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.
Speaker: 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 fail.
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 going on, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Today, we're going to be talking about how soon should you transition to closing deals.
Speaker: Maybe you are a newer rep in the solar industry.
Speaker: Maybe you are managing a team, trying to figure out the best structure of
Speaker: for your newer reps.
Speaker: We're going to be talking about some things you should consider and just thoughts I have on the topic today.
Speaker: So before we get into the episode, I want to welcome you to the show.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: As usual, we're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: I hope you're doing awesome.
Speaker: Whenever you're listening to this, the time of recording, we are ending the summer, going straight into fall here, but we are not slowing down the momentum.
Speaker: When others slow down, we speed up.
Speaker: And I think that is a good mindset to have.
Speaker: I'm excited for college football.
Speaker: I'm a big college football fan.
Speaker: And if you want to know an update for what's going on in my life, you can follow me on social media.
Speaker: But just some quick things.
Speaker: Finished up a tax audit.
Speaker: Would not recommend it to anyone.
Speaker: Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies.
Speaker: It freaking sucks.
Speaker: Finally got a resolution to that.
Speaker: Um...
Speaker: trying to figure out payment options, all that.
Speaker: Sat on the phone with the IRS for 55 minutes.
Speaker: Finally, when I get to someone to talk to, the call lasts two minutes and then somehow their line disconnects.
Speaker: Call them back and they're nowhere to be found.
Speaker: I guess the office is, well, it was getting late in the day.
Speaker: The office was closed.
Speaker: So, um, just not a fun experience, but we are not here to talk about taxes.
Speaker: We are here to help you close more deals so you can pay for your taxes without having to worry about anything.
Speaker: That should be the goal.
Speaker: No matter what happens with Uncle Sam or whoever you owe money, hopefully you're closing lots of deals.
Speaker: So it's not a worry.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because if I was not in solar, I'd be stressed out of my mind.
Speaker: It's still stressful, still sucks, but hey, just go close another deal, right?
Speaker: Okay, but let's jump into the topic.
Speaker: And that is how soon should you transition from setting to closing?
Speaker: And you're in for a treat.
Speaker: Next episode, we have someone that is the epitome of this.
Speaker: He's someone that's really mastered the set before he got into closing.
Speaker: His name is Cade Hillstead.
Speaker: He comes from Momentous Solar.
Speaker: You heard from Travis Hartman most recently on the podcast.
Speaker: You're going to be hearing from Cade on the next episode.
Speaker: And what's really cool about his story, he's closing, I think, year to date.
Speaker: We're at like seven months, eight months.
Speaker: on the year.
Speaker: He's at over 250 deals already on the year.
Speaker: A little more than halfway through the year.
Speaker: It's absolutely insane.
Speaker: I think he has over 150 installed already, if you're wondering.
Speaker: But just madness.
Speaker: And he started as a setter less than a year ago.
Speaker: He's built his way up.
Speaker: He actually set deals for, I think, like five, six months before he even got into closing.
Speaker: So the reason I think this topic is so interesting is because usually if you have a high level rep, you think, oh, I'm sure they just set for like two weeks and they started closing.
Speaker: This guy, he mastered the art of setting his appointments before he got into closing.
Speaker: And in a way, I think that's helped him out a lot.
Speaker: So it's really unique what they're doing over at Momentous Solar is most of their guys are setters.
Speaker: They have some really, really high level closers and a ton of setters and they're cranking out deals.
Speaker: So let's talk about this.
Speaker: When should you transition to closing?
Speaker: There's three things that I think every team, every rep should consider.
Speaker: And the way I do it and I think I
Speaker: a minimum amount of deals to aim for.
Speaker: I guess, first of all, there's no right or wrong answer here.
Speaker: But in my opinion, I think everybody should get at least 10 deals under their belts before transitioning to closing.
Speaker: It's a good chunk of deals, good chunk of change you should make from that.
Speaker: And at that point, you should have gotten pretty good at setting appointments and
Speaker: And hopefully it's not taking you six months to do this.
Speaker: I know Momentus Solar, they have guys hit 10 deals for continuous months.
Speaker: They want their guys hitting 10 deals for multiple months before they even whisper the word, close my own deals.
Speaker: That's the way they do it.
Speaker: But I think...
Speaker: In general, most companies should have their new guys hit at least 10 deals before you start doing it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But three things to consider before you start closing deals or even wanting to start closing deals.
Speaker: Number one, ask yourself this.
Speaker: Am I getting consistent appointments?
Speaker: Am I getting at least six people sitting down a week to hear about solar?
Speaker: Because if you're not getting consistent appointments, if you're not getting people to sit down, how hard is it for you?
Speaker: Or how hard is it going to be for you to close deals?
Speaker: If you only have one or two sits a week, you better be the best closer in the world to close at least one deal a week.
Speaker: Because you got to have about near 100% close ratio.
Speaker: And I talk to people all the time, hitting me up on social media, you know, doing some of our coaching calls.
Speaker: which by the way, we do free complimentary sales audits.
Speaker: If you want to hear, you know, just analysis of where you are and where you are at in your cells, get some advice to, you know, maybe holes you're encountering in your business, in your solar cells.
Speaker: But the guys I talked to, a big problem I see is they're like, Taylor, why am I not closing consistent deals?
Speaker: When we dig into the numbers, we're
Speaker: A big reason is because they're not having enough sits in a week.
Speaker: So often this is the problem is that people are not giving themselves enough closing opportunities.
Speaker: So before you even start closing your own deals, have you mastered the art of getting people to sit down?
Speaker: Are you getting at least six sits a week?
Speaker: I think this is a minimum number you should be hitting consistently.
Speaker: Because if you're getting six people to sit down, then...
Speaker: Even if you're a pretty low level closer starting out, hopefully you should have a decent shot of closing at least one out of six in the beginning.
Speaker: That's number one.
Speaker: Number two, have I shadowed multiple closes?
Speaker: Have you seen a deal from start to finish?
Speaker: And a little side note on this, if you are starting out in solar, I would recommend not shadowing at all for your first 10 deals.
Speaker: I would go get set at least 10 deals, have them close momentum in setting.
Speaker: And then you can start learning after that if you're feeling comfortable and not everyone should close their own deals.
Speaker: I think there's guys that are better setters than closers.
Speaker: And good thing to ask yourself as well.
Speaker: Like, do you want to just stay continue setting?
Speaker: We should we shouldn't speak down to setters.
Speaker: That is, in my opinion, the most important part.
Speaker: of solar.
Speaker: If we don't have people setting up appointments, no one else has a job.
Speaker: Closers don't have leads to close unless you're self-shinning, right?
Speaker: Which all closers should be getting self-shin too, I think.
Speaker: Installers don't have business.
Speaker: So setting is the most important part of the process.
Speaker: It is the start of the funnel.
Speaker: We need really good setters.
Speaker: So it should not be considered like a low level job.
Speaker: It should not be considered the scum of solar setting is a very important part.
Speaker: And especially after talking with the guys over at Momentus, there's a lot of setters, especially in a high level organization like that, that are making more money than closers.
Speaker: I talked to setters recently over as I was doing these podcasts that are making two, three, four, even half a million just setting appointments.
Speaker: Because if you can get a really high level closer, then you're multiplying your income.
Speaker: And that's why I think you should not sit in your appointments, especially in the beginning, because you can go out and set up maybe two, three more appointments where if you would have been in that appointment for two hours, then you just missed opportunity cost right there.
Speaker: So I would not shadow until you get to $10 minimum.
Speaker: But after you do that, the question is this.
Speaker: Can you say the script word for word?
Speaker: Can you overcome the objections that you're going to get hit with in the close word for word?
Speaker: When I first started closing...
Speaker: Um, first of all, I think I started way too early.
Speaker: I probably should have been setting for longer, but my company was a company where they're like, Hey, we want you to progress to closing as quick as possible setting.
Speaker: That's kind of the lower level thing.
Speaker: Let's get you closing as quick as possible.
Speaker: So I was making a big push for it, but the most important thing that I did that I feel like I
Speaker: I did try to improve constantly is I would listen back to recordings of closes.
Speaker: So for you, that's maybe learning to close or maybe you're managing a team.
Speaker: Do you have recordings of your guys closing deals?
Speaker: Do you have some really high quality, really high level closes?
Speaker: that you can send to people, then they go and go back and listen to.
Speaker: Because I know in my experience, I was not ready to go into a deal until I had that thing drilled into my brain.
Speaker: I would listen to this recording of a close at the gym.
Speaker: I'd listen to it when I was eating breakfast.
Speaker: I'd listen to it when I was going to sleep.
Speaker: I just put it over and over and over and over.
Speaker: And the biggest thing that helped me is just being able to say that thing word for word and go into a close.
Speaker: So I would recommend if you are learning to
Speaker: to close, make sure you have a script, have it down word for word.
Speaker: And then from there, you can pivot.
Speaker: Same thing as you're learning to set appointments, right?
Speaker: Have a script, follow it.
Speaker: Don't try to reinvent the wheel.
Speaker: Do what's working for someone else first.
Speaker: Hopefully you have some really high level closers in your office, in your company.
Speaker: If you don't hit me up, we got a program that we can help you out with the scripts that the top guys are using and exactly what they're saying word for word.
Speaker: And then the third thing to consider, last but not least, is just the money aspect.
Speaker: Most companies in solar right now, they front money to setters.
Speaker: You got M1s coming.
Speaker: You should get paid a lot quicker.
Speaker: If you are a company owner or a manager listening to this, then I would definitely recommend structuring something like that where setters can get paid quick.
Speaker: One of the quickest ways to lose a setter is they're not getting paid fast enough.
Speaker: Because let's be honest, most setters or most people stepping into solar don't have a ton of money saved up.
Speaker: They need money quick.
Speaker: So give them a way to make some quick
Speaker: bucks.
Speaker: But the third thing to consider when you are starting to learn to close, how much do you comfortably have saved up?
Speaker: Are you prepared to go three months without making a dime?
Speaker: Because depending on the market you're in, depending on how long it's going to take you to master closing, you might not see another check for three months.
Speaker: So that's another big reason I recommend having at least 10 closes, getting some money flowing, getting some money in the bank.
Speaker: Because you got to be prepared to fall on your face.
Speaker: No one's going to master closing right from the get go.
Speaker: There's guys like Cade Hills said that did have a pretty much a running start when they got into closing.
Speaker: But not everyone is going to be like Cade Hills said that you're going to hear on the next podcast.
Speaker: But I would recommend having some money saved up to where you can go with for, you know, maybe three months without seeing a check and be fine.
Speaker: Okay, so those are some things I think you should consider in your set or closer program.
Speaker: Or if you're a new rep, just ask yourself those questions, right?
Speaker: Number one, am I getting the consistent appointments?
Speaker: Am I getting at least six sits in a week?
Speaker: Number two, have I shadowed some closes, seen what's going on?
Speaker: Have I recorded them and got the script drilled into my skull?
Speaker: And number three, do I have money saved up?
Speaker: Am I comfortable for three months that as I learn a new step in the process, the close, am I comfortable that I can afford to not get paid?
Speaker: And maybe you do better with a ton of stress.
Speaker: Maybe you got only one month saved up.
Speaker: You better learn to close quick.
Speaker: But for most people, I'd recommend having a little bit because you don't want to go out there feeling desperate.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And my experience has just always been I'm stressed for money.
Speaker: I go out.
Speaker: I sound desperate.
Speaker: I got commission breath and customers don't want that.
Speaker: Your prospects don't want that.
Speaker: They want free flowing.
Speaker: They want to feel like there's zero pressure and that you got 10 more people lined up to do this.
Speaker: You could care less if they do it or not.
Speaker: Hey, so those are some things to consider.
Speaker: I hope that helps.
Speaker: And I can't wait for the next episode.
Speaker: You're going to hear from the master Cade Hill said,
Speaker: 250 deals in 2023.
Speaker: We're eight months into it.
Speaker: Or yeah, I guess eight months now, right?
Speaker: Time's flying so fast.
Speaker: I don't even know what month I'm in.
Speaker: Hey, but make sure you don't miss out on this episode.
Speaker: This guy is high level and he went from being a setter for five or six months to stepping into closing.
Speaker: He did not rush the process and now he is mastered full.
Speaker: So don't miss out.
Speaker: You're going to hear his secrets.
Speaker: We got some more exciting guests coming up.
Speaker: And then my last ask is just please, if you have not left us a review or shared the podcast, would appreciate if you would give us a shout out.
Speaker: It's been I think it's been like a whole month since we've got a review.
Speaker: So come on, guys.
Speaker: Can we please get a review if you have not left one?
Speaker: We're at 300, I think 60 something episodes.
Speaker: So if you've listened to more than 10 episodes, come on, go leave us a review, share the podcast.
Speaker: That's what keeps this thing going.
Speaker: Would appreciate it very much.
Speaker: Love you guys.
Speaker: And we'll see you on the next podcast.
Speaker: Hey, solopreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
Speaker: We'll
Speaker: until I figured out what was going wrong.
Speaker: So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
Speaker: You'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
Speaker: So at now we have six bucks for this month.
Speaker: So book a call now, don't miss out.
Speaker: What you're gonna do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S.com.
Speaker: I'll send you out a calendar link.
Speaker: and we will figure out a time that works best.
Speaker: So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.
