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How to Run a Marketing Company AND a Solar Company - Bryan Liposky
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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.
00:00:10
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.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you 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.
Brian Leposki's Career Journey
00:00:43
Speaker
Okay, what's going on, solopreneurs?
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm excited for today's episode.
00:00:46
Speaker
We have a very special guest on, and he was actually introduced to me by a mutual friend, which most of you on the podcast probably know, Taylor McCarthy.
00:00:56
Speaker
So anyone that Taylor McCarthy introduces, you know is going to be money.
00:00:59
Speaker
He's going to have some golden nuggets to share.
00:01:02
Speaker
So I'm excited to have today's guest on, Mr. Brian Leposki.
00:01:05
Speaker
Brian, thanks for coming on with us today.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be a good time.
00:01:08
Speaker
And you have kind of a unique background and, you know, unique position, different than a lot of people we get on the show.
00:01:16
Speaker
So I'm excited to dive into it.
00:01:18
Speaker
But yeah, I guess you can introduce yourself a little bit more.
00:01:20
Speaker
But I guess, you know, the short introduction from what we know about each other so far is that you worked with Taylor McCarthy over at SolarCity and you are a regional manager there.
00:01:32
Speaker
And then you now obviously, you know, once that kind of got...
00:01:37
Speaker
They got rid of their door to door.
00:01:38
Speaker
You went on more to marketing and you started a marketing agency and you're crushing it in that.
00:01:43
Speaker
And you're still pretty involved in solar as well.
00:01:45
Speaker
So you can correct me if I'm wrong on any of that.
00:01:48
Speaker
But besides that, you want to give us kind of the deeper background and kind of how you know Taylor and how you got involved in solar and everything.
00:01:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:56
Speaker
And I'll tell you what, it takes me back to 2010.
00:01:59
Speaker
So February 21st, 2010, I actually started with a direct sales company.
00:02:06
Speaker
And at that time, the company was TRG and they were marketing Verizon Fios.
00:02:11
Speaker
Truth be told, whenever I interviewed, I had not even known what Verizon was.
00:02:15
Speaker
I was living in the south side of Pittsburgh.
00:02:20
Speaker
available in my hometown.
00:02:21
Speaker
And about two, two and a half months later, a former colleague at the company approached myself and some others and said, hey, come on over and join a startup company that a lot of us spun off of from ERG.
00:02:36
Speaker
And I sat down and I clicked with the individual very, very closely.
00:02:41
Speaker
quick.
00:02:42
Speaker
And he said, you know, I heard that you want to go up to Boston.
00:02:46
Speaker
And I said, yeah, I mean, I'd be open to it.
00:02:49
Speaker
And what makes you bring it up?
00:02:50
Speaker
And he said, well, we just got a contract up there with Charter Spectrum.
00:02:53
Speaker
We have a group of guys up there and, you know, that we feel like you'd really click with.
00:02:58
Speaker
And we need three, four more people to go up.
00:03:00
Speaker
And he said, I'm going to tell you now, he said, you and a kid up there are going to go to war.
00:03:04
Speaker
And I said, who's that?
00:03:06
Speaker
And he said, Taylor McCarthy.
00:03:07
Speaker
He said, this kid's young.
00:03:09
Speaker
He's like 19, 20 years old or something.
00:03:11
Speaker
But he said he's amazing on the doors.
00:03:14
Speaker
He leads every single week in sales and he's very competitive.
00:03:18
Speaker
So growing up, we had a 10 and a half hour drive from Pittsburgh to Boston.
Impact of SolarCity and Elon Musk
00:03:23
Speaker
And I get up there and Taylor's waiting for me in the parking lot.
00:03:27
Speaker
I remember we had a football.
00:03:28
Speaker
And right when I get out, I'll never forget.
00:03:31
Speaker
I'm just stretching the legs.
00:03:32
Speaker
Taylor comes right up to me and said, let me hear your presentation.
00:03:36
Speaker
And I looked at that and I said, how's it going?
00:03:38
Speaker
We shook in.
00:03:39
Speaker
I said, I'm going to throw the football around a little bit.
00:03:40
Speaker
I got to stretch the legs.
00:03:42
Speaker
I said, we'll see it out on the doors.
00:03:44
Speaker
And I'll tell you what, that summer, I mean, I look back at the group up there as a whole.
00:03:49
Speaker
I mean, there were some amazing people up there and we really didn't know what was being started.
00:03:55
Speaker
And, you know, I'll tell you for myself at that time, I didn't see this as a career.
00:03:59
Speaker
I seen it space that I had first entered and I was going to school
00:04:04
Speaker
you know wanting to you know get involved in other industries and then i fell in love with the business week after week after week and then came back from boston from that summer back to pittsburgh where our headquarters were taylor went and joined the alarm industry which you know ended up crossing a lot of paths down the road for us and you know from that point you know we had become the largest comcast dealer in the nation and you know
00:04:30
Speaker
something we were really proud of.
00:04:32
Speaker
And, you know, we, we grew a tremendous business and, you know, I had a lot of really good mentors there.
00:04:37
Speaker
A lot of people that took me under their wing and fast forward, what six years, you know, Taylor called me and we always had stayed in touch.
00:04:45
Speaker
And he said, you know, Hey, I want you to come
00:04:48
Speaker
to Boston and help co-manage a office.
00:04:51
Speaker
And I said, what?
00:04:52
Speaker
And he said, put solar panels on people's homes.
00:04:55
Speaker
And I said, Taylor, what do you mean solar panels?
00:04:58
Speaker
And he said, like, we literally cut their electric bills.
00:05:02
Speaker
And it was just, he was like, I'm telling you, I'm leaving in three weeks.
00:05:05
Speaker
I'm going over there.
00:05:07
Speaker
And I said, Taylor, I just, I can't even really understand what it
Navigating Career Transitions in Solar
00:05:11
Speaker
is you're telling me at this time.
00:05:12
Speaker
And he was like, well, we're working for this guy, Elon Musk.
00:05:15
Speaker
And at that time, really, it was like 2012, 2013.
00:05:18
Speaker
There were no Tesla stores, no Teslas in Pittsburgh.
00:05:21
Speaker
You know, I Google him.
00:05:22
Speaker
I'm like, I see he was like involved with PayPal.
00:05:24
Speaker
That's pretty cool.
00:05:25
Speaker
And the other said, this guy's going to be the richest guy in the world.
00:05:27
Speaker
I'm telling you, you watch me, this guy's doing this electric car stuff.
00:05:32
Speaker
He's doing
00:05:35
Speaker
two more years um and i've seen the excitement the energy um that you know taylor and others in the solar industry were involved in and i crossed paths with uh chance allred and a lot of the vivant guys um you know previous to that um you know joined them on uh wall street you know for an event um and so our company had a lot of mutual ties to a lot of the uh you know the solar pros and you know entrepreneurs out in the you know utah valley and uh california area and
00:06:03
Speaker
You know, we talked and Taylor said, look, I'm telling you, you have to give me a 24-hour answer.
00:06:08
Speaker
I can let you run the state of PA, but I need an answer like now or else they're putting in a release out there.
00:06:15
Speaker
And I linked up, you know, two days later, I think I flew up to New York.
00:06:19
Speaker
met the VP and away as it went.
00:06:22
Speaker
And I'll tell you, I mean, for me, I fell in love with the industry, Taylor.
00:06:26
Speaker
You know, it was just such a fascinating space where I felt like we were creating change and we were providing a solution to so many families, you know, locking them into rates and giving them, you know, that, that, I guess, platform to release and have an energy independence.
00:06:43
Speaker
And, you know,
00:06:44
Speaker
When I came from a lot of cable and the alarms, it was really, I feel like a lot of niche markets.
00:06:51
Speaker
You had people that love those spaces for maybe providing the savings or doing a takeover.
00:06:57
Speaker
But solar, it created so many different areas.
00:07:00
Speaker
If you're environmentally based, savings based,
00:07:03
Speaker
you know rewards based i mean whatever it is i mean the platform yeah that's awesome that's funny to hear even back then um first thing taylor says is let me hear your presentation um because we're i mean myself i'm in his coaching group right now and he always um gives us a hard time he never lets anyone say pitch if anyone says the word pitch it's like give me 30 push-ups right now and so like even back then he's like we had a presentation
00:07:30
Speaker
But no, it sounds like you guys went at it.
00:07:32
Speaker
So I got to ask, did you ever beat him in sales?
00:07:34
Speaker
Do you have any, I don't know, dirt you can rub on him?
00:07:37
Speaker
Did you ever humiliate him a little bit?
00:07:40
Speaker
First week we got up there, Taylor certainly took the gold.
00:07:45
Speaker
Taylor, I actually shadowed a little bit.
00:07:47
Speaker
It was a little bit of a niche sale up there, right?
00:07:50
Speaker
So we were learning some things.
00:07:51
Speaker
I will say two of the weeks up there, certainly got him on the back.
00:07:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:55
Speaker
I mean, I think we're up for six weeks.
00:07:58
Speaker
So, you know, I think two of the weeks.
00:08:00
Speaker
And I want to say he then left to go snowboarding in like Argentina.
00:08:08
Speaker
I mean, look, Taylor is by no means, he is a pro and a talent and, you know, has total passion for what it is that he does.
00:08:19
Speaker
And I don't think anybody would ever take that away.
00:08:21
Speaker
That's true.
00:08:22
Speaker
Are you as competitive as he is or not quite?
00:08:25
Speaker
I will say this.
00:08:25
Speaker
We've been, I guess, five years running in fantasy football.
00:08:28
Speaker
Last week was rivalry.
00:08:30
Speaker
I did beat him.
00:08:31
Speaker
He knocked me out in the playoffs last year.
00:08:34
Speaker
He won it all.
00:08:35
Speaker
You know, very competitive.
00:08:36
Speaker
And it doesn't matter what I think he and I are doing.
00:08:39
Speaker
We're going to be competitive at it.
00:08:40
Speaker
We're going to win it.
00:08:42
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:08:42
Speaker
Well, no, I think that's a good trait.
00:08:45
Speaker
You know, top guys, every top guy, it seems like they are pretty ultra competitive and everything and they hate to lose.
00:08:51
Speaker
So that's something that I've definitely seen and been trying to get more competitive myself.
00:08:55
Speaker
But speaking of that, I mean, as you've been on teams, because I know you've ran a lot of teams, helped a lot of guys.
00:09:00
Speaker
Do you have any advice on like, I don't know, how to help guys maybe like...
00:09:05
Speaker
be more competitive themselves because you know how it is there's guys on teams they're just like i don't really care for competitions i'm just gonna go out work do my best whatever happens so i don't know how do you like light a fire under people and get them to i don't know be more competitive or push more do you have any advice on that yeah and i i will say it this way i think at every level the
00:09:25
Speaker
what role you're playing as part of the solar company, you got to find your passion and your why.
00:09:31
Speaker
You have to understand that.
00:09:32
Speaker
And I think when we talk about lighting a fire, we see there's emotional leaders out there that when they're around, the team goes.
00:09:40
Speaker
When they're away, the team goes back.
00:09:43
Speaker
And it's a big reason I'm big on managing processes, managing systems, and teaching and educating people to understand what it is that you're teaching them.
00:09:52
Speaker
and why you're managing them the way they are to be able to show
Competitive Strategies in Solar Sales
00:09:56
Speaker
them in areas they're able to grow and improve.
00:09:58
Speaker
And I look back at myself from 21 joining this space to turn 34 tomorrow and how much I've learned.
00:10:09
Speaker
talk to people in the solar space that three years ago was their first year you know they were a rookie and three years later the things they're able to do inside of a home and even learning how to you know create referrals and you know being able to create a system for themselves inside of their own system right and that's what i would recommend to everyone like you have to have those small wins you have to understand you know looking at business i'm a big believer of like
00:10:35
Speaker
three, six, nine, 12, right?
00:10:37
Speaker
Looking at it in that quarterly aspect of growing in an aspect and getting better.
00:10:42
Speaker
I always, you know, a lot of sports analogies, you see a lot of the ballplayers, especially in the NBA, in the off season, they'll work on one or two things to hone in for the upcoming season.
00:10:55
Speaker
And then year 10, year 11, you see people are very polished all the way around.
00:11:00
Speaker
You know, people always look to Kobe that way, you know, trying a lot in the post.
00:11:05
Speaker
Well, when he was a rookie, it wasn't really part of his game, but later in his career, he was able to play with his back to the basket.
00:11:11
Speaker
And I think to bring back a Taylor McCarthy, Taylor has become such a deep vocabulary in this space, right?
00:11:20
Speaker
And develop that and understands really how to overcome and navigate.
00:11:23
Speaker
And I would say, don't be discouraged.
00:11:26
Speaker
If you're new in any position from a sales manager to a energy consultant, to a VP of a company,
00:11:33
Speaker
you have to realize that you're going to have to take your legs in that new position and get better and, you know, embrace it, embrace failure, embrace change.
00:11:42
Speaker
And, uh, you know, just learn how to continue with that.
00:11:45
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:11:46
Speaker
Well, I agree with that.
00:11:47
Speaker
And if there's one thing I've seen in solar, it's like almost anyone can be successful at this if they just don't quit and keep rolling.
00:11:53
Speaker
Cause I mean, there's so much money to be made so many people to help, but the only ones that really fell at this are the ones that quit from what I've seen doing this about six years now.
00:12:02
Speaker
Um,
00:12:03
Speaker
But no, and then another big thing, I know you guys were at SolarCity.
00:12:07
Speaker
You guys were crushing it there.
00:12:08
Speaker
And then like probably most people know that listen to podcasts is SolarCity ended their whole door to door site.
00:12:15
Speaker
And what was that?
00:12:17
Speaker
Five thousand people were let go just right off the bat.
00:12:20
Speaker
Is that right?
00:12:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:12:22
Speaker
I'll tell you what, it was a tough situation.
00:12:26
Speaker
We had just came off a record month.
00:12:27
Speaker
I think our two markets did 90% of our divisions entire volume the month prior.
00:12:34
Speaker
We were truly to say we were flying high in April, shutdown in May.
00:12:39
Speaker
May 1st, when we got all let go May 1st.
00:12:43
Speaker
And when I look back, it was tough because for myself and anybody operating out of Pennsylvania,
00:12:51
Speaker
any of those territories, there were not a lot of solar companies in that territory at that time.
00:12:56
Speaker
And for me, there were none.
00:12:58
Speaker
So when we got laid off, it actually forced us to kind of reevaluate what we wanted to do moving forward.
00:13:06
Speaker
And this kind of is an area that I'd love to shout some people out.
00:13:10
Speaker
I mean, we had a lot of help and support by some really amazing, amazing people that probably a lot of people know.
00:13:17
Speaker
So at that time, you know, everyone kind of scattered.
00:13:21
Speaker
We ended up during that time looking into the Sprint product and realized that there was a little bit of a niche going on where it was the first time ever there was like a direct sales program around Sprint.
00:13:33
Speaker
And we kind of all said, hey, can we hold the fort?
00:13:36
Speaker
and start a company and that's where our company was formed in November of 2017 and we all said you know if we could get behind this and we worked with Michael and Jeremy Hammett you know the caliber group where they had that contract and you know Jeremy and I sat down and you know we had an agreement where you know it was like hey
00:13:58
Speaker
give us everything you got we all understood your your end games to get onto solar and you know once you're able to do that you're going to do that um and you know i will tell you they put me into an amazing spot in my career um you know introduced me to some you know colleagues that they knew inside the space through digital marketing um which really allowed us to you know create a whole nother business you know years down the line and uh
00:14:23
Speaker
You know, it was it's really awesome when you see, you know, good people trying to help one another out in tough spots because that's what it was for a lot of people.
00:14:32
Speaker
And, you know, and that's whenever, you know, we found the opportunity to get back into solar and we went all in.
00:14:39
Speaker
We're very, very proud of the trajectory we've gone on.
00:14:42
Speaker
since that time.
00:14:43
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:14:43
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:14:44
Speaker
And I mean, I don't know when, when all this happened, were you pretty stressed with like all these jobs disappearing overnight?
00:14:51
Speaker
Like what was your, I imagine it's probably pretty stressful or how were you feeling all the time?
00:14:55
Speaker
I'll tell you, I mean, I was so stressed out
00:14:58
Speaker
That summer, I mean, for not only myself, but my peers, right?
00:15:02
Speaker
The people that I worked with, some of them for at that point, eight years, you know, seven years and, you know, seeing them go from making, you know, the income they were making and the passion they had and the referral base they had to customers calling them and then telling them.
00:15:18
Speaker
we're no longer in business you know there's nowhere to put the referral program in and you know they would ask is there another company you're working with now and the answer was no nobody else operates here you know it's a very small niche market that solar city entered um you know nobody else wants to bring build out their ops and you know that was a time where i think a lot of people were hesitant on investing further into the solar industry
00:15:42
Speaker
as far as putting in brick and mortar warehouses and operations and not understanding where the ITC federal credit was going, not understanding where more of the politics dynamic were going on with solar.
00:15:55
Speaker
So everyone was kind of holding the fort
00:15:58
Speaker
And then we, you know, again, got a amazing partner to come in and support us.
00:16:03
Speaker
And, you know, that's where I ended up meeting Chris Kemper, the founder of Palmetto.
00:16:09
Speaker
And I flew down to Charleston, South Carolina.
00:16:13
Speaker
I told him we were going to become their number one partner.
00:16:15
Speaker
And like most, he smiled and said, you know, many, many people say that.
00:16:21
Speaker
And it took us about a year to get to there.
00:16:23
Speaker
And I will tell you, it was a big, big point for us was for them to come put a brick and mortar facility up in Pittsburgh.
00:16:32
Speaker
We were not going to operate with any solar company without them investing that, putting their flag down and showing that they were all in.
00:16:40
Speaker
They did that.
00:16:42
Speaker
And I think our first month with them, we put up like 48 deals and it really opened up their eyes.
00:16:48
Speaker
And we showed them that this was like the number one group here, Harrisburg and other parts of
00:16:57
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:16:58
Speaker
And so when you say we you is you and like a bunch of guys you were managing over at Solar City, you guys all went in and just started this thing under Palmetto.
00:17:06
Speaker
Is that right?
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah, so it's, I would say it was a three year tears, right?
00:17:12
Speaker
We had a few people come on right away and join our company.
00:17:15
Speaker
And remember, we were already formed at that time, we were still doing the sprint.
00:17:19
Speaker
And, you know, we had revenue coming in as a company.
00:17:22
Speaker
But when we got in with Palmetto, it took some time to get people, you know, seeing is believing,
Leveraging Technology in Solar Business
00:17:28
Speaker
right?
00:17:28
Speaker
A lot of people felt
00:17:30
Speaker
scorned from the whole experience over at SolarCity.
00:17:33
Speaker
They left some extremely good careers to come over and they were not only
00:17:39
Speaker
not able to get back with their old company, they had to lose their job here and go find out and interview with other positions again.
00:17:46
Speaker
So it took some people a year to see installs fall, quality service, and actually see pay hit.
00:17:54
Speaker
There was a lot of trust.
00:17:55
Speaker
And once that happened, it was almost as if a wall just came down and we've been able to really, really scale year over year quite a bit.
00:18:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:18:06
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:18:07
Speaker
Well, and so, yeah, do you have anything you did?
00:18:10
Speaker
Was it pretty much the same stuff you're doing at SolarCity that you just went over and applied to, you know, your other company or was it different growth strategies or how did you, anything you did different to like scale this time versus when you're at SolarCity?
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:25
Speaker
And I think it was quite different because at
00:18:27
Speaker
When I started the conversation, I said I didn't know who Elon Musk was.
00:18:30
Speaker
At the end, when we were working for SolarCity, he was the face.
00:18:34
Speaker
That was the brand.
00:18:35
Speaker
I mean, when you were recruiting people there, it was like, hey, come join Elon Musk's company.
00:18:39
Speaker
And I think even so, that was a big thing inside the home when selling homeowners and showing them who was behind this product.
00:18:48
Speaker
So when we restarted, not only did we shift away from leases and PPAs in this market, where we operate, we've done installs in 11 states this year, but talking more so on how we were founded in the market and the niche we were in, we had to really shift our mindset around loans.
00:19:06
Speaker
And that was something that one really had to relearn.
00:19:08
Speaker
We had to understand the benefits of people getting the ITC, the benefits of getting the state incentives where it applied.
00:19:16
Speaker
And throughout that, Taylor,
00:19:18
Speaker
I think that it put us in an amazing, amazing position because it really made us work extremely hard at adopting because we sat out for two years and the industry shifted in that time.
00:19:30
Speaker
Pay models shifted in that time.
00:19:32
Speaker
Overrides shifted.
00:19:33
Speaker
I mean, a lot of things changed.
00:19:35
Speaker
So,
00:19:36
Speaker
we had to really reform and rebrand that identity.
00:19:40
Speaker
So I would say the big turning point was right after COVID.
00:19:45
Speaker
That was spring 2.0 with Palmetto.
00:19:49
Speaker
And when we shifted, we really realized that we had to start
00:19:53
Speaker
At scale, if we were ever on a scale, we had to invest into a CRM.
00:19:57
Speaker
That was where I would say for the last two years, we've put so much effort and time into tech and automation from recruiting to follow-ups to email drips to understanding onboarding to bring everyone on that same platform the same way and giving everyone that equal opportunity that people want.
00:20:24
Speaker
Through that, we were really able to measure our numbers out.
00:20:27
Speaker
To the point where we know to, if we enter X amount of leads, we know exactly how many installs that's going to net us.
00:20:34
Speaker
And, you know, we could see everything to a, you know, micro point every single day on any aspect.
00:20:42
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's crazy for sure.
00:20:44
Speaker
And I know we were talking about this the other day off the recording here, but just how much it's shifted and, you know, how much advances we have in CRMs available.
00:20:53
Speaker
Like when I first started out in door-to-door and pest control, we were out there using.
00:20:57
Speaker
chalk and you know chalk on the sidewalk and no door knocking apps no smartphones nothing and then uh i mean similar when i got into solar we had at least knocking apps but there we didn't have like crms i remember eventually our company built like a custom one on a website but it was still like very basic compared to what you have now and um
00:21:18
Speaker
Yeah, just the data we have available.
00:21:20
Speaker
And I know even now there's still, you know, a lot of door to door guys that I don't think are using CRMs, their capabilities.
00:21:27
Speaker
And I mean, still a lot of people aren't following up with leads, tracking all that.
00:21:32
Speaker
So, yeah, like for you guys, what what CRM did you use?
00:21:36
Speaker
And I guess, sorry, getting over a cold.
00:21:41
Speaker
What did you guys start tracking and everything?
00:21:43
Speaker
And what CRM did you use?
00:21:45
Speaker
Great question.
00:21:45
Speaker
So we went with monday.com and, you know, we looked into Salesforce.
00:21:52
Speaker
We looked into Monday and we worked with our tech team and really understanding.
00:21:56
Speaker
And, you know, I work with a lot of people that previous they were familiar with, like go high level.
00:22:02
Speaker
And we like, you know, Monday because it was a.
00:22:05
Speaker
higher investment but i think it was a bigger reward and you know the things that we put in right away were um we put apis into our client um so what we have is when you enter a lead it goes right into palmetto's platform does all the designing for you
00:22:22
Speaker
You're able to upload everything right on the doors where a lot of platforms aren't built around a certain niche of marketing, whether it's direct sales, whether it's events in retail, online marketing.
00:22:35
Speaker
But what they're amazing at is the platform of actually selling the consumer and being able to get that consumer to install.
00:22:42
Speaker
So what we realized was a lot of the stuff top of the funnel was, you know, hey, that's that's data that's valuable.
00:22:48
Speaker
Right.
00:22:48
Speaker
Getting that email, getting that phone number, you know, getting that address.
00:22:53
Speaker
And this gave us the ability to be able to really track one.
00:22:57
Speaker
How many appointments do we have today?
00:22:59
Speaker
Because so many people will and I see it still from people that come out from other companies or affiliates that come in.
00:23:06
Speaker
You know, we'll ask them, well, how many or how many appointments do you run a day?
00:23:10
Speaker
Their answer is either I don't know or let me figure this out.
00:23:14
Speaker
And then like 10 minutes later, they're telling us because they have to either go track it down from their team and or they're putting it into Slack or a group me asking people, hey, who has appointments today?
00:23:24
Speaker
Or we're able to just click a few buttons.
00:23:26
Speaker
Well, now let's measure what happens with that.
00:23:29
Speaker
Like what happened with your lead?
00:23:30
Speaker
Did it close?
00:23:31
Speaker
Did it ghost you and never show up?
00:23:34
Speaker
Did it sit but close lost?
00:23:37
Speaker
So we put all these metrics in place where if a customer ghost, we're able to actually send them an MVP offer to try to get them back in front of us.
00:23:46
Speaker
If a customer's closed lost, we have retention that's able to then work to get back in front of them.
00:23:52
Speaker
If a customer closed one,
00:23:54
Speaker
Well, I want you to know immediately what your commissions are on that.
00:23:58
Speaker
So we go in all of our commission grids, right in they put form two, that lets everyone know.
00:24:05
Speaker
Everyone in their upline is immediately sent an SMS to be told that they're making this amount of money off of it, that this customer closed from this energy consultant.
00:24:15
Speaker
And likewise, when the jobs tailor move stages, right?
00:24:19
Speaker
If a job hits engineering, that's important.
00:24:23
Speaker
to understand where those blueprints are.
00:24:25
Speaker
If a job's permit's sent, these are all great touch points with that homeowner to reach out, Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner, and let them know what's going on.
00:24:35
Speaker
Equally to that, you're getting into a position where the job's installed ready.
00:24:40
Speaker
Time is of essence with that, right?
00:24:42
Speaker
We see a lot of companies where these sit, because if one person gets a notification, well, maybe there was turnover and the AC's no longer here,
00:24:52
Speaker
You know, so nobody looks at that.
00:24:54
Speaker
Well, now that whole offline seeing that our admin team seeing that they're notifying everyone right away if it's within 24 hours and nothing's done.
00:25:03
Speaker
And then install schedule and install complete PTO, all of it.
00:25:08
Speaker
We're automating that so people have full transparency at all times.
00:25:12
Speaker
Because I really believe that's so important.
00:25:15
Speaker
No, that's true.
00:25:16
Speaker
And so are you automating like, for example, when they have permits received and all that, is that just automated stuff that goes out?
00:25:24
Speaker
Just like texts or emails or both or?
00:25:26
Speaker
So for some of them pay related stages, we're emailing and texting.
00:25:31
Speaker
It's just a change of stage.
00:25:33
Speaker
We're sending out that text message, right?
00:25:36
Speaker
Directly to that upline and letting the right people know.
00:25:39
Speaker
And even from like culture standpoint, you know, bonuses, you know, newsletters, a lot of what we do even for bonuses, you know, giving away iPads or giving away fast sort bonuses.
00:25:51
Speaker
It was a big thing we implemented at the beginning of the year.
00:25:53
Speaker
That's all sent out.
00:25:55
Speaker
And we have even our executive team get notifications when people reach those bonus milestones, because those are the people that are starting strong, coming into the company.
00:26:04
Speaker
And we want them to be recognized amongst everyone company wide, just to put that name out in front of them.
00:26:10
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:26:11
Speaker
And what about, you talked about, um, like if the customer goes, someone no shows their appointments, it goes into a different kind of bucket.
00:26:19
Speaker
So is that like just the same thing, like an automated texting that will go out, Hey, we missed you, stuff like that.
00:26:26
Speaker
Or what, what type of stuff goes out if it's someone that goes on an appointment?
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:31
Speaker
So that is something that we are, we've, we've worked on already.
00:26:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:35
Speaker
But it was something that we wanted to roll out the correct way.
00:26:40
Speaker
Being an energy consultant, that is equally as important to you.
00:26:44
Speaker
And until our teams got up and trained on it and really understood how to update things, we didn't want to walk on anybody's toes.
00:26:52
Speaker
So going into Q4, we'll be rolling out multiple forms of marketing.
00:26:58
Speaker
email drips, we will equally be marketing out SMS drips, and then the big one is we're gonna do piece mail.
00:27:05
Speaker
We do wanna get out in front of people and have piece mail, and I'm a big believer of awkward sized pieces of mail,
00:27:13
Speaker
have a big call to action on that with an MVP offer to try to get that homeowner back in front of that, whether it's QR code.
00:27:20
Speaker
And if you're relating to people three different ways from that point, that first touch was on the doors.
00:27:26
Speaker
Our whole goal is to get them back in front
00:27:28
Speaker
of whoever originally knocked out.
00:27:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:31
Speaker
And so you're not like, it's, it's basically like a whole team that does this or like, I don't know, I guess how much is automated versus, cause I'm just thinking if it's someone that's like a door to door rep, for example, like most door to door reps, they're not going to like set this up for themselves.
00:27:46
Speaker
So, um, I mean, do you have this just on like a company level and you do it for like all your reps or how's that kind of balance between you doing it versus like an individual rep?
00:27:56
Speaker
So every bit of this is on Curve Central.
00:27:59
Speaker
It's all automated.
00:28:00
Speaker
It's based off of the metrics we put in, the exact this many days after move to this, send this.
00:28:09
Speaker
And that's the automation that we've spent
00:28:12
Speaker
A lot of time, a lot of money in the putting in.
00:28:14
Speaker
And it's something that, again, has only gotten better.
00:28:18
Speaker
Our CTO just moved to Pittsburgh actually two days ago.
00:28:23
Speaker
He's really been the brainchild, if you will, behind a lot of this.
00:28:28
Speaker
You know, and building it out and bringing, you know, others into the company.
00:28:32
Speaker
And, you know, as we've scaled, it's been something that we've seen direct financial reward to our ECs, to everyone involved in the company, just because of that level of transparency.
Sales Strategies: Online Leads vs. Traditional Methods
00:28:44
Speaker
That's huge.
00:28:45
Speaker
Well, no, that's cool.
00:28:46
Speaker
You guys obviously have a dialed in and a whole system in place, which not a lot of people can say.
00:28:53
Speaker
I know some people have it set up on like a more basic level.
00:28:55
Speaker
But what would you suggest, Brian, for people that maybe they're just like a rep working at a company or their company doesn't have any of this stuff built out?
00:29:05
Speaker
Would you suggest just like an individual rep just trying to figure all this out and build out for themselves or like, I don't know, paying someone?
00:29:12
Speaker
Or what would you tell someone that's like, Brian, I don't have any of this set up, but I want to have it set up.
00:29:16
Speaker
My company's not doing it.
00:29:18
Speaker
What's your advice for someone like that?
00:29:20
Speaker
Oh, you know, I think that's in two or maybe even three parts.
00:29:23
Speaker
So the first part is if you're an individual and you're an independent contractor working through a company, you know, you're self-employed, you don't have anybody working with you, and you're just looking to be out there, don't be afraid to invest in
00:29:36
Speaker
sometime every week into learning new things.
00:29:39
Speaker
A lot of this information can be provided to you if you even watch things on YouTube or Google a lot of these things.
00:29:47
Speaker
And it doesn't have to become aggressively expensive because everything's at scale.
00:29:53
Speaker
So if you're an individual and you set up an individual one account, maybe you don't need Monday, but maybe you could get set up with, you know, Twilio and some of these other platforms to be able to learn how to do automation, you know, you know, even go high level again, might be a little bit too expensive for an individual to use.
00:30:13
Speaker
But at the same time, I would recommend people to get integrated with tech.
00:30:19
Speaker
Don't be afraid of it.
00:30:20
Speaker
Embrace it because it's the
00:30:22
Speaker
probably the direction our industry is heading, whether you like it or not.
00:30:26
Speaker
So just get a point to do that.
00:30:28
Speaker
Now, if I were working at a company, and this is where everyone's marketing niches are different, everyone's companies are different.
00:30:38
Speaker
And what people do with the revenue, and I'll be the first to say, there's companies out there that I believe we're much better than at certain things.
00:30:48
Speaker
And there's companies out there that are better than us at other things.
00:30:51
Speaker
because it's where they're choosing to put their revenue it's where we're choosing to put our revenue and you know that's why i i don't want to critique without knowing but i would say this i think every company should be investing into the tech um that's just that's very very important for anybody to have that off yeah okay and i think we talked a little bit about this off the recording too but um i know a lot of
00:31:18
Speaker
people these days are all about like online leads.
00:31:20
Speaker
And with solar, it's probably one of the lazier door to door people, I would say compared to, you know, like alarms, pest control, because there's just so much money to be made.
00:31:30
Speaker
So a lot of people go close one deal, they made five, 10 grand or like, sweet, I'm set for the next couple weeks or the month, whatever.
00:31:37
Speaker
And then a lot of people are just trying to go all in on online leads and all that.
00:31:42
Speaker
So what's your take on that?
00:31:43
Speaker
Do you guys do online leads right now?
00:31:45
Speaker
And
00:31:46
Speaker
I don't know, door to door versus online leads.
00:31:49
Speaker
What's your take on that?
00:31:50
Speaker
So my take is I own a digital marketing company.
00:31:54
Speaker
However, we do not spend as much budgeting on online marketing as many that I speak to.
00:32:02
Speaker
Personally, I would rather spend online marketing money on recruiting.
00:32:06
Speaker
I would rather spend online marketing on other aspects to my business where I believe it could be better returns long term.
00:32:15
Speaker
And I will say, I think with solar, because of the way the sale is presented, direct sales and event marketing is going to be your best way.
00:32:26
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:32:27
Speaker
When homeowners are collecting the same $0 down ads and a very, very, almost to a certainty, very similar ads to others, they're dealing with the same people telling them the same things.
00:32:40
Speaker
And what happens a lot of the time, Taylor, I feel it's a bid to the bottom.
00:32:45
Speaker
I've seen a lot of bigger companies that I've talked to deal with it.
00:32:49
Speaker
We've dealt with it.
00:32:50
Speaker
Some of our clients have dealt with it.
00:32:53
Speaker
And then there's a run rate involved.
00:32:55
Speaker
So what happens a lot of the time with solar,
00:32:58
Speaker
is you do six deals your first month, and now you're getting your leads through either a big provider or you're doing it yourself.
00:33:05
Speaker
Well, now your Facebook marketing or Instagram comes due, you pay.
00:33:10
Speaker
Well, now month two, you do four deals.
00:33:12
Speaker
So you have 10 deals that you've done.
00:33:14
Speaker
Well, now you got undercut on four or five of them.
00:33:17
Speaker
So now you only have five to six left.
00:33:20
Speaker
Well, now in a lot of markets, these jobs aren't installed yet.
00:33:25
Speaker
So now you're paying your bill again.
00:33:27
Speaker
So what happens a lot of the time, and I've seen it even with two big companies recent, their run rate outpaced them.
00:33:34
Speaker
And when things affected the industry with supply chain and had to change up the pricing, it allowed them to become less competitive going into the home.
00:33:43
Speaker
Where if you're going out and knocking, if you're going out and working events,
00:33:48
Speaker
You're a hunter.
00:33:49
Speaker
You're finding people, right?
00:33:51
Speaker
You're creating the urgency.
00:33:53
Speaker
That homeowner that you're dealing with is not looking to go work with anybody else.
00:33:58
Speaker
They're working with you.
00:34:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:00
Speaker
No, I agree 100%.
00:34:01
Speaker
And I mean, I've ran a lot of online leads off and on, but I agree with all that.
00:34:07
Speaker
It's, you know, way more competitive.
00:34:09
Speaker
People are looking for the prices.
00:34:11
Speaker
You got the websites like Energy Sage where it's just everyone shooting out their lowest prices and
00:34:17
Speaker
Um, racing the bottom of the barrel, like you said.
00:34:20
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, that's, that's why I always encourage, especially people starting out.
00:34:24
Speaker
I mean, I think it's good to do a little bit of online lead supplement, but, um, it's just like, there's so much more money to be made, I think in door to door where you can take them from that, um, you know, low level interests, explaining the benefits and get them highly interested and then actually make what you're worth on it instead of just, you know, fighting for these scraps.
00:34:43
Speaker
Like a lot of times the online leads are.
00:34:45
Speaker
And then obviously, like for you guys, you're set up a lot better for online leads, too, because that's what I've noticed.
00:34:51
Speaker
A lot of guys will want to do online leads, but they have no follow up system set up in place.
00:34:56
Speaker
They don't have any of the things set up like you just mentioned before.
00:34:59
Speaker
And so they get a lead, they call it once and like, oh, why aren't these working?
00:35:02
Speaker
I called them, they didn't answer.
00:35:04
Speaker
And then it's like, that's it.
00:35:05
Speaker
It's like, dude, you got to know how to follow up.
00:35:08
Speaker
You got to know how to, you know, handle the ones that ghost you and have the system set up.
00:35:12
Speaker
And, you know, to add to that, I mean, it's not as if we haven't done it, not set up.
00:35:16
Speaker
I mean, we have a whole system set up where if a lead comes in through a zip code and we have that zip code automatically aligned for a certain closer and it automatically reroutes to them, sets it up into their calendar.
00:35:30
Speaker
If that customer pre sets an appointment.
00:35:33
Speaker
Otherwise, we have it automate for them to reach back out and cold call that customer immediately.
00:35:38
Speaker
And again, I think there's a lot of people that are super successful in online marketing.
00:35:44
Speaker
And I think the niche that I would say is if you're able to handle your leads yourself, you'll probably be all right in online
Service and Maintenance in Solar Industry
00:35:53
Speaker
marketing.
00:35:53
Speaker
But at scale, that's where companies could struggle because if you add your top two, three closers, four closers that are taking those leads,
00:36:02
Speaker
You and I both know they're going to be talented no matter what they do.
00:36:05
Speaker
But when you do it at scale and now you're delivering those to 40, 50 different people or 120 different people, it's harder to measure the outcome because the training's necessarily not there.
00:36:19
Speaker
There's too much overturn and market share alone really will not hold it, which drives up the lead cost.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:36:28
Speaker
No, definitely important things to consider.
00:36:31
Speaker
Well, something I wanted to get into, Brian, just to segue over as we start kind of getting closer to wrapping up here.
00:36:38
Speaker
Before the call started here, we're talking about just how I think now more than ever, we're starting to see people need actual like servicing on their systems.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:49
Speaker
you know, maybe an inverter goes out, maybe they're coming up with problems.
00:36:53
Speaker
Cause I mean, especially as we've been in this longer than, um, a lot of people, um, what solar city was that like?
00:37:01
Speaker
2016 was solar city or, um, yeah, I mean, you know, 20, 20, uh,
00:37:08
Speaker
17 is when they had.
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:11
Speaker
And so like a lot of these, I see it here in San Diego where I'm at too, where people have solar city and, um, you know, we're doing add on systems for them.
00:37:19
Speaker
Um, something's not working right up there.
00:37:21
Speaker
So yeah.
00:37:21
Speaker
What do you think?
00:37:22
Speaker
What's your, uh, I don't know.
00:37:24
Speaker
Thoughts on that with like more servicing being needed and like longevity of these companies, all that, what do you think is, uh, I don't know, an answer to like all these servicing issues and things like that, that we see come up as people have had their systems for a while.
00:37:38
Speaker
And I think, you know, in talking to a lot of people and just even understanding our own dynamic bar business, you know, a lot of the race for the last 10 years in solar has been SLAs, you know, how quick can I get my jobs installed?
00:37:53
Speaker
You know, I sell it, you know, and you see in Florida, you'll see 10-day installs, Nevada, 10-day installs, parts of Texas, 14-day installs, California, same week installs.
00:38:04
Speaker
And, you know,
00:38:05
Speaker
Whether they're picking the permits up or not to install those is probably a different question.
00:38:10
Speaker
It just got announced in California that I guess next September they have to do same day permits, I guess, in California.
00:38:18
Speaker
So it's going to be even quicker.
00:38:20
Speaker
Which is amazing.
00:38:21
Speaker
It's very valuable.
00:38:23
Speaker
Now, with that, I think what's happening is we've seen this...
00:38:28
Speaker
epic surge of solar demand in the last three to five years and you know it's been amazing returns for so many in the space right but what's happening now is a lot of these homeowners are realizing their systems aren't working or something's off with it and because i think this industry got away from
00:38:48
Speaker
where at one time was SolarCity, Vivint Solar and Sunrun, you know, the three titans.
00:38:54
Speaker
Well, now you really only have one of them left with Sunrun.
00:38:59
Speaker
And from that standpoint, you have a lot of companies that went more
00:39:02
Speaker
towards tech platforms and you have a lot more companies that have verticalized throughout the entire country.
00:39:09
Speaker
And whether it's shareholders or reaching those needed margins, where we're at today is a lot of these service issues can create headaches for the salespeople, right?
00:39:23
Speaker
Sales leaders, because homeowners are saying, hey, my inverter's working, could you come out and fix it?
00:39:28
Speaker
You know, and this is an example in our company, right?
00:39:31
Speaker
This is an example where we're seeing the whole industry going because we're all buying from the, you know, whether it's SolarEdge or Enphase or, you know, and everyone knows whether it's an appliance in your house or a computer in your house, something could go wrong.
00:39:45
Speaker
You need to fix it.
00:39:46
Speaker
So that's why we as a company, we're actually shifting to investing a lot of time and money into servicing.
00:39:54
Speaker
We want to make sure that, you know, equally where people want quick install timelines, we immediately get ahead of service calls because if we see it happening with other companies now, it's going to happen to us.
00:40:07
Speaker
It's just a matter of time.
00:40:09
Speaker
It's nobody's fault.
00:40:10
Speaker
It's just the industry and where it's going to head.
00:40:13
Speaker
So if we can get ahead of those issues and be able to service our sales consultants, right, our solar energy consultants, our, you know,
00:40:22
Speaker
regionals and directors and VPs to regions, they're going to be very motivated to go out onto the doors or work in event or run online marketing because they know that their customers are being taken care of.
00:40:35
Speaker
And the biggest piece of that's the referrals, right?
00:40:38
Speaker
You're not gonna get referrals from unhappy customers.
00:40:41
Speaker
So I think it's really important for us as an industry as a whole to shift a lot of focus and understanding service.
00:40:49
Speaker
Well, no, I agree.
00:40:50
Speaker
I think it hurts the whole industry when there's all this bad service.
00:40:54
Speaker
And it's unfortunate because so many people out here in California, like we've got probably more solar than anywhere really, except I don't know, maybe Hawaii or something, but pretty close to the highest solar.
00:41:07
Speaker
And the people that haven't gone solar yet, the main reason is because they heard of, you know, bad servicing of issues down the road.
00:41:14
Speaker
And I even had a guy the other day where he signed his contract and
00:41:18
Speaker
But then he calls me three weeks after I signed him and said, hey, Taylor, you know what?
00:41:23
Speaker
My neighbor across the street, he said solar for a while now.
00:41:26
Speaker
But I've seen a truck show up at his house five times this week.
00:41:31
Speaker
And he's told me he's had a terrible experience.
00:41:33
Speaker
And so I'm just not feeling good about this anymore.
00:41:36
Speaker
I'm going to cancel it.
00:41:37
Speaker
I'm like, come on, man.
00:41:38
Speaker
It's like we're a different company than your neighbor.
00:41:40
Speaker
Like you can't cancel because of that.
00:41:42
Speaker
But it's like just because he sees his neighbors, he sees a truck show up five times the same week.
00:41:47
Speaker
He's all like, you know, scared to put it up on his roof now.
00:41:50
Speaker
So I think it's hurting the whole industry.
00:41:51
Speaker
And then, yeah, same thing with referrals.
00:41:54
Speaker
It's like I think most companies, I've been a part of a few companies where they're so focused on getting the new customers that if they get like a service inquiry, they're taking, you know, weeks to respond to it.
00:42:05
Speaker
But it's like, as I've been in this for a while, it's like, do you realize you could use that and as...
00:42:11
Speaker
an opportunity to get referrals, but how likely are you going to get a referral if you're taking a week to response to their service requests and putting on the back burner?
00:42:18
Speaker
Cause they're so focused on getting, you know, the new
Adapting to Industry Changes
00:42:21
Speaker
customer.
00:42:21
Speaker
So, so yeah, I think it's all big points for sure.
00:42:25
Speaker
Um, but, uh, no, so just as we kind of wrap up here, unless you had anything else you wanted to say about that, Brian, um, I had one other thing I wanted to kind of pick your brain about, um,
00:42:37
Speaker
So I know you've probably seen this out there, but just with the rising rates, interest rates, the dealer fees going up.
00:42:44
Speaker
I've had actually a few people hit me with this message and I don't know if I have a good answer for it, but I don't know if you, as your guys have been doing deals, I know you've probably seen this too, but what are your thoughts around that?
00:42:59
Speaker
I mean, the rates are going up.
00:43:00
Speaker
with interest, the dealer fees are going up.
00:43:03
Speaker
So how can we kind of, I don't know, still sell effectively?
00:43:06
Speaker
And I don't know, what are your thoughts on that?
00:43:09
Speaker
I'm still being off route and not losing our minds over all these, you know, dealer fees and stuff going up.
00:43:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
And, you know, Taylor, this is a, if you will, maybe a little bit of a curveball question.
00:43:21
Speaker
This is not in the pre-summary page, but I think it may be the best question you've asked.
00:43:28
Speaker
And I will tell you,
00:43:29
Speaker
probably such a keen point in the industry.
00:43:32
Speaker
And, you know, I'll tell you on last Wednesday, you know, we had to roll out the dealer fee raises.
00:43:37
Speaker
We know another set or set to come again with sunlight.
00:43:41
Speaker
And, you know, we, we, I think equally all have to realize, and this is where it's a tough subject, but it's either you have a choice.
00:43:52
Speaker
You're either in it or you're out, right?
00:43:55
Speaker
If you can't,
00:43:56
Speaker
overcome the fact that dealer fees are going up and it's going to hinder your commissions, you have a choice.
00:44:01
Speaker
You're either in or out because otherwise you're going back to doing what?
00:44:04
Speaker
Cash deals.
00:44:05
Speaker
And it's not like the industry is going to scale at that point.
00:44:09
Speaker
Now with that, we did a training company wide on this.
00:44:13
Speaker
And it's another thing that we're set to do next week where we have all our directors doing a workshop and in the workshop, we're showing the commissions, we're showing utilities and the inflation there.
00:44:25
Speaker
And I think that this is the biggest one that a lot of people in our industry are not as well aware as they should be.
00:44:33
Speaker
Understanding where this is tied to the Fed, right?
00:44:36
Speaker
The Fed continues to hike.
00:44:38
Speaker
The rates will continue to go up on the APRs and the dealer fees because the money as a whole is not as appealing for a accredited investor to want to take.
00:44:50
Speaker
You know, as it was a year or two ago, you know, the risk is higher of people defaulting or moving.
00:44:57
Speaker
So I think that it took appreciation and understanding of where the industry is today.
00:45:04
Speaker
And, you know, the fact that we all have our jobs.
00:45:07
Speaker
You know, the solar industry in the last two, three years did amazing.
00:45:11
Speaker
It's still doing amazing.
00:45:12
Speaker
Where a lot of people were actually let go, you know, throughout, you know, due to COVID or throughout a lot of the shifts in the economy.
00:45:20
Speaker
So, you know, I think that that is really where we have to have an understanding where if it hurts you for even three to 12 months, that's the place it's at.
00:45:33
Speaker
but it would be a lot worse yeah no and that's I mean that's basically my thoughts it's like we can't do much about it but I mean a lot of good happened too it's like the ITC got extended the tax credit went up so I mean yeah I mean you have the negatives of the door fees but it's all fluctuation right and
00:45:51
Speaker
The people that adapt and roll with it are going to have the success and people that let them affect them.
00:45:57
Speaker
I think it can affect us a lot in our minds.
00:46:00
Speaker
The more we think, oh, this sucks, it's hurting my deals, the more it's actually going to happen.
00:46:04
Speaker
It's kind of my dig on it.
00:46:06
Speaker
I agree.
00:46:07
Speaker
One last thing to add to that is we looked at a year back where it was 26% to a 30% where the utility rates were to now.
00:46:18
Speaker
And the commissions a year ago to the commissions now actually align is the same.
00:46:23
Speaker
If you were selling the same amount of savings to a homeowner in about 5% of the markets we operate in.
00:46:29
Speaker
So it was unique for us to see where a lot of times people look at what they lose, but they'll understand what they gained.
00:46:37
Speaker
And we, the last year, a lot of gains.
00:46:40
Speaker
And, you know, right now it takes back to a year, well, a year ago is where we created all of our growth to go again this year.
00:46:48
Speaker
So that's where I take, say on our side, we have a lot of amazing leaders at our company.
00:46:55
Speaker
A lot of people I'm very grateful to be able to call leaders here and get to work with and side by side.
00:47:01
Speaker
you know, I'll tell you, you know, they're a big part of the reason where we're at and, you know, where, you know, when we roll out, if you will, a negative message, you know, it comes in positive and record numbers.
00:47:13
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:47:14
Speaker
Well, I agree with all that.
00:47:15
Speaker
And Brian, it's been great having you on the show here today.
00:47:18
Speaker
And as we wrap up here, if guys want to connect more with you or, I don't know, hear about, I don't know, ask more questions on the marketing side of stuff, what's the best way to get in touch with you and connect with you more?
00:47:30
Speaker
Let's probably say LinkedIn.
00:47:31
Speaker
I would probably say Instagram.
00:47:34
Speaker
I almost said LinkedIn.
00:47:37
Speaker
I don't want those spammy inboxes.
00:47:40
Speaker
I would say Instagram is probably the best way.
00:47:44
Speaker
We're happy to help anybody out that finds themselves as an entrepreneur mindset and
00:47:51
Speaker
You know, if give some advice and, you know, I want to shout you out as well, Taylor.
00:47:55
Speaker
I mean, podcast, I know multiple people at our company that listen to it and, you know, pre Taylor McCarthy reaching out, you know, to get me on to here.
00:48:06
Speaker
I definitely want to say you're doing an amazing thing.
00:48:08
Speaker
You're bringing a lot of good insight to people in the industry.
00:48:11
Speaker
And, you know, I know it's changing a lot of people's lives.
00:48:13
Speaker
So good.
00:48:14
Speaker
Appreciate that, man.
00:48:15
Speaker
And couldn't do it without amazing guests like yourself.
00:48:18
Speaker
So thanks for making the time and coming on the show.
00:48:20
Speaker
And so, guys, go shoot Brian a message.
00:48:23
Speaker
Shoot him a DM.
00:48:23
Speaker
Let him know you appreciated him coming on the show today.
00:48:26
Speaker
And just as we wrap up here, any final advice or words of wisdom you'd share for our solopreneur listeners here, Brian?
00:48:32
Speaker
Stick with it.
00:48:34
Speaker
Stick with it.
00:48:34
Speaker
No matter what you're doing, just stick with it.
00:48:36
Speaker
I mean, I will tell everyone I've had two to three reasons to leave the space from the first week I started to shifting out of it and getting out of SolarCity due to a layoff, not having any other opportunities around.
00:48:52
Speaker
Sticking with it is probably the number one thing and find yourself a good mentor.
00:48:58
Speaker
That was my biggest advice.
00:49:00
Speaker
Find yourself a good mentor, somebody that you can lean on for advice and hopefully one day you can pay that back to somebody else.
00:49:07
Speaker
All right.
00:49:08
Speaker
Love it.
00:49:08
Speaker
Well, for our listeners, you are the average of the five people you surround yourself and you've been hanging out with Taylor and Brian
Final Advice and Resources
00:49:15
Speaker
today.
00:49:15
Speaker
So thanks for listening to the show.
00:49:16
Speaker
And Brian, we'll hopefully have you on in the future.
00:49:19
Speaker
But thanks again for coming on the show with us today.
00:49:22
Speaker
Would love it.
00:49:22
Speaker
Take care of Taylor.
00:49:25
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs.
00:49:26
Speaker
Are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your cells increase?
00:49:31
Speaker
Well, so was I. And the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
00:49:37
Speaker
So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time.
00:49:40
Speaker
We are doing a free cells diagnostic.
00:49:43
Speaker
We'll break down your cells process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
00:49:50
Speaker
So at now we have six bucks for this month.
00:49:53
Speaker
So book a call now.
00:49:54
Speaker
Don't miss out.
00:49:56
Speaker
What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
00:50:01
Speaker
That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S dot com.
00:50:05
Speaker
I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
00:50:10
Speaker
So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.
00:50:16
Speaker
What's up, solarpreneurs?
00:50:17
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:50:18
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:50:29
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:50:36
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:50:39
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:50:44
Speaker
So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solrepreneur.
00:50:57
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet.
00:50:59
Speaker
So you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet.
00:51:06
Speaker
So go download it right now.
00:51:07
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:51:11
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
00:51:16
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.com.
00:51:19
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
00:51:21
Speaker
Go download it right now.
00:51:23
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
00:51:28
Speaker
That's going to show you how.
00:51:29
Speaker
So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.