Transcript
Speaker: What do you call an underground group of solar professionals on a mission to create a more sustainable world?
Speaker: We call ourselves solopreneurs.
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: Solopreneur 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: What's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Taylor Armstrong here, back with another episode.
Speaker: If you're a first-timer to the show, I want to thank you for hopping on.
Speaker: Hopefully, you can provide as much value and take your sales skills to another level.
Speaker: If you are a return listener, thanks for coming back for another episode this weekend.
Speaker: So I wanted to go through a couple announcements before.
Speaker: If you didn't listen to last episode, go check it out.
Speaker: It was our 100th episode, anniversary episode.
Speaker: So shared some pretty vulnerable stuff that maybe shouldn't have been shared, but you can listen to it.
Speaker: Be the judge.
Speaker: But we're excited to be back with another episode.
Speaker: And last episode, we did do a giveaway today.
Speaker: just to kind of celebrate the 100th episode.
Speaker: So if you didn't get the details on it, go and join the Solarpreneur Facebook group.
Speaker: It is listed as an announcement.
Speaker: And at the time of us posting this episode, there will be two days left in the giveaway.
Speaker: So go log on.
Speaker: Get some free stuff.
Speaker: I already explained what it is, but I'm giving away some boom, boom sticks.
Speaker: They're these cool essential oil type scentsy things that get your senses going, get your mind running, get your mind thinking.
Speaker: It gets you prepared whether you're going out into a deal or whether you're stepping into a neighborhood to start knocking doors.
Speaker: So I'm giving away 48 of them.
Speaker: Go and grab yours.
Speaker: All I ask is that you leave a review of the podcast and then invite a few people into the Facebook group.
Speaker: Take you less than five minutes.
Speaker: So just do it.
Speaker: Might as well get something free.
Speaker: And then, you know, do something nice if this podcast has helped you.
Speaker: So go get in on that.
Speaker: And then the second thing, we are booking new guests for the Solarpreneur podcast.
Speaker: As you've heard on the last few episodes, it's been just me.
Speaker: We've got some exciting guests coming up, but I want to hear from you, our listeners.
Speaker: Who do you want on the show?
Speaker: Who do you know that's dominating in the industry?
Speaker: Who's doing something unique, whether it's ways to get leads, whether it's ways to follow up, getting referrals, anyone that's doing something unique or crushing it in the industry, we want to hear from them.
Speaker: So go and send me your recommendations, and then we are booking guests for the summer.
Speaker: So a couple things, go do it.
Speaker: Today's episode, I wanted to share something that just happened and it reminded me of the importance of one thing, and that is social proof.
Speaker: We've all heard it, I think, if you've been in sales.
Speaker: It's important to get social proof.
Speaker: It's important to use references, get names of people that have signed up for your service, that have had solar installed on their roof,
Speaker: But something happened to me the other day that reminded how seriously people take references and what they're seeing.
Speaker: We had an appointment.
Speaker: This was the most solid appointment I've been to in probably a month or so.
Speaker: Just didn't really have any concerns.
Speaker: Got to the end and asked them, hey, so can you see any reason that this wouldn't be a smart thing for your home?
Speaker: And they're like, no, this seems like an awesome program.
Speaker: I don't know why anyone wouldn't do this.
Speaker: Just completely sold.
Speaker: Signed them up.
Speaker: The only thing they said at the end, they're like, this is awesome.
Speaker: The only thing we're going to go do is just check the reviews for your company.
Speaker: So I'm like, okay, it's not a big deal.
Speaker: And currently I'm working with a few different installers.
Speaker: But what happened was we...
Speaker: We signed them up through this installer and they went and found a few negative reviews.
Speaker: The average was like a 4.5, so it was nothing terrible.
Speaker: I was thinking, well, they're not going to find anything negative.
Speaker: It's fine.
Speaker: We haven't had cancels.
Speaker: And sure enough, I get a call the next day and they said, Taylor, you know what?
Speaker: Your installer, we looked and yeah, it's generally positive, but all the negative reviews, they said the same thing.
Speaker: that the company doesn't respond, that they're tough to get in touch of, tough to get in touch with if there are problems.
Speaker: And they're just like, yeah, we just, since they're all similar negative reviews, not that there's a ton of them, but it just makes us feel uncomfortable that we're seeing all the same thing being said.
Speaker: And I'm like, are you kidding me?
Speaker: I mean, it's a few negative reviews, come on.
Speaker: Everyone posts them negative, it's the internet.
Speaker: So I went back, tried to talk to them,
Speaker: tried to explain the situation.
Speaker: I mean, he had his own business, so I was thinking, ah, this won't be a big deal at all.
Speaker: Any business gets some negatives, but sure enough, that caused him to overthink it and he canceled.
Speaker: Rock solid appointments, rock solid clothes, and he canceled because of few negative reviews.
Speaker: Okay, so usually this doesn't happen, but it just reminded me how many times did people
Speaker: look at your reviews how seriously do people take these reviews and some people they do take it very seriously as you can see that's why it's even more important in today's digital world you need to be getting reviews you need to be using social proof at all time at all times so I found a couple points to back this up
Speaker: Hey, solarepreneurs, real quick.
Speaker: If you've been in the solar industry any amount of time, you know that in order to take it to the next level, you need to always be recruiting.
Speaker: What is it?
Speaker: ABR, always be recruiting.
Speaker: So if you need help with recruiting, I wanted to share with you something that helped me take my recruiting skills to the next level.
Speaker: We literally went from an office of less than 10 reps to 25 to 30 reps in less than three months.
Speaker: And we did this with reps that continue to sell with us.
Speaker: Two or three of them went on to become managers.
Speaker: Several of them were top producers in our office.
Speaker: And there are multiple reps that are still with us to this day, more than a year later.
Speaker: So what is it that helped me?
Speaker: I took up the services of Ryan Holman with Cells Recruiting University.
Speaker: He helped me develop a system to take my recruiting game to the next level.
Speaker: And he really helped me follow up with the recruits, schedule group interviews with them, get a huge pool of applicants coming in day after day.
Speaker: I wanted to share with you guys his link.
Speaker: If you are looking to take your recruiting skills to the next level, go to Calendly.com slash SRU forward slash Solapreneur.
Speaker: Once again, that's Calendly.com slash SRU slash Solapreneur.
Speaker: SRU is Sales Recruiting University.
Speaker: Ryan will help you take it to the next level.
Speaker: This is on an article I found through HubSpot, but I thought they put it very clearly here.
Speaker: They said social proof creates... Here it is.
Speaker: Social proof is one of the most powerful psychological heuristics because it connects the persuasiveness of an idea or behavior to how others are responding to it.
Speaker: Additionally, when many other people are engaging in something, it triggers the brain to reduce the perception of risk associated with an idea or activity.
Speaker: It is the reason we're all drawn to best-selling books, blockbuster movies, crowded restaurants, and businesses that have many satisfied customers.
Speaker: So it creates that trust.
Speaker: It lessens the risk.
Speaker: That's why people are so drawn to reviews.
Speaker: That's why businesses are so big on testimonials, getting reviews.
Speaker: How many times have you...
Speaker: gone out to pick a restaurant and then if you don't see anyone in the restaurant you talk yourself out of it I don't know about you it happens to me quite a bit so it just goes to show how powerful the social proof is we need to be getting it we need to be using it in ourselves another example I remember when my wife she plays the violin we both studied music at our university matter of fact so I went to a lot of concerts back then
Speaker: A lot of the geeky concerts, you know, the orchestras, the bands.
Speaker: I was all part of it, you name it.
Speaker: And these concerts, sometimes there wouldn't be that many people showing up.
Speaker: I was in Cedar City, Utah, small school.
Speaker: Not a ton of people there, so we wouldn't fill the stadium or anything like that.
Speaker: But a few people would show up.
Speaker: Then I remember a few times I would go to my wife's concerts there, and wouldn't be too many people.
Speaker: At the end, everyone clapped.
Speaker: And then I always wanted, I'm like, okay, well, at the time we were dating, she was my girlfriend.
Speaker: I'm like, I better support her.
Speaker: I better give her a standing ovation.
Speaker: But I remember one time I went to do it and there was no one, not one person in the audience that gave a standing ovation.
Speaker: And I'm like, oh shoot, do I really want to be that guy that stands up and does the standing ovation when no one else is?
Speaker: So times like that, how many times you've been to a concert
Speaker: and no one is standing up to give the ovation.
Speaker: That is another example of looking at what other people do and then it influencing you.
Speaker: I know everyone's like, oh, I don't care what other people think.
Speaker: I don't do what other people are doing.
Speaker: But even if you think that, no matter what, you're still influenced one way or another by people doing or not doing something.
Speaker: So how do we use this in ourselves?
Speaker: Now that hopefully you understand the importance of this, and if you've been in the industry for any amount of time, you have had cancels, it's bound to happen.
Speaker: You've probably had cancels because someone talked to a neighbor, talked to a friend, looked online, found a negative review, like happened to me.
Speaker: So how do you reduce this?
Speaker: So I'm going to talk about one thing specifically, and this has helped me
Speaker: knocking doors more than anything.
Speaker: I'm going to do some future episodes on ways you can use social proof in your closing, in your appointments.
Speaker: But today I want to talk specifically about a secret tool that I've been using for a while now that creates social proof on the doors.
Speaker: That helps you book more appointments by using social proof.
Speaker: And I think I've mentioned it in a few past episodes, but this tool is called a name list.
Speaker: Boom.
Speaker: I know, pretty secret, right?
Speaker: So what it is, it's a list of names that you put together when you're in a neighborhood of appointments you booked, of customers that have gone solar, okay, pretty much anyone you can include.
Speaker: And basically you're compiling in your neighborhood a social proof list of other people.
Speaker: Okay, so maybe you're already using some form of this.
Speaker: if you are knocking doors you should be dropping names hopefully you've already trained on that hopefully you have been taught that but a name list is a tool that I would and I'm not gonna claim that I created this but actually comes from Rob Reimer he's been on the show he's the one that taught me this but it's something that has helped me keep really the names organized that I'm dropping
Speaker: and then use it to show potential customers, use it to show people you're trying to book appointments with while you're knocking.
Speaker: Okay, so all it is, gonna grab a pot of paper or grab a piece of printer paper, whatever you wanna use, and then fill out a list.
Speaker: You put five numbers on there, one, two, three, four, five.
Speaker: Then what you're gonna do starting out, you fill in the first three, number one, number two, number three, with names from your area.
Speaker: from people that you booked appointments with.
Speaker: And then you leave number four and five blank.
Speaker: And then as you go throughout the neighborhood, you're going to be trying to fill number four and number five.
Speaker: So it does a couple things.
Speaker: Number one, if you show them this name list, hopefully it's people that are close by.
Speaker: So they're saying, okay, oh, Juan, he's already on the list.
Speaker: He's getting this or he's going to be part of this program.
Speaker: So number one, it's going to create that trust.
Speaker: You have names.
Speaker: It's giving you the social proof.
Speaker: And then the second thing it does, as you leave two spots open, you can hopefully create some urgency.
Speaker: You're going to show people on the doors this.
Speaker: You say, right now we're getting the information for two more people here in the neighborhood.
Speaker: Then you show them number four, number five.
Speaker: So you're number four to get the info about the solar program out here.
Speaker: and then your neighbor across the street will be number five.
Speaker: Whatever you're gonna say, but you use this tool to show them the list, to build that social proof, and it's something that has helped me, kid you not, when I implemented this, I think my number of homeowners that I needed to talk to in order to book an appointment went from around nine or 10 homeowners
Speaker: to drop to about six after this.
Speaker: Okay, still improving.
Speaker: But this tool, it's going to help people see that you know the neighbors.
Speaker: Okay, and another thing with it,
Speaker: The more high profile neighbors you can get on this list, the more it's going to help you.
Speaker: So if you can get someone that's a firefighter, that's LeBron James, that's, okay, well, you're knocking in those celebrity neighborhoods, that is a well-known, maybe public figure, well-known in the neighborhood.
Speaker: People are going to know those guys.
Speaker: So if you have someone that talks to the neighbors, get those people on the list.
Speaker: Because if someone knows that person personally, then it's going to help you even more to book the appointment.
Speaker: Okay, so that's my suggestion.
Speaker: Today, or whenever you next go out to Knoxville doors for your solar appointments, grab a piece of paper, put five numbers on it, fill out the first three with people you have booked appointments with, or if you're starting a fresh area, you can use other, use people from your team,
Speaker: put their appointments on it, put three names on it.
Speaker: It doesn't necessarily have to be close to the neighborhood you're knocking.
Speaker: You can say that they're in the area.
Speaker: You don't have to be across the street from them, but the closer the better.
Speaker: But just pick three names, put it on the list, start filling it out, leave those two blank spaces on there.
Speaker: And then what will happen as you begin to fill up your list,
Speaker: Let's say you book Nancy for number four, you put Nancy down.
Speaker: Now you have five and six.
Speaker: Okay, you're putting one more number.
Speaker: You're not lying to people, you're leaving two spaces open, but you're just saying right now we got two spots that we're filling for it.
Speaker: Because right now that's what you have.
Speaker: So you use it to create urgency as you're knocking and then fill it out.
Speaker: I have a list I got to I think 150 or 200.
Speaker: before I started over.
Speaker: But you're just keeping this list constantly.
Speaker: And then as you're knocking, I use it in my intro.
Speaker: Okay, I just tell people, hey, we're surveying these homes.
Speaker: You guys will be number four to get surveyed right after John.
Speaker: And then the other key with this is you give them a key fact about this homeowner.
Speaker: Okay, so the more facts that you can give them, people are going to buy that you actually did talk to the neighbors.
Speaker: They're not just a random name.
Speaker: So if you can give them a fact about John across the street that is number three on the list, it's going to make it more believable.
Speaker: Oh yeah, do you guys know John?
Speaker: He's the one with the golden retriever walking.
Speaker: Do you guys know Elon Musk around the corner?
Speaker: He's the one that like went to Mars or something like that.
Speaker: Okay, so more facts you can give about the people on your list.
Speaker: It's going to help it be much more believable.
Speaker: People are going to listen.
Speaker: They're going to pay attention.
Speaker: and they're going to want to book an appointment with you that much more.
Speaker: Okay, so hopefully you're using names even before this, but I want to invite you go and try out a name list.
Speaker: Okay, carry it around because I don't know about you.
Speaker: When I was trying to drop names before, sometimes I would get confused.
Speaker: Sometimes I would have to think who's the closest neighbor around here that I can name drop.
Speaker: So not only will it help you keep it organized, you have the list, but also it's something that the homeowners can see because seeing is believing.
Speaker: Grant Cardone talks about it all the time.
Speaker: People believe what they see, not what they hear.
Speaker: So if you're writing it down, if you're showing the list, they're going to see that.
Speaker: They're going to want to book the appointment.
Speaker: So just a quick tip.
Speaker: I invite you to use that today as you're out knocking.
Speaker: Share it with your team.
Speaker: But don't forget the power of name dropping.
Speaker: Use it in your closes.
Speaker: Tell stories about these people.
Speaker: Okay, it makes it way more powerful.
Speaker: You can tell a story.
Speaker: Any objection I get in closes or even on the doors, you tell a story about how John across the street had that same objection, but you shared this with them.
Speaker: You showed them this article or they heard on the news that solar increased the value of the homes.
Speaker: Whatever it is, tell a story around that.
Speaker: tie it to the homeowner or tie it to one of the names on your list, and it's going to help you overcome objections too.
Speaker: Okay, so use it today.
Speaker: That's my tip of the day.
Speaker: Okay, that's the podcast for today.
Speaker: And again, we're going to have some guests here on the show soon.
Speaker: Go and enter the giveaway for the last two days of it.
Speaker: And thanks for coming on the show again today, guys.
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed it, and we'll see you next week.
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.
Speaker: And we do it all for free.
Speaker: And if you found any value in this episode or it's helped you in any way, all I ask in return is that you just take 30 seconds of your time and leave us a review on iTunes so that we can help more solopreneurs like you to change the world.
Speaker: And as a gift for leaving us a review, we have a special training package exclusive for solopreneur listeners over at solopreneurs.com.
Speaker: Remember, you need to leave us a review on iTunes to qualify for the training package.
Speaker: So take care of that now and we'll see you on the next episode.
