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Should I Buy Online Leads in Solar?
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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.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong and I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
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.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
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.
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, what's going on, Solarpreneurs?
00:00:43
Speaker
Taylor Armstrong here.
00:00:44
Speaker
Today, we're going to be discussing should you do online leads?
Should Solar Pros Use Online Leads?
00:00:49
Speaker
And if you do decide to do online leads, what are the questions you should be asking?
00:00:53
Speaker
Very important.
00:00:55
Speaker
You're going to hear it all today.
00:00:56
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast or welcome back.
00:00:58
Speaker
If you are a longtime listener, we're here to help you generate more leads.
00:01:02
Speaker
and referrals and hopefully have a much better time in the solar
Technical Glitch Apology and Listener Appreciation
00:01:07
Speaker
industry.
00:01:07
Speaker
Hey, we're coming on, I think, 370 episodes or so, so it has been a journey.
00:01:12
Speaker
Thank you for being a part of it.
00:01:14
Speaker
And I want to start this episode off with apologizing because...
00:01:18
Speaker
Apparently we had a technical error, I think a week and a half back.
00:01:22
Speaker
We did a little Taylor McCarthy solar breakdown, and I guess we published the same episode twice in a row.
00:01:30
Speaker
I'm supposed to have two parts to it.
00:01:32
Speaker
So I apologize if you were expecting something different.
00:01:36
Speaker
We're going to republish the correct episode on that one.
00:01:39
Speaker
And thank you to someone who reached out.
00:01:42
Speaker
And the funny thing was, it took like almost two weeks, I think, for someone to reach out and say, hey, Taylor.
00:01:49
Speaker
This is the same episode that's playing.
00:01:51
Speaker
So thank you for reaching out.
00:01:54
Speaker
And if you hear mistakes like that, please hit me up.
00:01:57
Speaker
Hey, this is not a perfect podcast.
00:02:00
Speaker
This is something that I do as, you know, a side thing, right?
00:02:05
Speaker
I'm out here selling full time.
00:02:07
Speaker
And so I'm not constantly reviewing every episode.
00:02:10
Speaker
We have a small team here.
00:02:11
Speaker
We make mistakes.
00:02:12
Speaker
So thank you for understanding.
00:02:14
Speaker
Hey, we are human over here.
00:02:16
Speaker
I know it sounds like I'm the greatest superhuman solar guy in the world, but I make mistakes too.
00:02:23
Speaker
We all make them.
00:02:24
Speaker
But anyways, that being said, we're going to jump into the episode, hopefully not as many mistakes here today.
00:02:30
Speaker
And just wanted to thank a recent review we had.
00:02:34
Speaker
This was from, looks like he put his names from Ken.
00:02:38
Speaker
He gave us five stars.
00:02:39
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He says, hats off to Taylor for a great podcast.
00:02:42
Speaker
This has become a staple for my week's listening.
00:02:44
Speaker
And it's filled with great nuggets for all SolarCell's reps, no matter the skill level or tenure.
00:02:50
Speaker
I appreciate all you do for us out here in the field.
00:02:53
Speaker
Thank you so much, Ken.
00:02:54
Speaker
You rock.
00:02:55
Speaker
And appreciate everyone that has left a review.
00:02:58
Speaker
The podcast would not have continued without people's reviews, without people reaching out, leaving messages.
00:03:06
Speaker
So appreciate the support.
00:03:08
Speaker
And all we can ask is that you continue to do that.
00:03:11
Speaker
Okay, I'll be honest, the numbers have been down a little bit lately.
00:03:15
Speaker
And probably part of it is because, you know, some mistakes published in the same episode twice.
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, get it.
00:03:20
Speaker
I wouldn't listen to that episode either.
00:03:22
Speaker
But sometimes it gets frustrating where I'm like, I was having a ton of people listen this week.
00:03:28
Speaker
It's not so much.
00:03:29
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Hey, and I know some episodes aren't as good as others.
00:03:32
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But really, what keeps us going is people sharing it, people reaching out saying it's helped them.
00:03:37
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And more than anything, that's what I do to give back.
00:03:40
Speaker
And that's what helps keep this flame going is messages like that.
00:03:45
Speaker
So thank you so much.
00:03:45
Speaker
Okay, well, let's get to the
Online Leads vs. Door-to-Door Sales
00:03:47
Speaker
topic.
00:03:47
Speaker
So today we're going to be talking about the online leads.
00:03:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:50
Speaker
And we're going to have someone that's a pro on this for the next episode.
00:03:54
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Tune in.
00:03:55
Speaker
His name is Garrett Mendelsohn.
00:03:57
Speaker
This guy, he is doing some pretty incredible things in the online lead gen space and is, you know, making a
00:04:04
Speaker
A million a year has had multiple months where he's sold over 30.
00:04:08
Speaker
A lot of them completely over the phone online.
00:04:13
Speaker
So you're not going to miss out on what he says about the online leads and about getting into it.
00:04:19
Speaker
But just thought I would give my take on a few things.
00:04:21
Speaker
If that is something you are exploring, something you've thought about, or just want to know more about online leads.
00:04:28
Speaker
And I disclaimer, I have not done online leads myself for probably about a year.
00:04:34
Speaker
been strictly door knocking since, um,
00:04:38
Speaker
I don't know, maybe end of 2021, something like that, maybe a year and a half.
00:04:43
Speaker
Hey, and I don't hate them.
00:04:45
Speaker
I've had success doing online leads.
00:04:48
Speaker
But the reason I stopped my story with online leads is it just got tough when I'm running a door to door team.
00:04:57
Speaker
Right.
00:04:57
Speaker
I was having people set leads in one part of town.
00:05:01
Speaker
All of a sudden I would get an online lead that was 45 minutes to the north.
00:05:06
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So I'd drive clear up there.
00:05:08
Speaker
Sometimes they'd be super solid.
00:05:10
Speaker
Sometimes they'd just be okay.
00:05:11
Speaker
And I found myself having to give away door-to-door appointments at times to go to these online leads.
00:05:18
Speaker
And it was just hit and miss.
00:05:20
Speaker
I had months where I killed it.
00:05:21
Speaker
I had months where not so much.
00:05:24
Speaker
And so I don't claim to be the experts on solar online lead, Jenny.
00:05:29
Speaker
That's why I bring in guests like Garrett.
00:05:31
Speaker
But I have had experience with it.
00:05:33
Speaker
And I would just say, if you're going to do it, make sure you know how to close first.
00:05:39
Speaker
I would not get an online leads just starting out in solar.
00:05:42
Speaker
I would build a basis of knocking doors.
00:05:45
Speaker
I would make sure you have a solid close first because these people, they can be hard to close.
00:05:50
Speaker
And I would argue that a lot of times they're tougher to close because sometimes they're getting multiple quotes online.
00:05:57
Speaker
Sometimes the trust isn't there quite as much, but they can be highly qualified too.
00:06:04
Speaker
OK, so that's my that's my story on it.
00:06:06
Speaker
That's my experience.
00:06:08
Speaker
And also just depends on your goals.
00:06:10
Speaker
Are you trying to build this setter closer model where you are working a team door to door?
00:06:15
Speaker
The thing is, with these leads, you can target a specific area.
00:06:20
Speaker
But the smaller area you target, the less leads you're going to get.
00:06:23
Speaker
So that's why for me, I was targeting all of San Diego here.
00:06:27
Speaker
And that's a wide area, right?
00:06:29
Speaker
It covers a lot of different areas.
00:06:30
Speaker
So it could be an hour drive from one lead to another if you're doing that.
00:06:35
Speaker
But that's how you're going to get the most leads from it.
00:06:37
Speaker
And so that was my experience.
00:06:39
Speaker
If you are thinking of hiring a lead gen company, the three that I have interviewed on the show that I have experience with, I'll give them a little shout out here.
00:06:50
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prospect bacon that's josiah atkins great guy
00:06:55
Speaker
Okay, you got Solar Exclusive, which is a great one.
00:06:59
Speaker
You got Solar Funnels.
00:07:01
Speaker
It's another one I've used.
00:07:02
Speaker
Ben Claybrook.
00:07:03
Speaker
Well, the first two, they're the biggest ones.
00:07:05
Speaker
Most people have heard of Prospect Bacon and Solar Exclusive, right?
00:07:10
Speaker
And they have a good reputation.
00:07:12
Speaker
I definitely recommend them.
00:07:13
Speaker
Okay, but if you are going to use different lead gen company, maybe you've got a buddy that hit you up that started doing online leads.
00:07:22
Speaker
Maybe you're getting hit up by marketers, which I do all the time.
00:07:25
Speaker
Okay.
00:07:25
Speaker
And careful.
00:07:26
Speaker
A lot of these guys are scammers.
00:07:27
Speaker
Don't know what they're doing.
00:07:28
Speaker
I've had a lot of people have not so great experiences with the, with random companies that hit them up.
00:07:35
Speaker
So be careful.
00:07:36
Speaker
Hey, but I'm going to go through some questions that I, some of these, I did not think to ask some of them I'd heard.
00:07:44
Speaker
I've heard from other people you should be asking.
00:07:47
Speaker
Some of them just came from my own research.
00:07:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:07:50
Speaker
So here's some questions you should be asking if you were thinking of hiring a
00:07:54
Speaker
Allegiant company.
00:07:55
Speaker
OK, the first one is cost.
00:07:58
Speaker
Obviously, we all want to know how much, how much, how much.
00:08:02
Speaker
And you're going to get a varying amount on these, but cheaper is not always better with these guys.
00:08:08
Speaker
Trust me.
00:08:10
Speaker
You probably don't want to go with the cheap route because they're going to be crap leads.
00:08:14
Speaker
Hey, but ask the company you're thinking of hiring.
00:08:17
Speaker
What's the what's the costs?
00:08:19
Speaker
What are what's the required ad spend?
00:08:22
Speaker
Some of these companies, I think the bigger ones, typically they don't want to work with one guy.
00:08:30
Speaker
They want they want to have an ad spend that's worth it because they've got entire teams.
00:08:34
Speaker
They're spending a lot of time setting all this stuff up.
00:08:38
Speaker
So a lot of these companies, they have a minimum ad spend.
00:08:42
Speaker
I think when I was doing it, I was spending like $2,000 a month.
00:08:47
Speaker
And I was usually getting two to four closes a month from it.
00:08:53
Speaker
But yeah, figure out how much you're going to spend in ads.
00:08:56
Speaker
And then the second question, is there a guarantee for how many leads I will get?
00:09:02
Speaker
No lead gen company is going to guarantee that you close deals because that's out of their hands, right?
00:09:07
Speaker
They don't know
00:09:08
Speaker
you're sending guys that don't know how to close.
00:09:10
Speaker
They don't know what you're doing, but what they can and should guarantee is a minimum amount of leads.
00:09:16
Speaker
If you're spending 10 grand a month, you're only getting two leads from them.
00:09:20
Speaker
You got to figure something out.
00:09:21
Speaker
That's not going to cut it.
00:09:23
Speaker
So what's the guarantee for the amount of leads they can get you?
00:09:26
Speaker
Hey, what type of guarantee will they give you?
00:09:28
Speaker
Hey, when they're doing the lead gen, another question is what info
00:09:34
Speaker
will I be getting for the leads?
00:09:37
Speaker
Hey, there's different.
00:09:40
Speaker
Some of these people, they will get leads on Facebook, for example.
00:09:44
Speaker
And some of these leads, it's just name and phone number and that's it.
00:09:48
Speaker
And then half the time you call in the phone disconnected, it's not even a solid lead.
00:09:53
Speaker
Hey, so figure out what is the information you're actually collecting.
00:09:58
Speaker
Ideally, you want name, phone number, email address, estimated credit score, blood type, social security number.
00:10:08
Speaker
Just kidding.
00:10:09
Speaker
That would be nice.
00:10:10
Speaker
Really, the more information you get, typically, the more solid the lead is going to be.
00:10:16
Speaker
And a good strategy for those listening is if you do get the address,
00:10:22
Speaker
Sometimes these people aren't going to answer the phone no matter what.
00:10:24
Speaker
But if you show up at an address, you can actually convert some of these.
00:10:29
Speaker
I've worked with lead gen companies where I got the address.
00:10:32
Speaker
I would not get a hold of them on the phone.
00:10:34
Speaker
But if it wasn't like crazy far or whatever, I would actually show up to the addresses and they convert better.
00:10:42
Speaker
It's like knocking a warm lead, knocking the door and you know they're already somehow interested.
00:10:48
Speaker
So good thing if you can get the address for sure.
00:10:50
Speaker
Another question is, do you offer to set the appointments?
00:10:54
Speaker
If you are busy, if you're doing door to door, if you're running appointments, maybe you have a team of setters.
00:10:59
Speaker
A lot of times you may not have time to call into these leads.
00:11:03
Speaker
And when it comes to online lead gen,
Effective Lead Management Strategies
00:11:05
Speaker
speed is the name of the game.
00:11:06
Speaker
If you're not calling these people right off the bat,
00:11:10
Speaker
within a couple minutes, then you're going to lose some of these leads.
00:11:15
Speaker
People forget what they filled in.
00:11:17
Speaker
They're most likely by their phone when they fill out these forms online.
00:11:23
Speaker
So you want to be doing it quick.
00:11:25
Speaker
But that presents the problem.
00:11:26
Speaker
If you are knocking doors, if you're running other appointments, you might not be able to call super quick.
00:11:32
Speaker
So a good question to ask is, is there some type of appointment setting service?
00:11:39
Speaker
Or maybe you can hire your own appointment setter.
00:11:41
Speaker
But it might be something worth considering.
00:11:45
Speaker
Another question is, do you give follow-up scripts?
00:11:48
Speaker
Do I have access to a CRM?
00:11:51
Speaker
If you don't have a CRM already, you want some type of CRM that's going to organize these leads.
00:11:55
Speaker
You're going to see all the data on them.
00:11:57
Speaker
They're going to be kept track of.
00:12:00
Speaker
They have automations in place.
00:12:03
Speaker
If the lead gen company you're working with does not have something like this, then are they going to help you set it up?
00:12:09
Speaker
okay because it's crucial you need something like that
00:12:12
Speaker
Most lead gen companies these days are using a CRM go high level, right?
00:12:17
Speaker
That's the one you can call from.
00:12:18
Speaker
That's the one I personally use.
00:12:20
Speaker
Shout out to Brent Attaway CRMX.
00:12:22
Speaker
It's the one I'm using right now.
00:12:24
Speaker
I know there's other ones that are great, but yeah, you want some type of CRM.
00:12:29
Speaker
Okay, another question.
00:12:30
Speaker
Where are you getting the leads?
00:12:32
Speaker
Is it just Facebook?
00:12:33
Speaker
Hey, are you using Google SEO search engine optimization?
00:12:39
Speaker
There are a bunch of different ways you can get the leads.
00:12:42
Speaker
Hey, but how are you actually getting the leads?
00:12:45
Speaker
And it might be useful.
00:12:46
Speaker
Now, if they're just getting Facebook leads, I've worked with a lot of guys getting Facebook leads.
00:12:50
Speaker
Typically, these are the most low quality leads.
00:12:53
Speaker
They can be good, but typically lower quality and more leads, you have to dial through a lot of them.
00:13:01
Speaker
So you might want to consider, hey, are you getting leads from YouTube?
00:13:04
Speaker
Are you getting leads from these other sources?
00:13:06
Speaker
It's almost likely be a little higher quality from multiple sources, not just one or two.
00:13:12
Speaker
And what type of marketing are you doing?
00:13:14
Speaker
Hey, do you verify credits?
00:13:17
Speaker
Do you confirm that there are homeowners?
00:13:19
Speaker
I was shocked when I started doing online leads, how many people called and
00:13:23
Speaker
They sounded super interested, would get their address, be like, oh, by the way, I don't own the place.
00:13:30
Speaker
Oh, by the way, this is an apartment.
00:13:31
Speaker
You guys do apartments.
00:13:33
Speaker
It's like some things that you think would be insanely obvious.
00:13:37
Speaker
These people were filling out forms thinking they could get solar on their apartment complex.
00:13:42
Speaker
It's like, no, you got to own the home.
00:13:44
Speaker
OK, oh, my credit's like at 400.
00:13:46
Speaker
Is that a problem?
00:13:50
Speaker
So see if you can figure out a way to verify some of these no winner things because you don't want to be wasting time calling unqualified leads too, right?
00:13:59
Speaker
So make sure there are somewhat qualified leads.
00:14:03
Speaker
Hey, and then just general credibility, right?
00:14:05
Speaker
Who has worked with you that I can talk to?
00:14:08
Speaker
How long you've been doing this?
00:14:09
Speaker
Have you done leads in my markets?
00:14:12
Speaker
All right.
00:14:12
Speaker
Some of these people, they're doing leads.
00:14:14
Speaker
Maybe where solar is pretty untapped.
00:14:18
Speaker
maybe a state in the east or whatever.
00:14:19
Speaker
And they're getting quick leads.
00:14:21
Speaker
They're getting cheap leads.
00:14:22
Speaker
But I'm in California.
00:14:23
Speaker
Depending on where you're at, you may be in somewhere that's super competitive for leads.
00:14:29
Speaker
In San Diego, where I'm at, everyone and their dog is posting ads about solar.
00:14:34
Speaker
Everyone's trying to we're in like the Mecca of solar right here.
00:14:36
Speaker
Right.
00:14:37
Speaker
So if I talk to someone that's like, oh, I'm getting leads for a dollar.
00:14:41
Speaker
I'm calling BS on that.
00:14:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:43
Speaker
San Diego.
00:14:45
Speaker
This is not Wyoming.
00:14:46
Speaker
This is not Rhode Island.
00:14:49
Speaker
I don't I think they're cheaper there.
00:14:50
Speaker
I would assume.
00:14:52
Speaker
But make sure they have experience getting leads in your market.
00:14:56
Speaker
And then are my leads exclusive and solar exclusive?
00:15:00
Speaker
It's probably why they have that name because they give exclusive leads only to you.
00:15:06
Speaker
Some of these leads young companies, they will circulate.
00:15:09
Speaker
They will send a lead to like 10 different people and it's getting hit up.
00:15:14
Speaker
One person's getting hit up by 10 people.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah, not ideal, extremely tough to convert those types of leads.
00:15:21
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:21
Speaker
So those are just a few questions I thought of.
00:15:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:24
Speaker
Online leads can be great.
00:15:26
Speaker
I think it's a good thing to supplement your door knocking.
00:15:30
Speaker
Just do it wisely.
00:15:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:32
Speaker
And if you are trying to build a hardcore like team of setters, closers, it can be tough.
00:15:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:40
Speaker
So you may want to go full force in that.
00:15:43
Speaker
Um, I haven't seen too many people that's trying to do a combination.
00:15:47
Speaker
It generally doesn't work out as great.
00:15:50
Speaker
So I would suggest leads.
00:15:51
Speaker
If you are just doing self-gen deals, knocking your own doors, um, not, not running a bunch of appointments from people on your team, then online leads, I would definitely look into it.
00:16:03
Speaker
But if you have
00:16:05
Speaker
a big team, if you're running like set or closer leads, you've got people concentrated in one area working and you know it's going to be a problem to have to drive to different parts, then you may want to consider not doing it.
00:16:17
Speaker
So that's the verdict.
00:16:18
Speaker
That's my take on it.
00:16:19
Speaker
Hope those questions helped.
00:16:21
Speaker
If you are thinking of hiring someone to do online leads for you.
Managing Lead Gen Independently
00:16:25
Speaker
you can learn yourself too i have i've done some of my own online ads online leads and it is tough takes a lot of work take takes a lot to manage okay so just remember is it worth putting in the work when maybe i could get someone else to do that when i'm an expert in my case or when they're an expert rather in my case made more sense to hire other people i just got burned out it's a lot to manage doing it all by yourself
00:16:48
Speaker
And also manage a team and also close and also have a family.
00:16:52
Speaker
All the other stuff we we do in solar, you know, we do
Preview of Next Episode with Garrett Mendelsohn
00:16:55
Speaker
so much.
00:16:55
Speaker
OK, so don't forget, we got Garrett Mendelsohn.
00:16:58
Speaker
This guy's a pro.
00:16:59
Speaker
If you want to hear more about even if you're not into the online lead stuff, this guy closes like a man man.
00:17:05
Speaker
He closes on the phone and he's got some cool competition software to that he's launching for solar teams.
00:17:11
Speaker
It's like a Twitch gaming platform, but for solar, super unique.
00:17:15
Speaker
So make sure you don't miss out on that episode.
00:17:17
Speaker
We're going to be dropping some exciting episodes.
00:17:20
Speaker
We've got some great future guests.
00:17:22
Speaker
Thank you for the support of the podcast.
00:17:24
Speaker
And thank you for your patience when we have mistakes occasionally on the show.
00:17:29
Speaker
Hopefully you'll keep tuning in and we'll see you guys on the next one.
00:17:32
Speaker
Hey, solarpreneurs.
00:17:33
Speaker
Are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your cells increase?
00:17:38
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Well, so was I and
00:17:39
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And the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
00:17:44
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So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
00:17:49
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You'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
00:17:55
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So at now we have six bucks for this month.
00:17:58
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So book a call now.
00:17:59
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Don't miss out.
00:18:00
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What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
00:18:05
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That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S dot com.
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I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out a time that works best.
00:18:12
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So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.