Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
Speaker: I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Okay, what's going on?
Speaker: We're back here with another podcast.
Speaker: And for the first time ever, we're doing this podcast live from Idaho.
Speaker: Not the mountains of Idaho, but Boise, Idaho.
Speaker: So we're here with someone that has come on the podcast, but it's been like, what, three years ago?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I remember when you were first starting this thing.
Speaker: And now look what it's become.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know, it's been a long time.
Speaker: So, Mr. Dallin Pankeri, welcome back to the show.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: And yeah, so Dallin and I, we go way back, and you can listen to the first podcast.
Speaker: We'll post it in the show notes.
Speaker: But just a quick introduction.
Speaker: This guy right here was the one that recruited me in the solar industry.
Speaker: And so we probably wouldn't have the Solar Pruner podcast if it wasn't for Dallin here.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Pretty much everything you've achieved is thanks to me.
Speaker: So kind of nice knowing that.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: He's like the grandfather, the Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker: He liberated me from pest control into solar.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I'd still be running around with those pest guys probably.
Speaker: So, yeah, I'm super grateful for him for getting me in the solar opportunity, giving me the opportunity, and glad that he didn't.
Speaker: I originally tried to recruit him for pest control, so I'm glad that he didn't.
Speaker: It was a battle.
Speaker: Yeah, glad that he didn't come.
Speaker: It took me, maybe we shared this on the last one, but I remember it took me taking you out on a helicopter flying over L.A., and then he finally was like, okay, I'll come.
Speaker: Yeah, he laid out the red carpet.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm like, oh my God, he was literally flying me in a helicopter and giving me steak dinners.
Speaker: I'm like, all right, I'm sold.
Speaker: Anyone knows that free food is like the way to recruit me.
Speaker: I love my free food.
Speaker: The ultimate.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But anyway, so yeah, again, you can go and listen to that podcast for Dallin's whole story background.
Speaker: But yeah, he's been, he was in California.
Speaker: We sold for probably four years together and then
Speaker: I went to a different company.
Speaker: We've always been in close contact though, still going out, selling together from time to time.
Speaker: And now, yeah, we finally sort of came full circle because I decided to come out and do a little blitz in Idaho, hang out with them.
Speaker: So we're going to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker: But, yeah, I mean, last time we're in the podcast, you were selling in California, Dallin.
Speaker: So, yeah, do you want to tell us what it's been like, just transition, maybe why you decided to come back to Idaho, hometown?
Speaker: Yeah, so I grew up in Idaho, and I remember that was always...
Speaker: kind of the plan when I started in California is I wanted to live back in Idaho and do solar back here.
Speaker: So yeah, it was kind of always the plan.
Speaker: And Idaho, it's really cheap, the electricity here compared to California, especially in Southern California area.
Speaker: So they had been creeping their way up though.
Speaker: And so it finally got to the point where it was making a little bit more sense.
Speaker: So we moved everything up here and
Speaker: Way different.
Speaker: It's a way different experience.
Speaker: Obviously, the people here seem to be like you've been out knocking a few times.
Speaker: They'll tell you no, but it's the nicest way to say no.
Speaker: So you're not getting like California, you're pretty much having to defend yourself like every single door.
Speaker: Yeah, that'd be aggressive.
Speaker: And so that's really nice.
Speaker: The big difference is selling on, you don't have any savings to sell on.
Speaker: And so I think it really, you really have to break down your presentation
Speaker: so that it is magnifying essentially every other problem that we attack in the California market.
Speaker: Because you still mention those things in California, all the other benefits other than the actual savings.
Speaker: So you just really have to magnify it.
Speaker: And so your sales game, I feel like it has to change a tad bit, but ultimately it's the same product, same thing.
Speaker: So people are still wanting to go with it.
Speaker: But it's definitely a different...
Speaker: different presentation.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, we always, sometimes people make fun of solar in California because you don't really need to know how to sell.
Speaker: I guess now a little bit more so because we're in net reading 3.0, which you have to do a battery.
Speaker: But before it was like we were cutting people's bills in half.
Speaker: So you had clowns running around just out there hustling, making $600,000, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 just selling on these savings.
Speaker: So it's changing.
Speaker: I like markets like this just because California is probably, yes, even still now with the changes, I think it's still probably where people are going to save the most money.
Speaker: Right, yeah.
Speaker: So Idaho is probably more similar to most other markets where you're not...
Speaker: saving as much but you just got to actually know how to sell and build value from these other reasons for going solar but yeah it was funny we were out knocking the other day and we hit some doors together you know for first 45 minutes or something yeah then we went off separate and I'm like wow this is everyone's so nice super easy and then I was telling down the first door I hit
Speaker: It was just some, like, probably some D-bag from California.
Speaker: Get that off his property.
Speaker: I was like, of course.
Speaker: But yeah, later, later, you tell me.
Speaker: It was because he told you no and shut the door, then you re-knocked it.
Speaker: I did knock the door again.
Speaker: So, yeah, I guess the Idaho homes are nice up to a point, but if you do that, maybe they'll get angry.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, these guys got guns, so everyone probably has a gun right behind their door.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: But no, it's true.
Speaker: Everyone's super nice.
Speaker: And I think it's a great market.
Speaker: Got a bunch of appointments lined up today, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker: But yeah, so last podcast, I think if I remember right, we really broke down your clothes.
Speaker: What's cool is Dallin and I, we both hit our Golden Door Awards in 2019.
Speaker: So both went up on the stage.
Speaker: So Dallin taught me a lot of what I do to this day and really high level closer.
Speaker: But something I wanted to ask you about, Dallin, in California, we were at the company called New Power and you were...
Speaker: kind of like director type guy running a team and everything over there.
Speaker: So now you're running the dealer out here in Idaho.
Speaker: What's it been like transitioning from just being more like manager type to now being the owner of the company and everything?
Speaker: Yeah, the jump is a lot more intense than I thought it was going to be, to be honest.
Speaker: It was definitely having so many balls in the air at one time, trying to juggle, especially when you first start, because at least in my position, I was having to be selling too while trying to be growing everything.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All the time I thought I was going to be having pretty much dissipated because then being having both.
Speaker: And so the jump was pretty intense.
Speaker: I do think if anyone's thinking about doing it or starting a dealer and going to a new market, it's definitely
Speaker: I would really make sure you're ready for it.
Speaker: Because one thing is if you're planning on making more money, it probably isn't going to work out that way.
Speaker: And so I'm grateful for the time I did have and I learned if I do have advice of it, it would be to act as if, no matter where you're at, act as if you are the owner, if you are running it.
Speaker: And if that had to be the position you had to do, say if you filled everything out.
Speaker: And if you're able to do that and you can be happy about it, then maybe that's something you can start going towards.
Speaker: I think, yeah, so the jump was pretty intense, but it's been great.
Speaker: I think it's been a lot of fun being back up here in Idaho.
Speaker: I do love being here and selling solar here and giving people the option here.
Speaker: But yeah, if I could go back, I would probably do it again.
Speaker: Now, I also, the other part would be when you are selling out there, just sell seriously as much as you can because if you do want to be able to
Speaker: to start a dealer or do anything like that you have to make sure you you have a good chunk of money to throw into it and because it might be a long time until you're paying yourself yeah that's a good point and so yeah but it's definitely been a ride yeah for sure i bet but yeah i like that because i hear from a lot of guys they just want to go start their own deal or they go
Speaker: I'm not a manager yet.
Speaker: Like, why am I giving all this money and overrides to managers?
Speaker: And they're like, you know what?
Speaker: I'll just go start my own dealer, make way more per deal.
Speaker: But I think a lot of people don't realize the amount of work it takes.
Speaker: Creating a culture.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like creating something.
Speaker: Like where you're selling now, you're able to like walk in, pretty much bring anyone you want.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they can be like thrown in and they get enveloped into this culture.
Speaker: And yeah,
Speaker: In a way, you could be making more money just by doing that without having to start your own thing.
Speaker: Be careful what you wish for in a way.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I also have buddies who it's like they went and started their own dealer and then they realized the amount of work it takes.
Speaker: They're like, this is too much work trying to run a team.
Speaker: So they just sell by themselves now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They're the owner of the company, but they're basically just a...
Speaker: glorified yeah exactly it's yeah there is that team part like you if you have a team it's so much more fun to sell and stuff but if you're just by yourself which like at the very beginning of this that's pretty much what we were doing like we were by ourselves for a little bit trying to grow our team and it's like
Speaker: It sucks when you don't have those other people around you praising you or saying, good job, way to go, and kind of pushing.
Speaker: Everyone's pushing each other, but when it's just you, it's like, oh, I guess maybe I don't have to do this.
Speaker: Maybe I don't have to do this.
Speaker: You don't have that team to actually push you forward.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, it's a lot of work, so I got a ton of respect for you guys, and that's part of the reason why I haven't gone and started my own telework.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You have a lot going on too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because even just managing small teams where I am part of a company, it's like...
Speaker: Even that, if it's a smaller office, if you're constantly trying to recruit, it's like, you know how it is.
Speaker: Sometimes it's pulling teeth to get these guys to go out there.
Speaker: Got to be extremely self-motivated.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a lot of respect I got for you guys, but especially going to a new market because when you came out here, you hadn't really sold in Idaho up to that point?
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: We did have a few closers that were up here that we were getting online leads for.
Speaker: And so they were closing some that we were sending up that they were just getting online.
Speaker: And so we were able to, that kind of was our test in the market before we moved up here.
Speaker: But yeah, it was still like me personally, I hadn't really sold anything up here.
Speaker: We just had some guys up here that decided they wanted to.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, because were you nervous?
Speaker: I'm sure it's a big step.
Speaker: I know your family really well.
Speaker: I know your wife, she likes California a lot.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: So were you pretty nervous coming into the unknown?
Speaker: I know this is your hometown, so that probably helps a little bit too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Were you feeling coming back into the unknown?
Speaker: Yeah, I think, yeah, because I was leaving something that was really good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it was...
Speaker: It was really nerve wracking because I was like, if I'm leaving something that's really good for this, it ends up like the whole, the grass is never greener on the other side or is always greener on the other side.
Speaker: It's like, I was afraid that that was going to happen, that I was, you know, so that little nervous part.
Speaker: But once I got up here, I think that kind of the adrenaline started kicking in where we'd
Speaker: moved everything up here there wasn't really a like kind of burned the boats in a way my wife wouldn't like to hear that because she wants to go back all the time uh but yeah so once that happened once we were up here i was pretty much like survival you know like i just there's no nothing that was going to get in our way of of progressing and so i maybe when i was laying in my bed at night when i was like crying and stuff like that yeah
Speaker: But yeah, I want to get into some tactical things down.
Speaker: Like we're mentioning before, there's a different way you sell here.
Speaker: You got to build more value.
Speaker: So what are some, I don't know, what's like some key differences or how would you say that your sales process has changed from what you're doing in California versus now in Idaho?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I, I really have to, you know, there's all the, the normal ones, all the,
Speaker: Sales, everyone's listening, know these ones.
Speaker: Make sure both homeowners are there, like the classic.
Speaker: Make sure that you're sitting with the actual decision makers.
Speaker: That's probably the biggest one.
Speaker: But I would say...
Speaker: Cause here in Idaho, they're most times they're paying a little bit more most times.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Or sometimes it's quite a bit more.
Speaker: And so before you even get into solar, like at all, you have to get into Idaho power and like what they've done.
Speaker: Cause they're, even though they are really cheap, they, they, it's these past five years, they've been going up a little bit quicker and it's mainly due just to,
Speaker: all the Californians moving here, man.
Speaker: You're welcome.
Speaker: Yeah, I know.
Speaker: It's a catch-22 because it actually is really good for us because as electricity prices go up, we're actually happy for the solar place.
Speaker: But, and so one thing I make sure I mentioned to every single customer before we even kind of get in solar is their situation right now, like what they're doing and what they're paying for power now.
Speaker: And I explain kilowatt hours and I, and because a lot of the people like in California, they've probably seen a solar presentation three to six times, you know, or, you know, they've talked to someone about solar quite a few times.
Speaker: Most people here in Idaho, they've maybe seen it one time.
Speaker: It's not their job, so it's not like they understand it really that well.
Speaker: So most of the times we need it to be explained to us a bunch of times.
Speaker: So I'll go into detail about kilowatt hours and what they were paying.
Speaker: So if they were paying $100 right now, I'll show them.
Speaker: I'll draw a little graph on my paper.
Speaker: I'll be like, so it looks like five years ago, using the same amount of power, this bill would have been about $75.
Speaker: And then I'll do the next five years.
Speaker: So you guys plan on staying in the house over a year?
Speaker: Most times they'll say yes.
Speaker: I'm like, okay, so in the next five years, it looks like this is what you'll be paying.
Speaker: In the next 10 years, this looks like this will be paying.
Speaker: And then the joke that we always use, you don't plan on going to Amish anytime soon, right?
Speaker: The classic.
Speaker: Yeah, they really howl over it over here.
Speaker: Like I thought Californians thought that was funny.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: That works better here.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: It's a good silver bullet.
Speaker: You need to try it out in like Pennsylvania or something.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: You might get a pitchfork to the face.
Speaker: Actually, they're neighbors on this or something.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: And so I have to make sure they understand what they're going to be paying because if they don't know what they're comparing it to in the future, very hard for them to like justify it now, especially if they're going to be paying like 15, 20, 30 bucks more a month.
Speaker: It's like, well, why would I do that?
Speaker: It's like, well, cause it's going to be higher and we've already established that.
Speaker: So you got to like put that in their head at the very beginning.
Speaker: And then the
Speaker: which I can't really remember the podcast before, so I don't even know if this is in it, but doing a pre-close, getting them to commit that at the very beginning that, hey, if we, by the end of us meeting day, you see that this is something that's going to benefit you guys.
Speaker: We'll get an application started to see if you're even approved.
Speaker: Does that sound fair?
Speaker: And like give them a soft committal that if you can make it make sense with them, that they're going to submit an application because then it gives you a little bit of...
Speaker: some, uh, uh, what's the social pressure?
Speaker: Cause they've kind of made a commitment to you.
Speaker: They're, they're going to hopefully be your friend by the end.
Speaker: And so that gives them a little bit of a, it can, it can ease the pain of making that decision.
Speaker: Um, if you get that pretty, pretty close.
Speaker: And so focusing on, on what their bills are going to be going up,
Speaker: And then having a pre-close is good and then using all the techniques in the book that everyone knows of trying to close at the end.
Speaker: Everything else is about the same.
Speaker: I wouldn't say there's not, I haven't had to reinvent the wheel by any means.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, and I think it's very similar and the stuff you're doing here, I think if you do it in other, like California, it's even better because I noticed that I was sometimes forgetting to build the pain like that, show them what their future bill would be.
Speaker: Just because it's like, oh, it's such a no brainer.
Speaker: It's cutting your bill in half right now.
Speaker: But the best closers in states where you are actually saving money, I think they're doing the same stuff.
Speaker: They're projecting the future.
Speaker: They're getting the homeowner to agree with it because sometimes you'll present it and the homeowners maybe can tell they're like, oh, yeah.
Speaker: But you got to actually make them believe.
Speaker: What I love and what I've learned just from the short time we've been out here too is you're just like, yeah, like you talked about, you're talking about the local circumstances.
Speaker: Oh, there's so many people moving in.
Speaker: There's all this new construction going on and areas we've been hitting they can literally see from their pores.
Speaker: There's like new homes going up and all that.
Speaker: And so I've seen just in the few days we've been out here selling that it makes sense to them.
Speaker: Like, okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker: They're having to upgrade the infrastructure.
Speaker: New homes going in.
Speaker: So I love that.
Speaker: Just basically using whatever is going on locally or in the state level to make them see.
Speaker: And usually I feel like that clicks a lot more in their head because it's not just like it's something that they're seeing every day.
Speaker: They're probably passing it on the way to work, seeing all these new people.
Speaker: They hate all the Californians moving in.
Speaker: So it's getting that emotion involved.
Speaker: Yeah, it's surprising what that line will do.
Speaker: It really is.
Speaker: People immediately jump right on board.
Speaker: And then if they are from California, you can see they kind of get a little shy.
Speaker: They'll do something like that.
Speaker: Yeah, and so for anyone listening to this, I think that's a good tip that you can use in any market, whatever market you're selling in.
Speaker: Look at the local things going on.
Speaker: Do your research on your market.
Speaker: Figure out what the pain points are so you can help the homeowner see that because that's going to give you the best shot.
Speaker: It's creating that emotion and getting them to close, I think.
Speaker: It also helps a ton just setting that point, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: As you're out there on the doors pointing out these things that they can see.
Speaker: So, yeah, that's really good.
Speaker: And, yeah, like setting the – what about as far as like setting appointments?
Speaker: Have you noticed any differences?
Speaker: I know you said like people are generally nice out here.
Speaker: Generally, yeah, you can go out.
Speaker: I think you probably might have to get through the same amount of people to book an appointment as California because there's still –
Speaker: Like there's a good interest here, but there's a lot of older people, you know, those people that just don't want to change.
Speaker: So anyways, you do still have to get through.
Speaker: I think the biggest difference is you are – a whole hour goes by and you don't talk to anyone that's mean.
Speaker: So it seems like it goes a little bit quicker.
Speaker: But weather is a big deal though here.
Speaker: Obviously, you got California is so amazing.
Speaker: You can pretty much knock you around.
Speaker: You don't have to worry about it here.
Speaker: You have to go through the mental toughness of when it's extremely hot.
Speaker: We had a summer where it was pretty much 100 degrees every day.
Speaker: And then the wintertime, it snows and it's below freezing a good chunk of time.
Speaker: So not only are you fighting the battle of dealing with rejection and everything, but you're also fighting the elements a little bit.
Speaker: So those are probably the biggest differences and similarities.
Speaker: They're very similar still.
Speaker: Yeah, that's why I like California because I don't know if I'm tough enough to knock Idaho in the winter.
Speaker: It feels great right now, September.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's going to get cold.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: California has definitely the golden coast.
Speaker: Yeah, especially San Diego.
Speaker: Everyone's there at San Diego.
Speaker: Yeah, that place sucks.
Speaker: But another thing I noticed, and just maybe you've seen this in newer reps out here, is just where I've caught myself probably more so out here than California since people are so nice.
Speaker: You'll talk to someone for like half an hour where it was probably a waste of time.
Speaker: They weren't necessarily going to do anything, but they're just being really nice.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: So do you have any tips for people like that?
Speaker: They're just being nice.
Speaker: Do you just like...
Speaker: I don't know, try to catch yourself and cut them off or how do you coach your new reps so that you don't spend an hour with a grandpa.
Speaker: A 92-year-old.
Speaker: Yeah, with Grandpa Tommy over.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, that's always the conundrum because you can feel like you're building a good relationship with them.
Speaker: And so it's like sending off all the signals like, okay, this is a good appointment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you do find, I think age is a big one.
Speaker: So if they're like extremely old, then, you know, 80 plus, then it's, you know, those ones tend to not work out a lot of times, even if you can't sit with them.
Speaker: And so I, if you can sit with them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so I think our kind of rule of thumb, yeah, is like 80.
Speaker: You don't necessarily have to ask them, but if they just look like they're 80, kind of like leave them alone.
Speaker: Now, if they're with it and they're wanting to do it, it's case by case.
Speaker: If they're as lucid as Joe Biden, then...
Speaker: Go for it.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: And so, yeah, that's probably the one thing.
Speaker: But anyone else, like if it's a normal, if it's like 50-year-old guy and you're building a relationship with him, I usually don't.
Speaker: I would tell them just keep on going with it because who knows, it might turn into something.
Speaker: I think age is kind of the spectrum I stay on if I'm going to be spending more time with them or not.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Yeah, we had one.
Speaker: Yeah, last weekend, we were hitting some doors for a little bit, too.
Speaker: And we talked to this super old guy.
Speaker: He let us right in.
Speaker: And even that one, we both knew it probably wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker: This guy was, what, 90 or something, I think you said?
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: and he was just willing to talk for us for yeah he just let us in right off the bat like okay let's see they're gonna be like a lay down he's gonna do it for sure we're a huge waste of time and yeah luckily we i think we tried to manage it pretty well we you know heard him out and tried to be nice but we i think we tried to go two or three times and he's like oh well let me start talking about his family again
Speaker: Then finally, I'm like, okay, we got to get to some of your neighbors.
Speaker: And he's like, oh, I got to give you guys a drink.
Speaker: Yeah, he's like, it'll make me feel better.
Speaker: I'm like, okay.
Speaker: My son really doesn't want me to do this, but leave me your card.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Yeah, we could have stayed in there a lot longer.
Speaker: We could honestly have asked him, can we take a nap somewhere?
Speaker: And he would have been okay with it.
Speaker: He probably would have been happy.
Speaker: He wasn't doing anything.
Speaker: But I think that's a good tip, though, for like,
Speaker: especially in those markets where you have, you know, maybe in the South, there's nicer people, people are older folks.
Speaker: You got to watch out for that.
Speaker: Cause I made that mistake all the time as a newer rep thinking that I was working really hard, but I would be an hour in the home with some grandma or 80 year olds and think I was, you know, making good use of my time, but probably wasn't the smartest use of time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I think that is a good tip, especially for newer reps.
Speaker: Make sure you are conscious of your time and not spending all day in homes where they're probably not going to do anything.
Speaker: But yeah, another thing, I've noticed it seems like to me that you have to be a little more selective out here because California, I would say 99% of people can...
Speaker: benefit if not 100 can benefit from going solar especially as we have loans ppas you have all the options for them we're out here um right now i hear there might maybe you're one at least as soon but pretty much just have loans right now at the time of this recording 2023 um so is that another thing you've had to maybe adjust out here is just being more selective and
Speaker: Like looking for home.
Speaker: Like another thing is we saw a lot of houses with shade on it.
Speaker: Right, yeah.
Speaker: Tons of trees.
Speaker: Do you feel like you are being a lot more picky as doors you're not going to?
Speaker: You definitely pass way more doors.
Speaker: You definitely have it.
Speaker: There's Idaho or Boise is...
Speaker: it's from it's like means la boah which is like the city or trees like or something so we have a lot of trees here okay and so yeah the shading's the one thing palm trees don't shade that much so in california you don't have to worry about it here yeah you shading's a big one because the big difference between here in california is people use a lot more power like you just got a bill that person's using four thousand in a month
Speaker: So the systems are huge.
Speaker: And so the systems are also really expensive.
Speaker: So the tax credits are really big.
Speaker: And so when you're dealing with the more elderly folk, when their tax credit is 30 grand, probably not going to be able to take advantage of it.
Speaker: Now, hopefully, the PPAs or leases come around where we can then start helping them a little bit more.
Speaker: That's another one of those reasons about dealing with old people here is it might not be worth your time because they're not going to be able to get the tax credit.
Speaker: Sometimes those ones you pass by, I would say those are the ones
Speaker: more likely than not you'll be able to see them from the street yeah you'll be able to skip them yeah another thing there was i didn't even think about until you told me is you're almost when bills are insanely high out here it almost makes it more difficult in a way yeah well if you're coming from california because you know you you sell a 40 or 50 000 system like oh man this is getting out there there's like a six kilowatt seven kilowatt that was awesome um
Speaker: Where here, yeah, you're in the 80 to 100,000 like very often.
Speaker: And so you have to get over like the sticker shock price, the sticker shock.
Speaker: I know in California, sometimes I would be scared of showing people if it was over like 40 or 50,000 because like, oh, it's a lot of money.
Speaker: And I knew that if it scared me, it's going to scare them type thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And by here, yeah, it's finally, it's pretty much, I can't even let it be a part of the conversation or it's not something I really focus on just because it is such a big, big number.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then, yeah, I mean, bigger number means bigger tax credit too.
Speaker: Yeah, that too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You're hoping everyone's paying a lot of money, making a lot of money so they can pay a lot of money.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So definitely some things you need to think about.
Speaker: And I think that just goes to show that whatever market you're selling in,
Speaker: Like, if you're starting a new market, these may be things you're not thinking about.
Speaker: So I think it's good to talk with people that are in markets you want to go to.
Speaker: If you're new to a market, make sure you get with a good organization, people that know what they're doing.
Speaker: Because if you don't know these things, like if I had come out here without you, just on my own, then...
Speaker: Yeah, another example is just like the town we're in.
Speaker: I don't know how to pronounce it.
Speaker: I kept saying it wrong.
Speaker: Even now, can you say it?
Speaker: Kuna, right?
Speaker: Yeah, Kuna, there you go.
Speaker: I finally got it.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: Kuna and... Yeah, I kept going to like Kuna Matata or something.
Speaker: So, Don's like, dude, you're going to sound like an idiot if they catch you saying that.
Speaker: I had to correct that quick.
Speaker: And it took me like two days to figure it out.
Speaker: Even now, I'm still trying to pronounce it.
Speaker: So, yeah, stuff like that.
Speaker: It's important to know your market, figure out these things, and talk to people that are knowledgeable.
Speaker: And not just the market, but, yeah, I mean, even the towns within it, the different areas you're going to be in, because you don't want to be like me pronouncing the name of the town wrong.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: And know your stuff, right?
Speaker: Um, so yeah, I want to transition here before we start wrapping up here, Dallin.
Speaker: Um, but we mentioned a little bit, just differences between like manage a team and running the dealer.
Speaker: Um, you know, you're owning the company now, but for someone that wants to maybe like start their own dealer, uh, maybe they were managing a team.
Speaker: We touched on that, but do you have any, maybe like mistakes you made or, I don't know, things that you didn't think about as you're going from,
Speaker: Running a team in California to being the boss.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's like, I don't know, maybe some tips you'd have on that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I kind of mentioned this at the beginning, but one of them was the thought of using your time.
Speaker: Like if you're coming up and you're going to be selling while you're starting a dealer, then you really have to make sure you have a good schedule that's going to work with.
Speaker: And if you're married, that works with your wife or husband.
Speaker: And because that was something that kind of caught me off guard of how I was so used to working from one to eight.
Speaker: That was like the knocking slash deal schedule, sometimes deals in the morning.
Speaker: That was my schedule.
Speaker: So my life kind of evolved in that way where I had my mornings more free and then I was still getting back at eight, sometimes a little bit earlier.
Speaker: But then when I switched to the dealer and I was selling, I was doing everything in the morning that was normally like my family-ish time.
Speaker: And then now that my morning was done, but I was selling, so I wasn't getting back.
Speaker: So my family time was definitely taking a hit.
Speaker: And so I had to, that was, that was a, I guess not necessarily a mistake, but it was something I had to learn and evolve with it to make sure that my wife was happy and I was able to spend time with her and also be able to grow it.
Speaker: So that was probably one of the big ones.
Speaker: And then along with that is, yeah, you're putting a lot of money into it to start.
Speaker: And so you want to be making sure it's making money, things like that.
Speaker: So don't expect to be making a whole bunch at the very beginning type thing.
Speaker: So yeah, if that's your expectation is, oh, I'm going to be making more money because I'm going to start a dealer, then you might want to revisit that.
Speaker: what you're doing right now and maybe you can improve a few things because I think that's the jump that you shouldn't be making at that point if that's the reason.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Were you, did you know that before?
Speaker: Did you kind of already like know you're going to probably be making a little less?
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: Are you surprised?
Speaker: It's like, oh, I actually got to be out selling still quite a bit because that's where a lot of the money is going.
Speaker: Well, I did, I was having to sell longer than I expected.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so that for sure, that was the case as well.
Speaker: What was the first thing you said before that?
Speaker: Just like, were you surprised that, like, did you already kind of know that coming in?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: So I did talk to a few other people that had started a dealer and they all, they kind of told me that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so I was, I was expecting it, which I'm grateful for because I was, or I shouldn't say I was expecting, because I also wanted to be making a lot of money at the same.
Speaker: It's not like I didn't want to make money.
Speaker: I shouldn't say that.
Speaker: But it was a little bit less about me in the moment.
Speaker: Before, when I was selling by myself or with the team, I always had to make sure I was producing.
Speaker: That was like my number one priority.
Speaker: But then all of a sudden, these other things were my number one priority.
Speaker: So I wasn't doing what I thought I was going to be able to to make what I was wanting.
Speaker: And so it was still, even though I was kind of warned about it,
Speaker: I was thinking I had a plan to get away from it, but it still ended up happening.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Tough to plan for everything for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, we haven't really mentioned too, but you, you're running it with Dan Cranford.
Speaker: You, you guys run it together.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so what was that like stepping in with, I don't know if there's been any like,
Speaker: challenges or like i don't know maybe difficulties doing it together i know there's always stuff like you know working as like a partnership and all that so what's that been like or what advice would you have someone that's doing it with another person maybe like communication ways you guys communicate right yeah yeah all those things so luckily dan he is like the most um
Speaker: lighthearted in a way.
Speaker: He's really serious about stuff, but he takes everything pretty lightly.
Speaker: And so if something is wrong, we're able to fix it relatively quick.
Speaker: Me and him are both very...
Speaker: we really try to let go of our ego when dealing with things.
Speaker: We both read, there's this book called power of now, which have you read that one?
Speaker: I don't think I have.
Speaker: Super good book.
Speaker: It just, it just talks about like letting go of things that are out of your control and essentially just focus on, on what can happen right now.
Speaker: And me and I'm kind of both take that to heart.
Speaker: And so I think,
Speaker: having that where we really go over egos just trying to figure out how to solve whatever is going on like we both know we're not trying to ever screw the other one over by any means even if maybe one of our actions seems like that at the moment and so we've it's been really good so if you have a partner like that it makes it um things go a lot more smoothly um
Speaker: And he's a really hard worker, so we kind of stay in our own lanes when we need to, or when we need to, we'll jump in and say, hey, what about this?
Speaker: And then we're able to overcome it.
Speaker: Did you guys divide up?
Speaker: Because I'm always curious about how you decide, okay, this person's going to handle this, it's going to handle this.
Speaker: Maybe you guys know your strengths and all that, but...
Speaker: Is it more like, would you say, Dan came in and said, hey, I think you'd be really good at this?
Speaker: Or do you guys just like, oh, I want to do this?
Speaker: Or how do you guys decide who's going to do what in the business?
Speaker: Yeah, when we first started, that was one of the learning things as we moved up, as I moved up here and we decided to partner up together.
Speaker: He's kind of more over the operations side, dealing with anything else.
Speaker: leading up to install and post install he kind of like I always help with those two things as well but he's kind of the one that heads all that and mine was more on the sales side so I'd be the one doing the trainings and then we have one of our main guys Jay he kind of does all the recruiting so we have three people that kind of
Speaker: But we definitely share.
Speaker: We share hats.
Speaker: So we'll let each other do the other thing if we need or need help.
Speaker: So that's no problem.
Speaker: But yeah, so sales, operations, recruiting.
Speaker: Yeah, that's good.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: And I know you guys had some team hour for the summer and all that.
Speaker: And yeah, winter, that's tough.
Speaker: I know a lot of you guys were summer guys coming out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I don't blame it.
Speaker: It'd be tough keeping guys on the way, like knocking on the winter.
Speaker: That's why it's blitz season during the wintertime because, yeah, you got to get out of this cold.
Speaker: Come back out to California.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but no, it's been cool hearing about the journey.
Speaker: And hopefully we keep having you back on because there's always different perspectives from guys going to other markets and things we can apply that make us better.
Speaker: in whatever market we're selling.
Speaker: Um, so before I forget, Dal, if people want to reach out to you, uh, I don't know if you're, you're on social media as much lately, but if people want to maybe pick your brain, more about the item market or opening up their own dealers, stuff like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Reach out to me.
Speaker: I got an Instagram at Dallin P five.
Speaker: I'll put it in the description.
Speaker: We'll make you do that.
Speaker: Thanks, dude.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, reach out.
Speaker: I'd be happy to help out with anything if you guys have any questions.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: And then last question before we wrap up here now.
Speaker: I know I think last podcast we talked a little bit about, you know, Golden Door, what it takes to get over 100 installs in a year.
Speaker: I think it's now like 130 or something.
Speaker: But yeah, maybe for someone that wants to get Golden Door on the year or someone that's struggling would be some like final advice or final advice.
Speaker: words of wisdom that you'd have just to wrap up here yeah yeah i'm a big i love collecting data that's like my my favorite thing to do as far as projecting what can happen in the future yeah and so if you're someone that first as far as with the golden door or if you're not doing that great you want to improve both is really good is figure out what your averages are like
Speaker: On average, go back and see how many deals you've closed.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Out of how many deals you've closed, how many AKs or appointments did it sit, had to sit to have those closed?
Speaker: How many appointments did you have to book?
Speaker: And then just figure out what your ratios are.
Speaker: Be like, okay, if I knock 25 doors, that means on average, I'm going to get one appointment and I need five appointments to have
Speaker: three AKs out of those three AKs.
Speaker: You figure that out, then all you have to do is start planning your day around those goals.
Speaker: And so that's what me and you both, we would be pretty much doing when we won Golden Doors.
Speaker: We knew exactly how many doors we had to hit, how many hours we had to knock.
Speaker: And if you kind of just divide up your year, you're able to get there.
Speaker: And then if you're not doing that well, it's still do the same thing.
Speaker: And then like Grant Cardone says, just usually you'll have to 10x whatever you think you're going to be needing to get where you really want to go.
Speaker: And so if you're not doing that well, I would imagine it's just you really got to increase your reps.
Speaker: That's probably the biggest thing you have to do.
Speaker: Yep, so important to have anyone listening.
Speaker: I think especially experienced reps, sometimes I forget about these things.
Speaker: Just going back to the basics of figuring out how many appointments you need to sit in, how many
Speaker: how many it takes to get a close.
Speaker: And really it's as simple as that.
Speaker: And any guy that's closing a ton of deals, they know their ratios really well and they know what they need to do.
Speaker: And that way it becomes more of a science instead of just guessing when you're going to get a sell.
Speaker: So, Dallin, we appreciate you having you on today.
Speaker: And guys, go out and learn your markets.
Speaker: If you're thinking to start your own dealer like Dallin has done, make sure you listen to the things he's talked about today.
Speaker: know what you're getting into.
Speaker: And yeah, it's been an awesome podcast today and look forward to running it back again in the future though.
Speaker: I appreciate it, bud.
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