your audience is a lot of different people that do different things in solar.
00:04:53
Speaker
The thing that I like and appreciate about solar is now you're starting to get a lot of differentiated opportunities.
00:04:59
Speaker
It's not...
00:05:00
Speaker
everybody trying to do the exact same thing so i mean we'll probably get into my story somewhat but vivant solar offers a environment and i'll call it a product right because i'm a customer here i work here i could work wherever i want i work here um and it aligns with my personality and my skill set and then there are other opportunities that are like either dealer opportunities or different like
00:05:25
Speaker
structural makeup that might suit different leaders differently and i think when the industry started everybody was trying to be solar city or solar city vivant and we're kind of all the same right and now they're really different like depending on what you want and what kind of opportunity there's generally a business that's structured for you that that meets kind of what you're looking for right and
00:05:50
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, if you haven't started selling solar yet and you're listening to this podcast, definitely.
00:05:57
Speaker
I mean, Vivint has a lot of great stuff going.
00:05:59
Speaker
If you're listening to this podcast and you're not selling solar, you should be selling solar.
00:06:02
Speaker
Exactly.
00:06:03
Speaker
I don't know how many different ways you need to hear the story that solar is a great industry to be in right now, but if you're listening and you haven't signed up to sell solar, you should definitely do that.
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:06:13
Speaker
And what's interesting, we've had several, probably a good chunk of our guests that have come on the show came from the alarming industry.
00:06:22
Speaker
And Ty is the same here.
00:06:23
Speaker
You came from Vivid Inc., right?
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:26
Speaker
It was alarms.
00:06:28
Speaker
And so I always think it's interesting.
00:06:31
Speaker
I always like to hear the stories.
00:06:32
Speaker
So let's hear it from you, Ty.
00:06:33
Speaker
Why did you decide to make the jump over to solar from alarms?
00:06:37
Speaker
Yeah, great.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:39
Speaker
So I'm actually, I'm a purebred.
00:06:41
Speaker
There's not many of my kind.
00:06:42
Speaker
I've only worked at the Vivint companies as far as the direct sales.
00:06:47
Speaker
Now I've been around for a long time, so I've seen thousands of other opportunities and stuff.
00:06:51
Speaker
But personally, yeah, I've only ever worked at those companies.
00:06:55
Speaker
And when I came into Vivint, I wasn't, I didn't know anybody that had been successful in direct sales.
00:07:04
Speaker
We were just talking about this.
00:07:05
Speaker
I'm just about to finish my 16th year.
00:07:08
Speaker
indirect sales.
00:07:09
Speaker
So I'm like, I'm like an old dude.
00:07:10
Speaker
I've been doing it for a long time, you know?
00:07:13
Speaker
Um, but I didn't have resource like your podcast or like, or like, uh, different resources.
00:07:19
Speaker
I mean, people find us now online, you know, they'll, they'll be browsing like indeed or zip recruiter and they find this opportunity.
00:07:25
Speaker
It wasn't even like well known, like tried and proven, uh,
00:07:31
Speaker
thing.
00:07:32
Speaker
I didn't know anyone that had had success.
00:07:34
Speaker
And so the way I got into alarms initially was I snowboarded with a guy who became my friend who had done it.
00:07:39
Speaker
I mean, it was such like a, like a, you had to find somebody that knew something about it, get in with that person.
00:07:46
Speaker
Hopefully it was the right person and you got good training.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:49
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And, uh, you know, his name's Eric Mealy.
00:07:51
Speaker
He's one of my best friends and got me into the industry.
00:07:53
Speaker
And so, um, but I, this is alarms.
00:07:57
Speaker
You didn't ask me about alarms, but I'm gonna give you the whole story.
00:07:59
Speaker
Is that okay?
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:00
Speaker
Go for it.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:02
Speaker
Um, the thing that I probably suffered from in my first five to six years is I didn't see the whole opportunity.
00:08:11
Speaker
I saw it was immediately in front of me.
00:08:12
Speaker
And so what I saw that first year, um, we went out to sell alarms.
00:08:16
Speaker
We went to Modesto, California, Concord area, kind of that whole like East Bay area.
00:08:22
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And, um, it was an opportunity to go out and make some money and, um,
00:08:26
Speaker
whatever, you know, pay for life while you're at in college and not have to work the whole time.
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:31
Speaker
And so I did that and I actually hated it.
00:08:34
Speaker
Uh, my first year selling, I liked my friends.
00:08:37
Speaker
I liked the company.
00:08:38
Speaker
I liked the association.
00:08:39
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I liked the travel.
00:08:40
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I liked the experience.
00:08:41
Speaker
I hated the job.
00:08:43
Speaker
Um, and I reluctantly went back the next year to sell because I didn't have another opportunity that was better.
00:08:49
Speaker
It was strictly for the money.
00:08:51
Speaker
And honestly, for like the first four or so years, um,
00:08:54
Speaker
I had done better and better in my sales because I got better at selling, but I hated the job.
00:08:59
Speaker
I just didn't like it.
00:09:02
Speaker
And where it changed for me,
00:09:04
Speaker
is I had a mentor named Sean Brenchley.
00:09:07
Speaker
He was one of the early founders of Vivint.
00:09:10
Speaker
And I was studying advertising in school.
00:09:13
Speaker
I went to BYU and I had graduated.
00:09:15
Speaker
And I wasn't using any of my creative stuff.
00:09:19
Speaker
I was just selling and I was just doing it for money.
00:09:21
Speaker
And I didn't see anything more than I do this and I get paid.
00:09:25
Speaker
And through some of Sean's mentorship and stuff like that, somehow I opened my eyes to say, man, I'm making more money than my professors.
00:09:33
Speaker
And...
Challenges in Vivint Solar's Growth
00:09:34
Speaker
The people that I'm meeting are great people and I'm developing more in this crucible of direct sales than in any other thing that I've ever done.
00:09:43
Speaker
Any other thing.
00:09:44
Speaker
Like I'm learning more about leadership.
00:09:46
Speaker
I'm learning more about motivation.
00:09:47
Speaker
I'm learning more about why people make decisions.
00:09:50
Speaker
I'm learning about consumer mentality.
00:09:52
Speaker
I'm being connected to people that.
00:09:54
Speaker
actually have money to make moves in the future.
00:09:57
Speaker
And when I understood that, that's where the job really took off for me.
00:10:02
Speaker
So I ran big sales teams and alarms.
00:10:04
Speaker
I wrote the training for Vivint Inc.
00:10:07
Speaker
with some other partners.
00:10:10
Speaker
I had tried a lot of different things.
00:10:13
Speaker
I had a hand in running a pretty good size sales region over at Vivint Inc.
00:10:17
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:10:17
Speaker
And at the time, now we're getting to your actual question.
00:10:21
Speaker
It took five minutes to get here.
00:10:23
Speaker
But at the time, Vivint Solar started from Vivint Inc.
00:10:29
Speaker
So we had, you know, our founder, Todd Peterson, was interested in seeing if this was possible.
00:10:34
Speaker
And they were all going to be kind of one company.
00:10:36
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:10:38
Speaker
They had come to us and said, you know, in the position I was in, it was, Hey, there's some upside for you guys.
00:10:43
Speaker
If you recruit people into solar, cause we want to start this solar business.
00:10:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:47
Speaker
And so I started just, I saw it as an opportunity to, to stand out.
00:10:51
Speaker
And so I started calling people that I knew weren't going to work for me in alarms.
00:10:54
Speaker
Alarms was still my primary business by far.
00:10:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:57
Speaker
And so, uh, you know, there's one guy in particular, um,
00:11:02
Speaker
His name's Chris Gallagher.
00:11:03
Speaker
Shout out to Chris Gallagher.
00:11:04
Speaker
But he had worked with us.
00:11:06
Speaker
He did really, really well.
00:11:07
Speaker
But he had triplets.
00:11:09
Speaker
And so, yeah, imagine.
00:11:10
Speaker
We were just like playing with your little baby.
00:11:12
Speaker
Imagine.
00:11:12
Speaker
You haven't even had no one.
00:11:15
Speaker
Triplets.
00:11:15
Speaker
And so going out for the summer, you kind of couldn't do that, right?
00:11:19
Speaker
Like it just didn't really function to like leave the house.
00:11:21
Speaker
It was all set up and...
00:11:23
Speaker
triplet dialed and stuff to go out to these apartments and stuff.
00:11:26
Speaker
And so I called him.
00:11:27
Speaker
I was like, hey, you're an entrepreneurial guy.
00:11:28
Speaker
There's an opportunity in Solar.
00:11:29
Speaker
Why don't you come look at it?
00:11:30
Speaker
And I would go with these high-level recruits, and I'd go sit with Chance Allred, who's our CSO, who I've known for years.
00:11:37
Speaker
And I would bring them in, and then I would listen to the sales pitch.
00:11:40
Speaker
And we were signing people, man.
00:11:42
Speaker
We signed like – I remember the first real go that I had, I signed like 16 people, and it wasn't very hard.
00:11:48
Speaker
Chance did most of the work.
00:11:49
Speaker
Dang.
00:11:50
Speaker
But I heard this pitch like 10 different times, you know, and it was, here's the change, you know, we haven't had much innovation in, in,
00:11:58
Speaker
electricity.
00:11:59
Speaker
The model we use now was founded by Thomas Edison.
00:12:03
Speaker
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
00:12:04
Speaker
There's not a single industry that's universally used like utilities that hasn't innovated.
00:12:10
Speaker
Look at transportation, look at communication, look at medicine.
00:12:14
Speaker
And so I started having these questions like, what's the next big cell phone type, internet type boom?
00:12:20
Speaker
And
00:12:21
Speaker
I learned that energy is the biggest industry in the world.
00:12:23
Speaker
And I learned that it's a multi-trillion dollar industry.
00:12:25
Speaker
And I learned that the world is changing and that this is going to happen with or without us.
00:12:29
Speaker
And so it was two things.
00:12:30
Speaker
One of them was the people that I was recruiting into solar were really good.
00:12:35
Speaker
They were mature.
00:12:36
Speaker
They were serious.
00:12:37
Speaker
They had had a run through direct sales before and they knew what mistakes to repeat and which ones not to repeat.
00:12:44
Speaker
And
00:12:45
Speaker
So the people that I was recruiting, I was like, man, I like these guys.
00:12:48
Speaker
I want to work with these guys.
00:12:50
Speaker
And then the second thing was I was really excited at the frontier.
00:12:55
Speaker
I felt in my heart or I guess in my gut where most of my decisions are made that –
00:13:01
Speaker
this thing is going to be huge.
00:13:03
Speaker
And if I work really hard, I could probably be a part of it.
00:13:06
Speaker
And so I, I mean, I'd been at Vivint for 10 years.
00:13:09
Speaker
I started recruiting in October, like end of October of 2013.
00:13:13
Speaker
And I signed with Vivint literally like three weeks later.
00:13:18
Speaker
And I lived full-time in California, like two weeks after that.
00:13:22
Speaker
And dude, we were,
00:13:24
Speaker
I had a home that was paid off that we were living in that we had remodeled and we were building like our dream home at the time.
00:13:29
Speaker
We'd had our lot leveled, our fence put up.
00:13:32
Speaker
Nice.
00:13:33
Speaker
And we walked away from all of it.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:35
Speaker
In like in Highland.
00:13:36
Speaker
Isn't that where you're from?
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:38
Speaker
In like a couple of weeks because I was that sure.
00:13:41
Speaker
And it didn't even seem weird.
00:13:42
Speaker
Like it seemed like I felt like I better hurry and get into solar because these days matter and somebody could get in here before me if I don't act quickly.
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:54
Speaker
And then I always joke that I made the decision.
00:13:56
Speaker
I came out and my good friend Jason Crown, we were just at lunch together.
00:14:00
Speaker
He came out with me.
00:14:02
Speaker
And it was like, have you seen Old School with Will Ferrell?
00:14:07
Speaker
You know, where he goes back to college and whatever.
00:14:09
Speaker
I don't know if I have.
00:14:11
Speaker
I'll have to go out.
00:14:12
Speaker
You're blowing my mind right now.
00:14:13
Speaker
You've got to see old school.
00:14:14
Speaker
So there's this part where they go streaking and his wife pulls up to him on the street.
00:14:19
Speaker
She's like, what are you doing?
00:14:20
Speaker
He's like, we're going streaking.
00:14:21
Speaker
Everybody's coming.
00:14:21
Speaker
He looks behind him and nobody had followed him.
00:14:24
Speaker
And it was like, I thought everybody was going to leave alarms or pest control and dish and come to solar.
00:14:31
Speaker
And now they kind of are, but it was a couple of years ago.
00:14:35
Speaker
early but the man i that was 2013 and when i think back on the last like six years in solar i mean how long have you been in solar i've been in almost four years now so how much the industry has changed right like how dynamic it is and how well educated people are how well educated the agents and the the businessmen in solar are but also the customers like
00:14:59
Speaker
It's a different world out there, but it's been the time of my life.
00:15:01
Speaker
It literally has been the time of my life.
00:15:03
Speaker
I've loved it.
00:15:04
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:15:04
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's super cool to be.
00:15:06
Speaker
I mean, I would have loved to get in it back like one of the original guys, like as long ago as you did.
00:15:12
Speaker
You just have to settle for really low pay when you get into it.
00:15:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's true.
00:15:16
Speaker
Blessing and a curse, right?
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah, definitely changed.
00:15:18
Speaker
But it's true.
00:15:18
Speaker
I mean, anyone who can get in things, you're taking a risk because, yeah, I mean, you probably didn't know exactly where it was going to go or how successful the industry was going to be in.
00:15:27
Speaker
Oddly.
00:15:27
Speaker
I know you guys had some.
00:15:29
Speaker
Like, it's weird that I didn't worry about it.
00:15:32
Speaker
Like, are you just like, good to go?
00:15:34
Speaker
I knew it would work for some reason.
00:15:36
Speaker
And I don't, you know, claim to have any kind of like third eye or any kind of thing like that.
00:15:42
Speaker
But I was not worried about the industry working.
00:15:44
Speaker
I wasn't worried about Vivint Solar working.
00:15:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:46
Speaker
And now looking back, it was a risk.
00:15:48
Speaker
We weathered some real storms.
00:15:50
Speaker
We hadn't gone public yet.
00:15:51
Speaker
Right.
00:15:51
Speaker
And getting public was really big.
00:15:54
Speaker
Solar City went out of business.
00:15:56
Speaker
That could have been anybody.
00:15:57
Speaker
That could have been any one of us.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:58
Speaker
Right.
00:15:59
Speaker
They were the biggest.
00:16:00
Speaker
They were the monster.
00:16:01
Speaker
And we navigated that.
00:16:03
Speaker
We had some real, um, in a developing business, we installed far more than we could service initially because we had a really good sales machine, but all of those things can take businesses
Adapting to Evolving Solar Industry
00:16:14
Speaker
out and we made it through.
00:16:16
Speaker
And I probably should have been a little more, um,
00:16:20
Speaker
I guess, cautious in my decision making.
00:16:22
Speaker
You don't even know what questions to ask initially.
00:16:26
Speaker
But I did know this.
00:16:27
Speaker
The business was really well funded.
00:16:28
Speaker
We're a Blackstone partner.
00:16:30
Speaker
And there's not a better partner than Blackstone in the world.
00:16:35
Speaker
And then the second thing I knew was the people that were in solar, I trusted and they're awesome.
00:16:40
Speaker
And I trusted them to work hard and I trusted them to stay up and I trusted them to do things ethically and honestly and figure it out.
00:16:47
Speaker
And if you have those two things, like if you have
00:16:50
Speaker
Strong, strong financial backing.
00:16:52
Speaker
If it's the type of company you would invest your personal money in and then you have people that are better than you, that inspire you, that you respect, look up to, but also trust their capability.
00:17:07
Speaker
I felt pretty safe with that.
00:17:08
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:17:12
Speaker
Sometimes I wish I was more like that.
00:17:14
Speaker
I know some people get more set on their decisions and everything.
00:17:17
Speaker
I had buddies that did that with cryptocurrency and everything.
00:17:21
Speaker
You know how that was.
00:17:22
Speaker
Everyone was investing in it.
00:17:24
Speaker
I have a very strict rule that I don't invest in things I don't understand.
00:17:27
Speaker
That probably has cost me a lot of opportunities.
00:17:30
Speaker
When that one came up and people were like, by the time the whole Facebook world was telling me to do it, I was like, there's got to be
00:17:36
Speaker
There's got to be a reason not to do this.
00:17:37
Speaker
Yeah, I did it right when the whole world told me to do it.
00:17:40
Speaker
Really?
00:17:40
Speaker
It was like the next day that it crashed down or whatever and lost a bunch of money.
00:17:45
Speaker
Early in my sales career, I read – do you ever read anything from Tom Hopkins?
00:17:48
Speaker
He's like early, like Brian Tracy style, early sales donor.
00:17:51
Speaker
And the thing I learned from Tom Hopkins is never take advice from anybody more messed up than you.
00:17:56
Speaker
And I started – I don't want to sound arrogant, but I started getting –
00:18:01
Speaker
advice from people that in my head were more messed up than me.
00:18:03
Speaker
So I was like, sorry, I'm no, I'm not following.
00:18:06
Speaker
You don't get a vote.
00:18:07
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:18:08
Speaker
But yeah.
00:18:09
Speaker
Um, and obviously it's gone great for you.
00:18:11
Speaker
I know there's been a ton of roadblocks or road bumps.
00:18:14
Speaker
I'm sure, like you said, you guys were getting tons of sales, but, um, installations weren't going through.
00:18:18
Speaker
So what, what did you guys, how did you guys get past that when installs are getting pushed back?
00:18:23
Speaker
And yeah, here's the thing I've learned.
00:18:26
Speaker
You will, I don't know what problems are ahead, but
00:18:30
Speaker
But I've stopped saying that things will be great when we get this next piece figured out.
00:18:36
Speaker
For example, when we first started, we were doing so much sales front end volume.
00:18:41
Speaker
But the industry was new, man.
00:18:43
Speaker
Like we were in the alarm industry.
00:18:45
Speaker
You can start an alarm company pretty simply and the fulfillment is not all that challenging because it's a kit.
00:18:49
Speaker
You install it and you have to do it right and have good customer service and stuff.
00:18:53
Speaker
But it doesn't require...
00:18:55
Speaker
tranch or you know tranching to a fund it doesn't require a 20-year service agreement it doesn't even it doesn't require compliance with local cities that all have different electrical codes and things like that right so when we first started the sales volume was really high but
00:19:13
Speaker
But even getting like initial CAD designs, it was taking a long time.
00:19:17
Speaker
It got to a point where I was – I had a goal to sell 10 new accounts every single week.
00:19:23
Speaker
So I was – I got brought in to lead this team.
00:19:25
Speaker
I was a regional before.
00:19:26
Speaker
I got brought in to start kind of a new sales team.
00:19:29
Speaker
And I started by doing the only thing I really know how to do, which is sell a lot.
00:19:32
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:19:33
Speaker
uh, to kind of get the teams going, you know, um, and Vivint solar is really different in that we lead from the front.
00:19:38
Speaker
All of our leaders sell.
00:19:39
Speaker
I told you today's Wednesday, I was out selling Monday.
00:19:42
Speaker
Like we all sell, we just do that.
00:19:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:45
Speaker
And, um, a couple of reasons for it, but I don't want to take advice from people that aren't doing the thing that I'm doing, aren't willing to do the thing that I'm doing.
00:19:52
Speaker
And honestly, if they don't have something to offer, like if they don't know something that I don't know, then I don't see the value.
00:19:59
Speaker
Right.
00:19:59
Speaker
So,
00:20:00
Speaker
We came in and I started selling.
00:20:01
Speaker
I had a goal to sell 10 a week and install five a week.
00:20:04
Speaker
And so I was selling these accounts, but it got to a point at one time where we were six weeks out to get a CAD design.
00:20:10
Speaker
Imagine.
00:20:11
Speaker
CADs now, are you making 10 minutes?
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:14
Speaker
That's what I'm talking about, how much the industry has evolved.
00:20:16
Speaker
It's almost like from the time that the iPhone first came out in 2007 to the one that you use now.
00:20:22
Speaker
It's been, what, 12 years?
00:20:24
Speaker
And the amount of innovation is more than like,
00:20:27
Speaker
100 years before that.
00:20:29
Speaker
And so the challenge is I used to think, hey, once we get this CAD backlog under control, we'll be rocking.
00:20:36
Speaker
Well, then we got the CAD backlog under control and we started installing a lot.
00:20:43
Speaker
But we hadn't seen a whole lot of storms, literal storms and kind of proverbial storms.
00:20:48
Speaker
But the year that we installed, the volume that we had installed,
00:20:53
Speaker
We were doing like 60 megawatts a quarter back this, like in 2014.
00:20:58
Speaker
Yeah, it was a ton.
00:21:00
Speaker
But it was also, we were going through this terrible drought in California.
00:21:04
Speaker
And it was the year after that that the rains came, like the actual rains came.
00:21:09
Speaker
So California got more rain than, you know, however many years before.
00:21:13
Speaker
And we'd been installing solar with really no way to test how water type
00:21:19
Speaker
A lot of those houses were, and we started getting a lot of damages and all the things that take companies out of business.
00:21:23
Speaker
We have to service all these accounts.
00:21:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:25
Speaker
And how strict were we being on our install process and stuff like that?
00:21:29
Speaker
And so then I started thinking, hey, once we get these service things, then we'll be rolling.
00:21:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:33
Speaker
Well, then we installed so much that we had PTO backlogs where the city couldn't process, or the city and the utility company couldn't process all these inspections and PTOs.
00:21:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:45
Speaker
And so I remember talking to the group where there were guys that were leaving.
00:21:48
Speaker
They were going to other companies.
00:21:49
Speaker
They couldn't see past the same problem I had initially.
00:21:52
Speaker
They couldn't see past what was right in front of them.
00:21:54
Speaker
And, well, they left and then we got the cap problem figured out.
00:21:57
Speaker
And then we're, you know what I mean?
00:21:59
Speaker
That problem seems pretty small once you leave.
00:22:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:01
Speaker
And so...
00:22:04
Speaker
I remember addressing the group that I was leading at the time and saying, listen, at this point, I had been doing direct sales for like 12 years.
00:22:13
Speaker
And I said, I've been doing this for 12 years and I have a CAD problem right now.
00:22:18
Speaker
And now I'm going into my 17th year.
00:22:20
Speaker
Next year, we'll probably have some sort of problem that seems really elementary.
00:22:23
Speaker
If you're doing it right, you're always going to be creating new problems.
00:22:27
Speaker
You create problems by solving another one.
00:22:29
Speaker
So
00:22:30
Speaker
Before, we didn't even have an industry.
00:22:32
Speaker
Then we started doing a lot of volume.
00:22:33
Speaker
That broke a lot of stuff.
00:22:34
Speaker
Well, then we fixed it and we adapted and high performance led to another series of problems.
00:22:40
Speaker
And so I think one of the things I've learned most in the industry now is there are very few emergencies.
00:22:47
Speaker
There are a lot of opportunities to adapt and learn.
00:22:50
Speaker
But the challenge, and for people that are listening that are new, is you immediately jump to career suicide.
00:22:56
Speaker
You're like, oh my gosh, I have this customer and they're freaking out and maybe this is a bad product and maybe I should just go back and work with my dad and maybe this is a bad thing and I'm not being ethical at all.
00:23:06
Speaker
And they just implode instead of saying, listen.
00:23:11
Speaker
We're challenging one of the most profitable and largest industries that mankind has ever seen with the utility industry.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:22
Speaker
Expect there to be some challenge.
00:23:25
Speaker
I heard a quote that I used in sales training once that said, problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back.
00:23:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:23:32
Speaker
Right?
00:23:32
Speaker
So it's like, if everything was easy, I'm probably not attacking a problem that's that important.
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:38
Speaker
We have this thing that we say talking about leading the revolution at Vivint Solar.
00:23:41
Speaker
And it's like in a revolution, it wouldn't be a revolution if the other side just rolled over.
00:23:48
Speaker
We're changing the way things have been done for a really long time.
00:23:52
Speaker
And you'll know you're in the right place if you're getting some pushback.
00:23:56
Speaker
It's like when you lift weights.
00:23:57
Speaker
They're heavy.
00:23:57
Speaker
They push back.
00:23:58
Speaker
They tear your muscles.
00:23:59
Speaker
They're hard.
00:24:00
Speaker
But if you work out and it's easy, then you just don't get any stronger.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:04
Speaker
I don't remember what the question was, but I hope I answered it.
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:06
Speaker
I don't know.
00:24:07
Speaker
Oh, how do we get through certain things?
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:09
Speaker
A lot of it's just the mentality again, trusting the people and trusting
Confidence and Success in Sales
00:24:12
Speaker
the funding.
00:24:12
Speaker
There's not a lot you can't fight through.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:15
Speaker
Um,
00:24:15
Speaker
I heard a quote from Conor McGregor once.
00:24:18
Speaker
Are you a UFC fan?
00:24:19
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:24:20
Speaker
He's fighting in January, right?
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:21
Speaker
He's got the next fight coming up.
00:24:23
Speaker
I saw his fight where he fought Nate Diaz the second time in Vegas.
00:24:26
Speaker
Oh, really?
00:24:26
Speaker
He's the most electric thing I've ever seen.
00:24:28
Speaker
Electric.
00:24:28
Speaker
He's an electric person.
00:24:29
Speaker
He is, dude.
00:24:30
Speaker
Got to get him on your podcast.
00:24:31
Speaker
I think, yeah.
00:24:32
Speaker
We're getting there.
00:24:33
Speaker
But he...
00:24:35
Speaker
He was having this interview on Fox News and he showed up to the interview shirtless with his belt on, like just Conor McGregor.
00:24:42
Speaker
And they said, you have this confidence, man, that's just unhuman.
00:24:45
Speaker
Like where does this come from?
00:24:47
Speaker
And he says it comes from two things.
00:24:49
Speaker
Number one, I put in the work.
00:24:52
Speaker
so I can trust my training and I can trust my skillset because I have done it, you know?
00:24:57
Speaker
And he's like, the second thing is I trust my team and I think I'm on the right team.
00:25:02
Speaker
So he mentioned specifically that like in training, I don't see another team that's starting to do this other kind of training and think, Oh, I need to be on that team and jump around.
00:25:11
Speaker
If you look at my career, I've never jumped.
00:25:14
Speaker
I've always been at the same company, but I work neighborhoods like that.
00:25:18
Speaker
I'll stay in a neighborhood for a year.
00:25:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:20
Speaker
Right.
00:25:20
Speaker
The people that I work with,
00:25:22
Speaker
I mentioned Mealy being one of my best friends.
00:25:24
Speaker
Chance Allred, who's my boss now, was my first regional manager.
00:25:27
Speaker
He's the first door-to-door sale I ever personally saw.
00:25:32
Speaker
So I trust my team.
00:25:33
Speaker
I honestly believe that I am in the best place.
00:25:36
Speaker
And I believe that I've put the, I mean, I've traveled the country.
00:25:40
Speaker
I've sold a lot of different things.
00:25:42
Speaker
And I've put the work in and I've done it the right way.
00:25:44
Speaker
I mean, part of my
00:25:46
Speaker
morning routine when I'm selling full time is I train every day at getting better at selling.
00:25:51
Speaker
And so I think if you have that kind of foundation,
00:25:54
Speaker
There's not a lot of like short-sighted technical problems or setbacks in a neighborhood or cancels that spin you out.
00:26:01
Speaker
But you have to be confident that you're on the right team.
00:26:04
Speaker
And if you're not, get on the right team.
00:26:06
Speaker
Solar is booming right now.
00:26:08
Speaker
And there's no reason to be on a crappy team.
00:26:12
Speaker
And then the second thing is do the work so you can have the confidence.
00:26:15
Speaker
And there's not a lot of storms that you can't weather in the industry.
00:26:18
Speaker
Because I'll tell you, I never woke up thinking, I don't know if solar is going to work.
00:26:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:22
Speaker
I never woke up thinking, I don't know if it's going to make it through this.
00:26:26
Speaker
I did wake up thinking this is going to be a hard road, but just direct sales, that's the job.
00:26:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:31
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:26:32
Speaker
Well, and it's probably through your training.
00:26:33
Speaker
I mean, just like Conor McGregor, you had that confidence, I'm sure, in your abilities and the people you're with.
00:26:40
Speaker
But it didn't start that way, right?
00:26:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:44
Speaker
I'm a fan of direct sales.
00:26:46
Speaker
I actually love it because I understand it.
00:26:48
Speaker
I'm not a sports fan, but I'm a fan of direct sales because when I started, I wasn't great at it.
00:26:55
Speaker
I was middle class.
00:26:57
Speaker
I did all right.
00:26:58
Speaker
And I've developed over time.
00:27:01
Speaker
Now I feel like I'm a pretty good direct seller.
00:27:03
Speaker
But I wasn't a prodigy.
00:27:04
Speaker
I wasn't the guy that came in here and blew it up.
00:27:07
Speaker
And so I get a lot of motivation out of people like that, that come in and kind of build.
00:27:12
Speaker
But Connor's like that.
00:27:13
Speaker
I'm not a fight expert, but I watched him lose to Nate Diaz.
00:27:17
Speaker
First of all, he's daring greatly.
00:27:19
Speaker
He's fighting two weight classes up and the whole world is watching.
00:27:23
Speaker
And he's running his mouth before, but he got beat.
00:27:25
Speaker
Nate Diaz beat him up in front of everybody.
00:27:29
Speaker
And then he went back and he quietly trained and he viewed the tape and he worked on the things that he beat him at and he came back and
00:27:37
Speaker
beat him.
00:27:37
Speaker
Most people never would have taken the first fight, let alone the second fight.
00:27:42
Speaker
But when he went home and in the unsexy quiet hours, he's doing reps and he's ducking and he's working and he's working on his conditioning.
00:27:50
Speaker
The theory of the mundanity of excellence applies directly to direct sales.
00:27:56
Speaker
You see the money, you see the podcast interviews, you see the speakers, you see the trips, but Dave Madsen's
00:28:05
Speaker
the best solar salesman in the world.
00:28:07
Speaker
And that person, his process, the amount of time he spent working and dialing and mundanity of excellence, the unsexy hours, right?
00:28:18
Speaker
He's put in the work.
00:28:19
Speaker
So his reward is this super confidence that then perpetuates and makes competence.
00:28:24
Speaker
And you turn into just this class separated kind of phenom.
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:28
Speaker
Dave does, not me.
00:28:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah, well, you know.
00:28:32
Speaker
But yeah, I think that's really cool.
00:28:33
Speaker
And I feel like I have more respect for those people that had to go out and like earn that confidence.
00:28:37
Speaker
Because some people come in and, you know, some people are just more naturally good.
00:28:42
Speaker
But I think it's awesome people more like you and me that came in and we had to work a lot harder.
00:28:48
Speaker
I respect those too because I know what it's like.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:50
Speaker
Right?
00:28:50
Speaker
Like I know, dude, like I know what it's like to walk around and think, am I in the right position?
Achieving Success in Direct Sales
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:58
Speaker
Did I make a mistake?
00:28:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:00
Speaker
I know what it's like to be embarrassed, man.
00:29:01
Speaker
I know what it's like to be embarrassed selling.
00:29:04
Speaker
I have a roommate from college that's a patent lawyer at Apple.
00:29:08
Speaker
He was my roommate.
00:29:09
Speaker
He's a patent lawyer at Apple who speaks Mandarin Chinese.
00:29:11
Speaker
He's amazing.
00:29:13
Speaker
I'm a door-to-door salesman.
00:29:15
Speaker
I know what that feels like.
00:29:17
Speaker
My dad's a CEO of a bank.
00:29:18
Speaker
I'm a door-to-door salesman.
00:29:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:20
Speaker
All of his boys are going to get a real job, right?
00:29:23
Speaker
And I know what that's like.
00:29:24
Speaker
I know what that feels like to people.
00:29:27
Speaker
So when I see people excel, when I see people make a career, when I see people buy a home, when I see people bring their friends to the industry, when I see people buy investment properties, when I see people create opportunities, and then when I see people really grasp the opportunity that, hey, it's not a door-to-door job.
00:29:44
Speaker
This is a vehicle, right?
00:29:45
Speaker
It's an opportunity.
00:29:47
Speaker
You turn it into whatever...
00:29:49
Speaker
you want like that's why i'm such a fan of direct sales because anybody that will do it can do it yeah you know true and yeah and one thing ty i know a lot of people listening to this podcast they're trying to have that breakthrough their baby it's their first year of solar and like alarms they're scraping by or whatever so what are specific things that you did to get you to like you know 100 counts or whatever you did in alarms perfect leading teams and everything i like this question um
00:30:19
Speaker
I believe that the way you have to be successful first is you have to set a goal or an objective that represents really good work.
00:30:31
Speaker
A lot of people say you have to have a vision.
00:30:33
Speaker
I believe that, but not initially.
00:30:34
Speaker
If you're just starting, you can't see.
00:30:36
Speaker
I couldn't have seen what this job turned into when I was first starting.
00:30:39
Speaker
I couldn't have crafted a vision that was big enough.
00:30:42
Speaker
But what I did do is, and this was thanks to my leader at the time, to Eric,
00:30:47
Speaker
He pulled me aside because I didn't have a frame of reference.
00:30:49
Speaker
So for people that are leading, you have to do this for your guys and girls.
00:30:54
Speaker
Because you have to give them context.
00:30:56
Speaker
You have to give them a target, right?
00:31:00
Speaker
And so Eric basically said to me, he said, hey, if you want to be taken seriously in alarm sales, you got to do 100 installs in a summer.
00:31:07
Speaker
That's what you got to do.
00:31:09
Speaker
So again, my gut kind of reverberated and said, okay, 100, that's my goal.
00:31:13
Speaker
That feels like really good work.
00:31:15
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:31:15
Speaker
Now I'm not an outwardly competitive person.
00:31:17
Speaker
It's not important for me to beat other people.
00:31:20
Speaker
It's not important for me to have a higher title or make more money, but it's, it's supremely important for me to be consistent with myself.
00:31:28
Speaker
It's, it's, I hate to be disappointed.
00:31:32
Speaker
And when I disappoint myself, there's no, that's hell for me.
00:31:36
Speaker
Like I just, I hate, I don't like to be in my skin when I've disappointed myself and I've done both.
00:31:41
Speaker
I've, I've sold and I've left, um,
00:31:44
Speaker
endeavors feeling really proud and I've left feeling really disappointed and sometimes I've been proud and I've sold less than the times where I'm disappointed but for me that first year it was a hundred so my first piece of advice is you have to pick a goal that represents good work and for you that might have been 200 for me it was 100 I felt like 100 was that represents good work it was going to push me it was possible but it represents really good work okay then I
00:32:12
Speaker
You reverse engineer the thing and do a little bit of math.
00:32:14
Speaker
Now, this goes against my personality because I'm a creative thinker.
00:32:19
Speaker
I studied marketing and design in school.
00:32:21
Speaker
I like that kind of stuff.
00:32:22
Speaker
It's what I spend my free time doing.
00:32:24
Speaker
It's like customizing things and stuff like that.
00:32:27
Speaker
So doing math and structuring my vision is something that's hard for me.
00:32:31
Speaker
But we'll go back to that alarm summer.
00:32:34
Speaker
100 installs, okay.
00:32:37
Speaker
You know, 18 weeks in a summer.
00:32:40
Speaker
So I have to go back and I have to figure out, man, at the end of the day, okay, and then, you know, six days in a week, I need about six a week.
00:32:47
Speaker
That's one a day.
00:32:48
Speaker
I need an account every single day.
00:32:51
Speaker
The problem with that goal, it's good, and it's broken down to say one a day.
00:32:57
Speaker
But
00:32:58
Speaker
If my confidence is attached to the results, I ride the solar coaster, as they call it.
00:33:04
Speaker
But I'm inconsistent.
00:33:06
Speaker
In solar, you have to be consistent.
00:33:10
Speaker
The customer has to know exactly what they're going to get, whether they catch me on a Tuesday at 2 or a Wednesday night at 9.
00:33:15
Speaker
If you're leading reps, they have to know what they're going to get.
00:33:19
Speaker
If they don't know if you're going to scream at them or hug them, you have a hard time being really effective.
00:33:23
Speaker
There's a lot of safety and confidence that comes from consistency.
00:33:28
Speaker
So when I look at, okay, I have to sell one a day and six a week.
00:33:32
Speaker
If I did more than that, good.
00:33:34
Speaker
If I did less than that, I don't like the feelings.
00:33:37
Speaker
Remember, I don't like to feel disappointed.
00:33:39
Speaker
And so I think there's another layer you can break it down to and you have to turn it into time.
00:33:43
Speaker
You have to turn it into something that I can control.
00:33:45
Speaker
So I can say, okay, how long does it take me to create an alarm account?
00:33:50
Speaker
Okay, well, it takes me five hours to find and create an alarm customer on average.
00:33:56
Speaker
All right, which means I need to give myself a buffer.
00:34:00
Speaker
So I need seven hours a day.
00:34:01
Speaker
I need to put my feet in the neighborhood at two and not pull them out to nine.
00:34:06
Speaker
My goal is two to nine every single day.
00:34:10
Speaker
My goal is seven hours.
00:34:11
Speaker
My goal is 42 hours a week.
00:34:12
Speaker
That's my goal.
00:34:13
Speaker
And when I say that, even like saying it now, it hasn't been my goal for 16 years.
00:34:19
Speaker
But when I say that, it's like, I know I can put my Nikes in the neighborhood at two.
00:34:24
Speaker
And I don't care if I'm sick.
00:34:26
Speaker
And I don't care if I'm raining or if it's raining.
00:34:28
Speaker
I don't care if I'm tired.
00:34:29
Speaker
I don't care if I had to cancel.
00:34:31
Speaker
I'm in control of that.
00:34:33
Speaker
Cool.
00:34:33
Speaker
In this case, I'll take it.
00:34:36
Speaker
I'll take the confidence boost that comes from hitting your goal because I know I can control it.
00:34:41
Speaker
Well, then the 9 o'clock thing, I'm not coming out of the neighborhood until 9.
00:34:46
Speaker
It was just so easy to make that decision and make it once where, you know, you look down at your watch.
00:34:50
Speaker
It's 8.52.
00:34:50
Speaker
Maybe I have 6 on the day.
00:34:51
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:34:55
Speaker
I'm going to be disappointed if the goal was nine.
00:34:57
Speaker
And I know that that might sound crazy and I know that might sound rigid and I know that might sound intense to people, but I'm much more interested in being consistent with myself.
00:35:07
Speaker
And if all it takes for me to get the reward of confidence is eight more minutes, I can stay put for eight more minutes.
00:35:13
Speaker
I don't know if I can sell in eight minutes, but I know that I can not get in the car.
00:35:17
Speaker
So even if it's, even if I go knock two more doors and they tell me no, I'm,
00:35:22
Speaker
Man, I got the confidence of getting to the neighborhood at 2.
00:35:25
Speaker
I stayed there.
00:35:26
Speaker
I left at 9.
00:35:28
Speaker
That's two wins on the day.
00:35:29
Speaker
Confidence is just winning more than you lose.
00:35:32
Speaker
So if I say to myself, hey, I'm going to be in the neighborhood at 2.
00:35:35
Speaker
And then, oh, but I'm a little sick, so I'm going to push that till four.
00:35:40
Speaker
And then, man, I got this guy and he ripped me a new one and it was just bad and I'm worried that everybody heard it and they're going to call and so I'm going to leave at six and I'm going to hit it tomorrow.
00:35:48
Speaker
I've lost twice.
00:35:49
Speaker
So it's not neutral.
00:35:50
Speaker
The result is going to be lost confidence.
00:35:52
Speaker
But I don't have to win every time.
00:35:54
Speaker
I just have to win more than I lose.
00:35:56
Speaker
So at the end of the week...
00:35:58
Speaker
You know, if we're doing the win and loss based on time into area, and I do that six days a week.
00:36:03
Speaker
So if I get 10 wins and two losses, I'm going to exit that week with more confidence.
00:36:08
Speaker
And it goes against my nature to do that.
00:36:09
Speaker
But I found that the secret to selling is a quiet mind and a strong heart.
00:36:14
Speaker
And my heart's really strong.
00:36:15
Speaker
I really want to do well.
00:36:16
Speaker
And I really want...
00:36:17
Speaker
to uh excel at this but i can't do it when my mind's going crazy i need it to be when i'm on doors there's nothing there's not stoke there's not disappointment there's not ambition there's not grit there's nothing and it's nothing calms me down more than time so if i get to a neighborhood and i and i you know
00:36:41
Speaker
One, I've disappointed myself and lost and got there late based on my goal, right?
00:36:45
Speaker
We're still on that first scenario.
00:36:47
Speaker
And then I know that I got a responsibility with my family, so I already have to come out early.
00:36:52
Speaker
I only have two hours to sell.
00:36:54
Speaker
That is the definition of anxiety.
00:36:56
Speaker
It's the reason most people feel the pit in their stomach when they go to knock.
00:36:59
Speaker
It's not that they're going to get rejected.
00:37:01
Speaker
It's that one, they're probably focusing on outcome, not process.
00:37:05
Speaker
And number two, they're just not giving themselves enough time.
00:37:10
Speaker
And so when then you start knocking, like if I get to a neighborhood at 2, I'm not worried that, hey, nobody's home for three hours.
00:37:15
Speaker
I'm like, hey, I have got nothing to do besides this until 9, and I'm going to get a win if I just stay here.
00:37:23
Speaker
Let's go talk to some people.
00:37:25
Speaker
The customers have a better experience.
00:37:27
Speaker
I'm an easier person to talk to when I have time.
00:37:30
Speaker
And eventually I know that...
00:37:32
Speaker
I'm no smarter or dumber than anybody else in the office or on the team or in the industry.
00:37:37
Speaker
So if I give myself seven hours a day, six days a week, I'm going to get sales.
00:37:42
Speaker
Well, imagine what happens if I actually get better.
00:37:45
Speaker
So then there's the goal of 15 minutes of training a day.
00:37:47
Speaker
And if it's time and training, you over time develop into a confidence machine, number one.
00:37:55
Speaker
But you also turn into a competence machine.
00:37:58
Speaker
And those two things, again, they're class separators.
00:38:00
Speaker
They're things that nobody else can compete on.
00:38:04
Speaker
But I'm not a take Adderall and slam Red Bull guy.
00:38:08
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:38:09
Speaker
Hopefully that's helpful.
00:38:10
Speaker
But that's what I've seen.
00:38:12
Speaker
That's the difference maker.
00:38:13
Speaker
That literally is the very best, most consistent reps.
00:38:17
Speaker
I'm not talking about people that had a good year.
00:38:19
Speaker
I'm talking about the people that I know.
00:38:21
Speaker
I'm talking about Mike Brand.
00:38:22
Speaker
Mike Brand was at my house last night.
00:38:23
Speaker
Nice.
00:38:24
Speaker
And we spent a few hours together.
00:38:27
Speaker
And if I look at Mike, everywhere he's gone over the last 10 years, he's created success.
00:38:31
Speaker
It's not a fluke.
00:38:31
Speaker
It's – right?
00:38:33
Speaker
Those are the people that I'm a real fan of.
00:38:36
Speaker
And those people are not seeking motivation.
00:38:39
Speaker
They are just subscribed to a schedule and a process.
00:38:46
Speaker
And the results come.
00:38:47
Speaker
And if they don't sell, all right.
00:38:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:49
Speaker
I wish I did, but some days are like that.
00:38:51
Speaker
And if I do sell, well, that's good.
00:38:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:53
Speaker
But it's never, again, the crazy ups and downs that just take all your energy.
00:38:59
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:39:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:00
Speaker
I love that.
00:39:01
Speaker
And also, I'm sure you did
Learning from Experiences to Build Resilience
00:39:03
Speaker
like tracking your hours with results.
00:39:06
Speaker
I think that's one of the biggest pitfalls, especially for new reps, is they think that they can come in and just have instant success.
00:39:12
Speaker
But it's like you said, it's
00:39:14
Speaker
You've got to put in the time first because imagine if we were doing this, we were paid hourly.
00:39:19
Speaker
Most commission jobs, if you broke it down hourly, sometimes you're making, you know, $500, $1,000 an hour if you broke it down.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah, people can't get out there and put in the time.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:30
Speaker
So I think it's like you said, detaching yourself from the results and just putting in the time.
00:39:35
Speaker
That's right.
00:39:35
Speaker
Going out there.
00:39:36
Speaker
I think it's the way you think of it.
00:39:37
Speaker
Like when I'm selling, so my job's really different now.
00:39:39
Speaker
I mostly am developing sales teams and stuff, but I still consider myself a direct seller.
00:39:44
Speaker
Like I think if...
00:39:48
Speaker
I think it's in the framing of your job.
00:39:50
Speaker
I don't think my job is to sell everybody.
00:39:53
Speaker
My job is to communicate a problem to people in a clear way.
00:39:56
Speaker
And to do that, if I do that enough times, they will understand and they'll follow me to the solution, right?
00:40:01
Speaker
If you feel like, oh, my job is to sell, sell, sell, sell.
00:40:05
Speaker
I mean, I thought like that for the first five or six years.
00:40:08
Speaker
Now, I believe that my job is to develop leaders.
00:40:11
Speaker
I believe that my job is to help people see.
00:40:14
Speaker
That's reps.
00:40:15
Speaker
That's customers.
00:40:16
Speaker
But this is bigger than a power bill right this second.
00:40:20
Speaker
The world's changing.
00:40:21
Speaker
What side of the fence do you want to be on type of a thing?
00:40:23
Speaker
And I think framing your job like that, for me, to say my job is to sell one a day, it's mild.
00:40:29
Speaker
But there's a twinge of uneasiness when I say that.
00:40:32
Speaker
If I were to say, listen, my job is to communicate to an area and help them understand a different mentality, and I need to do that for seven hours a day.
00:40:42
Speaker
Lots of things.
00:40:43
Speaker
Seven hours a day is one way to do it.
00:40:46
Speaker
If I were to say, okay, how many pitches do I need to get a sale?
00:40:48
Speaker
And that comes from tracking, like you said.
00:40:50
Speaker
Then it's like, okay, well, I don't actually have to sell one today.
00:40:52
Speaker
I need to talk to 10 people.
00:40:54
Speaker
I know I can talk to 10 people.
00:40:57
Speaker
And then if you're tired and you only have eight, it's not even a question.
00:40:59
Speaker
It's like, okay, well, I'm at eight.
00:41:00
Speaker
Let me just...
00:41:01
Speaker
Talk to two more and then I can go.
00:41:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:41:03
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's a mistake I definitely made too.
00:41:06
Speaker
I started out in pest control and that's what I did.
00:41:08
Speaker
I attached myself to getting two cells a day.
00:41:12
Speaker
When I think it hurt me because I would get so demotivated when I didn't get the two cells for that day.
00:41:17
Speaker
It would carry on to the next day and I wasn't attaching it to the time put in.
00:41:21
Speaker
I was just attaching it to, okay, did I get two cells or not for the day?
00:41:25
Speaker
It definitely makes it tougher.
00:41:27
Speaker
I talked about this with Sam, but I've been doing this thing for a couple years.
00:41:31
Speaker
I take something that I'm a complete novice in and I try to learn that every year.
00:41:37
Speaker
I like it because it keeps my commitment really high.
00:41:40
Speaker
But it also reminds me what it's like to learn a thing.
00:41:43
Speaker
Because in order to add value to sales reps, I have to understand what they're going through.
00:41:47
Speaker
And that was a really long time ago for me that I went through it.
00:41:50
Speaker
And so...
00:41:52
Speaker
Two years ago, my thing was learning to surf.
00:41:54
Speaker
So I live in San Clemente, but I didn't know how to surf.
00:41:56
Speaker
And I grew up snowboarding and stuff, but I didn't know how to surf.
00:41:59
Speaker
And I had this goal, and there was a purpose.
00:42:02
Speaker
I have a son, and I wanted to have something that I could do for a long time and connect with him.
00:42:05
Speaker
And so I thought, I live in this surf town, and it would be really cool to surf with my son.
00:42:11
Speaker
That would be great.
00:42:12
Speaker
That would be awesome.
00:42:13
Speaker
So that was kind of my bigger thing.
00:42:15
Speaker
And so the goal I set for myself that represented good work is...
00:42:20
Speaker
If I could surf all the breaks in San Clemente, I would be satisfied with that.
00:42:24
Speaker
I didn't know at the time that there's a world tour stop in San Clemente that comes through there.
00:42:28
Speaker
But if I could surf there, I didn't want to go to any of the breaks and get laughed at or kicked out or whatever.
00:42:32
Speaker
I'm just a dude that doesn't want to be humiliated just like every door-to-door salesperson, right?
00:42:37
Speaker
And so that was my goal.
00:42:39
Speaker
Okay, I need to learn to surf.
00:42:41
Speaker
And so I got a surfboard.
00:42:42
Speaker
I spent all this money.
00:42:42
Speaker
I got a wetsuit and stuff.
00:42:45
Speaker
And
00:42:46
Speaker
I was getting really frustrated and I wasn't going and there was excuses because I started it in January and it's still cold.
00:42:53
Speaker
And so it was like, okay, well, maybe I'll start doing this in March.
00:42:56
Speaker
And then I was disappointed in myself because I set this goal and I wasn't doing anything for it.
00:43:00
Speaker
This should sound exactly like direct sales.
00:43:03
Speaker
All right, next week I'm going to hit it or tomorrow I'm going to hit it.
00:43:06
Speaker
And it came down to I don't like the way I feel.
00:43:08
Speaker
So why am I even doing this?
00:43:10
Speaker
And so what I did was I made a decision and I hired a coach.
00:43:14
Speaker
And I put him on a retainer.
00:43:15
Speaker
I just paid him monthly.
00:43:16
Speaker
And he gave me unlimited surfing.
00:43:20
Speaker
And he taught my whole family how to surf.
00:43:22
Speaker
And what I decided to do was I'm not going to measure my success based on can I surf all these breaks because I'm going to freak myself out and it's not even fun.
00:43:33
Speaker
But I thought to myself, hey, if I surf 120 times this year, that number felt good to me for some reason.
00:43:40
Speaker
I wish I could explain it better.
00:43:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:41
Speaker
There's no way I'll surf 120 times and not get good at this.
00:43:45
Speaker
And so I started just tracking it.
00:43:48
Speaker
And I use the app Streaks.
00:43:50
Speaker
Do you use Streaks?
00:43:51
Speaker
I've heard of that.
00:43:52
Speaker
I saw that it won like an Apple Design Award.
00:43:54
Speaker
It's my favorite.
00:43:55
Speaker
Streaks has changed my life.
00:43:57
Speaker
It's the same thing.
00:43:58
Speaker
It just counts how consistent you are.
00:44:00
Speaker
Like when you do a thing, it checks it off.
00:44:02
Speaker
And so I started using Streaks.
00:44:05
Speaker
And the month, the February before I hired, his name is Colin, before I hired Colin,
00:44:10
Speaker
I had gone like two or three times.
00:44:12
Speaker
And then in March, I'd gone like 21 times.
00:44:15
Speaker
You can't tell me it doesn't work, right?
00:44:17
Speaker
And I wasn't worried about, am I getting better?
00:44:20
Speaker
My goal is to get in the water with a surfboard 120 times.
00:44:24
Speaker
And so some days I would come back from surfing and my wife would be like, hey, how was it today?
00:44:29
Speaker
And I'd be like, it was number 31 and that's all I want to talk about.
00:44:32
Speaker
It's terrible.
00:44:33
Speaker
I got made fun of by an eight-year-old or whatever.
00:44:36
Speaker
And some days I would come back and she's like, how was your day?
00:44:38
Speaker
And I'm like,
00:44:38
Speaker
freaking incredible.
00:44:40
Speaker
I loved it.
00:44:41
Speaker
But at the end of the year, I surfed 129 times and I felt confident.
00:44:46
Speaker
All I did was go and get in the water.
00:44:47
Speaker
Anybody could do that.
00:44:49
Speaker
But my son, we surfed together every Saturday night and then we go get milkshakes.
00:44:54
Speaker
It's the best part of my life.
00:44:55
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:44:56
Speaker
One of the best parts of my life.
00:44:57
Speaker
And then when I looked, I was surfing every single break in San Clemente.
00:45:02
Speaker
And it was like, man,
00:45:04
Speaker
That sure was more enjoyable to just trust.
00:45:06
Speaker
And dude, my coach had me paddling in the dock, like at the marina where there's no waves to get my paddle strength out.
00:45:12
Speaker
And I'm out there paddling on a longboard at seven in the morning in a flat marina and people are fishing, yelling like, where's the waves kook?
00:45:19
Speaker
And I'm like, I wouldn't have gotten through that if I was focused on the result.
00:45:24
Speaker
But the fact that I was like, okay.
00:45:25
Speaker
So then at the end of the year, I was like, wow.
00:45:27
Speaker
My wife surfs, my son surfs, my daughter surfing.
00:45:30
Speaker
I can ride all these breaks.
00:45:31
Speaker
I'm not the best surfer in the world, but I got there.
00:45:34
Speaker
That's how, in my opinion, that's how people need to attack direct sales.
00:45:38
Speaker
Just put yourself in the position and give yourself the time.
00:45:41
Speaker
Stop worrying about the results and eventually you'll look around and be like, wow.
00:45:45
Speaker
I'm one of the best on my team.
00:45:46
Speaker
And then you'll look around and be like, wow, I'm one of the best in my region.
00:45:49
Speaker
And then eventually you'll be like, wow, I really have something to offer.
00:45:53
Speaker
I'm going to start running teams.
00:45:54
Speaker
And that happens by subscribing to that process.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:45:58
Speaker
And you also did that with a, didn't you join like a fight club or something?
00:46:02
Speaker
But here's the thing I'm most proud of.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah, I got a fight trainer because I didn't have a fight.
00:46:07
Speaker
But dude, if you're, I mean, I started fighting when I was 30,
00:46:12
Speaker
two.
00:46:13
Speaker
I'd never like thrown a punch at somebody.
00:46:14
Speaker
So like the first time you punch, it's a weird feeling and it's, you know, it's not, it doesn't look like you think it's going to look and you know, it's embarrassing and it's awkward, but that's how I felt when I started knocking.
00:46:25
Speaker
Like I remember my first door ever.
00:46:28
Speaker
I remember, I remember the house or, you know what I mean?
00:46:32
Speaker
And so I think, you know, if you want to be a good leader, you have to be a novice at something pretty often because you, you don't ever want to forget what it feels like.
00:46:39
Speaker
But in order for me to be
00:46:42
Speaker
to stay in this industry and knock doors and do that kind of stuff.
00:46:45
Speaker
Part of it is I have to have a life I'm excited about or else everything becomes work and then I'm looking at work to make me happy, which I'm proud of the work that we do.
00:46:53
Speaker
But I would be just as happy doing another job.
00:46:56
Speaker
This is my vehicle.
00:46:56
Speaker
This is the opportunity.
00:46:57
Speaker
It's what I'm driving now.
00:46:58
Speaker
This is what I plan on doing for the rest of my life.
00:47:01
Speaker
But I'm really – I have a lot of fire and stoke because, man, I'm playing the guitar this year.
00:47:07
Speaker
I'm really excited about guitars and I'm learning how to play.
00:47:10
Speaker
But –
00:47:11
Speaker
I'm embarrassed and then proud at the end of every single year.
00:47:14
Speaker
And I think one of the things I'm most proud of is my fight coach is running one of our very best markets for Vivint Solar now.
00:47:22
Speaker
He came on as a salesperson.
00:47:25
Speaker
And now he's leading a team and he's changing multiple people's lives.
00:47:29
Speaker
I mean, their team is installing 300 accounts a quarter.
00:47:31
Speaker
He's not doing it alone.
00:47:32
Speaker
There's a whole team there.
00:47:33
Speaker
Wow.
00:47:33
Speaker
Um, and my surf coach just, uh, graduated in this really high mark in the combine.
00:47:39
Speaker
He works for us now too.
00:47:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:41
Speaker
So it's like, I don't fight with them as much and I don't surf with my coach as much, but I'm just so proud of them because it's, I get to be their student and then I get to be their coach and it forms this bond.
00:47:51
Speaker
That's, you know what I mean?
00:47:53
Speaker
When you've been that vulnerable and gone through stuff like that with people, it's,
00:47:57
Speaker
It's just a life I'm really excited about.
00:47:59
Speaker
So there's your recruiting tip of the day.
00:48:01
Speaker
Hire coaches and then recruit them.
00:48:04
Speaker
It's a pretty expensive way to recruit.
00:48:06
Speaker
But I believe that if people are unsatisfied with their job, that they should sell solar.
00:48:14
Speaker
I believe that.
00:48:15
Speaker
And so when I spend enough time with people and they start to meet the people that sell and they start to learn about these – we've taken trips around the world.
00:48:23
Speaker
We're involved with really cool charities.
00:48:25
Speaker
The guys earn incredible money.
00:48:27
Speaker
It eventually becomes kind of like how I got into it where I was snowboarding with Eric Mealy and I said, hey, can I come?
00:48:33
Speaker
It turns into one of the things where these guys are like, hey, can we talk about this job thing?
00:48:37
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:48:38
Speaker
Just because it's been such a blessing in my life.
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:41
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:48:42
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, that just speaks to the power of, well, yeah, hiring coaches, being hungry for learning.
00:48:46
Speaker
I think it's all the traits.
00:48:48
Speaker
I'm sure you see those traits in all your successful guys that they want to learn.
00:48:52
Speaker
They're open to hiring people and investing in themselves.
00:48:55
Speaker
And I think that's huge.
00:48:56
Speaker
Another thing that people don't know is that they need to treat sales like a skill.
00:49:00
Speaker
I mean, that's why I got in the industry too.
00:49:02
Speaker
I was a music major.
00:49:03
Speaker
I was practicing instruments.
00:49:04
Speaker
What do you play?
00:49:05
Speaker
Drums, percussion.
00:49:07
Speaker
My son's a
00:49:08
Speaker
is drumming he's nine okay well i'll be your son's uh drum coach yeah that'd be awesome he loves it yeah he tinkers he'll pick it up like two or three times a day so it's good you know but yeah i mean just like any other skill people would treat cells like they would learn an instrument or learning to play a sport or something like that i think we wouldn't see as much burnout and all that that you see
00:49:28
Speaker
You also get good at, dude, you like the things that you're good at.
00:49:31
Speaker
When I first started fighting, I didn't like fighting.
00:49:34
Speaker
It sucked.
00:49:34
Speaker
It was awkward.
00:49:35
Speaker
It was like sore.
00:49:37
Speaker
I thought I was going to be able to be a good fighter and it turns out I got shown what I didn't know.
00:49:41
Speaker
Now I really like it because I'm better at it.
00:49:44
Speaker
And the same thing with surfing, same thing with selling.
00:49:47
Speaker
It's a really hard job to do if you suck at it.
00:49:49
Speaker
So if you want to experience the benefits of it, just get good at it.
Importance of Coaches and Leadership
00:49:54
Speaker
And you'll actually enjoy it.
00:49:55
Speaker
Like I didn't used to like it.
00:49:57
Speaker
Now I love it.
00:49:58
Speaker
It's the same pattern.
00:49:59
Speaker
I didn't used to like fighting.
00:50:00
Speaker
I didn't used to like triathlon.
00:50:01
Speaker
I didn't used to like guitar.
00:50:02
Speaker
I didn't used to like surfing.
00:50:03
Speaker
I didn't used to like selling.
00:50:05
Speaker
I didn't used to like leading teams.
00:50:07
Speaker
But once you – I had this point with Colin, my surf coach.
00:50:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:12
Speaker
where we were going down to the dock or to the marina to do a paddle workout, which are pure hell.
00:50:16
Speaker
They are absolute misery.
00:50:19
Speaker
They suck.
00:50:19
Speaker
Anyways, and he was saying to me, he's like, dude, sorry, I know you want to be surfing, but this honestly really will help you.
00:50:26
Speaker
And I remember stopping and saying, listen, Colin, I've already decided to do this.
00:50:29
Speaker
I will do whatever you tell me to do.
00:50:31
Speaker
So I'm here, right?
00:50:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:34
Speaker
And every time in my life where I've gotten to a point where I've said that, listen, I'm not worried about how this feels.
00:50:39
Speaker
I'm not worried about how cold it is.
00:50:40
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:50:41
Speaker
I'm ambitious enough and driven enough to want to be good at this.
00:50:45
Speaker
I've already paid you.
00:50:45
Speaker
I've already made this decision.
00:50:46
Speaker
I have a goal of 100.
00:50:47
Speaker
I know I can do it.
00:50:49
Speaker
So let's get through the sucky part as fast as we can.
00:50:52
Speaker
I see that in people that come in selling.
00:50:55
Speaker
And that's exactly how Colin was when he started selling.
00:50:58
Speaker
He wasn't like, oh, this really sucks, dude.
00:51:01
Speaker
When's it going to get good?
00:51:02
Speaker
He said to me, he's like, listen, I know this is going to be a process.
00:51:05
Speaker
I want to get through the bad part as fast as I can.
00:51:07
Speaker
And now he's doing great.
00:51:09
Speaker
It's just one of those things where I think when you get to a point, if any of you listening...
00:51:14
Speaker
have a good coach or whatever, if you haven't yet gotten to the point where you say, listen, I will do whatever you tell me to do.
00:51:20
Speaker
If you say knock till nine and that's three hours past where I'm comfortable, I'm going to do it.
00:51:25
Speaker
Man, that's the part where you start progressing.
00:51:28
Speaker
You have to get embarrassed.
00:51:30
Speaker
You have to strip all the ego.
00:51:32
Speaker
You have to strip all the bravado and all that kind of stuff out of you first.
00:51:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:51
Speaker
teach me everything and I'll do whatever you tell me.
00:51:54
Speaker
Those are the guys that six months later, a year later, those are the ones that have a following that are teaching other people because they've actually allowed themselves to, to grow, but you're not going to grow while that other crap is still in you.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:06
Speaker
I mean, yeah, definitely got to put the skin, skin in the game.
00:52:09
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, I hired a coach.
00:52:10
Speaker
That's, that's when I had my best selling ever too.
00:52:13
Speaker
It was just when I was willing to do whatever.
00:52:15
Speaker
Where'd you get coach said, uh, well, his name was Parker Winder.
00:52:18
Speaker
We've had on the podcast, you know, Parker.
00:52:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:21
Speaker
But yeah, this guy was telling me to do some wacky stuff.
00:52:23
Speaker
Is Parker like a piano genius?
00:52:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, he's a piano player, yeah.
00:52:26
Speaker
Piano player, you're the genius right now.
00:52:29
Speaker
Isn't he like really good at piano?
00:52:30
Speaker
Yeah, he's good, he's good.
00:52:31
Speaker
Hopefully he'll listen to this, but yeah, we had him on the podcast, he does his own improvisations and stuff like that.
00:52:37
Speaker
He's good, but yeah.
00:52:38
Speaker
He also does the best Jared Young impression in the world.
00:52:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:40
Speaker
You know Jared Young.
00:52:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:52:42
Speaker
I don't know that.
00:52:43
Speaker
He's got alarms, but yeah.
00:52:45
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, at the time when I hired Parker, I was kind of struggling in my cells, but I'm just like, look, man, I'll do whatever you want.
00:52:52
Speaker
I wanted to win my next cells competition, get the trip to Hawaii or whatever.
00:52:55
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:52:56
Speaker
I just did whatever he did and he was telling me to like take cold showers and do all this weird stuff that seemed like it had nothing to do with selling um that I hated but somehow it worked won the competition so I think yeah it's like weird stuff it's like yeah it's like if you're committed and humble to do it then I think something in your brain changes too you just get the get the success just being willing to do what it takes and
00:53:19
Speaker
Well, and I think if you've ever had a hard time with, people call it motivation.
00:53:23
Speaker
I'm actually glad that there's a lot of sales content on motivation versus discipline right now.
00:53:27
Speaker
But if you're feeling like, man, I just don't have.
00:53:32
Speaker
The desire.
00:53:33
Speaker
Could I stay in the neighborhood for seven hours?
00:53:34
Speaker
Yes.
00:53:35
Speaker
I just don't want to.
00:53:37
Speaker
That's where coaches are really helpful because they see stuff that you don't see.
00:53:41
Speaker
But once you hire them and once you start talking about them, it takes away the choice of success.
00:53:47
Speaker
You're going to be successful.
00:53:49
Speaker
The question is how hard are you going to fight it?
00:53:51
Speaker
And if you just give up and say, I'm not going to fight it.
00:53:53
Speaker
I'm going to go with you.
00:53:54
Speaker
Then if you have the right coach, it's almost like, man, I can stop worrying about success because it's going to happen.
00:54:00
Speaker
It's just a question of when.
00:54:02
Speaker
But I've noticed that if you're struggling with motivation, vision, desire, commitment, that's where coaching is really valuable.
00:54:14
Speaker
Because the second you hire someone and they start training you, you automatically want it.
00:54:18
Speaker
You start to...
00:54:20
Speaker
And if they're a good coach, it means they're better than you at the thing that you're trying to get good at.
00:54:25
Speaker
And so, you know, it's their job to be the kind of leader that inspires you, but their mere presence should do that.
00:54:31
Speaker
Like Colin's a really good surfer.
00:54:33
Speaker
And I was like, man, I wish I could catch waves like Colin.
00:54:35
Speaker
Jeff's an incredible fighter.
00:54:37
Speaker
And I would always think, man, if I could fight like Jeff.
00:54:39
Speaker
Right?
00:54:39
Speaker
And so it's like, I just kind of wanted to be like those guys.
00:54:43
Speaker
And, you know, after a while, the guy that teaches me guitar right now, he's a crazy dude, but it's like,
00:54:49
Speaker
I could play like him.
00:54:50
Speaker
So I'm impressed by him.
00:54:51
Speaker
And so it's like if you're leading teams right now, it is so important that you're impressive to these guys because that's where the motivation comes from.
00:55:01
Speaker
You have to get a coach that kind of keeps you and a mentor.
00:55:05
Speaker
It doesn't have to be a formal coach like Parker or something.
00:55:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:09
Speaker
I look at Chance Allred, who has been kind of my sales coach, and it's like, man, he's never tired.
00:55:15
Speaker
He never stops.
00:55:16
Speaker
He's got a good family.
00:55:18
Speaker
He's a good person.
00:55:19
Speaker
He's a real charitable guy.
00:55:20
Speaker
You just want to be like those guys.
00:55:22
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:55:23
Speaker
Definitely, definitely.
00:55:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, I wish we could go all day here, Ty, but I know you've got a place to be and everything.
Building a Personal Brand with 'Electric People'
00:55:29
Speaker
So to wrap up a little bit here, where can people find out more about your podcast?
00:55:34
Speaker
Well, yeah, tell us a little bit about your podcast and what you guys are doing with that and then how people could connect with you potentially.
00:55:39
Speaker
Yeah, thanks.
00:55:40
Speaker
It's called Electric People.
00:55:42
Speaker
It's on iTunes.
00:55:43
Speaker
It's on Spotify.
00:55:44
Speaker
I don't know how our Android friends consume podcasts, but I think we're there.
00:55:48
Speaker
I'm an Apple guy.
00:55:50
Speaker
We started that podcast because –
00:55:53
Speaker
We don't live in a world now where you have to figure things out on your own.
00:55:56
Speaker
Everything I know, especially about leadership, direct sales, team building, selling, personal development, I have learned from somebody else.
00:56:05
Speaker
And it's conversations like this.
00:56:07
Speaker
Sometimes I just pick it up because it's like, wow, I talked to a guy the other day.
00:56:10
Speaker
a peace state.
00:56:11
Speaker
And so we started doing a podcast, man.
00:56:13
Speaker
It was probably in 16 was the first one I started.
00:56:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:56:16
Speaker
Um, because if you're new and starting in this industry, I've benefited more from the mentality of productive people than their actual scripts and skills.
00:56:28
Speaker
If I understand how they think about it, that helps me better, like adopt the right mindset to ultimately figure it out.
00:56:33
Speaker
So we just started interviewing people that were really successful in, um, direct sales.
00:56:38
Speaker
And, um,
00:56:40
Speaker
it sped up people's learning and it shifted their mentality so they could get on the right playing field.
00:56:46
Speaker
And then the one we do now, the electric people one, that's just, I'm really fascinated in the dominant one.
00:56:53
Speaker
I'm fascinated in the people that are just electric, that are sending a, in the intro it says sending a pulse to the industry.
00:57:00
Speaker
Yeah, like what I'm interested in is, okay,
00:57:02
Speaker
There are triathletes and then there's the iron cowboy.
00:57:05
Speaker
And the iron cowboy is so freaking electric that he is doing things that are so far beyond what everybody else is doing that I just want to tell his story.
00:57:13
Speaker
So it's predominantly our salespeople and our sales leaders that tell their story.
00:57:17
Speaker
But I mean, we've had people, Tony Hawk was our first guest, Jesse Itzler was on there.
00:57:23
Speaker
We've had a lot of people come on and tell their story.
00:57:25
Speaker
I always learn from association.
00:57:28
Speaker
I like to know what people were thinking when they did this.
00:57:31
Speaker
I like to know about their world because we just apply that to our world.
00:57:35
Speaker
You hear Deion Sanders spoke to our group and when you hear Deion Sanders speak, you can't help but take what he's saying and apply it to what
00:57:44
Speaker
you're doing yeah it's been a really fun project man it's mostly to help the guys but i mean i probably benefit from it more than anybody else because yeah we have the conversations you know yeah yeah yes i definitely recommend it it's super cool how you're being guests from all industries i mean like you said iron cowboy who's cooler than that guy that ran 100 he's the baddest dude man he is 100 iron mans in 100 days so yeah if you want sweet content like that definitely go check out of their podcast we'll link to it in the show notes here
00:58:13
Speaker
And, um, yeah, it's been awesome having you on today.
00:58:15
Speaker
Ty, would you have any other final suggestions for our solarpreneurs here?
00:58:20
Speaker
Any other final tip that you want to leave with us before we say goodbye?
00:58:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:23
Speaker
First of all, it's a great name.
00:58:24
Speaker
Um, the solarpreneur, that's really what it is, right?
00:58:27
Speaker
Um, my, my only maybe tip or thing that I found happiness doing is just think about your brand.
00:58:36
Speaker
You're not out selling solar.
00:58:38
Speaker
You're, you're a part of this movement, right?
00:58:40
Speaker
You're a part of this industry.
00:58:42
Speaker
And nowadays we live in a world where you can create whatever you want, right?
00:58:47
Speaker
So I've had times where I've just been selling and I've been unfulfilled.
00:58:51
Speaker
And I've had times where I've really created a brand where I've thought, okay, if people are going to work with me, what do I offer to the group that nobody else does?
00:58:59
Speaker
If you're going to go solar with me as a customer, I'm going to go to the group that nobody else does.
00:59:02
Speaker
Not like a corny way, but like, what's my thing?
00:59:05
Speaker
What am I known for?
00:59:06
Speaker
It could be something as like, again, unsexy as being like, I am so, I'm reliable.
00:59:10
Speaker
I will always be on time.
00:59:12
Speaker
Right?
00:59:12
Speaker
If I tell you I'm going to follow up with you, I will follow up with you at the exact time.
00:59:16
Speaker
That could be one.
00:59:17
Speaker
It could be another thing where it's like, I always pay out my incentives on time.
00:59:21
Speaker
It could be, you know, if you're coaching other people that you might not like me every day, but I promise if you follow me, we are going to get the results out of you.
00:59:29
Speaker
Right.
00:59:29
Speaker
Whatever it is, I would just encourage people to really think solar is going to work.
00:59:33
Speaker
The world is adopting to renewable energy.
00:59:35
Speaker
That's happening.
00:59:36
Speaker
We're lucky to be here and hopefully add some value there.
00:59:39
Speaker
But the place to maybe really make your mark is.
00:59:44
Speaker
The art, I guess, of it all is what's your spin on it?
00:59:49
Speaker
What unique thing can you do that is really unique to you that will benefit other people?
00:59:54
Speaker
So what I think mine is is...
00:59:59
Speaker
culture wins.
01:00:00
Speaker
You retain more people through culture.
01:00:02
Speaker
People want to be a part of something.
01:00:04
Speaker
When they make all the money that they want to make, they spend it to feel a certain way.
01:00:07
Speaker
So, you know, one of the things that I try to do is I try to be a part of the best sales culture in the industry.
01:00:13
Speaker
I work with my very best friends.
01:00:15
Speaker
We try to do really developmental things that are challenging, fun, and experiences that you couldn't have anywhere else.
01:00:21
Speaker
That's what I try to be aligned with.
01:00:23
Speaker
But I've aligned myself with Vivint Solar, who I think gives that opportunity.
01:00:26
Speaker
And then I try to enhance that.
01:00:29
Speaker
So yeah, that's my, that's just as a fan of direct sales and in the industry, that's what I want to see more of is I want to see more people doing really cool, unique, creative things that are in line with who they are.
01:00:40
Speaker
Everybody can sell it.
01:00:42
Speaker
Again, we're already past that.
01:00:43
Speaker
If you're,
01:00:43
Speaker
Listening and not selling by now, you've already signed up.
01:00:47
Speaker
Awesome.
01:00:48
Speaker
Well, I love it.
01:00:49
Speaker
Well, that's some money tips you gave us.
01:00:51
Speaker
And I agree with all that.
01:00:53
Speaker
I mean, create the culture.
01:00:55
Speaker
If you're not in a good culture, yeah, check out companies like Vivint.
01:00:59
Speaker
Check out companies that already have that culture.
01:01:01
Speaker
Or if you're a leader, go and create that in your company.
01:01:04
Speaker
And lead from the front.
01:01:05
Speaker
Like Ty is saying, you can't be a good leader if you're not leading from the front.
01:01:09
Speaker
And that's how you're going to coach people is getting them excited about what you do and inspiring your people.
01:01:16
Speaker
So, Ty, thanks again for coming on the show.
01:01:18
Speaker
And we'll definitely share what you've got going on with your podcast.
01:01:22
Speaker
And thanks for all the value you provide.
01:01:25
Speaker
And with that, we'll wrap up here.
01:01:26
Speaker
So we'll talk soon.
01:01:27
Speaker
Thanks for having me on, man.
01:01:28
Speaker
It's been fun.
01:01:29
Speaker
Thanks, Ty.
01:01:31
Speaker
Wow, what another value-packed episode of The Solarpreneur.
01:01:35
Speaker
Guys, if you couldn't tell, we spend a lot of time and energy to put these episodes out to hopefully give you just one strategy, one golden nugget that's going to launch your solar career to the next level.
01:01:45
Speaker
And we do it all for free.
01:01:47
Speaker
And if you found any value in this episode or it's helped you in any way, all I ask in return is that you just take 30 seconds of your time and leave us a review on iTunes so that we can help more solopreneurs like you to change the world.
01:02:00
Speaker
And as a gift for leaving us a review, we have a special training package exclusive for solopreneur listeners over at solopreneurs.com.
01:02:09
Speaker
Remember, you need to leave us a review on iTunes to qualify for the training package.
01:02:13
Speaker
So take care of that now and we'll see you on the next episode.