Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps 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 solopreneur, you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one.
Speaker: The way I got 10 referrals in a single day and how you can too.
Speaker: We're going to be talking about that and much more in today's podcast.
Speaker: Welcome to the Solopreneur Podcast.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: Hope you're doing awesome.
Speaker: And we've been talking a lot about referrals and I'm excited for this episode.
Speaker: I've been working with actually a referral coach, a person that's been helping me improve my referral systems and processes.
Speaker: So I'm excited to share with y'all what that journey has looked like for me and some of the improvements I'm making to my process.
Speaker: Because I think we can all agree we would love to work just purely through referrals.
Speaker: Let's be honest, a lot of times it's much easier to contact and close a referral.
Speaker: You've already got that worm, a lead versus knocking on door.
Speaker: As much as we all love knocking doors.
Speaker: That's what we're going to be talking about.
Speaker: Before we jump into that, just want to have a little ask here.
Speaker: If you have not left us a review on the podcast today,
Speaker: please take 20 seconds, go to iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're listening to this, and just leave a quick review if it's helping you, if you hate it, if I sound like a Canadian, or if you hate the way I look, whatever, leave a little review, okay, would be much appreciated.
Speaker: That is how we grow a podcast.
Speaker: And then also, if you have not taken the time to share, to tag me on social media, that is another way that would help us really grow the podcast.
Speaker: and just a way you can pass it forward because I'm not asking for money.
Speaker: All I'm asking is for an honest review.
Speaker: So that being said, let's jump into this referrals.
Speaker: Okay, I'm going to tell you what I did to get these 10 referrals.
Speaker: And then also, as we talk about this, we have someone that has mastered the referral game.
Speaker: She's coming on the next podcast episode.
Speaker: Her name is Melissa Romiza.
Speaker: She recently closed 50 kilowatts in a day, three deals, I believe all at the same time.
Speaker: They were all referrals.
Speaker: She closed them all up before noon.
Speaker: So she still had a whole day to go generate business.
Speaker: So I can't wait for you to hear the next podcast.
Speaker: She's going to be coming on and sharing some of her secrets, how she was able to get these referrals.
Speaker: So I'll share what's been working for me and tune into next episode.
Speaker: You can hear what worked for her.
Speaker: So small tweak I made to my process and I didn't really think about this, but as I've been working with my coach, we're going to get him probably on the podcast soon.
Speaker: So stay tuned.
Speaker: I won't say his name, Nick.
Speaker: I'm going to keep you guessing, but this guy, he has, yeah, he's been great.
Speaker: He knows his stuff when it comes to referrals.
Speaker: So he helped me tweak a few things in my referral process.
Speaker: Probably much like a lot of you that listen to the show, I was only rewarding my customers if they gave me a referral that closed and if that went to install.
Speaker: So I would say, hey, we're doing a referral competition.
Speaker: If you have friends and family, it's 400 bucks if they sign up and get to install.
Speaker: So who do you know?
Speaker: And then that was pretty much the extent of it.
Speaker: And then surprise, surprise.
Speaker: Usually it was crickets after that.
Speaker: Usually it'd be like, oh, well, Taylor, we'll let you know.
Speaker: We'll think of someone.
Speaker: And I've made some adjustments that have given me a little bit higher percentage in actually getting names and numbers from people.
Speaker: So I've talked about it a little bit, but the first change I made was I said, hey, normally it's 200 bucks.
Speaker: They bumped up to 400 for these next two weeks because it's end of the summer, because it's fall, because it's extending the Labor Day special, whatever.
Speaker: Give them a reason.
Speaker: So add a little bit of urgency with that.
Speaker: That's the first tweak I made.
Speaker: And then second, I just made it way more assumptive.
Speaker: So instead of saying, who do you know?
Speaker: I said, what our company has us do is just get two to three names of people that you think of benefits.
Speaker: And then we'll obviously get in touch for them once you have, you know, talk to them and give them a heads up.
Speaker: And then I would write it down.
Speaker: That gave me a higher percentage.
Speaker: Hey, and then the tweak I made after that, I started realizing that a lot of these people were answering their phones.
Speaker: I wasn't getting in touch with them.
Speaker: So I said, what can I do that will help me actually contact these people?
Speaker: And then I made the tweak that, hey, we're going to do a little group text right now.
Speaker: And that way they know it's me calling.
Speaker: So I got a little group text template.
Speaker: Let me know if you want that.
Speaker: But just basically introducing them to me, introducing their referral to me, and then that made it more likely that I could get in touch with them.
Speaker: So all those things helped.
Speaker: But here's the tweak that working with my coach, some other mentors suggested.
Speaker: And that is instead of rewarding just the referral giving on install, we changed the process to reward the actual referral giving itself.
Speaker: So in other words, instead of just giving them cash at install,
Speaker: I took that out.
Speaker: I didn't even mention that we're doing cash and install.
Speaker: Sometimes I still do it, but it's just kind of recent that I've changed it.
Speaker: And I changed it to just reward the actual referral giving.
Speaker: Okay, so what that looks like is I'm like, hey, Mr. Homeowner, what we're doing, we just came out with a new little referral bonus.
Speaker: It's actually a way you can win a free trip.
Speaker: Do you guys mind if I share the details with you?
Speaker: See if we can get you that free trip.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: So what it is, all you have to do is introduce 10 people.
Speaker: They don't have to do it.
Speaker: They don't have to be interested.
Speaker: They could care less about solar, but it's just 10 introductions you make and then you get put in a drawing for that trip.
Speaker: And the reaction I've been at first in my head, I'm like, okay, that sounds stupid.
Speaker: All it is, it's a drawing, a chance for them to win it.
Speaker: It's way more beneficial if I give them 400 bucks if someone closes, right?
Speaker: So that was what the thoughts in my head.
Speaker: And that was holding me back for a minute from trying this.
Speaker: But I tried this.
Speaker: And then my results so far have been, I've been getting way more introductions, way more names just by doing this than I was the other way around.
Speaker: Surprising, huh?
Speaker: So instead of rewarding just the people that actually sign up and do it, we want to get those names through the door.
Speaker: And that's what I changed.
Speaker: And I've been doing it.
Speaker: It's been about a month.
Speaker: So I guess I can't say I can't give you like a full year's worth of data or a lot of, I guess, evidence of this yet.
Speaker: But so far in the month that I've been doing this, I have gotten probably double the referrals that I've gotten the previous months.
Speaker: Just saying, hey, we'll give you 400 bucks if someone signs up.
Speaker: And I think it's because you're rewarding the step before the step.
Speaker: Just like anything, if you want to change a behavior, if you want to change something, sometimes you got to look at what's the step before the step.
Speaker: If you want to close a deal, first you got to book the appointment.
Speaker: If you want to lose weight, first you got to get the cookies out of the house.
Speaker: So it makes sense if you want to close a referral, first you got to get the names through the door.
Speaker: So why not reward this first step?
Speaker: The first step is thinking of people, thinking of names.
Speaker: It's not getting them to do it.
Speaker: It's just getting leads, getting more names.
Speaker: So I found that if you're just referring that and you're making people think, hey, these people don't have to be interested.
Speaker: They can say no.
Speaker: They can say screw you.
Speaker: They can say whatever.
Speaker: Let's just think of 10 names and then we can worry about the rest later.
Speaker: And I've been calling up my past clients.
Speaker: Just another thing my coach helped me do is just think of people that were, have given me referrals in the past that were chill, that seems like they could know a lot of people and calling them up and just telling them about the same thing.
Speaker: I did this, got 10 referrals, still got to contact him.
Speaker: I'll admit this guy, he would not, he's super busy.
Speaker: So he did not put me in
Speaker: a group text with them yet that's the ideal thing is if you can get them to actually include you in a text with these people but hey got the names and that's the first step so try it out be curious to know what your results with it are but instead of just rewarding the referrals on a close try something like that maybe it's hey mr homeowner we're gonna give out um i like the trip one but maybe you could do 20 bucks per name
Speaker: and all you have to do is do a text.
Speaker: They can say yes, no, whatever.
Speaker: Now get it, you're fronting some money, but think about it.
Speaker: If someone gives you 10 names, how likely are you able to get in touch, especially if they do a little group text?
Speaker: How likely do you think it is that at least one of them sets an appointment?
Speaker: Probably pretty likely.
Speaker: Then out of the referral appointments, how much more solid are they?
Speaker: How likely is it that you close one that you sit with?
Speaker: Probably higher odds than going out and knocking a door, right?
Speaker: So do you think it's worth spending 50 bucks for these names?
Speaker: Or even let's say you spend a couple hundred bucks for the names that they give you.
Speaker: Do you think it's worth that?
Speaker: If one closes, heck yeah it is.
Speaker: So do the math.
Speaker: Think of those numbers.
Speaker: Sometimes we complain about spending money on our clients.
Speaker: But if you spend, if you invest 5% of your income,
Speaker: revenue into helping your customers or into client retention and client referrals, how much more business do you think that gets you?
Speaker: So that's just some ways of thinking that my coach helped me out with.
Speaker: And I want you to do the same.
Speaker: Stop having that scarcity mindset.
Speaker: Think abundance.
Speaker: Invest back in your clients and you will get referrals as you take care of your people and as you reward that first step.
Speaker: So try it out and then make sure you tune in to next episode.
Speaker: We're going to have Melissa Ramiza on probably here soon.
Speaker: We're going to be talking even more about referrals.
Speaker: I'll be getting even deeper into my processes and probably get an interview with my coach.
Speaker: It's been helping me just optimize my systems.
Speaker: So can't wait for you guys to do that.
Speaker: Let's all get more referrals and just make it easier on ourselves.
Speaker: And make sure you are being honest and make sure you're not giving the solar industry a bad name because that's going to make it tougher for all of us to get referrals.
Speaker: So hope that helps.
Speaker: Tune in the next episode.
Speaker: Keep closing deals and hope you have a good one.
Speaker: We'll see you next time.
Speaker: Hey Solarpreneurs, quick question.
Speaker: 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?
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.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: And it's called Solcitee.
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.
Speaker: Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
Speaker: So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
Speaker: This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join.
Speaker: We'll see you on the inside.
