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 the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
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 Solarpreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Okay, what's going on?
Speaker: I'm excited today.
Speaker: We're back with another amazing episode and we've got someone that is crushing it lately on the podcast.
Speaker: I worked with this guy for a while and he's come a long way closing a ton of deals.
Speaker: So we've got Mr. Cade Hildstead coming on the podcast.
Speaker: Thanks for coming on today with us, Cade.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: I appreciate you having me on, Taylor.
Speaker: It's a pleasure.
Speaker: Yeah, it's going to be a good time.
Speaker: And we're going to be jamming on what he's doing, closing deals.
Speaker: He's been able to ramp up his deals, doing 25 to 30 deals, pretty consistent right now on pace for what, like around 300 or so this year?
Speaker: Is that what you're saying?
Speaker: I'm closing in on 260 closed deals here today.
Speaker: Filming, what is it today?
Speaker: August 17th or something.
Speaker: Hopefully we'll get close to 400.
Speaker: That's the goal.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: So absolute insanity.
Speaker: And he is working with...
Speaker: with Travis Hartman, Ricardo Richie out here.
Speaker: He is managing a team for Momentous Solar and just incredible what you guys have been able to do.
Speaker: So we'll get into all that.
Speaker: But yeah, do you want to give us just like maybe a little reader's digest on your background?
Speaker: How you got into solar?
Speaker: I know you had a pest control background.
Speaker: Yeah, I did.
Speaker: I started out in pest control.
Speaker: I actually had a buddy from my mission.
Speaker: So my mission down in Brazil, I had a buddy from my mission.
Speaker: They recruited me out to sell pest control.
Speaker: I was kind of hesitant to go into door-to-door sales, to be honest with you.
Speaker: I don't really feel like I've historically been that intrinsically motivated by money in and of itself, but I've kind of become more that way for better or worse over the time just being in the industry, probably for better.
Speaker: But yeah, I just saw what he was able to do in the pest control industry and the type of money he was making.
Speaker: And more than anything, it was just competition.
Speaker: I felt like I could go out and...
Speaker: and do well.
Speaker: So he brought me out.
Speaker: I went out and sold pest control in Virginia and Nashville my first summer.
Speaker: Did pretty dang well.
Speaker: Decided to come back for a second year and brought a pretty decent sized team out.
Speaker: So I was down in Orlando and had a pretty solid summer.
Speaker: Then I was actually getting pretty done to finishing up college.
Speaker: So I was kind of looking at possibly moving into more of a normal career.
Speaker: Getting a real job.
Speaker: Getting a real job.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Until now we are still real jobless.
Speaker: So
Speaker: Yeah, that's a good thing.
Speaker: But yeah, I had a couple of buddies and I'd heard of Ricardo just having sold it to this company EcoShield that he had sold out for a while and got on a call with him and ended up coming out.
Speaker: And that was last year, about a year and three months ago or so that I've been in the solar industry and just kind of running with that.
Speaker: Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker: We actually worked together for a little bit.
Speaker: Future Home Power, I can't remember how long.
Speaker: Do you remember exactly what point you came in?
Speaker: Yeah, I came in early to mid-May of last year.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So we were probably working together at least, I don't know, a summer or whatever.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: But yeah, and so... It's been too long.
Speaker: It's good to see you.
Speaker: It's been a minute, been a minute.
Speaker: But yeah, like you came in just setting deals coming from pest control.
Speaker: And I think that's what's really, really cool is some people start in this industry.
Speaker: They start as setters.
Speaker: They see all the success and they're like, oh, I want to get to closing.
Speaker: Like I'll never have a success.
Speaker: So I start closing my own deals.
Speaker: But you came in, started setting deals and
Speaker: I mean, I don't remember like the whole beginning for you.
Speaker: It was a pretty quick success right from the beginning for you or what did that look like transitioning from pest control to solar?
Speaker: Yeah, it was pretty quick success and I don't know exactly how it is for most people.
Speaker: I felt like it was a very natural transition.
Speaker: I almost felt like setting solar deals was way easier than selling pest control just because it's not the high pressure close right on the doorstep.
Speaker: It's just more of an informative sale, which I feel kind of caters itself more to my personality type.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: For me, the expectation coming in is that I was going to be one of the top guys in my own minds.
Speaker: And I knew I could do that.
Speaker: So I feel like I didn't really expect to have a learning curve over a long period of time.
Speaker: I expected to come in and pick it up pretty quickly.
Speaker: And I feel like I was able to do that just because of the mindset I had coming in.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So you think it's, well, yeah, I know mindset is huge, but yeah, if you don't have the right mindset, it's going to be very tough to have success.
Speaker: But would you, like I did PEST for a couple of years before I got into solar.
Speaker: Would you say that setting a solar appointment is pretty similar to getting a PEST cell or you think it's easier to set up a solar appointment and get a PEST cell?
Speaker: Oh, shoot, man.
Speaker: Because some people like compare it to that way.
Speaker: Like, oh, setting, it's like equivalent of selling a pest account or something.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: As far as like difficulty, I'm sure it's probably pretty similar as far as like volume, how many pest seals you can sell and how many solid solar seals you can set.
Speaker: But it's a very different type of sale.
Speaker: Pest control, like I say, it's just...
Speaker: It's more pressure-based.
Speaker: You're kind of walking them through the steps and hard closing.
Speaker: Soft closes along the process, but then doing hard closes until they cave, basically.
Speaker: Solar is more just asking questions, question-based selling, gathering information on the person's situation and what their history is with solar.
Speaker: qualifying to see if they're even going to be a potential customer.
Speaker: Because with solar, as you know, you're not trying to set every single person you come in contact with.
Speaker: It's more of a qualification process.
Speaker: And then of those people, you got to make sure your process is dialed to the point where you're actually having success with setting those people that are qualified.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: Yeah, well, some people come in, like, I wasn't like a kid who said when I came out, I struggled to get deals in solar.
Speaker: And I think I would have done better maybe setting longer, because I came in and the company I was with didn't really have a set or closer model is more about age come in, we'll close a few accounts, but we want you to learn how to close as quick as possible.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I think just that learning curve of China set and then quickly try to learn to close.
Speaker: it was really tough because as you know, it's kind of a whole separate skill set and whole separate thing you're doing.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: But yeah, and I know now you've mastered both of them, but what would you say to maybe someone coming from pests or different industry just starting out?
Speaker: What were some things, I know you mentioned mindset, but do you have any specific things that really helped you just come out running?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I think kind of what you touched on, I feel like that did lend itself to my early success in solar.
Speaker: is having the perspective that yes, I do want to develop myself and my talents and just my abilities overall, but I do want to prove myself in the industry, make sure I understand how the processes work before I move to that kind of next level.
Speaker: So feeling like I mastered the first step before I kind of went to the next.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then, I mean, we statistically had the best closers in the industry.
Speaker: So it was very, very solid.
Speaker: And the opportunity cost for me moving to closing was pretty high because if I wasn't able to close those deals myself at as high of a rate as deals that I could set and for sure have people closing.
Speaker: So that kept me in a pretty good mind frame that I was happy setting deals for guys that were going to go and smash them out of the park.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Yeah, that helps when you have guys like Travis, Ricardo, closing your deals.
Speaker: Yeah, probably the best in the industry.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: It's been just awesome to learn from.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Yeah, well, and I think that's a good point, though, and a good lesson for some people that just want to come in and they're like, oh, I want to get close my own deals as quick as possible.
Speaker: And there's kind of this negative connotation, I think people have with setting.
Speaker: I was talking with Travis about this, too.
Speaker: It's like you guys have some setters that are making a lot more money than a lot of closers in solar.
Speaker: And so I think some people, maybe they're better at setting and should just stick it out that way.
Speaker: But also I think we need to realize that there's nothing wrong with setting.
Speaker: Like that's a very important, that's probably the most important.
Speaker: no one else has a job oh yeah I mean set up that lead quality setters are the most valuable part of the process like closers obviously they can they can hit more appointments in a day than a setter can set so closers are more of a dime a dozen obviously when you get to the really high levels it becomes more more rare but a guy who can go out and consistently set really solid appointments every single day it's like it's it's not obvious that you could go out and make more closing yeah you know so it's
Speaker: Kind of like you said, it's a mindset thing.
Speaker: It's a connotation.
Speaker: The guys come in and they don't want to set.
Speaker: They want to get off the doors because the doors are, at least in their minds, considered a negative thing.
Speaker: But if you can really master that and find a level of comfortability on the doors and really dial down your process, there's no reason why you can't make a lot more money setting.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: And you stayed at setting for what, like seven, eight months?
Speaker: How long were you setting before you started closing?
Speaker: I came in in May and went through like the end of September and came out for like another month and a half and a few blitzes here and there last year.
Speaker: So that'd be like probably five, five, six months total of setting and kind of transitioned to closing this year.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It was kind of my choice to do because I did feel like I was maximizing my ability while I was in that position doing settings.
Speaker: I feel like I got really good at it.
Speaker: So I was able to maximize my earnings there while also building the confidence in myself and also showing the guys that I was working around it when I did make the transition to closing, that I could be a guy that goes into their sets that are hard earned.
Speaker: I mean, you know how it is.
Speaker: Guys go out there and grind all day in the hot sun.
Speaker: They wanna make sure those sets that are solid sets that are difficult to come by are being handled with care and taken seriously.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Before you stepped into closing, how many sets were you consistently having on a monthly basis before you started closing yourself?
Speaker: Yeah, I think I was 20 to 22 probably a month setting.
Speaker: Incredible.
Speaker: Yeah, so think of that.
Speaker: Most guys, they get 20 deals.
Speaker: They're like, oh yeah, I'm never going back to setting again.
Speaker: I've mastered this.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: But you did it on a consistent basis, right?
Speaker: you even thought about like stepping into closing and mastered that so i think there's something to be said about that like master the first step and then you move on to the next thing because so many guys they get caught up in like like i got a couple deals closed i'm gonna move on to the next one graduate from the center position but uh for you it's probably been pretty like do you think there's a lot of lessons learned that where you feel like you actually mastered it and it's got a high volume of your sets closed do you think that was really valuable to like feel like you mastered that before you
Speaker: moved on to closing your deals?
Speaker: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: And I think it, it really relates kind of to what I was saying about learning to approach the doors with more of a question based mindset, like gathering information and then prescribing a solution to the potential customer.
Speaker: And that's massive in closing, because you go into a close, nobody wants to be closed by somebody,
Speaker: You give them the option, you can do this now or you can do this in a week after having a week to think about it and talk to whomever you want.
Speaker: 100% of individuals are going to say, yeah, give me a week.
Speaker: So you go into these closes, people don't want to be close, but they do want to feel like they're heard and they do want their problems solved.
Speaker: So that's the importance of actually going in with the mindset that you're wanting to help that person as opposed to just make money off them.
Speaker: And people can sense that.
Speaker: We're all mammals.
Speaker: People can sense fear and nervousness and excitement and intention.
Speaker: And I think that's huge.
Speaker: If you can master that, I feel like it really helped me going into closing and doing well starting off.
Speaker: Yeah, I know you guys all talk about a lot here at Momentus, asking good questions, making them see a problem.
Speaker: So yeah, I'm really curious to see.
Speaker: I want to dive deep with you.
Speaker: Mindset for Setter.
Speaker: I want to get into closing, hear what you're saying.
Speaker: I think our listeners
Speaker: hearing from a guy that's had this much success because there's very few setters that get to that point where they're having 20 to 22 deals closed for them and then some of the steps in the closing now you're doing 25 to 30 a month so i'm curious to know like what you're saying what's like the reason behind what you're doing what are some of the questions so yeah if you're down to do that i want to ask you kate like what helped you get to that level of setting do you want to give us and maybe we can get like more specifics and all that
Speaker: What's like the big picture first?
Speaker: Like what type of questions are you doing?
Speaker: What are some problems you're making people?
Speaker: Because we're talking California too.
Speaker: This is a saturated market.
Speaker: So I think people hear that and they're like, no way can that be done in California.
Speaker: It's like the most saturated market.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What are you doing to
Speaker: difference yourself?
Speaker: What's like the high level idea of being like maybe questions?
Speaker: What are you doing in the sets that helped you master it?
Speaker: I mean, broad spectrum and kind of perspective from a high altitude.
Speaker: I think the first thing coming into it is you have to expect excellence from yourself right off the bat.
Speaker: I think that was one thing that made a pretty big difference with me is I like I said, I didn't come into it expecting that I was going to do like one or two a month and I could ease into and after four or five months, I'd start stepping up.
Speaker: It's like I knew I did well in past.
Speaker: I knew I had skills on the door and I could replicate the same thing in solar.
Speaker: So that was the first thing is just going in with a level of confidence.
Speaker: And that makes absolutely all of the difference.
Speaker: So, I mean, approaching the door, especially in California, like you said, people are always talking about how California is saturated.
Speaker: I honestly feel like that's an advantage knocking in California because people are so aware of solar.
Speaker: They see it on their neighbor's houses.
Speaker: It has become something to where it's not...
Speaker: like an odd thing or a big change for people to do.
Speaker: They know it happens frequently and that it only has to make sense for them logically and financially for them to do it, just like all their neighbors.
Speaker: So I think switching that mindset of, oh, it's saturated.
Speaker: People have been talked to a million times too.
Speaker: It's saturated.
Speaker: People have been talked to a million times.
Speaker: That's excellent.
Speaker: They know about it.
Speaker: I just have to make a slight differentiation in the way that I present myself on the doors to actually kind of catch this person that may have not been
Speaker: barely catched in the past.
Speaker: It's kind of the biggest thing.
Speaker: So I mean, one of the, the big tactical things that we do on the doors is differentiating yourself right off the bat.
Speaker: So creating some level of confusion, like when you're talking to the person in the beginning, so that they don't exactly know why you're there.
Speaker: Obviously, we're not lying to them or telling them we're there for a reason that we're not there.
Speaker: Eventually, they they know it's for solar, but we just don't want to get that immediately.
Speaker: that immediate shut up the door, no, we're not interested.
Speaker: That reaction.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: That the people are trained to do when they encounter somebody on the doors.
Speaker: So just differentiate yourself that way, focusing on helping the people I think is a big thing.
Speaker: If you can have energy in your presentation and
Speaker: true really and truly focus on trying to help that person be in a better situation going forward in their life people can sense it and they'll give you more information is the biggest weapon on the door is information if that person is holding all their information i'm just like i'm shooting blanks i don't know where i'm going i have no it's like i'm shooting a gun with no size or no scope i don't really know where i'm aiming i'm just kind of firing in the air yeah
Speaker: But if I have information on what the history that that person has with solar, if they sat down with somebody, how long ago was it?
Speaker: What program were they looking into?
Speaker: I can cater my pitch to that person's experience to make it as presented as positively as possible in that person's mind.
Speaker: And if I can match that with a positive energy and actually wanting to help them, people will sense that and they'll want to kind of follow that direction because they know it's going to help them as well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just creates a level of trust on the door.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, the worst is, I don't know if you've ran into this, where people don't want to give you information at all.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Like, what's been your experience with solar?
Speaker: Like, what have you looked into before?
Speaker: And like, oh, I don't want to get into that.
Speaker: Just tell me what you got.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Like, dude, I'm literally trying to... Yeah, those are the toughest nuts to crack, man.
Speaker: They exist.
Speaker: I had a guy last week, and he's like, oh, we looked at it a few times.
Speaker: I'm like, okay, what did you like about what you looked into?
Speaker: What were...
Speaker: Like, was it saving you money?
Speaker: And he like would not give me anything.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So finally, and they were getting like frustrated because I wouldn't show my thing.
Speaker: I'm like, you realize I'm just like, I don't want to it's to not waste your time.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Because if I'm going to show you exactly what you looked into before and you didn't like it.
Speaker: Do you think that's a good use of your time to look at the exact same thing?
Speaker: Probably not.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: It's like saving us both time.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: It's like the Spider Man name is like, tell me why you're here.
Speaker: I'll tell you why you're here once once you tell me what you've been through.
Speaker: Just back and forth, those people are tough.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Like, come on.
Speaker: So finally, I pretty much just walked out of that because I'm like, dude, I don't know, we might have gotten some, I think I got a little bit out of them eventually.
Speaker: Yeah, you'll encounter that often.
Speaker: I feel like the biggest thing that I've been able to do to kind of deal with people like that is you just go from hot to cold immediately.
Speaker: Because people can't really, people don't really sense emotions that well just right off the bat, but they can sense change in emotions very well.
Speaker: If I'm like calm and a guy won't give me information, I'll just be like, oh, you're one of those anti-solar people.
Speaker: And they don't want to be an anti-solar person.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Oh, I'm not anti-solar.
Speaker: Be like, okay, well, why, why don't you want to look into it?
Speaker: You know, just kind of hot to cold, you know, people, people will be willing to kind of give more of themselves when they don't exactly know what's going on, but they want to represent themselves in the best light possible.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, well, so if you're down for a kid, I want to get into maybe some like good lines you have on the doors for people that are curious.
Speaker: I'm an open book, so you can share as much as you want or as little as you want.
Speaker: But I know for me, something I say on the doors when I'm trying to break preoccupation, differentiate myself.
Speaker: I'll be like, hey, they're serving these homes.
Speaker: You get like a letter in the mail about it.
Speaker: I'll use lines like that.
Speaker: um so what are some things you as you're out knocking doors what are some things you use to differentiate yourself as we're in like a market yeah so that's a really good one the other thing that's going on is the uh the market that we're working in right now the utility company is getting sued just because of all the
Speaker: just fires caused by their equipment essentially.
Speaker: So I'll be like, Hey, did you guys hear about the fires?
Speaker: Like, I don't know if I'm a fireman or what's going on.
Speaker: Like fires what?
Speaker: They're like, yeah, all the fires near here just because of the power poles.
Speaker: You guys hear about that?
Speaker: No, no worries.
Speaker: Come out here.
Speaker: I'll kind of show you.
Speaker: Get them off the doors.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Movement questions are the biggest things you're going to be able to kind of use over people to gain power in the conversation.
Speaker: That's a test control thing, right?
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: You see these ants over here?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Ant hill to ant hill, man.
Speaker: Front yard to backyard.
Speaker: Yeah, so that, let's see what else.
Speaker: Just familiarity.
Speaker: So, hey, I just stopped over at Susan's house.
Speaker: Did she tell you I was coming by?
Speaker: Because that could backfire on you if you're not presenting in a confident manner.
Speaker: Somebody could hit you back with, oh, Susan, I don't know Susan.
Speaker: Who's Susan?
Speaker: Which house is it?
Speaker: And you'd be like, hey, did Susan tell you I was coming over?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Okay, no worries.
Speaker: Who's Susan?
Speaker: Yeah, it's just your neighbor.
Speaker: You don't know her?
Speaker: No worries, yeah.
Speaker: I'm just coming by.
Speaker: We just got done with her.
Speaker: I'm just showing you this.
Speaker: You got to be confident or else people will try and rip you for it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, same with moving them too.
Speaker: I realized like if you're not super confident with that, it was like, no, it can be kind of like deflating.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I don't think I've mastered that yet either.
Speaker: That's tough to master, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like how do you move people?
Speaker: You're just like saying, hey, let me show you what's going on or what's like your line to actually get people to walk out in the yard with you or whatever.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: exaggerated nonverbal communication, like big body movements.
Speaker: Hey, come out here.
Speaker: I'll show you kind of commands as opposed to asking somebody to do something kind of typical sales type things.
Speaker: Somebody's somebody is, uh, there's kind of a block in their mind of doing what you want them to do.
Speaker: They're really not going to do that.
Speaker: That if they have the choice going back to what we're talking about with closing, but if you don't give them the choice and you're confident enough and fluid enough, they're going to follow what you want them to do.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Especially if you have presented yourself in a way that just there's a slight bit of confusion in their mind as to what you're actually doing there.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: They're going to come out if you do it the right way.
Speaker: It is tough to master though.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so when you bring them out, are you typically like pointing out power poles or what are you actually like bringing them out to when you get them moving like that?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it really doesn't matter.
Speaker: Or neighbors or anything.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What you're actually pointing out is it's not kind of the point, it's you want them to follow you.
Speaker: So when you point at something, their eyes are following your body movements.
Speaker: So whether you're pointing at somebody's house or a random pole two miles off, they don't know what you're actually pointing at.
Speaker: But once they start to look at what you're pointing at, you have power in that conversation.
Speaker: And then you can kind of transition from that to eye contact and then
Speaker: Once you break that preoccupation, obviously the point of doing that is just to create the confusion in the customer's mind, get them off the door so they're out of that no zone.
Speaker: It's talked about a lot in door to door.
Speaker: And then obviously presenting solar in a way that best fits, however you're going about it.
Speaker: And then just kind of rolling from there.
Speaker: Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker: So what if you get someone that's like a bull personality, like they're like, Oh, no, like, yeah, I talked to a border patrol guy yesterday, and I tried to like move a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah, I know, you're not gonna like win a lot of these people sometimes.
Speaker: Is there anything else?
Speaker: It's like someone that's like fighting you on it, they're like resistant, or just one of those guys with the Harley in the driveway super tough.
Speaker: How do you change your approach with like maybe different personality types or tough dudes like that?
Speaker: Well, right off the bat, the minute you encounter that person is where you win or lose the encounter.
Speaker: So you have to match their energy.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I specifically remember, it was probably a month ago, I had knocked in probably three and a half months or something, I got out on the doors with my brother.
Speaker: And the first door I knocked was that type of personality, bull coming out.
Speaker: What are you doing here?
Speaker: What do you want?
Speaker: I just raised the level of my voice, kind of planted myself more facing towards him directly.
Speaker: And he backed like right down.
Speaker: It was almost astounding to me the way his presentation changed.
Speaker: It was just something that I'd done for a long time, hadn't done in a while, but then it was kind of proven to me again.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: First thing is match that person's energy.
Speaker: You're not going to win them all, of course.
Speaker: In the end, the person has their choice so they can just go back inside.
Speaker: They have their free agency and you can't do anything to control that.
Speaker: All you can do is just control your process and what is going to work the most percent of the time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So match the energy and then also let the person know that you're not, you're not desperate.
Speaker: You're not there to win over their time.
Speaker: If it's going to be a hard fought battle, you have things to do.
Speaker: So it's time to be like, yeah, man, I'm super busy.
Speaker: I just stopped by here for two quick minutes.
Speaker: I just got to show you something.
Speaker: Just let them know you're not going to take up their time.
Speaker: There's a lot of,
Speaker: A lot of times the reason people do that is because they're afraid of what is going to happen in the subsequent minutes.
Speaker: They don't want to sit out there for 10 to 15 minutes.
Speaker: They're cool sitting there and giving you information for two, three minutes, but they just don't want it to be long and drawn out if it's something they really have zero interest in.
Speaker: So you just match that energy, tell them right off the bat the reason you're there and how long you're going to be there for.
Speaker: that can actually buy you a lot more time and then you do end up staying there for 15 minutes but they're cool with it yeah you know what i mean yeah that's true so if people fight you on it then like maybe they're like you're like oh let me show you real quick and they're like uh then that's gonna be like hey i actually gotta go i don't have much time myself yeah yeah listen i'm i gotta go to an appointment your neighbor's house right now um i just thought i'd swing by and show you this and then if they just refuse to get out of the door you want to get something in their hands so typically we'll carry around a little slick that has a little bit of
Speaker: irrelevant information on the utility company that nobody's ever going to read.
Speaker: I've never read it.
Speaker: I don't know what it says.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: They just give it to them, get something in their hands, kind of square up to them, present yourself as more of a friend rather than presenting yourself in just a contrary communication style.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know it's funny.
Speaker: Sometimes people will hit me out and be like, what's the best slick you have?
Speaker: What's the secret thing you have for your slicks?
Speaker: Like, bro, you show up with a blank slip.
Speaker: It's not going to make a difference.
Speaker: Literally saying, you just
Speaker: like give them something and then you know get the shoulder to shoulder with them exactly get on level grant ground helps so much but that's huge one another big problem that I think setter struggle with is especially out here is just sometimes there be so many flaky people so many appointments falling through
Speaker: So I assume for you guys, it's like, yeah, you're building up the problem.
Speaker: You're telling them that it's solar, giving them the solution.
Speaker: You're pulling back, take away all that stuff that we know.
Speaker: So do you have any tips on getting like sticky appointments, reducing cancellations?
Speaker: Maybe you're just talking to a wife, husband's not home.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: How do you deal with that?
Speaker: And how are it?
Speaker: Because you had to get 20 to 22 of your sets closed a month.
Speaker: That's like, you got to have a lot of sits for that to happen.
Speaker: Even if, I mean, it's 20 to 22 minimum, I guess, right?
Speaker: If they're closing at a hundred percent, but for sure, for sure.
Speaker: Even the best aren't closing that much.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: What do you do to get your appointments sticky?
Speaker: Any tips with that?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it's exactly that.
Speaker: To get 20 to 25 deals closed in a month, my rule of thumb was kind of one out of every four solid sets is gonna close for whatever reason.
Speaker: Even if it's solid, it could flake off, you're gonna have credit fails, everything like that, and then you'll get one that'll end up closing.
Speaker: So you just have to play your probabilities.
Speaker: So something that was really huge for me when I was knocking doors and strictly setting was same days.
Speaker: I pushed people really hard to sit same day.
Speaker: Because a lot of times you'll set an appointment or so you think, but the person's just trying to get you off their lawn.
Speaker: And then even if you have their number, you put your contact in their phone.
Speaker: They just never respond back.
Speaker: They just kind of block off that communication.
Speaker: So I pushed people pretty hard on same days.
Speaker: I think that was the biggest thing that probably differentiated me in that aspect.
Speaker: as far as sticky appointments, I don't really feel like I ever got anything super dialed down on what works the best for like next day and two day and three day appointments to stick.
Speaker: I don't know if there's an exact science to it, but just building rapport while you're on the doorstep.
Speaker: I think that big.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Were you trying to like get inside the home?
Speaker: Were you guys big on getting inside the home or was it more just like pulling them out?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, as much as possible, as much as the trust that that person has in you allows, you want to work with.
Speaker: But I think primarily just moving into the backyard is probably the biggest thing.
Speaker: Going to the meter, getting in people's houses, of course, as much as you can.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I love same days.
Speaker: And I've seen a lot of companies blow up from that just because you think about alarm, pest control, all these cells, they're all same day cells.
Speaker: So yeah, it's not always possible.
Speaker: I think we can make Solora same day thing and get in front of people where they can't push the appointment out or reschedule over and over.
Speaker: Yeah, just makes it so much easier, especially when you're building up teams and doing volume.
Speaker: Yeah, what do you say when you're sitting the same day?
Speaker: Is it just like, hey, we just have our guys right here.
Speaker: They'll just pop by right after that.
Speaker: Just assume it.
Speaker: Or do you have anything you do that helps kind of like encourage people to sit same day rather than trying to push it off?
Speaker: Yeah, I'll figure out their schedule before they tell me when they're open so I can kind of tie them down to that, which is just part of the tie down process.
Speaker: So we're like, look, we're super busy.
Speaker: Do you work during the day times?
Speaker: Yeah, we work during the day times.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: What time are you back?
Speaker: We're back at five.
Speaker: Okay, you and the wife together.
Speaker: You guys make the decision together.
Speaker: Is it just you?
Speaker: Okay, just you.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Yeah, so we're super busy.
Speaker: I know you get back at five.
Speaker: We've only got a couple slots.
Speaker: I can do between five to six or six to seven.
Speaker: Which one works better?
Speaker: Just classic option close.
Speaker: But I think the tiny differentiating factor is I'm not giving them an option that they can reject because of some reason that they can create in their mind, which I have no idea if it's true or not.
Speaker: Found out their schedule.
Speaker: You know, so that's a big thing.
Speaker: Figure out their schedule before you do an option close.
Speaker: That was a big thing on same days.
Speaker: That's huge.
Speaker: And what's your take on for next day closes?
Speaker: I think you guys pretty much, I know Ricardo, Travis, they would try to have confirmed appointments and all that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So do you guys pretty much confirm everything?
Speaker: Always confirmed, yeah.
Speaker: Next day or two days, it's pretty much a, everybody knows they got to confirm.
Speaker: If it's not confirmed, we don't go to it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, once again, just part of the tying down process, pull back pretty hard.
Speaker: Be like, listen, we're super busy and there's a limited amount of applications that will actually get funding passed.
Speaker: So we'll build this up.
Speaker: If it's not going to be something to make sense for you, obviously I'm not going to waste your time.
Speaker: You're a busy guy and we don't want to waste our time as well.
Speaker: I'm just going to text you.
Speaker: We're not going to come, right?
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: If it is something that's going to make sense and we're going to show up at this time, as long as everything's cool with you and it looks like it's going to help you guys in whatever way that they want to be helped.
Speaker: It goes back to finding their hot buttons.
Speaker: Then we're going to make sure we get this application submitted and get the process rolling.
Speaker: Is that cool?
Speaker: That's a million dollar line right there.
Speaker: It's tying people down pretty hard.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: What is it?
Speaker: We have a limited amount of funding we have on the applications.
Speaker: Is that what you're saying?
Speaker: Yeah, I just kind of presented as a state program, which I mean, solar in California is very much a state program.
Speaker: There's a ton of funding for it.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker: Tying people down is super hard, man.
Speaker: That's big.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Well, I'm going to rewind that.
Speaker: Anyone listening, I would rewind that because that's why I'm making money right there.
Speaker: But yeah, I want to leave some time to get into the close too before we run out here.
Speaker: Like now you've mastered not only setting, but I would say you've mastered close.
Speaker: Not too many people doing 25 to 30 closes in a month consistently.
Speaker: So I guess before we get into specific closing, tell me about that.
Speaker: What was the transition like from setting to closing?
Speaker: Did you have any...
Speaker: things you struggle with at first, was that pretty smooth as well?
Speaker: I mean, I imagine like it helped you mastered settings, so probably helped a lot as you got into closes.
Speaker: But yeah, what advice do you have on that stepping in from setting to closing and how'd that go for you?
Speaker: Yeah, so I did a couple self-gen starting out just to make sure I was capable.
Speaker: Obviously, I know I was capable of getting it done, but just to kind of beta test the process.
Speaker: And that's the biggest thing is learn from guys that have done what you want to do that are in your organization and just be a sponge.
Speaker: Don't have pride and think that you have to reinvent the wheel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because especially where I was at, there were guys that had done crazy volume and all I had to do was replicate whatever they were doing.
Speaker: And I knew I was capable of doing that.
Speaker: So asking a ton of questions, having humility, being able to
Speaker: actively implement those things that you're learning and also not being afraid of, you know, losing deals to in the in the process of learning, right?
Speaker: I feel like that was one of the that was one of the things that it took me a little bit of time to strike a fine balance with is how hard I'm pressing people on urgency.
Speaker: Because obviously you want to have a level of urgency before you kind of getting to numbers.
Speaker: So people just can't reject you right off the bat or say, hey, I want to think about it.
Speaker: So just finding that that fine line of how hard do I want to present urgency in this person's mind to where they feel the urgency, but they're not feeling any type of sales pressure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like two opposite sides of the spectrum.
Speaker: And that was something that I feel I had to figure out for a couple of weeks.
Speaker: So you're saying just like, kind of like as you're pre-framing, I'm getting a fill on what have they looked into?
Speaker: Why haven't you done it?
Speaker: And then you go into,
Speaker: I assume you guys are like telling them what you're going to do that day saying, Hey, we're going to submit applications or whatever.
Speaker: And then just seeing what level of urgency you need to bring into the cell.
Speaker: Is that kind of what you mean?
Speaker: Yeah, pretty much just gauging the, the, uh, the personality type of that individual you're speaking with.
Speaker: And, and yeah, just going in kind of obviously building rapport right off the bat is super big.
Speaker: You don't want to do it in a way that's like too overly excited or in a way that,
Speaker: makes you seem too eager, that you're a little bit too excited about being there, and why is this person so excited about being here?
Speaker: What do they have in it for them, right?
Speaker: All that triggers sales resistance.
Speaker: Just kind of being yourself with being personable, or just like personable persistence is all it is.
Speaker: If you're just straight persistent and you're like, hey, this is the best thing of all time, but we have to do it today, right off the bat, the person's like, of course this person's gonna tell me it's the best thing of all time, that's what they're paid to do, and of course he's gonna tell me we have to do it today.
Speaker: So kind of dial both of those back.
Speaker: Look, this is a great thing for some homes, for some homes that are just not going to qualify.
Speaker: And I'll be the first to tell you if it's not going to make sense because I don't want to waste your time or my time.
Speaker: If it looks like it's something that'll actually help you guys out and we don't have somebody else that could better take advantage of this funding, then we'll just make sure we get you guys enrolled in time so you don't get left behind on the older programs.
Speaker: Is that cool with you?
Speaker: Yeah, nice.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: And I love that you're saying that you just, well, yeah, you obviously have great people to learn from here at Momentus.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: You know, we've had Travis Ricardo on the podcast, two of the best closers, I think, in the industry.
Speaker: And well, yeah, I'd say you're part of that now too.
Speaker: But yeah, it's huge.
Speaker: Just whoever's listening to this, I think if you're not at a company where there's a high level closer like that to learn from,
Speaker: then yeah, maybe you should consider getting with a better organization or people you can learn from.
Speaker: Because at the end of the day, it's really tough to have massive improvements.
Speaker: Like, I don't know, if you didn't have, say, like Travis Ricardo to learn from and a lot of these other high-level people, probably safe to say, I mean, I don't think you'd be doing this.
Speaker: Definitely would have taken me longer.
Speaker: Yeah, at least taking it out longer.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: So it's almost like a cheat code being able to learn from these people.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: A lot of the lines you're using, I've heard similar lines from like Travis and Ricardo and these other guys.
Speaker: So I think it helps a ton doing that.
Speaker: And at the very least, if you don't have that type of training, then make sure you're investing in maybe coaching or programs.
Speaker: I know Travis Ricardo, they have online content and stuff that they've put out too.
Speaker: So at least learn from things like that.
Speaker: But yeah, like, would you say you're a big study or two?
Speaker: Like you study the clothes a lot.
Speaker: Are you someone that you feel like it came pretty naturally to you?
Speaker: Or I don't know, just in general, when you learn pest control, are you someone that you feel like you had to work super hard, study crazy?
Speaker: What's your take?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's a good question.
Speaker: I feel like I am a studier, but I feel like I could get better at being more of a process based person.
Speaker: I feel like a lot of times I'm kind of shooting from the hip, which has worked for me, but it's probably because I have a pretty dialed down process that I stick to generally.
Speaker: A lot of times I do look at other people in the industry who do really well and it seems like it's like the exact same thing every time.
Speaker: I feel like I don't do that quite as much for better or worse.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's just kind of my personality.
Speaker: I've been in sales.
Speaker: Same thing with pest control.
Speaker: I didn't really have like an exact line that I say to a specific objection every time.
Speaker: Just kind of.
Speaker: Obviously a few that you choose from, right?
Speaker: But just gauge the intensity, the environment, the situation, kind of roll from there.
Speaker: I would like to get more that way.
Speaker: I think that's probably one of my weaknesses.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, let's dial down the processes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, no, you got the arrows in your quiver.
Speaker: If one thing doesn't work, just pulling out a different arrow.
Speaker: Trying, man.
Speaker: Coming at them.
Speaker: Got to do it.
Speaker: Yeah, but yeah, thinking back to when I was learning to close, I don't know if you did this, but I would just listen.
Speaker: I wish I had higher level guys to listen to like you have.
Speaker: Yeah, I would just the people close my deals, I would just go record them.
Speaker: And I would literally listen to it over and over just at the gym.
Speaker: I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I know they're closing deals.
Speaker: I'm just going to say exactly what they're saying.
Speaker: Yeah, it works.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: You mentioned that too.
Speaker: It's like if other people are having success, success leaves the clues.
Speaker: Like start, especially starting out, just go do exactly what the next person is doing.
Speaker: Like you have people that were closing 25 to 30 deals a month and no wonder you're doing it now because you just... Replication.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Replicate.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Anybody can do, you know, it's like, it's not that we in this organization have a talent that nobody else can acquire.
Speaker: It's just something that takes effort and time.
Speaker: And like I said, having the humility to learn and not think that you can go in right away and just do everything anew and find your own best way to do it.
Speaker: You can do that if you want to, but.
Speaker: a better way is to have a really solid base you're working off of and then kind of branch out in ways that you see that your personality caters itself towards.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which is kind of what I'm talking about, not being afraid to go in and try different things if you need to when you're first starting out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Well, I want to get just like we do with setting.
Speaker: If you're down, I want to get like some tactile stuff that people can use maybe in their closes too.
Speaker: So I know you said you're kind of like a little bit of shoot from the hip and everything, but you have what's like your general structure of a clothes that you're going into and maybe some lines that you're using.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I'll typically go in.
Speaker: Like I said, I try and make a friend before anything else.
Speaker: Just try and get cool with the person, build some sort of connection with them, whether it's a truck or I like to ride motorcycles.
Speaker: So if I can tell somebody's a biker, if they've got tattoos, obviously I know that's an overgeneralization, but it's pretty accurate.
Speaker: So I'll talk to people about trucks, motorcycles, things that I like to do.
Speaker: If I can tell they're more right wing, I'll talk about guns because I like to shoot.
Speaker: Pet the dog.
Speaker: whatever you want to do just to build rapport.
Speaker: And then I'll just do a quick recap on what they talked about with the setter.
Speaker: So a line that I kind of developed that I feel like works pretty well is I'll be like, hey, did you guys call in or did somebody stop by?
Speaker: Presentation of professionalism.
Speaker: Like we're not just here because it's a door-to-door program.
Speaker: We're trying to catch us.
Speaker: Did you guys call in or somebody stopped by?
Speaker: Oh yeah, somebody stopped by.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: Do you remember who it was?
Speaker: Obviously I know who it is, but that's his name.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, Matt's a cool guy.
Speaker: I know we're doing a couple installations in the area.
Speaker: I'm sure he probably came from that, but what did you guys go over more or less just so we're on the same page?
Speaker: Let's do a quick recap of whatever they talked about with the setter.
Speaker: Kind of go into address a few things just on a surface level.
Speaker: Then you kind of do a pre-frame that's pretty light, pretty similar to what I had just said.
Speaker: Like, look, we're just out here.
Speaker: This can help.
Speaker: This can benefit a lot of homes.
Speaker: A lot of homes, it won't benefit.
Speaker: Honestly, it's not something that we're going to waste your time with.
Speaker: If it's not going to be something that makes sense, and I'll be the first to tell you.
Speaker: If it does look like it's going to be something that'll help you guys, then we'll make sure we just get you guys enrolled in time.
Speaker: Is that cool?
Speaker: All fair?
Speaker: Be like, yeah.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: And then you'll go into more of a discovery process, which is like digging really deep into people's history with solar pain points, reasons why they would do it, reasons why they didn't do it in the past.
Speaker: It's really, really important that you bring all those out in that moment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because if you don't, those things will always come up further down the line to the point where you have fewer arrows in your quiver that you can use to kind of overcome those issues.
Speaker: Because if I've gone through a whole explanation process, and worse yet, they know exactly what the price is, and I still haven't overcome a couple objections that they didn't really bring up, it's going to be pretty tough there.
Speaker: It's hard to talk your way out of it.
Speaker: And if you are able to do that, the cancellation percentage tends to be higher, I feel like.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: So it's just bringing out all those objections that somebody could have.
Speaker: When did you guys look into it?
Speaker: When you did look into it, did somebody just stop by or did you sit down?
Speaker: What was the reason you didn't do it at the time?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And just agree with them throughout the whole process.
Speaker: Be fairly agreeable.
Speaker: You don't really have to overcome.
Speaker: I feel like it's pretty important that you don't try and overcome everything as they come up.
Speaker: You just kind of hear them out.
Speaker: Okay, perfect.
Speaker: And I was...
Speaker: Was it just the fact that you guys were thinking about moving or was there anything else?
Speaker: Oh, yeah, it was too expensive.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: And was there like the down payment was too expensive or the monthly price was too expensive?
Speaker: Kind of dig really deep into those pain points, which is similar we preach pretty hard with setting and closing.
Speaker: It's just dig deep in people's pain points so they actually have a reason to act.
Speaker: That builds a sense of urgency in the person.
Speaker: And then once you're done with that discovery process, then you'll kind of go into more of a,
Speaker: more of a hard pre-frame where I'm like, okay, look, this is more or less how it works.
Speaker: I'm not going to do a full explanation.
Speaker: This is more or less how it works.
Speaker: We'll try and get you to this level.
Speaker: If we can't get you to this level, then we're going to make sure we get you guys enrolled on time so we don't lose out on the funding.
Speaker: If not, then we're just not going to do anything.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Then I'll kind of give an explanation of more or less how it works after I get that agreement with the person.
Speaker: So we have, it's almost like a verbal contract.
Speaker: This is how we're going to act assuming these prior circumstances.
Speaker: If you have that verbal contract with people, then it kind of will route them in the direction that you want them to go as far as how they act.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: then we would, we would before the funding expires.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like the WD 40 flow chart pretty much.
Speaker: If it's squeaky, we're going to put WD 40.
Speaker: If it, if it doesn't move, we're going to put duct tape on it.
Speaker: It's like, yeah, if this makes sense, this is what we're going to do.
Speaker: If it doesn't make sense financially, this is what it's going to do.
Speaker: It just kind of takes the emotionality out of it.
Speaker: Makes it a very logical decision for the person.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Kind of go into an explanation more or less of how solar works, how it's going to be for them.
Speaker: And then just qualify them.
Speaker: After that, you'll kind of give them the numbers and just assume the paperwork from there.
Speaker: Because they've already told me that if this is the way it is, then this is what we're going to do.
Speaker: You have to be pretty strong with that a lot of times.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Now, are you using, do you guys use like, I don't know, slicks in the clothes or pull up stuff online or when you're going over numbers and all that with them?
Speaker: Are you just kind of writing it down side by side with them?
Speaker: Or what's your way to explain the numbers and the pain and stuff like that?
Speaker: I personally, I write it down.
Speaker: I know some guys have some visuals on their computer, a slick or whatever it may be, but I'll typically take their Edison bill and I'll just kind of show them exactly how they're getting charged.
Speaker: I'll ask them if they understand that, first of all.
Speaker: Almost nobody has a full conceptualization of how they're getting charged.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So when you can break that down for them in a way that's simple and easy to understand, they feel good about it.
Speaker: So like, oh, freak, we didn't know we were getting charged like this.
Speaker: And that's actually kind of crazy that at these hours of the day when everybody's home, that's when the sense for kill a lot is super high.
Speaker: So they feel more informed, they feel more confident with you because you've presented yourself as a professional and somebody that's in the know of what's going on.
Speaker: And they also feel that way.
Speaker: So it kind of builds an alignment.
Speaker: So yeah, I'll just kind of draw it out.
Speaker: I'll show them more or less what's going on with Edison.
Speaker: And then I'll kind of present a hypothetical.
Speaker: Look, if we can get funding on this stuff and if the home qualifies, and obviously I don't want to get ahead of myself and say we can do it and then not be able to do it, of course.
Speaker: So this is all preliminary.
Speaker: But assuming that everything passes and goes through, this is more or less kind of what the solar is going to look like.
Speaker: Of course, it makes sense financially, right?
Speaker: I'm sure you'd agree with that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: The only problem is, and the catch is that we have to have the funding to be able to do this.
Speaker: If we don't have it, there's literally nothing I can do to help you.
Speaker: So assuming we can get this done and everything passes, obviously that'd be something that makes sense for you guys, right?
Speaker: Any questions on that?
Speaker: So this is at the end, like after you went through numbers and everything?
Speaker: No, before you go through numbers.
Speaker: You're kind of giving them a general perception of what the numbers are going to be.
Speaker: And then a lot of times when you come forth outright with those numbers, you
Speaker: you'll kind of intentionally put them a little bit lower than what you had estimated.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just as a person feels a little bit more stoked and they're happy to move forward.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker: Yeah, most people aren't doing this.
Speaker: And I remember that was a big mistake I made when I was first trying to close this.
Speaker: I never like set up the frame like that.
Speaker: I would just roll through numbers and hope cross my fingers that they're excited about it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then just say, all right,
Speaker: What do you think you guys?
Speaker: How you feeling about this?
Speaker: That's pretty much it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, that's something I've learned a lot from, you know, Ricardo, from you, Travis, you guys all have really powerful pre frames that you're putting in place.
Speaker: A lot of hypothetical questions you're doing and something Ricardo says like if they won't fit in that frame or if they're like, fight you on all that.
Speaker: I know for him, he'd basically just walk out of the deal.
Speaker: But like for you, it's the same thing.
Speaker: I'll give it a few tries, you know.
Speaker: If somebody just refuses to submit the hypothetical, I'll kind of take it back, see if there's any remaining objections that they could have that's kind of lingering in their mind.
Speaker: Because a lot of times what they're telling you is not what they're thinking.
Speaker: You don't want to
Speaker: verbally act or react to what they're telling you.
Speaker: You want to verbally react to what they're thinking.
Speaker: A lot of times it can be pretty apparent where the person's thinking as long as you ask the right questions.
Speaker: So if somebody rejects a hypothetical, then go back, re-dig on their pain points, present it in a
Speaker: a slightly alternate way.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And try again.
Speaker: I try a few times, but I'm definitely not going to go to numbers if they're not going to agree to it.
Speaker: It's an absolute waste of time.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Well, yeah, because people need to remember that we're the ones, we're the professionals.
Speaker: There's something to be said about us spending our time and all that.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Our time should be worth a lot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, we do.
Speaker: We do not work for these people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: A lot of people think that we walk into their house and we work for them.
Speaker: I want this, I want this.
Speaker: No, that's not how it's going to go.
Speaker: This is what's going to happen.
Speaker: If they don't want it to be that way, then cool.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: You're not going to close that person anyways.
Speaker: And if you do manage to close them, then they're going to try and redact it.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's a huge mistake I think people make is they spend all this time.
Speaker: They're excited that they're in appointments.
Speaker: They finally, maybe they're not having too many sits on the week.
Speaker: They got in one.
Speaker: And then they just waste all this time with someone that wouldn't let them be framed, wouldn't agree to the hypotheticals and waste a bunch of time, especially with the old folks I've seen a lot of wasted time with.
Speaker: With Grandma Betty and all that.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: I did one of those yesterdays.
Speaker: They want to talk to your office.
Speaker: Sometimes appointments are sparse, man.
Speaker: You got to give it your full shot.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah, but no, that's good.
Speaker: So yeah, anyone listen.
Speaker: I know I'm going to go listen this on repeat.
Speaker: Those are some great lines you got.
Speaker: And I mean, last couple questions, Kate, like there's always those people, you know, that I go no matter what, we're not signing documents.
Speaker: Or I've had some people where they agree to the hypotheticals, but just one last week.
Speaker: Matter of fact, I had a lady there like, I was kind of like, oh, if we could do this, hypothetically, save you this amount.
Speaker: And they're like excited about it.
Speaker: They agree to it, but then we get to the documents and they get like, they just freeze.
Speaker: They realize that they're like actually signing up and all that.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: commit more than they thought and she's like oh you know what we never like sign anything am i reading she like taught at a school she's like i teach reading so i'm someone that needs to read every single word before i do it yeah yeah um so i know sometimes there's only so much you can do but i don't know do you have any like stories where maybe you help someone that was like like oh we don't sign anything or anything you do that helps with those people that are just like tough where they want to read things and
Speaker: Just take their time and have like a couple days to think about it, whatever.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: Well, the first thing is you can gauge the resilience of the person in that action by just giving a quick retort like, oh, I want to read through everything.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, of course.
Speaker: I'm going to go through the whole thing, but just start here.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Like a little quip back and they're like, oh, no, no, I want to read it by myself.
Speaker: And you got to back up a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: um a story i remember one closed it was a uh a situation exactly like that with a guy it's like yeah it all sounds cool but i never signed anything same day and i'm definitely not going to do it now with you guys here right off the bat just slam my ipad down or not my ipad my computer just shut the computer oh yeah it totally makes sense man and obviously then you want to make an assumption as to why they're saying that i'm assuming you're a smart guy you're not going to make any uneducated decisions right
Speaker: He's like, oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: Okay, perfect.
Speaker: Yeah, we want to make sure you're educated before we get anything done.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: I know for myself, I don't know if this is the same with you, but I only make decisions on something that I know is going to be a benefit to me and then I'm making sure that I'm dealing with a reputable company.
Speaker: Are you kind of the same way?
Speaker: It's like, yeah, I mean, that's all we want to do is just making sure it's actually going to be good for us, that you guys are solid.
Speaker: Okay, yeah, perfect.
Speaker: So based off those two things, as long as those things were handled and you felt good about it, you wouldn't have objections to getting something done.
Speaker: You're a smart guy, you'll make a logical decision, right?
Speaker: get them to agree to that pre-frame.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You'll be like, yeah, I guess so.
Speaker: You know, blush a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But like, okay, perfect.
Speaker: So there's just a couple of things that I actually wanted to show you and kind of go into reviews, just whatever you can do to break down that, that small smoke screen or objection.
Speaker: Cause really that is just a smoke screen.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: what are they going to think about when you leave?
Speaker: They're not going to think about anything.
Speaker: They're just going to sit in that emotion, that high level of emotion for a little bit until it tones down and they feel that they're in a state of mind where they can make a decision.
Speaker: Like people don't want to feel like they're being pressured to make a decision or they're at a high level of emotionality when they make that decision because they've had experiences in the past where they have made decisions based strictly on emotionality and it's probably screwed them.
Speaker: So you just want to dial it back down
Speaker: tone down the pressure, resolve those things for them, make sure it's clear in their minds so they don't feel like it's like they're being forced to do something, but they're actually making a logical decision with good perspective on their future.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: You know, and then that guy ended up going through installs, pretty solid.
Speaker: So all those things can be overcome, but the biggest
Speaker: the biggest prevention of that is making sure you never get to it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So just preempting all that stuff before you kind of get to the nuts and bolts of it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Well, yeah, until you're so like calm and it seems like such not a big deal because I think some people like they get these and they kind of like freak out.
Speaker: They go, I don't know what to do now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But like the way you just handled that, it's like you've done it a thousand times.
Speaker: So yeah, not a big deal.
Speaker: And then you just go like straight into it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just be sealed up their ego a little bit.
Speaker: It's just, we're good.
Speaker: It's being first.
Speaker: It's being persistent, but being persistent can be very negative if you're doing it the wrong way.
Speaker: People expect you to be persistent.
Speaker: There's a reason you're there.
Speaker: There's a reason you drove out there and took your time.
Speaker: They expect you to get something done.
Speaker: They just want you to do it in the right way.
Speaker: They just want you to be cool about it.
Speaker: As long as you're cool, you have, you've built that friendship with the person and that certain level of trust.
Speaker: They expect you to be persistent.
Speaker: So go be persistent.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, don't like back down and be like, oh, how do I, how do I present this in a way or say this in a way that makes it seem like I don't really care what they do.
Speaker: And clearly I do care what they do.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: It's the balance, man.
Speaker: Well, I'd take practice too.
Speaker: You're not going to get them all, man.
Speaker: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, well, and do you feel like you had to roleplay these things a lot or are you guys just run within?
Speaker: Repetition, yeah.
Speaker: A lot of questions to the top guys.
Speaker: Like I said, I focused really hard on just being inquisitive, learning the processes that have already shown themselves too.
Speaker: be profitable and just replicating those things in my own way.
Speaker: And then just having repetition doing it, which comes with hard work.
Speaker: The more you work, the more appointments you get into, the more opportunity you have to close.
Speaker: Even if you don't close, it's another repetition where you've learned what not to do.
Speaker: You never lose, you just learned, right?
Speaker: That's exactly.
Speaker: Which is valuable.
Speaker: You get paid off what you're learning.
Speaker: Yeah, that's huge.
Speaker: And so, yeah, for those people who are getting discouraged, maybe didn't close that big deal,
Speaker: Maybe you had a cancel, take it as a learning opportunity, right?
Speaker: I think that's something you've done, I'm sure, a lot.
Speaker: It's the hardest part of it.
Speaker: Yeah, it's the hardest part of it.
Speaker: It's just the inputs and letting the outputs fall where they may.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Having a structure that you believe in and not worrying too much about what happens.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Love it.
Speaker: Well, Kate, it's been awesome having you on.
Speaker: I know you probably got deals to go close right now.
Speaker: You're a busy guy.
Speaker: But before we let you go, do you have, if people want to connect to you more, connect with you more, is there a way they can reach out to you on social media or what's the best way to get in touch?
Speaker: Yeah, hit me up on Facebook.
Speaker: I'm just kidding.
Speaker: I have an Instagram.
Speaker: I'm not super active.
Speaker: You want to drop your MySpace?
Speaker: Yeah, I'll drop my MySpace there.
Speaker: My Instagram, at Kate Hillstead.
Speaker: You can DM me.
Speaker: Super open to helping guys out, answering questions.
Speaker: Reach out to me.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Should be getting more active on the Instagram here in the next couple months or so.
Speaker: We'll see.
Speaker: We'll drop it in.
Speaker: And yeah, appreciate you coming on.
Speaker: So anyone listening, you just heard from a guy that's on track to do over 300 installs, probably 350, something like that by the end of the year.
Speaker: Not too many guys that can say that.
Speaker: So thanks again.
Speaker: We appreciate you coming on, Caden.
Speaker: Before we wrap up, any final words of wisdom or
Speaker: I don't know, maybe advice for a struggling rep before we say goodbye here.
Speaker: The biggest thing I would say is know that your future self is paying your present self for your own failure.
Speaker: Don't give up.
Speaker: Keep working at what you're trying to be successful at.
Speaker: If you don't have any success for the first two months, that's a very short period of time that needs to be paid back with future success.
Speaker: So I just tell my guys, look, you're out knocking.
Speaker: It's hard.
Speaker: You're in the hot sun.
Speaker: You're getting rejected.
Speaker: Just tell yourself, my future self is paying me $50,000 this month to gain this skill set to do this.
Speaker: I'm not making it right now, but my millionaire future 2035 self is going to be glad that I did do this.
Speaker: It's just a process.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Just have a long-term perspective.
Speaker: Nugget, nugget.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So guys, don't think short-term, think long-term.
Speaker: These are the people that are having the most success in solar and snow one arcade's crushing it.
Speaker: He came in, started his setter.
Speaker: Now he's doing 25 to 30 deals.
Speaker: So appreciate you, Cade, and Watt Davy on a future episode.
Speaker: But thanks, Cam, for coming on today.
Speaker: Absolutely, man.
Speaker: It's a pleasure.
Speaker: Thanks, Taylor.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Peace out.
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