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Remember Why You Do This
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We will all, inevitably, have that day where we'll start to question our professions in solar sales. This episode gives you a much-needed grounding on your purpose in solar, despite the conviction of other individuals to bring you and your drive to produce down.
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Transcript
Introduction to Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next 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.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur you might ask? 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.
Dealing with Difficult Customers
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, what's going on, solopreneurs? Today, I'm going to tell you the story of an unfortunate situation. It's one of those customers that makes you question, are you doing the right thing? We're going to get into the juicy details, but welcome to the podcast. 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.
00:01:00
Speaker
I want to thank those that have reached out inquiring about our upcoming blitzes. um We've had several inquiries and we have spots filling up quick. So ah don't hesitate if you have not reached out, if you're at all interested in joining a group of killers and up leveling your solar game. We have the link below where you can book a call and see if you're a good fit for an X blitz. So click the link. That being said, let's jump into the topic. So this was a sad situation.
00:01:29
Speaker
I'm going to get into the story of what happened with this customer, but we've probably all had these situations where a customer is excited about going solar, they're going through the whole process, then the deal gets ready to install and they cancel.
00:01:44
Speaker
So this recent customer went through this same thing. They ended up canceling right at the finish line and it had led to a pretty ugly, pretty nasty situation as we tried to save it. so I'm going to tell you what happened. But before we get into that, just want to um remind people the importance of having the belief in your products, why
Belief in Your Product
00:02:05
Speaker
you're doing this. One of my favorite books is Grant Cardone's Closer Survival Guide. You've heard me yeah mention ah several times in the podcast.
00:02:12
Speaker
But if you have this book, he goes through the top 10 reasons closers fell. And if you don't have this particular, or if you're making this mistake, then deals like this, they're going to lead you out of the industry. And customers like this are going to make you question if you're doing the right thing. And you'll understand why here shortly. But before we get into what happened with this customer, want to read to you number four. This is on page 62 if you have the book.
00:02:37
Speaker
Number four reason of the top 10 reasons that closers fell. And that is a lack of belief in the product. He says this failure to close happens because the salesperson now closer doesn't fully believe in his product, idea, service or the dream to the point where they will do anything to close the customer. You have to believe at a very deep level in order to control when you get the close. Have you ever ah believed in something so much and insisted so passionately that you actually made someone do something they didn't really want to do? That is what I'm talking about. You don't have to be pushy to do this. You have to be convinced that what you have is so incredible that you will not allow any decision other than let's do this now. had a customer say to me once, are you pressuring me? I responded, sir, please don't confuse my insistence and enthusiasm with pressure. I need your approval here and here. looked at me, smiled, took the pen and closed. So i don't know if that's always going to happen in solar. But the point of this is you have to have such a deep conviction that when customers cancel at the finish line, when people yell and scream at you, you know deep down that what you're doing is something that's going to benefit them. and you have such a deep belief that if they knew what you knew, there would be no hesitation. They would do this no matter what. And they would get solar right
The Single Mom Case Study
00:03:47
Speaker
away. So here's what happened with this customer. We signed her up about three months ago and she was a little bit hesitant, you know, like most customers. She was a um a single mom, actually recently divorced and a Mexican lady, super nice lady, fed me food multiple times in the home. home. Finally, convinced her that this was going to help her out a lot. She'd seen her bills go up. and She lives in a pretty tiny a duplex home where she's paying, i think, $2.50 a month. um She didn't even have AC in her house. This really helped her out. we were able to drop her bill, i think 25%, 30% and then give her a lot more power than what she was using. And on top of that, later we found out a panel upgraded upgrade was going to be needed. we were paying for that for her out of our commissions on it. So all in all, she was getting a great deal. It's something that I felt was helping her out a lot. She had kids in the house. um Her kids were a little bit older, but you know they wanted to run their fans and stuff, especially in the summer.
00:04:48
Speaker
So she was getting a great thing. She did end up trying to cancel. At one point, went back and saved her. The process it got delayed because of this panel upgrade. It's kind of a complicated panel situation. So things got delayed. um Month two, she kind of had some hesitations. And then um she actually ended up bringing her son over one of the times because ah she...
00:05:11
Speaker
expressed some concerns, was like, yeah, you know, I don't know if I want to do this. And rightfully so when customers have that long period of time, especially when they're a little bit um iffy to begin with, a lot of times they can forget about forget about all the benefits. And I've noticed more with single parents or divorced, you know, ah divorced ladies, a lot of times they can lose that confidence in their decision making. And they need someone to kind of like be over their shoulder to reassure them that they're making a good decision. Because when they were married, they're used to having have their partner kind of reinforce decisions and um and be the one that maybe takes the lead in most cases, right? So I love the divorced parents, but that's something you need to be aware of is that sometimes they can be a little less confident in their decision making. So you need to get maybe a family member, maybe a son involved. so that's what we did. We got the son involved. We actually set up another meeting with him. He came over.
00:06:04
Speaker
I was a little bit hesitant at first. thought, oh could this be a bad decision my mom making? But went over everything, said, hey, she's going to get backup power. She has a battery. She's going to be able to run AC or run the fans rather a lot more freely. And on top of that, she's getting a panel upgrade, which would cost her $3,000 to $5,000 if she was doing this um just out of her pocket. So once we explained all that, the sun was fully on board. and We showed them everything in writing and they were good to go. We scheduled the install. um It was going to be about a week and a half after that final appointment where we got our back on board. And then just when we thought everything was smooth selling, just when we thought this was making it to the finish line for sure.
00:06:46
Speaker
I get a call from this customer. um i think it was about four days before the scheduled install. And she says, you know, in Spanish, of course, but she says, Hey, you know what? um I've just heard too many negative things about this. um I'm just, I don't want to do this anymore. Just please cancel it. And she pretty much spit out all the same concerns she'd previously said that we already resolved with her and her son and and stuff that we'd gone over multiple times. But I could just tell she's at this point, you know, it's I think the second time saving her now. This time it would have been the third time saving her. So when it gets to that point where...
00:07:20
Speaker
that many times they're canceling. It's kind of like, it's going to be tough at that point. And so I, of course, told her, okay, well, if that's what you want to do, and then let's meet up, we would have to sign the cancellation paperwork, which make sure you were doing that. You want to get back in front of them, especially when it's someone this late stage trying to cancel. And so we got back in front of her, went through all the same things, and she still wanted to cancel. That's when I pulled out the big guns.
00:07:45
Speaker
Hey, I believe that if people, especially this far in the process, they're trying to cancel, And especially if there's not really valid reason, if they're just hesitations or whatever, then they should pay a cancellation fee. All the time, resources, energy, paid for permits, we've done it all. And so I tell her, hey, look, you're going to have a cancellation fee. We've done all this work. And she was a house cleaner, actually. So I compared it to her cleaning an entire house. And then her customer saying, hey, you know what? Thank you for cleaning my house, but I'm not going to pay for this. And um did not go over well.
00:08:16
Speaker
So she got upset. She ah said she wasn't going to pay it and pretty much kicked me out of the house. And, um you know, it got real ugly. And then we had actually a manager call, just kind of like double touch it again, tell her the same thing that she's gonna have to pay a cancellation fee. And she did agree to pay the cancellation fee. But as she was kicking and screaming, saying that she's canceling for sure, she just basically said, hey, this guy that came in, sold me this, he's a scam artist. You guys took advantage of me.
00:08:44
Speaker
and This is just a pure scam company. You guys are doing no good for anyone out there. You need to look for real jobs that actually benefit people. it's Just like trashing us and our company.
00:08:55
Speaker
you know It's emotional thing. She knows now she's going to have for a decision she felt was wrong now, even though it wasn't. 100% was helping her a lot. And so as were as I was hearing all this and hearing one of our other managers just kind of tell me how that conversation went for the second time, um it just you know kind of ah messed with my handle because this lady, she was super nice. um I'd been in her home probably five, six times at that point. Really frustrating for me and that she didn't see the benefit in this and that she wanted to just throw it all away and she'd prefer to pay
00:09:27
Speaker
thousands of dollars to cancel it rather than just continue
Reflection and Motivation
00:09:30
Speaker
with the process. And so it made me just think back to you know what I just told you before the belief in our product belief in what we're doing. She said some pretty nasty things she called a scam artist. It was tough to all let to not let that get in my head. And so I thought, you know what, if people don't have a deep belief in what we're doing, <unk> then this is something that's you go through one too many of these and you don't have that belief then this is something that's going to cause you to leave solar and i've actually seen multiple people join our companies and not have that belief and fail just because they question themselves they say oh this is the fifth cancel you know what maybe this isn't such a good product maybe this isn't as good as they're telling me maybe this isn't saving people money maybe this isn't so putting them in a better situation So if you've ever had those thoughts, first of all, you're not alone, right? Get around a group of people.
00:10:17
Speaker
and That's the power of having a team around you. But second of all, what can you do to get in that positive mindset? Think of all the benefits you're giving people. So if you're thinking those at all right now, then I challenge you today, go write down 10 benefits you're giving people when they sign up for solar and look at your last maybe five proposals you made for customers. Go and list out all the benefits because if you let that negative pattern get in your head, And if you let that mindset start, that's you're not sure if you're actually helping them, that thing can fester, it can become become a disease. Our thoughts creates our feelings, feelings creates our actions, and it can ruin a career. so ah you need to have that deep conviction, that deep belief. And that's what's going help you continue in this industry and really have longevity. If you don't have that deep conviction, if you don't have that deep belief, then things like this, they can absolutely tear you apart. So I'm over it now. You know, it's an unfortunate situation, but I thought that was just a powerful reminder on how important it is to have the belief. And, you know, I'm a religious guy. a lot of people know I did a two year church mission down in Columbia. And it's the same thing. You know, when we're spreading religion, i have a deep belief that when people make the decision to follow Christ, and to be baptized, they're really changing their life for the better. And recently in my church, we had a guy that was preparing for baptism, preparing to make the decision to follow Christ.
00:11:37
Speaker
And a similar thing happened. It was actually the day of his baptism. Schedule was made and he made a call an hour before and said, you know, what I don't feel good good about this. I'm canceling my baptism.
00:11:48
Speaker
And it's tough to see, but people have their agency, people have their decision making and as tough as it is to see people make um what I know is a wrong decision. What I know is something that's a worse situation for them. That's just the way things go. And we have to realize that we're in control of our actions. We're in control of our thoughts.
00:12:07
Speaker
And all we can do is keep moving forward, keep staying positive, and keep trying to change people's lives one step at a time, whether it's through following Christ or in this case, through helping them make the switch to
Mindset and Community Support
00:12:20
Speaker
solar. So not to turn this into a religious podcast, but you know um have a deep conviction conviction in that as well.
00:12:27
Speaker
So ah spread this to someone who needs to hear the message good message of solar and maybe he was going through a rough time. Feeling of solar isn't as beneficial to their clients. help them snap out of this, go in and look for someone on your team that's maybe going through rough time and help them see the benefits in solar. Help them see that we are changing people's situation for the better out there. And promise you, the more conviction you can have, the more sales you will make, the more money you will make, the more lives you will change, the more referrals you'll get, everything will be better because of it. So I hope that helps you today. go out there and have a deep belief, a deep conviction in what you're doing. You can do it. I love you. And we'll see you on the next episode. So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego. 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. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout.
00:13:24
Speaker
but it's not a 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 canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:13:40
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 two SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided
Partnership with SolarScout and Resources
00:13:48
Speaker
to partner up. But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show. you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:13:55
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them, and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:14:08
Speaker
Okay, back to the show. What's up, solopreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created it specifically for you in mind.
00:14:24
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast? You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:14:38
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 Solarpreneur.
00:14:51
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:15:14
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.