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Welcome To Solar 3.0
155 Plays2 days ago
Solar is much harder and stricter than it used to be, but that doesn't mean there's less opportunity. In today's more secure and policy-regulated solar, this episode will teach you the guiding principles you need to follow in order to keep you and your customers engaged for the long-run in the middle of solar's most turbulent years.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. 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 fail.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made in 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.
What is a Solopreneur?
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask? A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one. What's going on,
Transition to Solar 3.0
00:00:42
Speaker
solopreneurs? Today, we're gonna be talking about Solr 3.0. There was an era in Solr where anyone could come in, memorize a script, make six figures pretty quickly, and have success. Well, I'm here to tell you that era is over, and we're entering a new era,
00:00:58
Speaker
called Solar 3.0. So welcome to the podcast. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the industry as we open up this new era of selling.
Current Challenges in the Solar Industry
00:01:11
Speaker
And it's no secret that solar has gone through some rocky times, companies going out of business, reps without a home.
00:01:19
Speaker
It's been a complete chaos, I would say, and you know, last year and so this year with everything going on with the um end of the Freedom Forever era.
00:01:31
Speaker
So many ah reps looking for a place to go and a lot of people asking questions. Should I still be in solar? Is this still the industry that I should stay in? And so we're going to talk about some of the evolutions of solar and hopefully give you some um reasons to stay. if you're having doubts, could be because maybe you're not approaching this the right way. Before we get into the episode, if you have not left us a reading or a review, i would invite you, please, if you're a regular listener,
00:01:58
Speaker
Please go leave us a review on Apple, iTunes, Spotify. Would be ah much appreciated. That is how we get the show out to new people. Hopefully help a lot of guys as they're going through some of these transitions,
Addressing Past Issues and Ethics
00:02:09
Speaker
tougher times. Okay. And you guys know I've been in solar since 2016. I've seen a lot of different evolutions of solar. I feel like I'm the grandpa here saying I walked uphill to school both the ways. But in some ways, when I first started in solar, it was extremely simple. You know, anyone could sign up practically. Credit requirements were lower. we were doing mostly loans at the time where people take out a loan. Simple because there wasn't a lot of hoops people had to jump through. There weren't any welcome calls, really. it was simple as running a quick credit check and off to the races. And I remember thinking, oh, this is super easy. Almost a five-year-old could do this. With that, there came... You know, fraudulent activities. I remember hearing a lot of instances where people signed up customers for small offsets. They weren't the correct amount of panels that they needed. They were getting big bills from utility company. And that's where more regulations started coming. So fast forward to, I think, around maybe 2019, 2020. started to see these things that came out. There's a truth in lending. They didn't have this when I first started. But truth in lending, it has the whole solar disclosure on the front page where it now says customers are going to pay X amount in ah interest over the
New Industry Regulations
00:03:25
Speaker
life the system. So if you signed up someone for a $30,000 solar loan, they would see in this truth in lending that the customer was actually going to pay you know quite a lot more over the course of the loan. right A lot of times it was 70, 80,000, depending on the ah loan amount and depending on the terms, depending on the interest rate. you know Things got tougher. And then California, you had the consumer protection guide that came out, which we were for a minute super stressed about. We're like, man, now it's telling customers to go get different quotes. Tell them them to really think and not sign on the first day. All these things were instances where we saw people leave the industry and people that weren't doing things the correct way. It drove a lot of guys out. And so now we're in solar 3.0 where it's gotten in some ways tougher, but I'm going to focus on the good things that have happened. Now there's a lot more verification going on.
00:04:19
Speaker
which protects us. I actually was grateful for this just recently. Left a comment on Facebook on one of my buddy Jake Hess's posts the other day. He um was talking about standing up for consumers that have been screwed by solar companies. I mentioned in there that I had a customer recently who actually tried to get out of his solar contract and he just spread some straight up lies about how the interaction went with him.
00:04:43
Speaker
Accused me of creating a fake email. sign up for anything, all this stuff. He's actually not installed. I went back to him and you know I called him out. It was funny because he played dumb. like he had no idea what he was talking about, but he realize that I would get an email that he'd sent in to the financer. I'm just like, hey man, why I saw an email saying that all the documents were sent to fake email. Looks like there's some accusations made. What's what's that about? And he's kind of like, uh, uh, uh.
00:05:09
Speaker
I don't know. And um I'm just like, well, hey, let's make a call. That's not the way it happened. You do have access to this email. and It was a new email. Like it was a new email he created, but he definitely had access to it. He had the login and um he's trying to say he didn't. And so it just made me grateful how now there are actually calls that confirm these things. Customers do have access to emails.
00:05:32
Speaker
And he answered yes on all these questions. Personally grateful for more of the verifications that they do now that protects us. Because there's some pretty crazy things that consumers can say, but we need to make sure we're doing things the right way. So I'm going to go through just a few things you can think about this transition to solar 3.0.
Promoting Education and Professionalism
00:05:50
Speaker
And I want to give a shout out to Carlos Morales channel. They got on YouTube, third channel Real Cells Dynamics. He did a little video about this. Michael O'Donnell recently did a podcast with Lee Barber. Maybe we can link to those in the show notes, but listen to their takes on it. And that's what really got me thinking about this. So you guys can listen to their takes. They got some good thoughts on this as well. First of all, like what we got to do for this new era of solar? And I think more than anything, we got to be educated We got to know the options and we need to be the professionals more than ever before, because that's what's going to set us apart from other reps. That's what's going to get us the referrals. And that's what's going to give the homeowners confidence to move forward. Because guess what? They're hearing about these things too. Believe it or not, at least in our market, there's people that know that solar is...
00:06:43
Speaker
going through tough times. They've heard of companies going out of business and they're questioning in their heads if they should go solar because of everything they've heard from friends, family, neighbors on the news. You know, I see ads all the time of consumer protections type stuff, you know, programs helping customers get out of the contracts even. So people are seeing these ads. If we're not professionals, if we're not helping people understand how solar actually is, then it's going to be really tough to survive in this new era.
00:07:10
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So make sure you are the professional. Make sure people can trust you. Make sure that you can project that confidence to them. Another example I had just even on Saturday where guy had met with two solar companies, but they had basically tried to give him a way bigger offset than he needed. You know, out here in California, we have ah electric vehicle rate plans where customers need a massive discount on their electric vehicle charging. And so I explained this to the homeowner and I'm like, hey, look, we could put off put enough panels to fully offset your usage. But did you know that you could just do a smaller offset? It would make more financial sense to buy your power from the utility on the electric vehicle rate plan at that discount. He'd been told by two companies that he should fully offset and it made more financial sense to do it the other way. So just me explaining that to him, it ah gave him way more confidence in what we're doing.
00:08:02
Speaker
You know, totally open him up where to where he was closed off to solar before. So make sure you know your market, make sure you know things like that, and make sure you can recommend the best option to your customer. And the best option isn't necessarily the option that's going make the most money. Okay, we should make money in this, but we also need to do what's best for our customer and make money at the same time. Okay, number two, second thing you should be thinking about in solar 3.0 is working with reputable installers.
Choosing Reliable Installers
00:08:29
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And you you can listen to Michael O'Donnell in the podcast he did with Lee Barber on their podcast. But um yeah, really respect what Michael O'Donnell has done with his solar company. Always verify offsets that sells rep sell. They do a welcome call and they want to make sure the customer has 100% transparency of what they got. Make sure it matches up with what the reps explained is going to happen. For us, you know, we went through our company over here in Southern California. We went through an installer that was not the most reputable. They had quick installs. They were getting us paid for a long time, but there started to be some red flags that probably shouldn't have noticed earlier. And a lot of people in our company were burned by this in a massive way financially. It was really tough to see and cause...
00:09:14
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you know several people on our on our team here in San Diego to leave the industry to look for other options. And I think we could have done a better job here as and an office seeing some of those red flags and trying to go with a more reputable installer. Carlos Morales, he put out a great little checklist in his YouTube video called the five star installer checklist. You guys can go check this out. But I thought he had some good points. He said, number one, are they approved by, is your installer that you're considering, are they approved by at least two major TPO lenders, which is third party ownership? So, you know, these lenders, they have requirements that they want met for to basically a partner with solar companies. So he talks about how that's a red flag. If your install company isn't getting approved by at least two lenders. Number two, he said, do they run verification calls on every deal? Hey, again, like I just said in a previous story, we shouldn't run away from verification calls. We should be happy about them. And I'll say some of them are... um
00:10:15
Speaker
you know, a little bit excessive ah without mentioning names. Don't want to get in into but too much trouble. But some of these lenders, I think they, um you know, go a little over reward on their calls. And I've had some where the person doing the welcome call just straight up ends the call if there's even a question asked. So Yeah, I think within reason, but for the most part, it's a good thing that the installers and lenders have these welcome calls. And as long as they're done within reason, protecting the sales rep, they're a great thing. Number three, said, do they double check offset and product specs before install? This is something i mentioned. Michael O'Donnell's company is doing Sun Solar Solutions. Great practice. Number four, what's their payment track record with reps? Yeah, this is a huge one. Make sure you're checking payment track records if there's delays in pay, if there's mismatches with what people thought they were going to get paid and didn't get paid. You know, something you really need to think about. And I'll get multiple opinions because there are situations where, you know, I've seen reps burn companies and then they say they didn't get paid. Right. So you got to help hear multiple stories and make sure you're really vetting. But yeah. Yeah, you know, understand both sides of it. Don't just go off one disgruntled rep because he didn't get paid when maybe he totally burned the install company.
00:11:32
Speaker
Right. But make sure you check their payment track record. Number five, do they have direct commercial residential lines? Great things to think about. Say and then. And last but not least, third thing that you should think about in solar 3.0 is just don't think of solar anymore as something to make a quick buck in.
Commitment to the Solar Industry
00:11:48
Speaker
I think too many people in earlier versions of solar, solar 2.0, so many people will come in and just think, okay, I'm going to make a bag in solar. I'm going leave. I'm going to treat this as summer sales. Go back solar. It's gotten a little bit tougher, I would say, to do as a summer sales thing. Not to say you can't.
00:12:05
Speaker
I think especially if you're coming in and setting appointments, great thing. More and more solar is becoming an industry for professionals, for people that are in it for the long haul. hey And I know there's people that are using solar as maybe a springboard into their future goals. Matter of fact, we got a podcast coming out with a guest that was able to use solar as a springboard into his future aspirations. And he's doing another related thing in the industry now. Yeah, whatever your plan is, whatever your goals are, try to not think of this as the gold rush, okay, where it's just going to end and then that's it. Try to think of this as the long term that you're going to be there for customers, even if you're out of solar, which not sure, probably don't have a ton of people out of solar listening to this podcast, but if you are are you still answering your customers? Okay, for me, I've been in solar since 2016. I'm still answering calls from previous companies that call me and...
00:12:56
Speaker
I still try to help the customers the best of my ability. So I would encourage you to pick up the phone for a previous customer. Maybe you're not in solar. Maybe it's a company that was five years ago. Always do your best to serve because I believe that's going to be good karma on you. It's going to reflect on the way you treat your future customers. They're going to see that you are genuine, that you do mean it. And it's something I tell my customers, my homeowners in appointments. I say, hey, I still answer calls for customers from 10 years ago. That company is not around, but I still pick up the phone. I still do everything I can to help them. So that's what we're going treat. We treat you like part of the family. Hopefully you get approved, Mr. Homeowner. But if you do, we got you. I'm going to take care you and I'm going to make sure we do everything possible and make this the smoothest experience possible. So I hope that gives you some things to think about as we enter Solar 3.0. Be the professional. Be in this for the long haul. Treat your customers like family. And I promise you, that is how we will survive this and be able to make money for the years to come in solar.
Community and Support
00:13:58
Speaker
This industry that's treated so many of us so great. And if you are looking for a home or a better opportunity or just want to chat, maybe looking for recommendations on installers or you know, advice just on the solar industry in general, would love to chat. We have a call link down below. can also join us in future blitzes, but would love to just chat it up with you. don't hesitate.
00:14:19
Speaker
Fill out a call link. Shoot me a DM. Would love to connect more. So thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you guys on the next episode. Happy selling. So some of already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego.
Introducing Solar Scout
00:14:32
Speaker
And as we were gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:14:38
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout. But it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:15:01
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:15:16
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:15:29
Speaker
Okay.
SolSciety Learning Community
00:15:31
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:15:42
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry. And it's called Solciety.
00:16:07
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day. Currently, SolSciety is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled. So go to SolSciety.co to learn more and join the learning experience now. This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to solcity.co and join. We'll see you on the inside.