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Start Making What You’re Worth
69 Plays3 years ago
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Journey
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.
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.
00:00:43
Speaker
What's up, solarpreneurs?
00:00:44
Speaker
Taylor Armstrong here with another podcast.
00:00:46
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.
00:00:55
Speaker
Welcome back to the podcast, or if this is your first time, a very cordial welcome to you.
00:01:01
Speaker
You are in for a treat.
Pricing Strategies in Solar Sales
00:01:03
Speaker
Today we're going to be talking about why you should be charging what you're worth on your solar accounts.
00:01:09
Speaker
There's too many people that are lowballing their deals.
00:01:11
Speaker
There's too many people that are making pennies when they should be making fortunes.
00:01:16
Speaker
So we're going to talk about that.
00:01:18
Speaker
But before we get into the topic, I have two special announcements.
00:01:24
Speaker
And I guess before that, if any of you are watching the video version of this, I actually am going
00:01:32
Speaker
in the middle of a move right now so I'll be honest I almost didn't do a podcast because um our whole apartment is filled with boxes literally had nowhere to record this thing but I'm like hey
00:01:46
Speaker
Let's make it work.
00:01:47
Speaker
So I'm in here in a closet recording this.
00:01:49
Speaker
So if the audio sounds different or if you're looking and seeing video of this and looks like I'm in a closet, that's because I'm in a closet doing this podcast coming at you.
00:02:00
Speaker
We're here nonstop Tuesday and Fridays bringing you the heat, bringing you the fire.
00:02:06
Speaker
And the announcements are
Upcoming Events and Networking Opportunities
00:02:08
Speaker
this.
00:02:08
Speaker
Number one, we have SolarCon coming up.
00:02:13
Speaker
Which is, in my opinion, the best event for solar.
00:02:18
Speaker
For solarpreneurs, that is until we run our own event, which is going to be soon.
00:02:24
Speaker
But SolarCon is an amazing event.
00:02:26
Speaker
It is the second time they are running it.
00:02:30
Speaker
Your boy is going to be there.
00:02:32
Speaker
All the top dogs in solar that I know are going to be there.
00:02:36
Speaker
And if you have not gotten your ticket yet, what are you doing?
00:02:40
Speaker
Go grab it.
00:02:42
Speaker
And if you do decide to grab it, I have an exclusive Solrepreneur discount.
00:02:48
Speaker
All you got to do is put in the promo code SOLREPRENEUR.
00:02:52
Speaker
You're going to get a 40% whopping 40% discount.
00:02:56
Speaker
But make sure you do it soon because that discount expires, I believe, the 10th of March.
00:03:03
Speaker
So at the time of this recording, you've got about 10 days to go grab your ticket.
00:03:07
Speaker
So get on it.
00:03:08
Speaker
Get on it quick.
00:03:11
Speaker
And if you do decide to use our coupon code, I want to give you even more value for deciding to come.
00:03:19
Speaker
So go grab your ticket.
00:03:21
Speaker
Shoot me an email that you're coming and that you use the coupon code.
00:03:25
Speaker
And I'm going to hook you up with free access to our Soul Society program.
00:03:31
Speaker
And we're going to add some more value to you.
00:03:34
Speaker
Shoot me an email.
00:03:35
Speaker
We're going to get you access to that.
00:03:36
Speaker
We're going to get you access to our private solopreneur recording group where we send in our recordings, get feedback from our coaches.
00:03:47
Speaker
So you're not going to want to miss out.
00:03:50
Speaker
Definitely grab your ticket.
00:03:52
Speaker
Enough about SolarCon.
00:03:53
Speaker
And the second thing is, if you are going to the Setter Closer Tour, that's Danny Pesce's event, mentioned on last podcast.
00:04:01
Speaker
I'm going to be there.
00:04:01
Speaker
I'm going to be in LA at that event.
00:04:03
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They're doing it in, I think, eight or nine different locations.
00:04:09
Speaker
So hit me up if you want the details or Danny Pesce.
00:04:13
Speaker
But that's going to be a great event, too.
00:04:15
Speaker
He's bringing in the top setters, top closers from all these different markets.
00:04:20
Speaker
Let's jump into the topic.
00:04:22
Speaker
So the topic is start making what you're worth.
00:04:25
Speaker
And it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately out here in California, especially.
00:04:31
Speaker
There's so many reps I see that are charging pennies when they should be making a lot more.
00:04:37
Speaker
And don't get me wrong.
00:04:38
Speaker
I'm not saying that we should be overcharging customers.
00:04:41
Speaker
I'm not saying that we should be screwing people over.
00:04:44
Speaker
But I'm saying we should be making healthy commissions.
00:04:46
Speaker
That's why we're all in solar to be making good money, to be making great money.
00:04:52
Speaker
We shouldn't be knocking on doors if we're not making great money.
00:04:55
Speaker
There's easier things to do out there to make 100 grand in a year.
00:04:59
Speaker
We should be making great money.
Handling Unexpected Costs in Solar Projects
00:05:03
Speaker
Hey, and so just some specific examples that things that have come up for me that I feel like I've handled well.
00:05:10
Speaker
I had a deal, I think it was a week and a half ago.
00:05:14
Speaker
This guy went to his house, sold him his panels, and actually it was funny.
00:05:19
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He didn't even want it on his own house.
00:05:21
Speaker
He decided he wanted it on a secondary home that he's going to move into probably in a couple of years.
00:05:27
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So I'm like, all right, I thought we were meeting about this deal, but let's get it done.
00:05:32
Speaker
So we got him hooked up.
00:05:34
Speaker
I, of course, wasn't at the house he's putting it on, so I couldn't really see the roof condition.
00:05:39
Speaker
I couldn't see the panel, the electric panel outside.
00:05:43
Speaker
So the site survey was done on this house.
00:05:45
Speaker
Turns out he needed a main panel upgrade.
00:05:49
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And this, of course, out here in California lease costs $2,500, $3,000.
00:05:54
Speaker
It's kind of the standard for it out here.
00:05:58
Speaker
And so what I've done in the past and what I've seen a lot of people do is they just take a hit on this.
00:06:05
Speaker
Some companies cover it.
00:06:07
Speaker
But I decided to go back.
00:06:10
Speaker
I'm like, you know what?
00:06:11
Speaker
Customers should be paying for this.
00:06:13
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It's his house.
00:06:14
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He should be getting this done.
00:06:17
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So I went back, sold them, and I was a little nervous.
00:06:21
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Is this guy going to cancel if I tell him he's got to pay an extra $3,000 for a main panel upgrade?
00:06:27
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Called him.
00:06:28
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He understood.
00:06:30
Speaker
We got it done.
00:06:31
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He's going to take care of that in cash.
00:06:33
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We're going to continue the deal how it was originally written up, and he's paying $3,000 out of his pocket to take care of it.
00:06:41
Speaker
And so how many times has it happened where you have...
00:06:45
Speaker
sold an account, something unexpected came up, which by the way, don't have unexpected things come up.
00:06:52
Speaker
If you are a true solopreneur, if you're an expert, then things shouldn't be surprises.
00:06:59
Speaker
You should know how many amps is this electric panel?
00:07:02
Speaker
What's the condition of their roof?
00:07:05
Speaker
And again, I didn't know that because I wasn't at the house, right?
00:07:09
Speaker
It was for a different property, okay?
00:07:12
Speaker
But maybe you're selling virtually, maybe you have situations like this.
00:07:16
Speaker
If at all possible, see if you can figure out how many amps is this panel.
00:07:20
Speaker
Is it going to need a main panel upgrade?
00:07:22
Speaker
What's the roof condition in?
00:07:25
Speaker
And ideally you want to know these things beforehand because it's going to create holds, it's going to make you go back.
00:07:33
Speaker
It's going to make you charge the customer.
00:07:35
Speaker
Sometimes they're going to be upset.
00:07:38
Speaker
So that's, I guess, rule number one.
00:07:40
Speaker
But if they do need these things, go back.
00:07:43
Speaker
Don't be afraid to charge what you're worth.
00:07:46
Speaker
To not just have these things come out of your commission, but have the customer pay for these things.
00:07:53
Speaker
Or if you're going to cover part of it, work out a deal.
00:07:56
Speaker
I had another guy who, this was actually the first time I've ever heard of this.
00:08:01
Speaker
Hit me up if this has happened to you, but I had an account.
00:08:04
Speaker
He was about to get installed.
00:08:06
Speaker
The installer got up on the roof.
00:08:08
Speaker
They started slipping around, falling all over.
00:08:12
Speaker
I don't know if they fell, but started slipping around, and apparently this roof had all this moss up there where they did not want to install it.
00:08:20
Speaker
They said, hey, you got to get this roof cleaned.
00:08:23
Speaker
There's too much moss up there.
00:08:25
Speaker
And so we have to send a roofer out to basically spray down the roof, get the moss off, and make sure it's not too slippery for these guys.
00:08:34
Speaker
First time it's ever happened to me in seven years.
00:08:40
Speaker
And I was shocked.
00:08:42
Speaker
If this has happened to anyone else, it's costing us, I think, $1,200 to do it.
00:08:49
Speaker
This was the cheapest quote we found to go spray some moss off the roof.
00:08:53
Speaker
Apparently it's a bigger project than I thought.
00:08:55
Speaker
They have to like harness themselves up there.
00:08:57
Speaker
There's liability.
00:08:58
Speaker
It's kind of an all day thing.
00:09:02
Speaker
But I was getting rude for just asking for like 2200 bucks to do this.
00:09:06
Speaker
I'm like, wow, I'll get up there myself, get a power spare.
00:09:09
Speaker
But what do I know?
00:09:11
Speaker
That's why we're talking solar, not roofs.
00:09:14
Speaker
But he's, yeah, he's paying for this.
00:09:19
Speaker
But what I did in this instance is I wanted to help this dude out.
00:09:23
Speaker
Like, it's taking a little bit longer.
00:09:25
Speaker
Then he should have.
00:09:28
Speaker
And so use your best judgment.
00:09:30
Speaker
I guess I'm saying don't you don't have to necessarily charge the customer every time for everything.
00:09:35
Speaker
You can have them help out.
00:09:38
Speaker
What I'm doing is I'm paying for half of this roof cleaning.
00:09:41
Speaker
He's paying for the other half.
00:09:43
Speaker
But as I do this, I make sure he knows this is coming out of my commission.
00:09:47
Speaker
This is coming from me.
00:09:48
Speaker
It's not the company covering it.
00:09:49
Speaker
This is coming from me.
00:09:51
Speaker
So I said, hey, Joe, Mr. Customer, I want to help you out with this.
00:09:55
Speaker
I know it's taking a little bit longer.
00:09:57
Speaker
And so what I'd ask, I'm going to go ahead and cover half of it for you.
00:10:00
Speaker
So you're going to pay the remaining $600.
00:10:03
Speaker
What I'd ask is just that if you can refer us to a few friends, if you can give us testimonials, some reviews,
00:10:12
Speaker
That would really help out, and I'd be happy to cover that for you.
00:10:15
Speaker
But do you mind doing that once we go ahead and get this done?
00:10:18
Speaker
He says, sure.
00:10:20
Speaker
So it's always a give and a take.
00:10:22
Speaker
Whatever you're doing, ask and ye shall receive, as the scriptures tell us, right?
00:10:28
Speaker
And so make sure you're not neglecting this in solar.
Dealing with Client Cancellations
00:10:34
Speaker
And then the other just kind of thought, sorry, I'm kind of random today, throwing stuff out here.
00:10:39
Speaker
If customers cancel after their three-day ready rescission, every standard contract has the three days, can think about it, do whatever, but if you cancel after that...
00:10:51
Speaker
There should be a consequence.
00:10:54
Speaker
And so I had an account.
00:10:56
Speaker
This was four months ago, maybe.
00:10:58
Speaker
But the installer we were using at the time, not to mention names.
00:11:02
Speaker
Okay, so I'll leave them out of this.
00:11:05
Speaker
But they don't charge the customer for canceling.
00:11:09
Speaker
Apparently, they charge the sales rep for any work that's been done.
00:11:13
Speaker
And then they just deduct it on future installs going in.
00:11:19
Speaker
But I didn't know this at the time.
00:11:20
Speaker
So what I thought was standard, okay, the customer cancels, I'm going to make them pay their cancellation fee.
00:11:27
Speaker
There's got to be consequences.
00:11:29
Speaker
And the reason for that's twofold.
00:11:31
Speaker
I mean, number one, there's a good chance that you save in that account if you actually do go and try to charge them.
00:11:37
Speaker
Because unless they have an extremely valid reason for canceling, which that's very rare for someone to have a good reason to cancel, unless it's like they found out they're moving next week or, I don't know, their husband got cancer or something crazy, death in the immediate family, stuff like that.
00:11:56
Speaker
Okay, I get it.
00:11:57
Speaker
Can't really argue that.
00:11:59
Speaker
But if you have a customer, no reason, makes no logical sense to just call you up and say, hey, we decided we don't want to do this.
00:12:06
Speaker
Two weeks into their contract, there should be consequences for that.
00:12:10
Speaker
People should not just be allowed to cancel whenever they don't want.
00:12:14
Speaker
And so what I did, what I thought was a good idea, what I typically do is first I call the installer and say, hey, can we charge these people a cancellation fee?
00:12:26
Speaker
They said no.
00:12:28
Speaker
They said, no, we don't really do that.
00:12:29
Speaker
We just charge it back to the sales rep.
00:12:32
Speaker
I thought that was ridiculous, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.
00:12:37
Speaker
I create my own invoice.
00:12:38
Speaker
I send it to the customer.
00:12:40
Speaker
I said, hey, we're going to need this from you.
00:12:43
Speaker
There's been work done on this project.
00:12:45
Speaker
Let me know how you want to take care of it.
00:12:47
Speaker
I think I tried to charge him like $600.
00:12:48
Speaker
Nothing insane, but enough that it hopefully hurts a little bit.
00:12:55
Speaker
And this is what I did wrong.
00:12:57
Speaker
I still learned from my mistake too, is I didn't just put me charging cancellation fee.
00:13:03
Speaker
I put that the installation company was charging a cancellation fee.
00:13:08
Speaker
and I sent it to them in a document and I made it look a little official.
00:13:13
Speaker
So this was obviously not the right thing to do.
00:13:16
Speaker
I misrepresented the installation company.
00:13:19
Speaker
The customer called the company and was all pissed off saying, oh, I'm being charged a cancellation fee.
00:13:29
Speaker
What is this?
00:13:30
Speaker
And the installation company tells the customer, we don't do that.
00:13:33
Speaker
Where'd you get that?
00:13:35
Speaker
Basically ends up coming back to me and they're pointing fingers at me saying that I'm trying to charge them this fee.
00:13:41
Speaker
It didn't even come from them.
00:13:44
Speaker
Made me look bad.
00:13:45
Speaker
Was a learning experience.
00:13:46
Speaker
Shouldn't have done it.
00:13:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:48
Speaker
So that's the first thing.
00:13:49
Speaker
Do not misrepresent.
00:13:51
Speaker
Your company don't be saying one thing and it's not going to happen.
00:13:56
Speaker
But second thing, which I think is more important here is if your company does not charge a cancellation fee or if they don't normally send out invoices, work with your company or figure out how can you charge these customers back?
00:14:12
Speaker
Because if anything, you put time, energy, effort into this.
00:14:16
Speaker
I have gone back.
00:14:17
Speaker
I have collected from customers.
00:14:20
Speaker
And I have at least, you know, I've gotten like 500, 600 here and there from customers that have canceled because like we are worth, our time is worth something.
00:14:30
Speaker
We're not just going, we're not just dropping off quotes.
00:14:33
Speaker
We're not just starting applications.
00:14:35
Speaker
And that's another thing.
00:14:36
Speaker
Make sure your customers know, hey, when we sign this, this is intending to do it.
00:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, obviously you're going to do your takeaway.
00:14:43
Speaker
You're going to do your pullback.
00:14:45
Speaker
There's a chance we might not even get your home approved.
00:14:47
Speaker
But make sure people understand, hey, if you guys decide to cancel after this, after it's been fully approved, then yeah, there is, we do typically charge you for, you're not going to come out and say that, but you're not going to try and like scare people, obviously, but yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker
Just make sure it's clear that like, hey, there is work being done here.
00:15:09
Speaker
If we get your home fully approved and there's work that has taken place, then yeah, we will, you know, charge you for the work that's been done because we're not just here to do.
00:15:21
Speaker
We're a business, right?
00:15:22
Speaker
We're a for-profit organization.
00:15:26
Speaker
So that's, I guess, the end of my stories today.
00:15:29
Speaker
Number one, just like make sure you're getting paid what you're worth.
00:15:33
Speaker
Make sure you're charging a healthy margin, especially if you're in California.
00:15:37
Speaker
Come on.
00:15:38
Speaker
People save so much money here.
00:15:40
Speaker
Don't overcharge the customer, but make what you're worth.
00:15:43
Speaker
And then number two, have the customers pay their adders.
00:15:48
Speaker
You're not just handing out main panel upgrades.
00:15:50
Speaker
You're not just doing electrical work.
00:15:51
Speaker
You're not just doing roofs for free.
00:15:54
Speaker
And I'm not saying never help out, but if you do, do the give and the take.
00:15:59
Speaker
Give them a little bit.
00:16:01
Speaker
and then have them give you something, make it a win-win.
00:16:04
Speaker
If you're taking from your commission, then the customer can give you a referral.
00:16:08
Speaker
They can give you a testimonial.
00:16:09
Speaker
They can help you create more business, get more business.
00:16:13
Speaker
And number three, don't be afraid to charge these cancellations.
00:16:17
Speaker
I have saved a lot of deals by telling the customers it's going to cost, you know, a thousand bucks to cancel and don't like lie about it.
00:16:25
Speaker
Don't do what I did in the previous story, but
00:16:28
Speaker
Work with your company and make sure there is consequences for people to cancel.
00:16:33
Speaker
Neither collect that money from them or use it as leverage.
00:16:38
Speaker
Preferably use it as leverage to get them to stick with the deal, to stick with solar.
00:16:44
Speaker
Because 99% of the time, solar is a much better choice, much better option.
00:16:49
Speaker
And there should never be a reason to cancel going solar.
00:16:53
Speaker
So that's my little rant, my little story time today.
00:16:56
Speaker
A little bit random, I know, but just had to tell a few stories.
00:17:01
Speaker
Had to get some things off my chest.
00:17:03
Speaker
Hopefully that's helpful to somebody out
Future Opportunities and Learning Resources
00:17:05
Speaker
there.
00:17:05
Speaker
Go make what you're worth.
00:17:07
Speaker
This is an incredible industry.
00:17:09
Speaker
We're all here to make great money, not just average money.
00:17:12
Speaker
Go out there, be great, close deals, and we'll see you at hopefully SolarCon coming up soon.
00:17:19
Speaker
Remember, solar printer is the code for it.
00:17:22
Speaker
And we'll see you maybe at the set or closer tour that's coming up.
00:17:27
Speaker
And we'll see you as well on the next podcast.
00:17:29
Speaker
Peace out.
00:17:31
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question.
00:17:33
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?
00:17:43
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:17:55
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
00:18:06
Speaker
And it's called Solcite.
00:18:08
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors and
00:18:15
Speaker
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.
00:18:27
Speaker
Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
00:18:33
Speaker
So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
00:18:41
Speaker
This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join.
00:18:48
Speaker
We'll see you on the inside.