Transcript
Speaker: What's up, solarpreneurs?
Speaker: Just wanted to give a little intro to this episode.
Speaker: It's a special one because Corey, he is actually one of my previous bosses.
Speaker: He taught me the ropes with solar along with a couple other people that have already been on the show.
Speaker: Definitely not going to want to miss this because now he is actually in Arizona tearing it up in the solar industry down there.
Speaker: And he has a new process that's
Speaker: was pretty shocking to me honestly I'd never heard of people selling this way it's helping them close deals galore and it's turning the tables on the customers he has them pretty much begging to be sold solar so check it out let me know what you think with that we'll jump into the intro
Speaker: What do you call an underground group of solar professionals on a mission to create a more sustainable world?
Speaker: We call ourselves solarpreneurs.
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.
Speaker: Solarpreneur 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 effort.
Speaker: We are solopreneurs and this is our story.
Speaker: Boom, what's going on, solopreneurs?
Speaker: I am here with the one and the only Corey Vanderpool, and he's so talented that he can not only drive and do a podcast interview at the same time.
Speaker: So thanks for coming on and thanks for being willing to do it while you're driving, Corey.
Speaker: Yeah, sorry, kind of got me in traffic, but happy to be on here.
Speaker: No worries.
Speaker: Yeah, we're excited to hear from you.
Speaker: And Corey is a special guest because this man right here was actually my boss back in the day.
Speaker: I guess it's been all day now.
Speaker: But now he's closing deals.
Speaker: He's in Arizona.
Speaker: He's, as far as I know, probably one of the top closers in the Valley.
Speaker: And I think you self-proclaimed yourself as one of the top salesmen in Arizona.
Speaker: Is that right, Corey?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, obviously there's nothing for me to hold that against, but in my own eyes, for sure.
Speaker: I think any good closers think that he's the best, so.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: Yeah, got to have that confidence.
Speaker: That's one of the secrets.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Lack of confidence has never been one of my problems.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: Yeah, that's definitely a secret.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean, you've pretty much done it all, Corey.
Speaker: And that's why I think you can add a ton of value to our podcast series because you've been a solar business owner.
Speaker: You're closing deals now.
Speaker: I mean, you've helped, you know a lot about like the installation processes and everything.
Speaker: So definitely a pretty unique background.
Speaker: So do you want to tell us, first of all, Corey, how you got in the industry and why you decided to go into solar?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And actually I feel like I've kind of gone full circle now.
Speaker: Um, but one of my good friends, uh, at the time, uh, Thomas Schaefer, uh, he was, uh, founder of new power.
Speaker: Um, he was, uh, we were going to church together out in Texas and we decided that it would be a good idea to quit our jobs.
Speaker: And, uh,
Speaker: move across country and start afresh knocking doors and get into the solar industry.
Speaker: And so I had been at Apex before Apex was given and it knocked doors for them and had managed an office for them.
Speaker: And so I had a little bit of background in it, but we decided that with solar getting bigger, this was like back in 2010,
Speaker: 2011 that it would be a good idea to get into it and so we dropped everything and went out and the two of us just started knocking doors and we started new power and back then we were a dealer for solcius which was a great company helped us get into the industry
Speaker: learn about solar.
Speaker: We started off doing PPAs and, you know, then eventually transitioned over to purchases and whatnot.
Speaker: But back then it was, you know, just the two of us and we started knocking and then, you know, we decided obviously we didn't want to just be the two of us.
Speaker: And so we started recruiting and we started building new power.
Speaker: And so we started new power actually on my couch in my living room.
Speaker: And that was super fun.
Speaker: Back in the day was just like four or five of us and
Speaker: around sitting on the couch and then it grew from there and so as we kind of grew and we grew into multiple offices and then multiple states we decided that we wanted to be more than just a dealer and so I had luckily the construction background to be able to go and qualify to get my electrical contractor's license and general contractor's license and so I was fortunate enough to pass the test and
Speaker: I got those licenses and so New Power was able to stand on its own and I transitioned over from the sales department over to operations and installations and so I ran and I was our COO at New Power and ran that part of it and helped build that part of the business and went through a lot of growing pains, a lot of difficulties but learned a ton.
Speaker: and made a certification as an installer as part of that as well.
Speaker: And so, you know, from there, things grew and new power grew and eventually got to the point where,
Speaker: um we our family was growing and uh both my wife and I's family are out here in Arizona and so we decided it would be a good transition from us to leave New Power and put down some roots down in Arizona and I was always kind of the plan was to transition from California to Arizona but finally just kind of came down to a good time when New Power I think was in a good position financially and um and the other partners were able to buy me out and
Speaker: And so, yeah, it was good.
Speaker: And so I left that, left New Power.
Speaker: And for the most part, I still am involved with New Power a little bit, which, you know, I still love New Power and help build that.
Speaker: And New Power will be, hopefully, always have a little bit of influence there, you know, as far as, you know, what I helped create there, but they definitely impacted me a ton.
Speaker: But
Speaker: Then I left the industry for a little bit, did some traveling, took some time off, did some side project, and actually got into the car business a little bit.
Speaker: And so I started a rental car company and that actually kind of inspired me to get back in because I wanted to buy more cars.
Speaker: And the thing about buying cars is you always need more capital.
Speaker: So that's right.
Speaker: I knew I had a skill set where I could make some money closing deals because at New Power, I originally started training all of the closers and I went and sat in hundreds of deals.
Speaker: And so I knew that that was something that I wouldn't have to go
Speaker: you know, do a whole lot of, make a whole lot of effort into retraining myself.
Speaker: So anyways, that, that brought me full circle where now I approached a good friend of mine who owns, he's one of the owners of Pure Energy out here in Arizona.
Speaker: And anyway, so I closed for them now.
Speaker: And so I basically just started off thinking I would just go to close a few deals and basically generate some more revenue for my other business.
Speaker: And so it actually went really well and I started closing quite a bit.
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: I just have got more and more involved with it.
Speaker: And so I've been back in the business basically for about four months now.
Speaker: And, uh,
Speaker: I actually just broke my $1.5 million in amount of revenue generated from my sales.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Congrats, man.
Speaker: Yeah, so closed a few deals since I've been back.
Speaker: Anyways, it's been interesting, but I feel like I've had some unique perspectives as I bring some of that operational background into the closing and whatnot and being able to
Speaker: answer questions that maybe traditionally I wouldn't so my sales approach has changed a little bit in the way that I used to close definitely yeah and we're gonna talk about that because I mean that is definitely unique your closing process and everything but yeah I mean Corey what's cool is you were basically one of the people that got me in the industry you and down pancari I still remember when we were uh when I was getting recruited by new power he took me to sizzlers and everything and
Speaker: Sit down for a sizzler steak, baby.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, and, yeah, I mean, Corey went all out.
Speaker: And that's what we always loved about Corey is he knew how to recruit guys and really influenced the culture at New Power.
Speaker: And, yeah, at the time, I was just a poor college student.
Speaker: I was living off of plasma money, plasma donations.
Speaker: And Corey took me out to his steak, and it was the best I'd eaten in probably six months.
Speaker: I was like – I'd get some of that iron back in your body.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I'm like, wow, this company, I mean, guys like that, I want to be working with guys like that.
Speaker: So I definitely got to thank Corey for getting me in the industry.
Speaker: And yeah, now that you're back closing deals, it just goes to show how good solar industry is.
Speaker: Because like you said, I mean, you were doing cars, but you came to your senses and realized that solar is a really good way to make money and you're doing it again.
Speaker: So I love to hear that you're back at it and
Speaker: 1.5 in revenue, that's super awesome.
Speaker: So glad to hear it.
Speaker: But so let's hear from you, Corey.
Speaker: How did you, one of the things that you're really good at is creating the good culture here at New Power when you were here and helping the guys have fun and it's really contributing to that.
Speaker: So what were some things you say that helped you out in like building the company culture and that you're seeing now is that some successful companies implement in order to have a good culture?
Speaker: Well, I think like any good culture, it really starts with relationships and value on the individual that is the team, right?
Speaker: Because new power is really not new power as a company, but really it's more, or really any good company who's got a great culture.
Speaker: And same thing with the guys that are with really a group of individuals who make up that organization.
Speaker: And so, um,
Speaker: when you put a higher value on the relationships, um, rather than, uh, the objective of the organization, uh, in my opinion, then you really start to build a place where people feel valued and, um, they want to be there and stick around.
Speaker: And, and, and then that basically changes your focus to a place where people can have fun.
Speaker: Um, they feel valued.
Speaker: Uh, they are, um,
Speaker: You know, they want to work hard.
Speaker: They buy into the mission and the objective of the organization.
Speaker: And so we tried to implement that in New Power.
Speaker: I mean, I tried to basically make sure that everyone that I came in contact with, you take genuine interest in them.
Speaker: I mean, just like anything in the sales process, but it really, you know, it doesn't really matter what's going on with Corey Vanderpool.
Speaker: It really matters as the person that's sitting across from the table from you when you're recruiting or, you know, whether you're building culture or working with your guys, but,
Speaker: ultimately, if the people that you're working with don't genuinely believe that you have their best interest at heart, then obviously it's not a place where people typically want to be long term.
Speaker: And so that was really my core objective as we worked on building culture was making sure that it was a place where people felt welcome, felt appreciated, wanted to be there and buy into what we were trying to accomplish.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And yeah, it's cool because I remember when you were there, you started us doing, I think it was monthly activities that we would do as a company where we go like zip lining, paintballing, stuff like that.
Speaker: And you actually asked me about them the other day, but one of our now managers was like a recruit from, from one of these activities.
Speaker: Remember Jeff first, he came to the zip line activity.
Speaker: So those kinds of activities are really crucial because it's,
Speaker: it really helps you get outside of the normal, you know, day to day of what you're trying to do.
Speaker: And so then you can really start to build relationships and get to know somebody on a personal level.
Speaker: And that way they have a chance to connect with you and they don't just feel like they're another number in the organization or someone who's you're benefiting from or making money off of.
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, when you take the time to do that, and it does, it requires time and effort and sometimes money, obviously, to do those things.
Speaker: But I mean, that's what creates loyalty and trust and retention and ultimately a culture where people want to stick around and help build.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Because, yeah, I think some of our top recruits, they've come from activities.
Speaker: So even doing things, you know, like team dinners,
Speaker: doing stuff, at least quarterly activities.
Speaker: I think it's not only good for building the culture, but then also just having to be a recruiting tool.
Speaker: That's one of the things that attracted me to
Speaker: What you were doing, Corey, is I just saw that you're a fun guy and that you guys did lots of sweet activities.
Speaker: When I first went out to New Power, I mean, yeah, we went out and got steaks.
Speaker: We went out and did like a tour of L.A.
Speaker: on like a helicopter.
Speaker: So I'm like, I don't really care if I'm making money.
Speaker: These guys are awesome.
Speaker: I just want to like come and hang out.
Speaker: Wow, I just want to have fun.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, I mean, that's changed a little bit.
Speaker: Now I do want to make money.
Speaker: It's not all about having fun, but, but yeah, I think if you have a balance, make great money and then like you said, have the good culture and have awesome activities and that's super good thing for growth of the company.
Speaker: Well, especially when you are starting off in this industry, really the hard thing about solar is getting started and getting in because you don't have somebody come into the industry and it's like a bamboo shoot.
Speaker: You know, it's like on the surface, they may not seem like they're making a lot of progress.
Speaker: You know, they're out working hard, knocking the doors, putting the time in, but not seeing a lot of results.
Speaker: And like, if you know, like bamboo, it grows down first and then it grows up.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so it establishes those roots.
Speaker: And so someone who is, you know, going to ultimately have a lot of success in the industry, a lot of times it takes fostering relationships.
Speaker: So that way they want us to stick around and be a part of that, even though they may not see a lot of that initial success.
Speaker: And so, you know, as you work with people and do that, especially like I said, in this industry, you know, where
Speaker: those results or the revenue or the income may not necessarily come initially at the rate that someone would hope for or what they see other people around them doing.
Speaker: That can help bridge that gap between really the inexperience and someone who then starts to understand how to do this and really capitalize on this opportunity.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Yeah, that was super cool.
Speaker: And being like a business owner, do you feel like there's anything else that really contributed to the growth of New Power?
Speaker: Because, yeah, you saw it all.
Speaker: I mean, it started on your couch.
Speaker: And then at the time that you left, New Power had a huge warehouse, awesome building with the basketball court.
Speaker: So I think that's everyone's dream is to go from the couch to having your own basketball court and all that.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: What else do you feel like?
Speaker: Contributed to the growth.
Speaker: I mean, if there was one thing, and this is, you know, like, I think as New Power grew, we really had key people in place.
Speaker: And for sure, had, you know, Thomas not started, we wouldn't have been there.
Speaker: Had Rob not come along, we wouldn't have, you know, had,
Speaker: a lot of the growth and experience that we had, you know, Rob Reimer is an incredible leader and, you know, brought so much organization.
Speaker: But our other partner that we have, Matt Collins, he brought, I think, something that was like a key ingredient to the organization that really helped us take it to the next level.
Speaker: Now that was, and this seems kind of canned or scripted, but vision.
Speaker: I mean, ultimately we were,
Speaker: hoping initially to be a company who had a couple of successful offices that we could generate in personal income a few hundred thousand dollars a year and be able to live comfortably.
Speaker: And Matt helped us see that what he had done with another solar company in the industry of what we could be not just something that would benefit us individually, but an organization that would grow to benefit so many people and ultimately generate
Speaker: hundreds of thousands or billions and tens of millions of dollars of revenue and eventually hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.
Speaker: And so basically having the vision that you could become more and we could work.
Speaker: I think it really went out of just that mentality.
Speaker: It's from taking small time
Speaker: really bridge the gap.
Speaker: And at this point, no, you know, there really is not something necessarily that pushes you to that.
Speaker: Most people don't just fall blindly into, you know, high levels of success.
Speaker: It's something that you've got to work toward to achieve.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: You're cutting out a little bit, but I think people got the idea.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just having vision, taking the risks and I think another key in there is having the right people.
Speaker: Like you mentioned it, like Matt brought his own piece of the puzzle and then Rob had his.
Speaker: So for company owners, maybe it's bringing on people that's can help with the things you're locking in.
Speaker: Cause you never know how someone's going to have that new idea to take you to the top of the industry.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's awesome stuff.
Speaker: And so I kind of want to transition over, Corey, now that you're closing deals.
Speaker: I got a little bit of a... Sorry.
Speaker: Just telling Corey I went running for the first time in a couple weeks.
Speaker: I'm still trying to catch my breath.
Speaker: But I had the opportunity to hear from Corey kind of about the new closing process you're implementing there in Arizona.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And after hearing that, something that I had never really heard before, and you guys do a couple things different that I think have been pretty cool, helped you close a lot of deals.
Speaker: So let's segue into a little bit what this closing process is.
Speaker: And I mean, you said that you've done 1.5 million in revenue.
Speaker: So let's talk about what you've been able to do today.
Speaker: be closing all these deals.
Speaker: So do you want to kind of walk us through the process and, um, some things that are helping to close deals out there in Arizona, Corey?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, I think the base of it is, uh, ultimately the philosophy of, of how we as human are geared.
Speaker: Um, because even as sales guys, right.
Speaker: I think this industry, a lot of pay scales and everything else are geared toward, um,
Speaker: you know, levels, you know, we have different pay scales.
Speaker: And obviously, the more we sell, sell, the more we make, right.
Speaker: And so if we don't hit our pay scales, right, we lose out on a lot of money.
Speaker: And so the fear of loss, and I think most of us know, this is pretty, you know, fairly well known fact that the fear of loss is much greater than the desire to gain.
Speaker: And so
Speaker: being able to transition that from basically like an income standpoint to being able to transfer that to the customer, I think has been really key in taking me from, you know, you know, my sales process to, you know, something that's helping me be more successful.
Speaker: And, and really I can't contribute this to something that I come up with.
Speaker: The guys at Pure Energy have really done a great job with this.
Speaker: Casey Mosher, a great salesman.
Speaker: He's a, he's the one that really kind of taught me about this process.
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: this is nothing original from me.
Speaker: I think that I have got, like I said, some unique stuff that I'd be able to bring into this.
Speaker: But really this process is just something that I've been able to implement now.
Speaker: But,
Speaker: When we're talking about with a customer in any sales situation, I think a lot of us, and I did this for a lot of years and I closed a lot of deals this way, but it's all about typically what the customer has to gain from going solar, which is typically increased home value and, you know,
Speaker: decreased cost of living.
Speaker: And so they're able to save some money and they're able to get a net gain.
Speaker: And so that net gain though, from their solar, so, you know, if they were paying with their utility company before $200 a month, and now they're going solar, you know, their total out of pocket costs, maybe their solar bills, 150 bucks.
Speaker: And so they're saving 50 bucks a month, which is fantastic.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But usually when presented like that, $50 a month for a lot of homeowners is not typically going to move the needle in a huge way.
Speaker: And so when you compare that against, you know, for example, like with a lease where with, you know, some of the possible challenges that come with a lease or with the loan, with some of the challenges that come with taking on a lease,
Speaker: of you know it's not it doesn't always really compel them to move forward with the solar and so we have to talk them into you know how to negotiate and move through the objections and so you know build enough value so that they want to say yes and so what we've been able to do though is kind of turn that on its head and basically
Speaker: rather than make it about what the customer can gain from going solar, really it's about what they would lose out on going solar.
Speaker: And I think a lot of, I'm sure a lot of people do this and there's opportunity costs, right?
Speaker: If you don't go solar over the next 30 years, your costs with the electricity company at inflated rates, obviously, as they keep going up and up, right?
Speaker: Maybe, you know, a hundred thousand or $200,000 in electricity bills that they may end up paying over a 20 or 30 year time period.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But what I've tried to do, though, as my sales process, is basically have something other than the solar itself that we can use as a carrot for the customer that they would be getting as a result of going solar so that they can basically, if they're selected or chosen, like in the sign industry or in the alarm industry, we use the sign.
Speaker: If you put a sign out in front of their house,
Speaker: we'll give you a free alarm system, you know, and then you just pay for the monitoring, right?
Speaker: So, you know, there's an exchange.
Speaker: And so with what we're doing now out here with your energy, it's something kind of similar where in exchange for a service that we're going to give them, right, for a limited number of people,
Speaker: we will give you this service.
Speaker: And so typically it's some kind of home energy update, right?
Speaker: So for example, at New Power, we gave away the Nest Thermostat, right?
Speaker: And so we would say, okay, you know, if you go solar, something we're gonna do is help you with the Nest Thermostat.
Speaker: We're gonna put that in, it's gonna help you use less air conditioning
Speaker: you know, help you as you're trying to be more energy efficient.
Speaker: So you're able to, you know, basically not to help ensure that you don't have a utility of solar.
Speaker: But what we do basically is we use that as a thing that they can miss out on.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So what we basically do is we say, okay, we're going to give, you know, five or six people out here, these incentives and just first come first serve.
Speaker: uh whoever is able to take advantage of that first we give that to them and then they just end up paying for the panels and so you know for you guys if you're able to help us out by putting the sign out and doing you know the advertising thing like you would do like i said kind of like an alarm sale um if you'll do that for us right then we'll give you this service but we're only going to give it to so many and so um
Speaker: doing that right kind of puts the customer in a mindset of you know it's it's all about there's limited opportunity you know there's this is uh we're gonna get only so many people are gonna get this and so you know people want to be obviously selected to get those those free upgrades if you will and so that changed from going to um
Speaker: you know, we want you to go solar and you're gonna wanna go solar because you have, you know, $50 a month in savings or $40 a month in savings or sometimes, you know, it could be even less than that too.
Speaker: When you go solar, you're obviously gonna save money.
Speaker: You know, you're obviously gonna save money, but you're not only that, but we're gonna give you these upgrades and we're gonna give you the upgrades at no cost, right?
Speaker: Having that take away from somewhere where they feel like they're going to get that opportunity to get that.
Speaker: And if they don't miss out on that opportunity, then they don't get that, right?
Speaker: So just doing that takeaway helps to build a little urgency on their part and feel like they're missing out on something.
Speaker: And so therefore, like I said, instead of the desire to gain something, right, some monthly savings, they feel like they would be missing out on the free upgrades and whatever that may be.
Speaker: Like I said, at New Power, we did the Nest Thermostat.
Speaker: We're only gonna give so many Nest thermostats away or whatever it may be.
Speaker: Obviously there's lots of different things that you can do there.
Speaker: So yeah, it's just basically making that switch on the customer where they feel like they're missing out rather than they're just gaining something.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So Corey, do you have any times, any examples as you started to implement kind of this new process?
Speaker: Do you have any like specific people that you think wouldn't have signed up and then as you started like?
Speaker: like doing this on them, making a limited time that it kind of flipped in.
Speaker: They did buy because of it.
Speaker: Any stories you have around that?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, literally almost every single person, um,
Speaker: Basically, like, so as part of my close, there's a few questions that I ask, right?
Speaker: And so everyone likes the idea of solar and, you know, no one likes to be sold.
Speaker: And so everybody wants to think about it.
Speaker: They want to let you know on their timeframe, right?
Speaker: And so as long as the customer feels like they're in control and they're in control of the buying process,
Speaker: that's you know where um you know they feel comfortable and they will continue to move along in the process and so it's basically taking that um and like i said kind of turning on its head but um and getting the customer to progress through the sales process but um pretty frequently as i said to ask her and i can tell you about one uh
Speaker: I sat down with a couple and basically we're going through it and presenting a process as I, and I was a sales customer before I even sit down and listen.
Speaker: I actually become not really like a sales guy.
Speaker: What I'll do is all the worries.
Speaker: So right up front, I feel like, I make them feel like I'm not so huge.
Speaker: Sorry, you're cutting out just a little bit, Corey.
Speaker: Can you still hear me?
Speaker: What's that?
Speaker: You cut out just a little bit there, Corey.
Speaker: Can you hear me?
Speaker: I can hear you now.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I think we're good.
Speaker: Yeah, so you cut out.
Speaker: So you're just saying, repeat that one more time.
Speaker: You're telling the story about what happened.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so as I sat down with this couple, one of the things that helped as we were going through it, because a lot of customers obviously get excited as you're going through and you're just showing them what they can do for them now.
Speaker: The energy company, you create the problem that their rates go up and it's costing more money and it's a bill that never goes away.
Speaker: As you paint this
Speaker: people really start to feel the urgency.
Speaker: It's one of those things that they're not usually, I think the challenge I have anybody has is them to feel the urgency to do it right there.
Speaker: And so people know it's like in dollars, right?
Speaker: And so as I sat down with this one couple called Jim and Mary, right?
Speaker: They were all about it.
Speaker: They were excited about the solar, right?
Speaker: And there are a couple though that thinks about everything, right?
Speaker: Never makes a decision on the spot.
Speaker: And so, you know, I said, okay, so it's, and then one of the thing I think that helps too is as we're doing a credit check, I actually make the credit check out to be a little harder than what I need to be.
Speaker: Cause a lot of times I think we downplay credit checks because we don't want people to just think it's no big deal.
Speaker: But again, I kind of turned that on its head so they think that they want to qualify, right?
Speaker: So I say a lot of people don't qualify for this.
Speaker: It's actually kind of hard to qualify for it.
Speaker: Usually people love the numbers.
Speaker: They love the idea of going solar.
Speaker: But the hardest part is actually just get you to qualify.
Speaker: So I mean, I've had a doctor not qualified.
Speaker: I've had teachers qualify.
Speaker: So really what it comes down to is whether someone does qualify for it.
Speaker: And if they qualify for it and they can make the schedule work to get the energy upgrades put in,
Speaker: then we can obviously give them those upgrades.
Speaker: So what we do basically is we can check and see whether you guys are qualified candidate or not.
Speaker: And then you guys can decide from there
Speaker: you know, when and how you'd want to move forward.
Speaker: And so having that where, you know, they, you know, for them, they're like, okay, we can see whether we're qualified or not, but I didn't make them feel like the qualifying process was right.
Speaker: Like a definitive step in moving forward.
Speaker: It's just basically made it soft, but it made it also kind of want to do it because it's a lot of people don't qualify for it.
Speaker: So you may not, right.
Speaker: Like when you tell someone they're not going to be able to do something, people are more compelled to want to go do it.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And so doing that and then as after they qualify for it, I say cool.
Speaker: So one of the biggest challenges with this is not it's just being able to make the schedule work when our when the people will be out here installing the upgrades.
Speaker: And so whether you can be an upgraded customer or just somebody who just like goes solar anytime with us, it really just depends on whether you can make that schedule work or not.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: We have two days where we're going to be out here.
Speaker: We're going to be out here on Wednesday at 4 or Friday at 8 a.m.
Speaker: And so it's just valid whether you can make one of those two times work.
Speaker: So like I said, you guys can go solar with us anytime.
Speaker: But if you just want to be able to take advantage of the upgrades, because we just do these one after another, you just have to make one of those two times work.
Speaker: Do either one of those types work for you?
Speaker: Ultimately, that's kind of my closing question right there.
Speaker: And then a lot of times what will happen is the customer, and this is what happened with Jim and Mary, was they looked at each other like, so are we doing this?
Speaker: And so that's usually when I just get quiet and let them, because a lot of times one of them will be free.
Speaker: more than the other one and they'll sell the other one on why they should go solar and then i just keep my mouth shut and let them convince the other one that they're going solar and then they say yeah we want friday at four right and so you know there's like there's a time obviously when to talk and there's a time to be quiet and that's one of those times that really um
Speaker: helps because a lot of times right that's when they're making the decision up until now it's always just been really soft and so they say yeah we we really want to just think about this and i say oh yeah you definitely want to just think about this for sure um but if you guys want to take advantage of the the free upgrades this is when we're doing them so if you don't want them no big deal like go solar anytime you want but if you want the free upgrades this is when we're doing them and so then we're people who are
Speaker: where they may be looking at the benefit of it, now are afraid to miss out on how they can take advantage of those.
Speaker: And so they make a decision on the spot there where maybe they wouldn't otherwise.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And what's really cool is, I mean, people get so conditioned to like, I don't know, because they've been through like car buying processes and sales processes.
Speaker: I think the customer is like smart enough to know that if you're just doing the traditional sell, then they're going to throw out the think about it excuse.
Speaker: Yeah, what's really cool is you're kind of flipping that.
Speaker: And also you're making it, you're kind of turning them into like the salesman, like
Speaker: because they have to be able to commit to your schedule now.
Speaker: They have to be able to commit to certain things to do in order to get these upgrades.
Speaker: And like you're saying, it's like people always want the things they can't have.
Speaker: I mean,
Speaker: We always want the girl we can't get.
Speaker: And so another part of that, part of my other closing process, too, is at the end, I say, you know, my job is ultimately, we set a bunch of appointments, but we'll only choose a few of these.
Speaker: And so I actually get to choose who are our upgraded customers.
Speaker: And so, you know, I ask, why do you, you know, at first I ask, is there any reason why you wouldn't want to be an upgraded customer?
Speaker: So that way, they come forward with any objectives of why they wouldn't want to be.
Speaker: And then if they say, no, there's no reason we wouldn't want to be, then I say, great.
Speaker: So like I said, my job is to choose those.
Speaker: Why do you think you would be a good upgraded customer for us?
Speaker: And then I make them sell me on why I would choose them.
Speaker: And so people, it's like all of a sudden, will start telling me all these reasons, or I didn't even know that this is the reason they're doing it, but if I hit a sticking point later on, it gives me a reason to then go back and be like, yeah, like you said, you guys would be a good reason for this.
Speaker: Yeah, that's genius.
Speaker: Yeah, and so it makes them sell you on the idea now.
Speaker: And I think once you get to that point, I mean, I'm sure you're closing every one of those if they have to convince you now why they should be a good customer for you.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, because a lot of clients, if we can't get past, is there any reason why you wouldn't want to do this, right?
Speaker: Then, you know, we're not moving forward.
Speaker: But if they say, you know, there's no reason why I wouldn't, then obviously, you know, it's something that you can go through and overcome.
Speaker: you know, pretty much anything.
Speaker: And so they're, they're pretty much on board at that point.
Speaker: And so like, if someone goes and watches me close a deal, a lot of times they'll be like, Oh, well that person would just, it was easy.
Speaker: But you know, I think any good closer will tell you, you know, any good closer will tell you that, uh, if, if you walk, if you,
Speaker: go into a sale and you don't know the process and you watch the sale happen, any good sale really should look like it was a lay down.
Speaker: It should look like it was a customer that was really easy to sell, but they were easy to sell because they were set up properly from the beginning.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: And yeah, I remember when I first started, I would go to deals
Speaker: think with you and yeah just other people have been there and they're most of the time lay downs like that that I go and try and close myself and it was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything I'm like what the heck how are these people getting all laid on but um yeah it's true as you learn
Speaker: It's just more of the things you're doing to create the lay downs.
Speaker: And I think it's kind of a fresh take on the clothes to be able to do it like that.
Speaker: And so what are the things that you're making them commits?
Speaker: So they have to commit to like a time to be scheduled.
Speaker: What else they have to commit to in order to get it?
Speaker: So yeah, basically I just tell people there's a, there's three qualifying factors.
Speaker: You gotta be the homeowner and you gotta have decent credit.
Speaker: Uh, and you gotta have the income for this so you can get the tax credits.
Speaker: That's another thing too, that I really like, um,
Speaker: you know, about Pure Energy as a company.
Speaker: And, you know, I've really tried to make sure that I adopt this in my process.
Speaker: Not that we didn't do this in New Power, which, you know, they do a good job with that too.
Speaker: But, you know, walking away from the deal, if it's an ownership, right, that doesn't have the tax equity.
Speaker: That someone who's not truly a good candidate, you walk away from it.
Speaker: And so, you know, you can walk into there with the, you know, moral authority that, you know, I'm only doing this for people that it's going to help them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But we, you know, so we know going into we have that.
Speaker: And so part of that qualifying process is asking those questions.
Speaker: But part of what we have them do for us is put the sign out in front of the house.
Speaker: You know, we help explain that it's good for advertising and lets people know who to call.
Speaker: And then the other is, you know, we want them to do a review for us.
Speaker: We tell people, listen, most people only go online and post negative things when they are post a review when they've had a native experience.
Speaker: And so we want someone to go out there and spread the good word for us and let people know how good of a job we are doing.
Speaker: And so as a model home, we require you to do that.
Speaker: Would you be okay with that?
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: So I'm like, these are really important things.
Speaker: And if you're not okay with that, then you can't be, you know, a, you know, a promo customer or a customer that can, you know, get our, our energy upgrades.
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: We make sure that our process is one that we have customers that want to do this.
Speaker: If you can't do that, then no big deal.
Speaker: You could be a regular customer, but you can't be an upgraded customer.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker: And then you're telling them, you're saying, sorry, I kept my breath.
Speaker: You're telling them also, like, you don't care if they do it because, I mean, the company would make more money because they don't have to do the upgrades.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's not one of your lines, too.
Speaker: Yeah, that's really, you know, super helpful when I say, you know, ultimately, if you don't do this, it's even better for us because if you just call us up in a few months, because we're giving you these upgrades for free, you're probably going to want the upgrades because I told you about it now.
Speaker: So you probably just pay for those.
Speaker: So all the better if you don't do it right now, because then you're just going to pay for those upgrades when you want to do it.
Speaker: So please, by all means, take all the time that you need.
Speaker: We just really want people who are looking to save money and want to help us as part of this program to take advantage of that.
Speaker: So it kind of helps to plant that.
Speaker: I say though, that really helps me validate all this stuff and not feel like I'm pushing something on them.
Speaker: One of the things I did in the beginning that's important is really
Speaker: like, and throughout, right, is genuinely taking interest in the person.
Speaker: And like anybody who's gone down with me, I really try and make sure that that person, when I leave their home, they feel like, and I feel like, generally take them, but they're a friend.
Speaker: And that they've confided in someone and they have a process, or they've gone through a process with someone that they can trust.
Speaker: And so, you know, I build that trust, though, through trying to relationship with that person.
Speaker: And so if I don't, if I haven't had the time and the ability to, like,
Speaker: have a friendship with them.
Speaker: A lot of times a sale really doesn't go through because I don't feel like they feel like they can trust me.
Speaker: So I want them to trust me and know that I'm someone that they can be confident in as they're doing that.
Speaker: So like I try and genuinely not just like, cause you can, it's easy to fake, you know, having interest in someone and you're just, you're not listening to the responses at all.
Speaker: But when you, you know, I try to talk about myself, but talk, you know,
Speaker: with them yeah sorry you cut out again for a sec but um yeah what's what's also cool is whatever you do um because you guys are doing is it insulation you put on put in for him is that kind of the home energy home efficiency upgrade you give him yeah yeah we do the we will put insulation in the in the roof for him
Speaker: We'll put some additional insulation in.
Speaker: Which in Arizona, it's so hot here, so it's super helpful, obviously, to insulate because a lot of the houses out here barely have enough insulation as it is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because what's cool about that, too, is once they get that insulation put in, I mean, it's a done deal.
Speaker: They can't cancel after that, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that is.
Speaker: That's one of the nice things about this process is...
Speaker: If you can, because obviously when you're going solar, it's a process.
Speaker: It takes a while.
Speaker: And a lot of us have customers who want to back out for whatever reason.
Speaker: It could be another company.
Speaker: It could be get cold feet or they're, you know, they say they're going to move or whatever it may be.
Speaker: But if you can get that insulation or you can get something installed in the home in the next, you know, in the next few days or even better that day, right?
Speaker: You're able to solidify that customer and make them feel like they have already started the process.
Speaker: They're going solar and, you know,
Speaker: And then a lot of the focus becomes around those energy upgrades.
Speaker: And so, you know, they're not, they don't feel like this is a process that's going to start eventually.
Speaker: And whether I want to cancel, I can at some point, like they're started, right?
Speaker: You don't, you don't, you don't call up your solar company once they've got the racking on your roof and say, Oh, actually I want to cancel.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Like you're going solar.
Speaker: That's game over.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So yeah, it really reduces cancels for sure.
Speaker: Definitely a hundred percent.
Speaker: And yeah.
Speaker: And so for our solopreneurs that are listening, even if your company doesn't do something like this, like I know you were telling me, Corey, your company doesn't do nests anymore, but sometimes you'll still go out and put that into kind of like sweeten the deal and solidify them.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's something that we started at new power and you know, sometimes you just need that little cherry on top to like get the deal done.
Speaker: And so yeah,
Speaker: Yeah, you can't be afraid to step outside of the box and take some initiative.
Speaker: And guess what?
Speaker: I mean, we all make pretty good money on these deals.
Speaker: And so if I need to go put $200 or $300 into Nest thermostats to solidify a deal, done, no big deal.
Speaker: I mean, the amount of money we're making, really, it's a small figure.
Speaker: And so you can pay somebody to put it in, you can learn how to do it and do it yourself.
Speaker: But there's different things you can do to help solidify that for sure.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: So yeah, I was going to say, even if, even if for our listeners, you're not with a company that does do those things.
Speaker: I mean, it's a pretty small thing to go out and buy like a Nest thermostat or just be creative with it.
Speaker: Something that can lock down the deal, some type of home efficiency thing.
Speaker: And it's really a small investment.
Speaker: I think there's a book out there called Giftology that talks about too.
Speaker: And
Speaker: He recommends, I think 10% of what you make, just turn it around and invest it in your current customers.
Speaker: Cause it's also going to help with the referrals and all that.
Speaker: I'm sure help you get more referrals.
Speaker: It's a tool that can be used for that as well.
Speaker: You can use it for retention and referrals.
Speaker: So yeah, it's a, it's a great tool for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, you can take the focus of making a decision for a $40,000 solar system or 20 year lease, right?
Speaker: You can take the focus on and help them focus on really the benefit of getting something else in addition to it.
Speaker: It really takes a lot of the pressure or the stress off of making the decision today, right?
Speaker: So I think that's really been a big part of the success that I've enjoyed as I, you know, have kind of jumped back in this and gotten into that.
Speaker: So we implemented a lot of this stuff at New Power, but I think I've learned a lot of new tricks and skills as I've come over to this other company and learned this new process.
Speaker: And, you know, it's just paid huge dividends for me for sure.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: Well, thanks for sharing with us the process, Corey, and hopefully people will start to do that.
Speaker: There's too many just typical sales guys out there that it's like the same thing every time.
Speaker: So we can all do that.
Speaker: I think it's going to be better for our customers.
Speaker: We can get them excited about other things and build the urgency that way and taking it away and making them sell us.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's going to increase everyone's sales.
Speaker: So thanks for sharing with us the process, Corey.
Speaker: And before we let you go here, I'm
Speaker: Is there any way if people want to like find out more about you or what you're doing?
Speaker: Are you on social medias at all?
Speaker: Any way for people to connect with you?
Speaker: Uh, probably not.
Speaker: No, I just, smoke signals.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if you send up enough smoke signals, I might see it.
Speaker: No, I, I, uh, I mean, I've got a Facebook page, Corey Vanderpool.
Speaker: Um, and, uh,
Speaker: you know, I think I've got an Instagram account that I never get on, but I, I probably haven't been on Facebook and probably I could feel like that.
Speaker: Well, it just never ends.
Speaker: You keep spinning that wheel.
Speaker: So, um, yeah, I mean, if you're, uh, um, yeah, anybody wants to get ahold of me can get ahold of me through Taylor.
Speaker: Um, and, uh,
Speaker: I don't know why you want to talk to me, I'm just a dude.
Speaker: But somebody like Taylor who's out there spreading the good words, probably he can connect me if he need to.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: And so before I let you go, any final tips you want to give with our audience, Corey?
Speaker: Any final words?
Speaker: Yeah, don't implement this stuff in Arizona.
Speaker: That's where I'm doing it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Anywhere besides Arizona.
Speaker: No, yeah.
Speaker: No, I mean, ultimately, if you feel like the customer, make the customer feel like they're an important person to you and you can build some kind of a relationship with them.
Speaker: And then, you know, just like anything, right?
Speaker: You make it special, you make it unique, you make it feel like it's an opportunity to take advantage of right away.
Speaker: Then I think you can apply that to any sales process, but here in solar, if you do that, it really...
Speaker: You know, I think big dividends.
Speaker: That's great for so far.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Thanks for coming on, Corrine.
Speaker: It's funny, I've actually had a couple of people who have had like unique ideas and stuff like your process that are like hesitant to come on the show.
Speaker: They're like, oh, I don't know if I want people like still in this because it's going to create more competition.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a little bit ambiguous for the stuff I'm saying, but you let out all my secrets.
Speaker: So there you go, Taylor.
Speaker: I tell you a few things and you tell the world.
Speaker: I'm happy to share some knowledge.
Speaker: Obviously, as a whole solar industry grows in general, you know, we...
Speaker: It helps all of us.
Speaker: So it's good to get that information out there for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I think it's more of the abundance mindset.
Speaker: It's going to help everyone rather than being like, oh, someone's going to steal my secret.
Speaker: I think that's negative thoughts.
Speaker: So thanks again for coming on, Corey.
Speaker: And we'll look forward to connecting again, hopefully.
Speaker: And keep closing those deals in Arizona.
Speaker: okay you cut out but i think you said i think you said peace out and have a good day right yeah no thank you guys appreciate it all right thanks cory yo hope you enjoyed the episode with cory if you took some valuable insights go show cory some love hit him up on social media i know he's not super active but let him know you appreciated the show and then if you haven't already for crying out loud
Speaker: Go leave us a review on the podcast.
Speaker: Please, it helps us reach out to more solarpreneurs just like yourself and people who want to grow and crush it in the industry.
Speaker: For next week, we will have Bennett Maxwell.
Speaker: He's going to talk about how he's built his dealer with a team of virtual assistants.
Speaker: You're not going to want to miss it, so tune in for next time's episode and keep crushing.
Speaker: Wow, what another value-packed episode of The Solarpreneur.
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.
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