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Stop Leaving Money on the Table: The Salesperson’s Guide to Credit Card Rewards
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A credit card is a versatile and overall amazing tool for business expenses, rentals, and other items for your purchases in solar. This episode will go over strategies for using these cards, specific purchases to use it for, and some examples of cards that I know have worthwhile incentives.
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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
Taylor Armstrong's Journey to Success
00:00:08
Speaker
level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you 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.
Insights on Solopreneurship and Sales Strategies
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur you might ask? A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one. So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego.
00:00:46
Speaker
And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
00:00:57
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called SolarScout. But it's not door knocking app, it's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later cancelled the deal, who has moved in recently, even how much electricity the homes are using in given neighborhood.
00:01:16
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use Solar Scout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But i told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about Solar Scout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:01:31
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them. and you'll get ten percent off your first month when you sign up that's solarcout dot app for slash taylor okay back to the show Hey, what's up, Welcome back to the Solarpreneur Podcast.
Leveraging Credit Cards for Business Advantages
00:01:49
Speaker
Today, we're diving into something every salesperson should be doing, and that's using credit cards to your advantage.
00:01:56
Speaker
So whether you've been using credit cards or whether you don't have them at all, hopefully this podcast can shed some light why you should be using them. Hey, so welcome to the show. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
00:02:13
Speaker
and If you're watching this on the video version, yes, I am recording this from Asana today. Don't worry, it's not turned on at the moment. Didn't want to fry my computer. So right after this, you know I'm going be turning on doing an Asana session.
00:02:28
Speaker
But we are actually on a leadership retreat with our company and thought I'd do a little podcast here in the sauna room. So i take a little break and also you might notice, lost my voice a little bit.
00:02:41
Speaker
On these retreats, there tends to be a lot of screaming, shouting, getting excited about the opportunity to come, which you should be doing in your business wherever you are at because nothing more exciting than the solar industry at this time.
00:02:54
Speaker
We should be getting excited. a lot of good things happening. the We just heard that the bill is allowing us to um offer PPAs and leases for the next... think it's still 2030.
00:03:07
Speaker
So super exciting news. They adjusted some things in the wording in a big, beautiful bill. So let's jump into the show today. and And again, we're going be talking about credit cards. The reason this episode was triggered is because i' on the way here...
00:03:26
Speaker
was talking with one of our leaders, one of my mentors, John Soriano. And he was just telling me about all the a card perks he gets. I'm a little bit newer. I've been using credit cards. haven't dove into as deep as some people.
00:03:41
Speaker
But it got me thinking there's a lot of people that don't know anything about credit cards. A lot of guys I talk to, you they're not using credit cards to their advantage. So just wanted to give a little crash course on some ways you can begin to use credit cards to your advantage if you're not using them already. Okay, so we spend money all the time, flights, hotels, client lunches, gas, conferences, it adds up.
00:04:06
Speaker
But instead of just spending, what if every single dollar worked for you? What if your business expenses paid for your next flight, paid you to first class, or even got you into airport lounges?
00:04:17
Speaker
So in this episode, i'm going to break down why credit cards are one of the most underrated tools in sales, how they can help you manage cash flow, book flights for free, and give you perks that makes your travel and business life way easier.
00:04:31
Speaker
you're still swiping a debit card, you're leaving thousands dollars in rewards and benefits. on the table so we're going to go through four or five different ways you should be using credit cards some ways i use it some ways that i'm not using it but i plan to start using it and hopefully it'll give you some ideas and get you motivated to start using them more okay so the first one is maximizing rewards on business spending okay so if we have all these different expenses in solar
00:05:02
Speaker
I had just named off a few, but especially if you're leading a team, you've got incentives for your teams. You've got team lunches, team dinners, um all every incentive you buy for your team. So if you're not using a credit card for those, it's like you could be getting so many points back into it as rewards.
00:05:22
Speaker
Even the most basic credit cards, you can get like the Chase Freedom Unlimited. It gives you 1.5 points per spend. And there's this whole dashboard. can go and get Apple products.
00:05:36
Speaker
You can go and get gift cards that you could use for more incentives. Just for money you're already spending. Okay. And some people make arguments. I know Dave Ramsey argues, oh, well, if you have a credit card, you're going to spend more than what you were planning on spending.
00:05:52
Speaker
So, you know, there's that argument to be made. There's some people that they spend more money just because the credit card money doesn't feel real to them. But if you're good at managing your money, if you're smart, just spend that money wisely and get the points from it.
00:06:07
Speaker
And yeah, there's times where I think I've spent more just because I have a credit card. But I think the points you get, yeah if you're smart about it, maybe you still spend a little bit more than you would have.
00:06:18
Speaker
But the points you get and the perks, the rewards, the benefits should make up for any extra money you spend. right so just be smart with it. yeah That's the first reason. You can get some awesome rewards. I paid for vacations.
00:06:32
Speaker
I paid for rental rental cars on trips and just from these rewards. So it's like be smart with it and use that money you're already spending, get some perks from it.
00:06:43
Speaker
And number two, you can get some awesome flight benefits. And this is one that I haven't dove into as much, but ah my mentor, John Serrano, he told me about there's, you probably heard of it, the American Express Platinum card.
00:06:58
Speaker
This card, it costs like six or 700 bucks the yearly fee. And I think you kind have to pay it for sure the first year. But a secret that he told me he let me in on today is if you get this card, it gives you all these different flight benefits.
00:07:13
Speaker
It gives you, I think, like a $200 travel voucher just for having it. It gives you free hotel upgrades. You can go check out all the fruit the full perks on it. But something he told me that i did not know is if you get it one year, the second year when they go to charge you the annual fee, as long as you're spending decent amount of money on it, you can call them.
00:07:34
Speaker
And you can actually get them to waive the fee. If you think about it makes sense. These people that are business, they don't want to lose their customer. It's kind of the equivalent. You think about your last solar customer that tried to cancel.
00:07:45
Speaker
You probably tried to offer them maybe two, three months of free power or some per to keep them on. it So it's the same thing with us. These credit card companies, they make money from us.
00:07:56
Speaker
Even if we don't pay them any interest, even if we're on time with our payments, they still make money because the processors, every time a business accepts a credit card payment, they're essentially paying a fee to the credit card company.
00:08:09
Speaker
So whether we know it or not, they're making money and they want to keep us as a customer. right So if you're smart with it, you can get some insane discounts on flights, you can get full flights paid you My guy, John, he says he gets the first-class trip to Europe essentially paid for. You can get first-class, a huge trip paid for just from using these flights benefits on the card.
00:08:34
Speaker
ah So i have it's ah I haven't gotten too much into that one, but I've gotten discounted flights. I've paid for flights from it. But if you especially if you get some of these upgraded credit cards, there's going be some nice perks with it.
00:08:47
Speaker
ah Number three, it does... especially and in uncertain times, it gives you some flexibility, some cash flow. And there's a guy on our team who he does so many deals where roofs are involved.
00:09:01
Speaker
And most of the roofs, most roofing companies, they want at least some type of payments before they do the roof. But our problem is we don't get paid and until the solar project is done, right? So imagine you got to pay $10,000 for a roof.
00:09:16
Speaker
Maybe you don't have 10 grand to fronts, or maybe it's going to put stress on you. But what if you could put it on a credit card 30 days to basically float that payment since until you need to make a payment on it? Then you can get paid the solar commission.
00:09:28
Speaker
just gives you a lot more flexibility. And I'll admit, there's been times where I've had to kind of float some money on credit cards, I've been in some... And you don't want to rely on this with credit cards, right?
00:09:40
Speaker
But with solar commissions, we know sometimes there's delays with it. So it is nice to have the extra flexibility where, well, you know, i'm going to put some cash on this. I've got commissions coming on coming in two weeks where I know I will be able to make that payment and pay the credit card.
00:09:54
Speaker
But it's good that I don't have to necessarily have all the money in the big account. right So again, you got to be cautious with that one, it does give you some added benefits as far as cash flow, flexibility, maybe roofers you need to pay, maybe you're bundling in different projects where you have to pay people in advance, wait on a commission.
00:10:12
Speaker
It is nice to that added flexibility if you're using credit cards. Okay, number four gives you some travel protections. This one's nice. Luckily, I've never had to use it. But if you book your credit card or book say your rental cars with a credit card, they almost always have some type of that travel insurance. There's also like trip delay coverage, lost baggage reimbursements.
00:10:35
Speaker
um And I've known some guys that have definitely saved some save themselves from some sticky situations just by putting these things on a credit card. It's a little one and they can be useful.
00:10:46
Speaker
Another one, number five is expense tracking, tax benefits. um this For me, this is probably one of the biggest ones. It just makes it so easy that I can put all my business expenses on the same card.
00:10:59
Speaker
For tax purposes purposes, it's just so much easier for bookkeeping at the end of the year. If you're using an accountant, bookkeeper, just boom, boom, boom, boom. Put every business expense on the same card.
00:11:11
Speaker
You know that this is used for business and end of the year just makes it so simple. I use QuickBooks. It's linked up with my credit card. You can put it all on there. just It's extremely simple.
00:11:22
Speaker
And then a lot of cards even categorize the expenses for you. right So if you're using that same card, It's just making, even if you don't have a bookkeeper, it's making that that much easier and that's saving some time. Okay. And then the last thing I had here for this quick cash course is there are some nice sign-on bonuses.
00:11:43
Speaker
Some cards, a lot of cards out there, they'll give you like a cash bonus. If you make so many purchases in the first six months, there's some that I think it's up to like a thousand dollars. I've seen just a piece pen and that you have to spend thousands of dollars.
00:11:58
Speaker
But anyone in solar, we should we have a lot of expenses. We should have a lot of expenses. There's some nice perks you can get. um you know There's a lot of cards that have like a zero APR for the first year.
00:12:12
Speaker
can be nice. Maybe if you are in a situation where you're catching up on your finances, That's something that you need to look into. okay Maybe you've gotten behind on payments. Maybe you've built up a balance or pay interest.
00:12:26
Speaker
You should definitely look into transferring your balances to a zero APR credit card because this can save you thousands and thousands in interest payments if you're in that situation.
00:12:37
Speaker
Okay. But be cautious with this stuff. Hopefully you never get to that point. But if you are and at a point where you've built up some debt, have some balances on some cards, look into those balance transfer cards.
00:12:49
Speaker
Most of them have like a zero APR for the first year or
Conclusion and Learning Resources
00:12:52
Speaker
something. And you can save yourself a ton of money just by doing stuff like that. Okay. And another side note, another pro tip that some people may not know is again, these people, their businesses, they're if you If you're in a situation where you're paying off credit card debt, lot of people don't know. You can actually negotiate with the credit card companies.
00:13:13
Speaker
You can get on the phone. And you can negotiate the interest rate down. Hey, I got behind, but I'm going to make on-time payments. Can you get the rate down?
00:13:24
Speaker
or can you help me out? Can you waive the interest? Or you know if you're in a situation where you can't make the payments, ah right on the day, it's supposed to be. You can call, and most of the time, and they'll waive any fees, like fees or interest.
00:13:39
Speaker
as long as you let them know, work with them. Just think of it like that. Everything is a negotiation. We're salespeople. We should know to negotiate and we can get better terms.
00:13:50
Speaker
We can get better rates. and Just have to be smart about it. Okay. So I hope that gives you a little crash course on credit cards. not going to go too much more in depth. As you can hear, my voice is about shot. I'm going to call it for this quick crash course on credit cards.
00:14:07
Speaker
But if you like this type of content, hit me up for me. It fascinates me learning more about finances, credit cards, how to make a life more simple. how to buy back your time, just fascinating topics.
00:14:19
Speaker
And I think it can help us out in our businesses tremendously if we take advantage of credit cards and some of these shortcuts we can get. So hope this helps. There is another book that John recommended me. It's called I Will Make you Rich, I believe.
00:14:35
Speaker
think his name is like Raw Meats. He's an Indian guy. You can look him up on YouTube, but I know he talks a lot but about this topic as well. If you want to dive little deeper, It's a book I'm going to be checking out. Okay, so ah keep selling this week.
00:14:48
Speaker
Keep grinding. No better time to be in solar than right now. I'm going to go drink some water, recover my voice a little bit, and we'll see you on the next episode. Hey, solopreneurs, quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience of wisdom and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day. For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals
00:15:29
Speaker
to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry. And it's called Solcite. 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 Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled. So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now. This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join. We'll see you on the inside.