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I SWITCHED TO PEST CONTROL!
65 Plays2 years ago
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Transcript
Taylor's Journey and Mission Introduction
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.
Temporary Shift to Pest Control
00:00:43
Speaker
Yo what's up solarpreneurs?
00:00:45
Speaker
Today I switched to pest control for the week.
00:00:49
Speaker
I know this title is saying I switched pest control, but don't worry, it's just for a week.
00:00:54
Speaker
I'm not the pestpreneur, I'm still the solarepreneur.
00:00:58
Speaker
But I did come from a pest control background.
00:01:00
Speaker
And I'm going to share some things that I've learned from getting back into pest control for the first time in It's Been Lake.
00:01:06
Speaker
eight years now before I was in solar.
00:01:09
Speaker
So we're going to be jamming on that.
00:01:10
Speaker
If you're new to the podcast, welcome to the show.
00:01:13
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:01:14
Speaker
I'm here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar and pest control industry.
00:01:21
Speaker
If you're in pest control, you can listen to this too, and we'll recruit you over to solar.
00:01:25
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:25
Speaker
But yeah, being in pest control makes me grateful that I am doing solar because pest control, it is hard.
00:01:31
Speaker
It's a grind out there.
00:01:33
Speaker
It's hot.
00:01:33
Speaker
I'm in North Carolina knocking doors for pest control a little bit.
00:01:37
Speaker
And I don't know if I have what it takes to knock 10 hours a day like I was doing when I was in summer sales for pest control.
00:01:44
Speaker
But it's a learning experience and it is fun to mix it up a little bit.
00:01:49
Speaker
But I'm going to share some things I've learned, some little reminders and
00:01:52
Speaker
and hopefully y'all can take some things away from this episode and things you can apply.
00:01:57
Speaker
We're jamming on it, but first the reason I'm out here is for a little bit unfortunate circumstances, but my buddy, his wife has cancer unfortunately.
00:02:05
Speaker
Pretty rare form of cancer.
00:02:07
Speaker
I think it's in like her leg type of bone cancer and really sad.
00:02:11
Speaker
So we're out here helping him out.
00:02:13
Speaker
My buddy owns a pest control company and he's actually
00:02:17
Speaker
One of the first guys I started doing summer sales with, he kind of gave me the push to get into sales and I sold for his pest control company actually for a summer as well.
00:02:27
Speaker
So I'm out here helping him out.
00:02:28
Speaker
He's kind of a one-man show, so doesn't have like a big team or anything.
00:02:33
Speaker
So I'm doing some service and spraying some, you know, pest spray a little bit, knocking a little bit, doing it all with him.
00:02:39
Speaker
It's been fun.
00:02:40
Speaker
But that being said, if you're looking for a good cause to donate for, I'm going to include the link for their GoFundMe in the show notes for this episode.
00:02:49
Speaker
And yeah, give you an extra tax write-off, give you something to donate for a good cause.
00:02:53
Speaker
Let's jump into the episode.
Sales Strategy Insights
00:02:55
Speaker
So I'm going to share a few things that I've learned just from getting back into Pest and just some good reminders that I got from being out here.
00:03:02
Speaker
And the first is just that sales is sales.
00:03:05
Speaker
Sometimes we think, okay, this is a different industry.
00:03:09
Speaker
Stuff that works here, it's not going to work as well.
00:03:11
Speaker
And that's true to a degree, right?
00:03:14
Speaker
But everything that works on the doors, it's generally going to be very similar industry-wide, right?
00:03:20
Speaker
So just some things that I'm realizing.
00:03:24
Speaker
For example, name dropping.
00:03:26
Speaker
We all know name dropping is super powerful.
00:03:28
Speaker
You do it in solar, you do it in pest control.
00:03:30
Speaker
But what I've been doing out here, I've been going just riding out with my buddy Chandler.
00:03:35
Speaker
He's the guy that owns the company that I'm helping out.
00:03:37
Speaker
We've been going to his accounts.
00:03:39
Speaker
And I've just been knocking around where he sprang.
00:03:42
Speaker
So pointing out the truck.
00:03:44
Speaker
Hey, you probably see our truck.
00:03:45
Speaker
It's actually out there servicing your neighbor, John, right there.
00:03:50
Speaker
I'm friends with John.
00:03:51
Speaker
Did he let you know I was coming by, by the way?
00:03:53
Speaker
So exact same thing.
00:03:55
Speaker
Very similar to what I do in solar.
00:03:57
Speaker
I've been doing it in pests and it's been working great.
00:04:00
Speaker
So all these same lines, hey, I'm friends with John across the street.
00:04:03
Speaker
You've probably seen the truck right here.
00:04:05
Speaker
We're out there servicing them and then creating the problem.
00:04:07
Speaker
He's been seeing a lot of those piss ants come just in his kitchen.
00:04:11
Speaker
He also is getting like termites out in the yard.
00:04:13
Speaker
You guys have been seeing that same stuff, I imagine.
00:04:15
Speaker
Or what have you guys been seeing around here?
00:04:17
Speaker
So it's the same stuff, guys.
00:04:19
Speaker
You're creating the problem.
00:04:20
Speaker
You're breaking the preoccupation.
00:04:21
Speaker
You're creating the problem, and it works.
00:04:24
Speaker
And I think pest control is harder.
00:04:26
Speaker
Like I got one account yesterday when I went out and knocked, and I only knocked like two hours.
00:04:33
Speaker
I'm not going out all day long and knocking, but I'm helping him spray a little bit.
00:04:37
Speaker
I'm knocking around where he's doing his services.
00:04:41
Speaker
And I think I had to go through 12 homeowners or something to get that cell, which I'll talk about it a little bit here in a second.
00:04:48
Speaker
But it makes me remember how hard pest control is because solar, it's like we can go five, six doors, book an appointment.
00:04:56
Speaker
Most people that I know, you can pull an appointment, pull a bill on five, six, seven doors.
00:05:01
Speaker
And granted, if you're new, it's going to be more than that.
00:05:04
Speaker
But I think everyone in solar should be able to have the ability to get an appointment in five or six doors.
00:05:10
Speaker
But pest control, you're talking to a lot more homeowners without getting that sell.
00:05:15
Speaker
So it was a reminder that, man, this is hard.
00:05:17
Speaker
You're knocking all day out there.
00:05:19
Speaker
You're getting rejected.
00:05:20
Speaker
It's not like solar where you're just getting a quick appointment, going to the next one.
00:05:25
Speaker
Pest control, you are getting a sell or you're leaving, right?
00:05:29
Speaker
You're trying to get the contract signed right then and there.
00:05:32
Speaker
So that's the first lesson I learned just that cells is cells.
00:05:35
Speaker
All this stuff we do in solar, all the tricks we use in pest control, a lot of it's going to work in whatever industry you're selling door-to-door.
00:05:42
Speaker
Or even if you're doing different types of cells, a lot of the same things apply.
00:05:47
Speaker
And yeah, like knocking around, for example...
00:05:50
Speaker
knocking around the services in pest control.
00:05:53
Speaker
Something we can do in solar that I've talked about is knock around your appointments.
00:05:56
Speaker
If you have an appointment that follows through, are you knocking around your appointments, dropping the line?
00:06:02
Speaker
Hey, I'm friends with Joe.
00:06:04
Speaker
We just had an appointment with him.
00:06:05
Speaker
You can leave out that he no-showed your appointment.
00:06:07
Speaker
but knock around it.
00:06:08
Speaker
Okay.
Purpose and Motivation in Sales
00:06:09
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:09
Speaker
Number two, always have a deeper meaning around why you are knocking doors, why you are working.
00:06:15
Speaker
As I mentioned, I'm out here because I'm helping a friend and I'm doing a service because she has cancer.
00:06:22
Speaker
Super sad circumstances.
00:06:24
Speaker
But what I've found is...
00:06:25
Speaker
that's when I'm going out it's really powerful to have that meaning behind what I'm doing.
00:06:30
Speaker
I'm not out there knocking doors to make money.
00:06:32
Speaker
I'm out here because I'm doing a service.
00:06:34
Speaker
I'm helping a friend out in a dire circumstance.
00:06:37
Speaker
It is stage four cancer.
00:06:39
Speaker
We don't know how long she's going to be around for.
00:06:41
Speaker
So we're out here just helping.
00:06:43
Speaker
And so when I've been on the doors even though I have been getting hit with rejections even though sometimes I don't know what I'm saying in pest control right I'm a solar guy so
00:06:51
Speaker
I know pest control people listen to this.
00:06:53
Speaker
Maybe they're listening to some of the things I'm saying and thinking there's way better ways to do it.
00:06:57
Speaker
There probably are.
00:06:58
Speaker
But one thing I know for sure, as I have this deep meaning behind what I'm doing, it's been easy to roll with the punches.
00:07:05
Speaker
And it's been easy to take that rejection.
00:07:07
Speaker
And yeah, I haven't been knocking all day, but the doors I have knocked, it's just...
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah, I have a really powerful reason why I'm going there.
00:07:14
Speaker
So for you that are knocking doors in solar, that are cold calling, that have gone maybe even two, three weeks without getting it, what is your purpose behind your work?
00:07:23
Speaker
Are you just out there to make money?
00:07:25
Speaker
Because let me tell you, if that's your only reason to do this job, that why power is going to fade out.
00:07:31
Speaker
really quick so what is that deeper why you have what's that third layer deep a lot of the top guys i know they have three layers deep okay it's because i want to make money well why do you want to make money uh to provide for my family why do you want to provide for your family because when i was a kid i didn't have much so i want to give my kids the life that i didn't have that i never had i hear that from a lot of top guys actually
00:07:54
Speaker
A-N-T.
00:07:55
Speaker
So for you, think about that.
00:07:57
Speaker
What is the deeper purpose you have?
00:07:59
Speaker
You might not be out there knocking because you're serving someone that has cancer, but you should have a deeper purpose, a deeper why behind the reason you're out working and selling solar.
00:08:09
Speaker
So that's number two.
00:08:09
Speaker
And then number three, just to tell a little bit about the sell I got yesterday, and hopefully there's going to be more sales to come.
00:08:16
Speaker
Plan on knocking a little bit more.
00:08:18
Speaker
But, you know, not out here to knock the entire time.
00:08:22
Speaker
But I definitely will hit some more doors while I'm out here.
00:08:24
Speaker
But it's funny.
00:08:25
Speaker
The cell I got yesterday, I was knocking around an account.
00:08:28
Speaker
My buddy, he was out spraying, doing the service for the neighbor.
00:08:31
Speaker
I had like four of the neighbors that rejected me.
00:08:34
Speaker
They had different people doing their pests.
00:08:36
Speaker
Like, no, no, no, we're good.
00:08:37
Speaker
And then I talked to this lady.
00:08:39
Speaker
She's across the street.
00:08:40
Speaker
I can literally see Chandler, my buddy, spraying the neighbor.
00:08:43
Speaker
So I point her out, say, hey, I'm friends with this neighbor.
00:08:47
Speaker
We're actually out here doing the pest service.
00:08:49
Speaker
What have you guys been seeing?
00:08:51
Speaker
She starts just saying, oh, we got a pest guy.
00:08:54
Speaker
These are nicer homes.
00:08:55
Speaker
So pretty much everyone there already has a pest service.
00:08:57
Speaker
She's like, oh, we have a pest guy.
00:08:59
Speaker
Everything's been going good.
00:09:00
Speaker
We weren't seeing anything.
00:09:01
Speaker
I'm like, oh, what's the reason you got a pest guy in the first place?
00:09:05
Speaker
What were you seeing?
00:09:06
Speaker
which is something that come to be applied to solar to.
00:09:08
Speaker
If people have looked into solar, what made you guys look into solar in the first place?
00:09:13
Speaker
Okay, figure out what that hot button is, right?
00:09:15
Speaker
Okay, so she tells me we're having a good conversation, but I can tell she's just trying to get me off the door, like not really interested in switching.
00:09:23
Speaker
It's like whatever.
00:09:24
Speaker
And so I just kind of like beat her on the bush.
00:09:26
Speaker
We're just talking about other things.
00:09:28
Speaker
I ask her how long she's been in the home.
00:09:31
Speaker
I tell her that I'm living out in California, right?
00:09:33
Speaker
that's people are super nice out here you know just seeding her that she better be nice to me because everyone else was really nice to me another cool little trick to use um but long story short i and i tell her why i'm out there that you know my buddy's wife has cancer and she starts asking me about it she's like wait a second i know someone that's in the same boat what's their names so i tell them name oh it's chandler and she tells me wait
00:09:58
Speaker
I go to church with those people.
00:10:00
Speaker
They go to my same church.
00:10:01
Speaker
So I make this connection.
00:10:03
Speaker
Turns out they're in the same congregation.
00:10:05
Speaker
They go to the same church.
00:10:06
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, this better be a done deal now.
00:10:09
Speaker
She knows that his wife has cancer.
00:10:12
Speaker
She knows they got a two-year-old daughter.
00:10:14
Speaker
She knows the circumstances.
00:10:15
Speaker
Like there's no way you can stay with your current pest control company.
00:10:18
Speaker
So at that point, I'm like, all right, this is a done deal.
00:10:21
Speaker
I just start milking it.
00:10:22
Speaker
I'm like, okay, well, yeah.
00:10:24
Speaker
So you know the circumstances.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just out here helping him out.
00:10:28
Speaker
I know it's been tough for him.
00:10:29
Speaker
He doesn't have anyone working for him right now.
00:10:31
Speaker
So he's trying to service his accounts and he's going back and forth to the hospital.
00:10:35
Speaker
I'm just like laying on the guilt, guilt trip after guilt trip.
00:10:39
Speaker
Like, okay, you better switch.
00:10:40
Speaker
So she goes and gets her husband.
00:10:42
Speaker
And it wasn't an easy sell by any means.
00:10:45
Speaker
I still had to definitely lay on the guilt and explain why we're different, what we're going to do, build value.
00:10:51
Speaker
So just guilt alone wasn't going to give me the sell.
00:10:53
Speaker
But as I built value in the service and that we're going to spray the whole yard instead of just kind of the foundation, he's like, okay, we'll give this a shot.
00:11:02
Speaker
And that's how I got my first pest account in like eight years now.
00:11:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:07
Speaker
So what can we learn from that?
00:11:08
Speaker
What are the takeaways for you?
00:11:10
Speaker
Are you bringing the emotion into the cell?
00:11:13
Speaker
I never would have got this cell had I not brought in the emotion, had I not just brought in the tearjerker of, hey, you're helping out a good cause here.
00:11:21
Speaker
You're helping out a family who's in a dire circumstance.
00:11:24
Speaker
You're helping out a friend who doesn't have much time to go acquire new clients because we service those accounts and going back and forth to the hospital.
Leveraging Personal Networks
00:11:33
Speaker
Who's going to resist that?
00:11:34
Speaker
And then I backed it up with the logic.
00:11:37
Speaker
I told them logically, hey, you're going to have less bugs in the yard.
00:11:41
Speaker
You're going to save money.
00:11:42
Speaker
You're going to save time.
00:11:43
Speaker
In pest control, it is a very emotional cell.
00:11:46
Speaker
People are terrified of bugs, right?
00:11:48
Speaker
So that was the main thing.
00:11:49
Speaker
I just had to bring the emotion into it.
00:11:51
Speaker
So think about that.
00:11:52
Speaker
Are you bringing emotion into your solar cells?
00:11:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:56
Speaker
A lot of people are saying they want to save money, but again, why do they want to save money?
00:12:00
Speaker
What's the emotion in that?
00:12:02
Speaker
Is it to help their kids out that are going to college?
00:12:04
Speaker
Is it to be able to use more AC without sweating like crazy and feeling like you're going to pass out?
00:12:09
Speaker
What emotion can you bring into it?
00:12:11
Speaker
If you're not bringing emotion in the cell, you're losing cells.
00:12:14
Speaker
So that was the lesson I learned.
00:12:16
Speaker
And another thing, just work your power base.
00:12:19
Speaker
If you know people, it's really powerful because once we made that connection, it was a done deal.
00:12:23
Speaker
So for you, are you hitting up the people that you go to church with?
00:12:27
Speaker
Are you hitting up your aunts, uncles, cousins, anyone that knows you?
00:12:30
Speaker
Because people naturally want to help others out.
00:12:33
Speaker
especially people they know, like,
Reflecting on Pest Control and Endorsing Solar
00:12:35
Speaker
and trust.
00:12:35
Speaker
So chances are if you have someone, even if they're, you know, maybe they're thinking of going solar with someone else because they didn't even know you did solar, but they know, like, and trust you.
00:12:44
Speaker
So you should definitely be reaching out to them.
00:12:45
Speaker
So hopefully my buddy that I'm doing pest control with learned that lesson too.
00:12:49
Speaker
He's probably going to hit up everyone that he goes to church with if he's not already.
00:12:52
Speaker
So that's been my experience selling pest control.
00:12:55
Speaker
It's been fun out here.
00:12:56
Speaker
Hope to sell a few more.
00:12:58
Speaker
Stay tuned.
00:12:59
Speaker
I'll be posting about it over on social media.
00:13:01
Speaker
And if you want to donate to this awesome family and a good cause, again, we're going to post the link to the GoFundMe in the show notes.
00:13:09
Speaker
Be much appreciated, but don't feel like you have to.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yeah, but I know they would appreciate it.
00:13:13
Speaker
And as always, keep tuning in.
00:13:16
Speaker
We got some amazing guests coming up.
00:13:18
Speaker
Can't wait to see what's next and see who's coming.
00:13:21
Speaker
Awesome episodes.
00:13:22
Speaker
Share this with anyone who you need to switch from pest control to solar.
00:13:25
Speaker
Because let's be honest, solar is the best industry to be in.
00:13:28
Speaker
You should not be selling pest control.
00:13:29
Speaker
You should be selling solar.
00:13:31
Speaker
Unless you're going to help a buddy out like I did.
00:13:33
Speaker
Or maybe just do a week-long little blitz.
00:13:35
Speaker
Hey, it might help you in your solar cells too.
00:13:38
Speaker
So we'll see you on the next episode.
00:13:39
Speaker
I love you.
00:13:40
Speaker
You're awesome.
Free Sales Diagnostic Offer
00:13:41
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the podcast.
00:13:43
Speaker
We'll see you next time.
00:13:45
Speaker
Hey, solarpreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
00:13:51
Speaker
Well, so was I. And the truth is, I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
00:13:57
Speaker
So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
00:14:03
Speaker
We'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
00:14:10
Speaker
So at now we have six bucks for this month.
00:14:13
Speaker
So book a call now.
00:14:14
Speaker
Don't miss out.
00:14:16
Speaker
What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
00:14:21
Speaker
That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S dot com.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
00:14:29
Speaker
So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.