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Sales Tactics Learned in Mexico image

Sales Tactics Learned in Mexico

E135 ยท The Solarpreneur
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47 Plays5 years ago

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and 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. I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become , Hey, what's up Solarpreneurs.

Speaker 2 (00:43):

I'm strong here live. I guess you won't be hearing this live, but I am here currently in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I'm doing an episode, one of the show up for my peeps for my Solarpreneurs, because I knew, I know you guys are pushing out there. You're fighting to close deals and I'm coming at you with some sales tips, even from Mexico. So I apologize if you hear a little bit of background noise, I'm out here with the monkeys in the, uh, the wildlife here, here on the balcony of our a little resort. So you might hear a few little animals sounds some wind going through the trees, but I hope that inspires you to push hard and close the, well, I guess start this next quarter strong. So you can go out and plan for your next trip. Had this plan since, uh, December.

Speaker 2 (01:37):

So it's important to give yourself those pushes those abs and those flows. Last month, I had a big push. I was competing in the, uh, Knockstar. Uh, competition had my best month. I'm probably last year close 12 deals. Um, which I know for some of you, that's probably nothing. Some of you that's a lot. So for me, that was my best month in about the last year 12 deals, about four of them or, um, leads. And then eight of them were self generated deals knocking on doors. So, but that'd be a lesson. If you have a big trip planned, use it to motivate you. I knew this trip was coming. So that's part of the reason why I decided to do the Knockstar competition for the previous month, thought what a better time than to push myself close out the quarter strong and get in some extra deals before I go on the little Mexican vacation here.

Speaker 2 (02:36):

So that leads to the episode up today. I'm actually doing an episode on what I have learned while I'm here in Mexico. Guess what? There are sales, there are sales everywhere. And if you've been to Mexico, you know, these guys, some of the best, most aggressive salespeople in the world are in Mexico. You take one foot out of the airport and you were hounded by these guys. These guys are so most persistent. Um, I would say persistence camera series. You could find, I mean, they're hounding you for everything. They got their kids selling your stuff. You got on the streets. There's Mexican kids coming up and selling your bracelets. There's people selling you, whatever you can think of out here. So I got to hand it to the Mexican people. They fight for what they got and they are not afraid to go out and approach you and sell you whatever they're trying to, to sell that day.

Speaker 2 (03:33):

Okay. So the reason I'm doing an episode is because we're staying at a resort here in Puerto Vallarta, and if you've been to resorts. You know, that's another big thing that they sell down here is these timeshares. And so my parents, they got this timeshare, this Mexican timeshare, I think they've had at 10 years or so now it's been awesome. We go to Cancun. We go to, um, yeah, this is actually our first time coming down here, but you are part of the UNESCO. They give you like a few locations. You can trade them and swap them out. So we usually come once every couple of years to one of these Mexican locations, great time. But if you've been to a timeshare, you probably know that they're c

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Transcript

Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast

00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
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 fell.
00:00:19
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.

Defining a Solarpreneur

00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.

Sales Tips from Puerto Vallarta

00:00:41
Speaker
Hey what's up solarpreneurs, Taylor Armstrong here live.
00:00:45
Speaker
I guess you won't be hearing this live, but I am here currently in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, doing an episode.
00:00:53
Speaker
I wanted to show up for my peeps, for my solopreneurs, because I know you guys are pushing out there.
00:01:00
Speaker
You're fighting to close deals, and I'm coming at you with some sales tips, even from Mexico.
00:01:08
Speaker
So I apologize if you hear a little bit of background noise.
00:01:10
Speaker
I'm out here with the monkeys in the...
00:01:14
Speaker
wildlife here here on the balcony of our little resort so you might hear a few little animal sounds some wind going through the trees but i hope that inspires you to push hard and close the well i guess start this next quarter strong so you can go out and plan for your next trip had this plan since uh december
00:01:37
Speaker
So it's important to give yourself those pushes, those ebbs and those flows.

Noxstar Competition Success

00:01:42
Speaker
Last month I had a big push.
00:01:43
Speaker
I was competing in the Noxstar competition.
00:01:48
Speaker
Had my best month in probably last year, close, 12 deals.
00:01:54
Speaker
Which I know for some of you that's probably nothing, some of you that's a lot.
00:01:58
Speaker
So for me that was my best month in about the last year.
00:02:01
Speaker
12 deals, about 4 of them were...
00:02:05
Speaker
leads and then eight of them were self-generated deals knocking on doors so let that be a lesson if you have a big trip planned use it to motivate you I knew this trip was coming so that's part of the reason why I decided to do the knock start competition for the previous month thought what a better time then to push myself close out the quarter strong and
00:02:29
Speaker
and get in some extra deals before I go on the little Mexican vacation here.

Sales Culture in Mexico

00:02:36
Speaker
So that leads to the episode of today.
00:02:38
Speaker
I'm actually doing an episode on what I have learned while I'm here in Mexico.
00:02:44
Speaker
Guess what?
00:02:45
Speaker
There's cells everywhere.
00:02:47
Speaker
And if you've been to Mexico, you know these guys, some of the best, most aggressive salespeople in the world are in Mexico.
00:02:54
Speaker
You take one foot out of the airport and you are hounded by these guys.
00:02:59
Speaker
These guys are some of the most persistent, I would say, persistent canvassers you could find.
00:03:07
Speaker
I mean, they're hounding you for everything.
00:03:09
Speaker
They got their kids selling you stuff.
00:03:10
Speaker
You go out on the streets, there's Mexican kids coming up and selling your bracelets.
00:03:15
Speaker
There's people selling you, whatever you can think of out here.
00:03:19
Speaker
So I got it handed to the Mexican people.
00:03:22
Speaker
They fight for what they got, and they are not afraid.
00:03:26
Speaker
to go out and approach you and sell you whatever they're trying to sell that

Timeshare Experience Analysis

00:03:32
Speaker
day.
00:03:32
Speaker
Okay, so the reason I'm doing an episode is because we're staying at a resort here in Puerto Vallarta.
00:03:40
Speaker
And if any of you have been to resorts, you know that's another big thing that they sell down here is these timeshares.
00:03:47
Speaker
Okay, so my parents, they got this timeshare, this Mexican timeshare.
00:03:50
Speaker
I think they've had it 10 years or so now.
00:03:52
Speaker
It's been awesome.
00:03:53
Speaker
We go to Cancun.
00:03:54
Speaker
We go to...
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, this is actually our first time coming down here, but you know, part of the Openasco, they give you like a few locations, you can trade them and swap them out.
00:04:04
Speaker
So we usually come once every couple of years to one of these Mexican locations.
00:04:09
Speaker
Great time.
00:04:10
Speaker
But if you've been to a timeshare, you probably know that they're constantly trying to upsell you on their next package.
00:04:19
Speaker
My parents, they have one of the more basic locations.
00:04:21
Speaker
and timeshare packages.
00:04:23
Speaker
So first thing they do when you step on the resort, they're putting pressure on the whole time.
00:04:30
Speaker
Hey, have you seen what benefits you can get with our next package up?
00:04:35
Speaker
And they're pushing for you to book an appointment.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah, so that's nothing new.
00:04:39
Speaker
And my parents, as you can imagine, get super sick of being pitched the next timeshare.
00:04:44
Speaker
They come
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, about once every couple years.
00:04:48
Speaker
So it's not something that they've wanted to really upgrade.
00:04:50
Speaker
And they've been to plenty of the timeshare presentations.
00:04:54
Speaker
So they're kind of over all that.
00:04:57
Speaker
This time was a little bit different.
00:04:58
Speaker
We got here, and I'm going to share the lessons behind this.
00:05:01
Speaker
First is a little story, and then I'm going to share some lessons that actually apply to Solr too.
00:05:07
Speaker
But we get here, and to my surprise, we got here after my family was here.
00:05:11
Speaker
To my surprise, my mom says, Taylor, we actually...
00:05:15
Speaker
We have a time set up to go talk about the time share tomorrow.
00:05:20
Speaker
I'm like, really, Mom?
00:05:21
Speaker
You guys hate those things.
00:05:23
Speaker
Why did you sign up for that?
00:05:25
Speaker
And she said, oh, well, the lady, she was super cute, super nice.
00:05:29
Speaker
And she says it wasn't even like a presentation.
00:05:31
Speaker
It's just they're going to show me the benefits we're missing out on.
00:05:36
Speaker
She just said, oh, you guys aren't even maximizing your current timeshare plan.
00:05:41
Speaker
So what I want to do is just give you guys a free session.
00:05:44
Speaker
We're going to just meet up, answer any of your questions, and we're going to show you about the benefits you're not using.
00:05:49
Speaker
So you have quite a few things you're not even taking advantage of.
00:05:53
Speaker
So my mom, she thought that was cool.
00:05:56
Speaker
It was different.
00:05:57
Speaker
And usually, if you're familiar, the timeshares, like my wife and I, we've been to Vegas.
00:06:03
Speaker
They give you usually some type of bonus.
00:06:05
Speaker
They say we'll give you the free two-night stay.
00:06:08
Speaker
All you have to do is listen to the timeshare presentation.
00:06:12
Speaker
So what impressed me about this one, and this is what I thought was really good, somewhat sneaky, but really good.
00:06:18
Speaker
They didn't say anything about it being a presentation.
00:06:21
Speaker
They didn't say anything about it being showing the benefits of the next level up.
00:06:28
Speaker
They framed it as just something that they're going to answer the questions.
00:06:32
Speaker
They're going to show the benefits they weren't currently using.
00:06:36
Speaker
And they made it not a big deal.
00:06:38
Speaker
They made it seem like it's going to be super quick, painless, harmless.

Empathy in Sales: A Lost Opportunity

00:06:43
Speaker
We're just going to meet up, go over some questions, and show you what the benefits you're not currently using.
00:06:49
Speaker
But little to my mom know, this was just a way of getting the foot in the door.
00:06:53
Speaker
I mean, it's going to be the same presentation.
00:06:56
Speaker
You know they're going to try and upsell you on the next thing.
00:06:59
Speaker
But what was really cool is they didn't say anything about that.
00:07:02
Speaker
Okay, so that leads me to something they did really well is they made it, again, painless.
00:07:09
Speaker
They made it something that was not a big deal at all.
00:07:12
Speaker
And because of that, my mom, she books the appointment.
00:07:15
Speaker
She set up the appointment with these people to go hear the presentation when she is basically sworn every other time we've come she's not going to go to another one of these presentations.
00:07:25
Speaker
And the other thing that was impressive about it
00:07:28
Speaker
They didn't throw out any of these incentives, any of these gimmicks.
00:07:32
Speaker
Usually they're like, oh, we'll give you the free excursion.
00:07:36
Speaker
We're going to give you breakfast on us for the rest of your stay if you come check out the presentation.
00:07:44
Speaker
But what does that do for people like my mom?
00:07:46
Speaker
That's an instant trigger.
00:07:48
Speaker
She's thinking, okay, well, if they're giving me something, then it's just because they're going to sell me on the next thing.
00:07:54
Speaker
So what this sweet little Mexican lady did really nice is she didn't say anything about these gimmicks.
00:08:00
Speaker
She framed it in the way it's just a conversation.
00:08:03
Speaker
We're not throwing out these gimmicks because if they would have thrown those things out, guess what?
00:08:06
Speaker
For someone like my mom, that would have been an instant trigger in it.
00:08:09
Speaker
Okay, they're selling me something.
00:08:11
Speaker
No, let's not do it.
00:08:13
Speaker
So those were the good things that these people did, that this lady did.
00:08:17
Speaker
Got to hand it to her.
00:08:19
Speaker
We need to get her selling some solar, setting some appointments for solar because she did a great job on that aspect.
00:08:25
Speaker
And now we're going to get into the mistakes.
00:08:27
Speaker
So the story continues.
00:08:29
Speaker
My mom, later that night, I was kind of talking to her, and she was asking all of us.
00:08:36
Speaker
She's like, I guess I've got to go listen to this.
00:08:39
Speaker
And she started thinking about it again.
00:08:40
Speaker
I think it started to dawn on her.
00:08:42
Speaker
I didn't really say anything, but it started to dawn on her that it was probably just going to be another presentation.
00:08:48
Speaker
So she's been texting this lady that they set up the appointment with back and forth.
00:08:53
Speaker
And then my mom, as this happened to all of us in solar, she starts just expressing some doubts, saying, uh, is this going to take a long time?
00:09:03
Speaker
You know, I don't know if this is really worth our time because we're not planning on upgrading to the next, uh, timeshare.
00:09:11
Speaker
We're not planning on upgrading our timeshare.
00:09:14
Speaker
So she expressed some doubts and this is where things started to go south for this lovely appointment setter.
00:09:22
Speaker
Right when my mom expresses doubts, instead of understanding, instead of empathizing with my mom, she goes straight to the aggressive approach.
00:09:31
Speaker
And basically she's like, well, you already set up the appointments.
00:09:35
Speaker
We actually can't cancel it.
00:09:38
Speaker
And then she didn't have that understanding mindset at all with my mom.
00:09:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:44
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:46
Speaker
And so my mom, once she saw that this lady was getting a little aggressive, she starts kind of making some excuses about why we can't go to the presentation tomorrow, to the question and answer session, if you will.
00:09:59
Speaker
And then we were planning to get up, go to the pool early.
00:10:04
Speaker
So my mom, she's like, okay, I'll go, but only if we can do it at 8 a.m.
00:10:09
Speaker
And then we have some stuff planned on the day we can't do it.
00:10:14
Speaker
And this lady, again, she doesn't understand at all.
00:10:17
Speaker
And so this lady starts throwing out that we can't change the appointments.

Lessons from Timeshare Experience

00:10:22
Speaker
And then my mom, she had already actually scheduled us to change rooms the next day.
00:10:26
Speaker
My brother was coming in.
00:10:27
Speaker
So we switched to a room with a couple extra beds.
00:10:33
Speaker
And that was one of her excuses for trying to reschedule appointments.
00:10:37
Speaker
So my mom tells the lady, look, we can't meet later.
00:10:41
Speaker
We have to do it at 8 because we're scheduled to change rooms.
00:10:45
Speaker
And then this lady, she starts at this point trying to save face and saying, oh, well, I actually already talked to housekeeping.
00:10:52
Speaker
And yeah, they said that we actually have to change it.
00:10:55
Speaker
We have to switch a room later.
00:10:57
Speaker
We can't do it at that time.
00:10:59
Speaker
Because they won't have the room ready.
00:11:01
Speaker
So basically she starts throwing out these lies and trying to save face in order to get the appointments.
00:11:06
Speaker
And at that point, it just freterates my mom and she cancels the appointment altogether.
00:11:11
Speaker
Okay, so kind of a disaster.
00:11:13
Speaker
Felt bad for this appointment setter.
00:11:15
Speaker
Probably lost out on her commission.
00:11:18
Speaker
But what were key mistakes?
00:11:19
Speaker
If people are trying to reschedule an appointment, don't be difficult.
00:11:23
Speaker
Work with them and then be assumptive.
00:11:25
Speaker
Okay, if this lady would just been like, okay, eight, yeah, that's more than enough time.
00:11:29
Speaker
We actually have to be pretty quick.
00:11:31
Speaker
Eight works, we'll see you there tomorrow and then that's it.
00:11:34
Speaker
My mom would have showed up, no questions asked.
00:11:37
Speaker
So it's the same thing as you are setting up appointments with the people that you're on the doors with or you're on the phone as you're having these texting conversations.
00:11:45
Speaker
Number one, make sure you get this conversation set up with the homeowners.
00:11:49
Speaker
If you are going to have a texting conversation, get it started beforehand.
00:11:54
Speaker
Make sure these people have your number saved.
00:11:56
Speaker
Say, hey, Mr. Jones, can you text me just a thumbs up emoji so I have your number?
00:12:00
Speaker
Get that emoji relationship going.
00:12:04
Speaker
And then don't make it difficult.
00:12:05
Speaker
If people need to reschedule, if people need to, people have concerns,
00:12:10
Speaker
Number one, be assumptive with it.
00:12:12
Speaker
Empathize with whatever they are going through and have templates, have scripts set up.
00:12:19
Speaker
What are you going to say?
00:12:20
Speaker
Have you trained your team on this?
00:12:21
Speaker
More importantly, if you're a manager.
00:12:24
Speaker
If you don't have scripts, if you don't have templates set up, you're losing out sales.
00:12:28
Speaker
You need to know exactly what to say.
00:12:29
Speaker
If someone texts you XYZ, you should have a response written out for all these things.
00:12:34
Speaker
And that goes for your team too.

Sales Training Insights

00:12:36
Speaker
Right now, my wife and I were watching a show called Undercover Billionaire, which I highly recommend.
00:12:42
Speaker
Our friend Grant Cardone is on it.
00:12:44
Speaker
And this is something he does.
00:12:45
Speaker
He's out there training people.
00:12:48
Speaker
This gym he's working with in the show, you can go watch it.
00:12:51
Speaker
It's obviously just going to give you the reader's digest here.
00:12:54
Speaker
But he is training basically his gym team to get more gym memberships.
00:13:00
Speaker
I think they're a Snap Fitness or something.
00:13:02
Speaker
They're in Playbill, Colorado.
00:13:05
Speaker
And one of the first things I saw that he did, he goes and sets up all the scripts, all the templates, exactly what to say when people are on the phone and people are having texts and conversations.
00:13:15
Speaker
Okay, because that's a lot of people don't realize it.
00:13:18
Speaker
They think they're saying these right things.
00:13:20
Speaker
When you're losing appointments, you're losing sales just like the people here in Puerto Vallarta.
00:13:25
Speaker
Okay, so don't make the same mistakes as these.
00:13:28
Speaker
Learn from the good things they did.
00:13:29
Speaker
Okay, they made the appointment no big deal, which helped them initially set the appointment.
00:13:34
Speaker
But like we see over and over, people get cold feet.
00:13:37
Speaker
People realize that they are being, that is, you know, a sales presentation.
00:13:42
Speaker
Same thing happened with my mom.
00:13:44
Speaker
When I'm out there on the doors, I do the same thing.
00:13:47
Speaker
Hey, we're just dropping by.
00:13:49
Speaker
Don't use those trigger words.
00:13:50
Speaker
Don't say appointments.
00:13:51
Speaker
Don't say a pitch.
00:13:53
Speaker
None of that.
00:13:54
Speaker
You do be exactly like this little Mexican lady.
00:13:56
Speaker
Say, hey, we're just dropping by, just having a quick conversation.
00:13:59
Speaker
First, our engineer is going to check and see if it benefits the home.
00:14:02
Speaker
prepare some info.
00:14:03
Speaker
And then, yeah, we're just going to drop by as same as the rest of your neighbors, answer a few questions.
00:14:07
Speaker
If it makes sense, great.
00:14:09
Speaker
If it doesn't, no problem.
00:14:10
Speaker
We're not doing anything because if you can make it seem like no big deal, that's going to set you apart because that's one of people's first concerns.
00:14:17
Speaker
If you look in the brains of the homeowners, what are they concerned about?
00:14:21
Speaker
They think it's going to be some long drawn out presentation.
00:14:24
Speaker
They think you're going to do a hard sell on them, that you're going to make them say yes right then.
00:14:29
Speaker
And yeah,
00:14:31
Speaker
They don't want to have to make a quick decision.
00:14:33
Speaker
All those things, it's going through the buyer's head.
00:14:35
Speaker
So you got to understand that these are their thoughts.
00:14:37
Speaker
And then as you are setting up this appointment, cover these things beforehand.
00:14:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:43
Speaker
They think it's going to be some long thing.
00:14:45
Speaker
Hey, Mr. Jones, I don't have time.
00:14:47
Speaker
I'm actually meeting with about a dozen of your neighbors.
00:14:49
Speaker
So I have to be pretty quick tomorrow.
00:14:52
Speaker
So don't worry.
00:14:52
Speaker
It's not going to be some long thing.
00:14:54
Speaker
We're just going to look at it and make sure it makes sense.
00:14:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:57
Speaker
They think they're going to have to make a yes or no decision.
00:15:00
Speaker
which we all want them to.
00:15:03
Speaker
But my line is, hey, when I come back, you guys can either opt in or opt out.
00:15:07
Speaker
If it doesn't make sense, no worries.
00:15:08
Speaker
We're not going to do anything.
00:15:09
Speaker
If it does, then all we do is submit an application, see if we can qualify the home.
00:15:14
Speaker
Take the pressure off of them buying or deciding.
00:15:18
Speaker
Make the pressure be on.
00:15:20
Speaker
You have to figure out if you can do it for their home because that's the big thing.
00:15:23
Speaker
It's just a couple of lessons I learned from Mexico.
00:15:27
Speaker
Let me know if you guys have had any experiences like that on your travels, on your vacations.
00:15:32
Speaker
Hope you took a few things you can share with your team or a few things you can use as you are setting up appointments.
00:15:40
Speaker
Love the Mexican culture.
00:15:41
Speaker
Support it next time you're here.
00:15:42
Speaker
Support all those guys because they're hungry.
00:15:45
Speaker
They're not afraid to approach next, though, and neither should you.
00:15:48
Speaker
So I'll see you on the next show.
00:15:51
Speaker
Hey Solar printers, quick question.
00:15:53
Speaker
What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:16:02
Speaker
For the last three years I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals
00:16:08
Speaker
and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.

Introducing Sol Society

00:16:14
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry.
00:16:25
Speaker
and it's called Sol Society.
00:16:27
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
00:16:45
Speaker
Currently Sol Society is closed to the public and membership is by invitation only, but solopreneurs can go to solciety.co to learn more and have the option to join a waitlist when a membership becomes available in your area.
00:16:59
Speaker
Again, this is exclusively for Solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now.
00:17:11
Speaker
Thanks again for listening.
00:17:13
Speaker
We'll catch you again in the next episode.