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Mastering The Art Of Referral Partners - Jonathan Brunasso
170 Plays1 year ago
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The SOLARPRENEUR podcast is here to help you close more deals in the solar industry, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully, have a much better time and situation.
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Transcript
From $50 to 150 Solar Deals: Taylor's Journey
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 fail.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one.
00:00:41
Speaker
Okay, what's up, everybody?
00:00:43
Speaker
We are rolling with another podcast here.
Live at SolarCon with Jonathan Brunazzo
00:00:45
Speaker
We're live at SolorCon, and this is someone that I've been following for a little while now.
00:00:50
Speaker
You've probably been living under a rock if you haven't seen this guy.
00:00:53
Speaker
We got the one and only, Jonathan Brunazzo, coming on the show.
00:00:56
Speaker
Thanks for joining us today, Jonathan.
00:00:58
Speaker
Absolutely, Terry.
00:00:59
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited.
00:01:01
Speaker
And, you know, we've been trying to schedule this for a little bit, but we got to do a little panel yesterday here at SolarCon recruiting panel.
00:01:10
Speaker
I'm like, hey, let's just run one up here.
00:01:11
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:01:12
Speaker
Let's make it happen.
00:01:14
Speaker
So, yeah, I'm excited because, like, I think a lot of people know you as kind of like the face of power.
00:01:19
Speaker
At least that's how I've seen you.
00:01:21
Speaker
Everyone, every time I think of power, like your face is always like everybody.
00:01:25
Speaker
One of them.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:27
Speaker
So like, I know you guys, you know, I told you before we started, I'm, I've got the whole door to door background and think a lot of guys maybe are like, you know, on door to door sales teams.
00:01:38
Speaker
So it's cool to know like perspective.
00:01:40
Speaker
I know you guys set up like referral partnerships, do things a little bit different.
00:01:43
Speaker
Right.
00:01:44
Speaker
So yeah, I'm excited to hear about it.
00:01:46
Speaker
But yeah, do you want to hear, tell us like your background
Jonathan's Transition: Real Estate to Solar
00:01:50
Speaker
getting into solar?
00:01:50
Speaker
I know you came from like a real estate background.
00:01:53
Speaker
How, what was your journey like getting into solar?
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I had a little sales management background, Southern California.
00:02:01
Speaker
I worked at Best Buy and Verizon Wireless.
00:02:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:04
Speaker
So some good foundation and sales and management training at those companies.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:09
Speaker
And when I left Verizon Wireless, a friend of mine was basically like, hey, man, I'm working at this solar company, Elon Musk's cousins called SolarCity.
00:02:18
Speaker
Nice.
00:02:18
Speaker
You should check it out.
00:02:19
Speaker
And so I did as I was getting my real estate license at the same time.
00:02:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:24
Speaker
And I started at SolarCity in 2015.
00:02:26
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:28
Speaker
So nine years now.
00:02:30
Speaker
Wow.
00:02:31
Speaker
And it was great.
00:02:32
Speaker
You know, they had a training program in place.
00:02:35
Speaker
They were doing some appointments from like the Home Depot, some online leads and some different things.
00:02:40
Speaker
And that's where I really got my start.
00:02:42
Speaker
And I dabbled in a little bit of real estate and did really well at SolarCity.
00:02:46
Speaker
So...
00:02:47
Speaker
I probably had 70 to 80 installs in one year and we were hustling around.
00:02:51
Speaker
Man, I think my highest year was like $75,000.
00:02:54
Speaker
And I was like one of the top performers.
00:02:57
Speaker
And then when Tesla acquired them, they kind of went downhill.
00:03:00
Speaker
They were going to let me go because one month I wasn't hitting my quota.
00:03:04
Speaker
You know, it's funny how you can go from top performer the year before and then they're wanting to let you go.
00:03:09
Speaker
So I tried my hand at some real estate, did a little bit of solar, dried up.
00:03:13
Speaker
I went to Sunrun Corporate, where I spent a little bit of time there.
00:03:17
Speaker
I met Lynn George, the CEO.
00:03:19
Speaker
And that's really where I started to learn how to build a referral based business.
00:03:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:23
Speaker
And I started to be virtual and I turned off company leads and I went 100% sugar or referral based.
00:03:32
Speaker
And five years ago, Power reached out to me on LinkedIn and said, there's a better way.
00:03:38
Speaker
You know, we're building the EXP reality of the solar industry, a platform, cloud-based, virtual, lots of income streams.
00:03:46
Speaker
I was like, all right, I'll take a look.
00:03:47
Speaker
I said no at first.
00:03:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:49
Speaker
two weeks later, I actually, they came back and I said, Okay, I'll take a look.
00:03:53
Speaker
Nice.
00:03:54
Speaker
And that was kind of the start of my journey with power the last five years and how I got into the solar industry.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool.
In-Home to Virtual Sales: Jonathan's Experience
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:06
Speaker
So did you have like a door to door background?
00:04:09
Speaker
Were you knocking doors like back in that solar city and stuff like that?
00:04:12
Speaker
Or you always been virtual and stuff?
00:04:15
Speaker
I've always mostly been in home and then during COVID, gosh, what was that, 2020?
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:23
Speaker
At the end of 2019, early 2020, before COVID hit, I started doing virtual.
00:04:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:28
Speaker
Because I realized I was getting a lot of referrals and I didn't want to drive 45 minutes in traffic to Menifee or Fontana or where these referrals were at, Woodland Hills or something like this.
00:04:39
Speaker
And I was just like, man, I could just call them or share my screen and talk to them on the phone.
00:04:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:45
Speaker
Why am I doing this with my referral?
00:04:46
Speaker
So that's when I started to go virtual.
00:04:49
Speaker
But to answer your question, Taylor, like I never really knocked doors, but I'm a hustler through and through.
00:04:55
Speaker
Like when I was at SolarCity, they used to teach us like at your site survey, go visit, talk to the customer, knock a few doors, pass out a few flyers.
00:05:04
Speaker
At install, knock on the doors.
00:05:06
Speaker
Cloverleaf, right?
00:05:07
Speaker
Eight homes down, eight across, eight down.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:10
Speaker
Pass out flyers.
00:05:12
Speaker
To be honest, I was a little nervous of knocking.
00:05:14
Speaker
I just passed out flyers.
00:05:16
Speaker
But I would do that.
00:05:17
Speaker
I would do events.
00:05:18
Speaker
Like, I would set up a booth.
00:05:20
Speaker
I would post on social media.
00:05:22
Speaker
Like, even SolarCity and Sunrun had incentives for recruiting others.
00:05:28
Speaker
Right.
00:05:29
Speaker
Every company does that.
00:05:30
Speaker
So...
00:05:31
Speaker
Just to say, like, I would pass out flyers, knock a little bit, but I went more the route of digital door knocking and other avenues that we could get into.
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:05:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:41
Speaker
Because that's something me being like a door to door guy and a lot of people that listen to this podcast is,
00:05:46
Speaker
I don't know.
00:05:47
Speaker
I think one of our hesitations is like, okay, we know we can go knock a door, get a lead, usually within an hour, go knock a door.
00:05:56
Speaker
And then like me personally, I've tried some of these other strategies.
00:05:59
Speaker
And part of it's because I don't really know what I'm doing with the other ones.
00:06:02
Speaker
So an hour goes by, I haven't gotten any traction.
00:06:05
Speaker
I'm like, okay, forget about it.
00:06:06
Speaker
I'm going back to the doors because I'm not seeing fruits with this.
00:06:10
Speaker
So, yeah, would you say those things, did it take a while to, like, gain traction?
00:06:13
Speaker
Is this more kind of like a slower thing?
00:06:16
Speaker
Or do you think it's just more like maybe a door-to-door guy, he hasn't developed the skills to maybe get a lead as quick?
00:06:22
Speaker
Or what do you think about that?
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think it's like a combination of things.
00:06:26
Speaker
And maybe it's not for everybody.
00:06:28
Speaker
But...
Building a Referral-Based Business
00:06:29
Speaker
I've got a lot of free training on building a seven-figure business, a referral-based business.
00:06:34
Speaker
It's on YouTube, free training.
00:06:36
Speaker
And basically, I think that there's a formula to it.
00:06:38
Speaker
I do think it's a gradual progression.
00:06:41
Speaker
Some of our team has gone off the doors because we've provided different avenues of income.
00:06:47
Speaker
So a few just to shout out real quickly.
00:06:49
Speaker
I'm a big advocate of BNI, Business Network International, Team Networking, and Chamber of Commerce.
00:06:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:56
Speaker
It's a few meetings a week, one or two meetings a week, and you're building a referral-based networking business.
00:07:01
Speaker
For those of you who don't know BNI, it's one professional per industry allowed.
00:07:07
Speaker
And they pass referrals, and you work on public speaking.
00:07:10
Speaker
You get up early probably every Wednesday or Thursday, and you go network with this group of professionals.
00:07:17
Speaker
And my first year of BNI, Taylor, I closed six deals.
00:07:21
Speaker
In my second year with BNI, I closed 13 deals.
00:07:24
Speaker
These are 100% referral-based sales, and those connections continue to give me fruit because of those.
00:07:34
Speaker
So it is a longer-term thing.
00:07:36
Speaker
So networking, social media.
00:07:40
Speaker
Social media is big.
00:07:41
Speaker
It's free.
00:07:42
Speaker
You can post on social media, LinkedIn, do some videos, do some content like you're doing.
00:07:47
Speaker
Events, setting up booths, farmers markets, your local gym.
00:07:54
Speaker
Chamber of Commerce probably has events you can set up booths at.
00:07:57
Speaker
And then when you go to these networking events, you want to connect with referral partners, right?
00:08:01
Speaker
You want to get, I'm here to connect with realtors, painters, roofers.
00:08:05
Speaker
So you want to be mindful of it.
00:08:06
Speaker
But these strategies though, they do take time.
00:08:10
Speaker
And it may not get you off the doors right away, but if you start to implement these, you will get more referrals naturally.
00:08:18
Speaker
And one of the models that we have at Power is what's called like a tier three mentor.
00:08:23
Speaker
and like a mentee or maybe a setter closer.
00:08:26
Speaker
So as we take guys off the doors, if they're building the team or they're building value, people will assign them as the closer and they will split the deal 50-50.
00:08:37
Speaker
So I'm just a big fan of my success is like, what do you do?
00:08:40
Speaker
You do everything.
00:08:41
Speaker
When do you do it?
00:08:42
Speaker
You do it all the time.
00:08:43
Speaker
I will post, I will go to networking, I will do an event, like I'll do it all.
00:08:49
Speaker
And that's just led to a lot of my success.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:52
Speaker
Love it.
00:08:52
Speaker
And I think that's every person's dream is like, like, I know for me personally, most guys knocking doors.
00:08:59
Speaker
It's like, yeah, I don't like hate it, but I don't think I think anyone would be happy about like getting 10 referrals and having to like knock doors for those leads.
00:09:07
Speaker
I don't think anyone's going to complain about that.
00:09:08
Speaker
Right.
00:09:09
Speaker
So, yeah, I think it's something that, you know, we should start doing.
00:09:13
Speaker
Guys need to build it slowly.
Referral Partnerships with Realtors
00:09:15
Speaker
So, yeah, what's like part of it was I know you came from like EXP Realty.
00:09:20
Speaker
Were these things that you were just like used to doing or were they things you learned at SolarCity?
00:09:24
Speaker
Like what made you decide to do these strategies instead of just like, you know, going out and hitting the door or maybe some things that other guys were doing?
00:09:31
Speaker
You know, I will say I was a little lucky to have some SolarCity leads thrown at me back in the day.
00:09:38
Speaker
And then that propelled me 100, 150 clients that now are my ambassadors.
00:09:44
Speaker
And I knew which ones were my whales.
00:09:46
Speaker
So I call them whales.
00:09:48
Speaker
So the ones that refer you a lot.
00:09:50
Speaker
And an ambassador is simply a client that is referring you, right?
00:09:53
Speaker
Maybe you give them $500 or $1,000 or maybe your company like Power has a $1,000 portal.
00:09:58
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:09:59
Speaker
So that's key.
00:10:04
Speaker
And then when I started Solar, my mom, go figure, was in Chamber of Commerce.
00:10:11
Speaker
She was a self-made entrepreneur, and I kind of saw some of what she was doing.
00:10:15
Speaker
So the moment I joined Solar in 2015, I was in the Chamber of Commerce.
00:10:19
Speaker
I was networking.
00:10:20
Speaker
I took a little bit of a leadership position, helping the young professionals.
00:10:24
Speaker
And then a few years later, I was asked to be on the board of directors for the Chamber of Commerce.
00:10:29
Speaker
So my mom was definitely a big influence on me as an entrepreneur.
00:10:34
Speaker
and doing the networking piece and from the chamber I actually discovered BNI and then using my ambassadors to get referrals.
00:10:43
Speaker
There's a few tactics I always did, Taylor, like dropping a closing gift off at install, asking for referrals, planting a referral based garden was taught to me at SolarCity in the early days where we got paid more money to do referrals.
00:10:56
Speaker
So
00:10:58
Speaker
Because you got paid more to do referrals back then, like obviously I was like, well, I need to do more referrals.
00:11:04
Speaker
And even those companies provided lists of like aged opties or lists of people that didn't sign up.
00:11:11
Speaker
And if you work those lists, you get paid more to help them go solar.
00:11:15
Speaker
So it was a multi-prong approach.
00:11:17
Speaker
But
00:11:19
Speaker
I mean, who doesn't want referrals given to them, like you said, right?
00:11:23
Speaker
So I think that's huge and having a strong ambassador referral program and cultivating it, visiting them, doing bill reviews, giving a yard sign.
00:11:34
Speaker
They don't care what company you're at.
00:11:35
Speaker
They like you, like they wanna refer you.
00:11:38
Speaker
And it's just being consistent with those activities and then they see you on social media.
00:11:45
Speaker
And it's just, it's not all the time, but that will lead to a sustainable business.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:11:51
Speaker
And yeah, I think one of the first times I actually like started hearing about you and more about power is I remember seeing, I can't remember if it was a couple of years back, but everyone was supposed to know this guy closed like 30 deals in a month, a hundred percent referrals and all this stuff.
00:12:06
Speaker
And I'm like, man, I could knock doors, you know, seven, eight hour days.
00:12:11
Speaker
And I've never closed like 30 deals a month.
00:12:14
Speaker
And so I'm like, man, this guy did this all like referral based and all that.
Success Stories and Community Lead Generation
00:12:18
Speaker
So I remember seeing you back then.
00:12:20
Speaker
And so just so people can understand what's like, I don't know, maybe some numbers you have it.
00:12:24
Speaker
What's like some big months you've had just by kind of building that and cultivating referrals.
00:12:30
Speaker
So when I was at Sunrun 2018, 2019, you know, I think my record there was like 16 deals in one month.
00:12:38
Speaker
And I think most of those were referrals.
00:12:41
Speaker
I wasn't taking company leads at that time.
00:12:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:44
Speaker
And I thought that was great, right?
00:12:45
Speaker
That's good.
00:12:47
Speaker
Then when I went to power,
00:12:50
Speaker
One of the ways to earn income, you don't have to team build.
00:12:53
Speaker
We've got guys on the team making seven figures from power in two to three years, just personal sales.
00:13:00
Speaker
We've got guys building a team with primarily revenue share, team building income that have made seven figures.
00:13:06
Speaker
And then we have mentors, tier three mentors that, again, seven figures earn in a few years and they're mentoring others.
00:13:13
Speaker
So there's a few ways
00:13:15
Speaker
to do it.
00:13:17
Speaker
But the team building piece in particular, because I had that background from Best Buy, Verizon, SolarCity Center, and I was used to building a team.
00:13:26
Speaker
So I chose to do all three, Taylor.
00:13:29
Speaker
I want to earn income on all three pillars and really crush it.
00:13:35
Speaker
So when I joined Power,
00:13:37
Speaker
I was doing Sunrun and Power at the same time.
00:13:40
Speaker
And in May of 2020, I went full time with Power.
00:13:45
Speaker
I started building a team and one of my teammates brought in a ton of people.
00:13:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:52
Speaker
And they needed to assign a closer.
00:13:54
Speaker
And that closer was me.
00:13:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:57
Speaker
So in May of 2020, I did 26 deals, all virtual with Power.
00:14:02
Speaker
Wow.
00:14:03
Speaker
In June of 2020, I did 20 deals all virtually with power.
00:14:09
Speaker
And at that time, I also hired a part-time colleague assistant that helped with my recruiting business as well.
00:14:18
Speaker
And because of that summer, we had a summer sales contest.
00:14:20
Speaker
I actually won a Model 3 Tesla.
00:14:23
Speaker
Wow.
00:14:24
Speaker
And so since then, I've done 470 personal contracts at Power in four to five years.
00:14:32
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:33
Speaker
And the team under me at Power has done about 7000 installations at Power.
00:14:40
Speaker
It's not all perfect.
00:14:41
Speaker
We've got a lot of challenges creating this decentralized model and being Inc.
00:14:45
Speaker
5000 in four years and doing 400 million from zero in 2019, practically.
00:14:52
Speaker
So it's been a coaster.
00:14:53
Speaker
But yeah, I think those are a few of the accolades.
00:14:56
Speaker
I also helped my brother won a Model Y Tesla.
00:15:00
Speaker
And then I won a Fisker Ocean in the third summer sales contest.
00:15:04
Speaker
And in the fourth summer sales contest, one of my
00:15:06
Speaker
teammates won that.
00:15:08
Speaker
When I won the Fisker Ocean, I did 28 referrals, all referrals, not even mentoring, just 100% referrals on Zoom.
00:15:20
Speaker
I believe that was August of 2022.
00:15:22
Speaker
28 referral deals.
00:15:26
Speaker
Yeah, all virtually.
00:15:27
Speaker
And I was literally getting three to five referrals a day.
00:15:30
Speaker
I could not keep up.
00:15:32
Speaker
Those are a few of the accolades.
00:15:35
Speaker
One thing I wanna mention, one of my secrets to success is the Facebook community groups.
00:15:42
Speaker
So if you've noticed a pattern, like some of the things I do are connected.
00:15:47
Speaker
You go to the Chamber of Commerce, you go to BNI, you do social media, people see you at events, you're posting that you're at events, and it's like an ecosystem, right?
00:15:56
Speaker
They're kinda connected.
00:15:59
Speaker
So I joined the Claremont,
00:16:02
Speaker
Connects Facebook community group and the original Diamond Bar Buzzers Facebook community group.
00:16:09
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:10
Speaker
And are you familiar with community groups on Facebook at all?
00:16:13
Speaker
Yeah, just like neighborhood groups.
00:16:15
Speaker
Neighborhood groups, yeah.
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah, stuff like that.
00:16:17
Speaker
Sometimes there's thousands of people.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:20
Speaker
And so people in the community started getting to know me.
00:16:23
Speaker
I would sign up people and they would then put my name out there on these groups.
00:16:28
Speaker
I kid you not to like...
00:16:30
Speaker
I have a script.
00:16:31
Speaker
Anytime anyone asks for solar in these community groups, I post, my name's Jonathan, here's my business page, here's my reviews, reach out to me, I just need a utility bill and we'll get you some numbers back.
00:16:45
Speaker
And because I was doing that activity for years and social media networking, like literally the summer of 2022, people would just send me their bills.
00:16:54
Speaker
Because that script was out there, right?
00:16:56
Speaker
When you search solar on a community group, and by the way, you can hit the magnifying glass and type solar, you can see hundreds of posts of people asking about solar.
00:17:06
Speaker
And you could even message them and see if they got solar and offer to help them.
00:17:10
Speaker
But...
00:17:11
Speaker
Those two groups, my hometown and the city I was living in, literally would give me multiple referrals a week.
00:17:17
Speaker
And some of those were just bills being sent to me because of the work.
00:17:22
Speaker
So I guess one nugget there is the referral is a longer game, but it will set you up for success and sustainability.
Credibility and Education in Virtual Sales
00:17:31
Speaker
And I do think it's one of the ways that someone should build their business.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:17:36
Speaker
I'm just thinking too, like, I'm sure you probably like systematize it and stuff as time went on.
00:17:42
Speaker
Cause like, even if someone were to like, maybe get like a virtual assistant or someone, I mean, I'm thinking maybe you could go and just like have them respond to these posts where you didn't do it yourself.
00:17:53
Speaker
But yeah, were you personally doing all this or have you gotten people that kind of like, I don't know, assistants or set up systems?
00:18:00
Speaker
What are some things you've done with that?
00:18:02
Speaker
For a while, I was doing it myself.
00:18:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:18:05
Speaker
And I think in hindsight, I wish I would have gotten an assistant or like an operations manager, both of which I have now.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
And a social media team.
00:18:16
Speaker
I wish I would have done that a little bit earlier.
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:18
Speaker
Reinvested in my business a little bit earlier.
00:18:21
Speaker
Instead of waiting till I was making buku bucks.
00:18:25
Speaker
So that's a tip for you all out there.
00:18:27
Speaker
But yeah, you know, and I had the time to do a lot of those activities.
00:18:31
Speaker
So now I do have an assistant.
00:18:35
Speaker
So she checks my messages on Facebook and Instagram every day.
00:18:40
Speaker
She will respond, like, and respond to comments.
00:18:42
Speaker
She will message new followers.
00:18:44
Speaker
She will say happy birthday to every person.
00:18:46
Speaker
And yeah.
00:18:49
Speaker
The community groups, things like that.
00:18:51
Speaker
I take a look at every now and then.
00:18:53
Speaker
And if she needs me to help her, she'll send me what I need to respond to.
00:18:57
Speaker
We have another person that looks at my LinkedIn every day.
00:19:01
Speaker
We use automated LinkedIn services to message and connect with 20, 25 people a day and send them a few messages.
00:19:07
Speaker
We use Lead Hero.
00:19:09
Speaker
It's a company out there for LinkedIn.
00:19:11
Speaker
And then my brother helps with a lot of these systems now.
00:19:14
Speaker
And he uses and offers go high level programs that are built out and customized.
00:19:18
Speaker
So, you know, I always say there's there's levels to this.
00:19:23
Speaker
You can start with the Google Sheet.
00:19:25
Speaker
Start doing yourself.
00:19:26
Speaker
You can hire a VA out of the country if you want to save some bucks.
00:19:30
Speaker
Eventually you can move to another assistant.
00:19:33
Speaker
But yeah, that's been very helpful.
00:19:36
Speaker
And having a social media team that helps me create content, constantly posting, putting up stories and some videos, I think is huge.
00:19:47
Speaker
For sure.
00:19:47
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:49
Speaker
And then I want to get into some like recruiting stuff, building teams, because, you know, we were on this recruiting panel yesterday and that gets pretty exciting.
00:19:58
Speaker
Like for people that maybe haven't closed virtually, I don't know.
00:20:02
Speaker
One concern I always had and I hear from door to door guys, oh, it's so hard to close virtually.
00:20:08
Speaker
And like, you know, some of these organic strategies, people are going to go hit up 10 different people to get quotes and all that.
00:20:14
Speaker
So I don't know, were you as you're closing these deals from Facebook groups and getting organic leads, were you finding there was a lot of people that wanted to just like research a ton and drag their feet?
00:20:25
Speaker
Or maybe what are some things that helped you to get people to like take action with you and, you know, not like shop around virtual closing strategies?
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:35
Speaker
Can you speak to that a little bit?
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, I do think each market is unique.
00:20:39
Speaker
So like California markets, very mature.
00:20:42
Speaker
People shop around more.
00:20:44
Speaker
Nevada is starting to mature quite a bit.
00:20:47
Speaker
It's worked pretty hard, that market.
00:20:49
Speaker
So I think each market is unique where you're at, how saturated it is and what the shopping is like.
00:20:56
Speaker
If you've noticed a lot of my methods are referral partners, ambassadors, BNI, events, networking, social media.
00:21:06
Speaker
So one of the keys there is there's some level of trust there and presence.
00:21:13
Speaker
And so that helps lend credibility to me or to my team or my closers automatically.
00:21:20
Speaker
Now, with that said, what I have noticed in the last four or five years is definitely a trend of shopping.
00:21:25
Speaker
It doesn't matter if five people tag my name, he's the guy to go with on Facebook.
00:21:31
Speaker
This customer is likely going to get two or three quotes.
00:21:35
Speaker
And so it's more important than ever to be the educated person
00:21:40
Speaker
consultative style where you're differentiating yourself, you know, the batteries, the technology, the panels, you're asking the right discovery questions to see like, would they benefit from a lease PPA product?
00:21:55
Speaker
Do they have the cash?
00:21:56
Speaker
So they want to finance it and pay it off in the next few years.
00:21:58
Speaker
Like you really need to be able to articulate to these options more than ever.
00:22:03
Speaker
And I'm a big component of also having a fair price.
00:22:08
Speaker
Like if you're going shooting for the stars, you might lose your credibility or trust.
00:22:12
Speaker
So I'm always like in the middle.
00:22:14
Speaker
I'm not gonna be the cheapest, I'm not gonna be the most expensive, but you wanna make sure you're at the right company and right dealer where you have a good price and you can pass that along to the consumer.
00:22:25
Speaker
So that's been a big part of me too.
00:22:27
Speaker
So those things, I guess, Taylor,
00:22:31
Speaker
It gives me the credibility and the reality is people will shop and that trend is not going to be ending.
00:22:38
Speaker
As people become more educated, as people have solar, this is becoming more of a common thing and we just have to know that that's the path that this is on.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah, and I've seen too, especially if you're trying to build referral-based business.
00:22:50
Speaker
I heard a story from actually a friend here.
00:22:53
Speaker
I'm from Utah originally.
00:22:54
Speaker
I think it was a buddy's mom or something hit me up, and she had gotten referred to this company, and then they gave her a price.
00:23:06
Speaker
Then she went and talked with her friend and found out it was 15 grand higher than the price.
00:23:11
Speaker
They cut the other person.
00:23:13
Speaker
And then she's like, oh, I'm not, you know, obviously like lost trust and everything.
00:23:18
Speaker
Like I'm not going with that person.
00:23:20
Speaker
And knowing the competition, like I helped a family friend in Nevada and she's like, oh, I have a quote with this company and I was going to talk to this company.
00:23:28
Speaker
And I know these companies are coming in at 2.9 a watt cash purchase price.
00:23:34
Speaker
And so it's like,
00:23:35
Speaker
How do I differentiate myself, be in that ballpark and still win the deal?
00:23:40
Speaker
So even being knowledgeable about your competition and what price points they are and how to separate yourself is important too.
00:23:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, so true.
00:23:48
Speaker
Because yeah, I'm like, I never liked being the slow, the lowest, but yeah, like that's why it's important to know about the products too.
00:23:55
Speaker
And no, Hey, this company is probably going to offer this sell at this price.
00:23:59
Speaker
And then, yeah, you know, okay, I'm not going to sell lower, like, because I think too many reps on the flip side, they just want to, like, be the lowest price and beat it that way.
00:24:07
Speaker
Yep.
00:24:08
Speaker
And they don't know how to build value even.
00:24:10
Speaker
If they do have higher things to offer, they're so nervous about, like, oh, they're not going to go with me because I have a little bit higher price.
00:24:16
Speaker
Right.
00:24:16
Speaker
But it's like being in the ballpark, yeah, you're not going to sell for 20 grand higher because that's, you know, probably a lot of values make up sometimes.
00:24:23
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:24:24
Speaker
Like being higher, a little bit higher, and then knowing how to build that value, build the trust, credibility, and, you know, just making it seem like you know what you're doing.
00:24:33
Speaker
I think, too, I'm sure you agree with this, knowing, like, some electrical knowledge, too.
00:24:37
Speaker
As far as, like, hey, you're going to need a panel upgrade.
Handling Competition in Virtual Sales
00:24:40
Speaker
Because that's something I've seen that's been able to separate myself is...
00:24:43
Speaker
Like I come in and I not only like tell them about solar, but I'll look at their main panel, say, hey, you're probably gonna need a panel upgrade.
00:24:51
Speaker
And then like who are they?
00:24:52
Speaker
The other companies didn't say anything about that.
00:24:54
Speaker
Right.
00:24:54
Speaker
It's like who's having more credibility when you not only know about solar, but also, you know, these other things too.
00:25:00
Speaker
100%.
00:25:00
Speaker
Roofing, electrical, main panel upgrades, like being able to speak to some of those things and ask, did the other reps ask these questions?
00:25:10
Speaker
Are they sizing it right?
00:25:11
Speaker
You know, that for sure sets you apart.
00:25:15
Speaker
And I think that's part of my success when I was selling more, asking those questions and giving my experience.
00:25:21
Speaker
And it would just set me apart completely.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:24
Speaker
But I'm curious with like virtual deals.
00:25:26
Speaker
I know you're saying like a lot of people were getting multiple quotes and all that.
00:25:29
Speaker
So what was your approach if you're maybe the first guy and they're like, all right, you met on Zoom and like, OK, Jonathan, that's great.
00:25:36
Speaker
We're going to go get two more quotes.
00:25:39
Speaker
Like, what would you say?
00:25:40
Speaker
What's your.
00:25:40
Speaker
Sure.
00:25:41
Speaker
How do you overcome that when you're doing a virtual cell?
00:25:43
Speaker
Yeah, I prefer to be the second or third quote, but let's pretend I'm the first quote.
00:25:49
Speaker
You know, I have never strayed away from me or the team or the closers using a homeowner presentation deck.
00:25:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:57
Speaker
It's educational.
00:25:58
Speaker
We hit a few things, you know, why solar?
00:26:00
Speaker
Why now?
00:26:01
Speaker
Why me?
00:26:02
Speaker
Why power?
00:26:02
Speaker
Why whatever company?
00:26:04
Speaker
What are the steps?
00:26:05
Speaker
Let's get to the numbers.
00:26:06
Speaker
Let's ask the questions.
00:26:07
Speaker
So that's really important to use the homeowner slide deck in your presentation to differentiate yourself.
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:17
Speaker
But when that comes up and they say, hey, I need to go shop around, I would definitely ask, okay, no worries.
00:26:24
Speaker
Do you mind me asking what company you're going to be talking to?
00:26:28
Speaker
I probably know.
00:26:29
Speaker
I've been in the industry nine years.
00:26:31
Speaker
Oh, you know, I'm not sure.
00:26:32
Speaker
I'm like, it probably rhymes with son something.
00:26:36
Speaker
Make a little cheesy joke and just say, OK, but before you go, you mind if I ask you a few questions, you know?
00:26:43
Speaker
I just want to put this in the email as well in the text, but we're using REC panels.
00:26:47
Speaker
Most companies use Qcells or Longis or something else.
00:26:52
Speaker
Or we're using this inverter, this battery brand.
00:26:55
Speaker
Other companies are going to use this.
00:26:56
Speaker
If they show you a lower interest rate, just look out for that price point.
00:27:01
Speaker
Some companies are really being paid more commission to slam PPAs or leases, but I wanna make sure you have purchase options as well.
00:27:08
Speaker
And this is really the size I recommend.
00:27:12
Speaker
So let me know what they show you.
00:27:14
Speaker
I am an expert on doing side-by-side comparisons.
00:27:18
Speaker
I'm no pressure, just like I help your friends, you found me online, it's for a reason.
00:27:22
Speaker
As you can tell my approach right now, I'm not trying to hard close you, but I just want a shot.
00:27:27
Speaker
Like, if you don't mind, let me see that.
00:27:30
Speaker
Let me do a free analysis for you.
00:27:33
Speaker
And hey, if I'm not the right fit and they're better, you think they're better, if they're nationwide, they're gonna be in business, they're gonna be around, they're not chucking Larry in a truck that's gonna go out of business, I'll let you know.
00:27:43
Speaker
This may not be a good fit.
00:27:46
Speaker
And then on the flip side, follow up is really important.
00:27:49
Speaker
Like I literally have just used Apple reminders, like just use a reminder app, like literally on Monday reminder.
00:27:57
Speaker
Hey, Sally and Larry, hope you guys had a great weekend.
00:28:00
Speaker
Look forward to chatting in a week.
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:02
Speaker
And always try to get the follow up date.
00:28:04
Speaker
When are you meeting with them?
00:28:05
Speaker
Cool.
00:28:05
Speaker
When are you going to review?
00:28:06
Speaker
Great.
00:28:07
Speaker
When can I reach out?
00:28:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:09
Speaker
Friday.
00:28:09
Speaker
Okay, perfect.
00:28:10
Speaker
I'll still say that Monday, though.
00:28:11
Speaker
Hope you had an amazing weekend.
00:28:14
Speaker
Like, it was beautiful on Friday.
00:28:15
Speaker
Like, personal touch points.
00:28:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:18
Speaker
And then on Friday, I'll call as promised.
00:28:21
Speaker
And if they don't pick up, I'll push the reminder out again, maybe Saturday morning, give them a ring, send them a text, make sure they have that email in the top of their inbox.
00:28:30
Speaker
My follow-up does not end.
00:28:32
Speaker
I will continue to follow up.
00:28:35
Speaker
And I have a strategy on follow-up as well.
00:28:37
Speaker
So those are the two things I would do to approach someone that is shopping and is not signing with me.
00:28:43
Speaker
And what I also find, Taylor, is that most of my business is second, third call close.
00:28:50
Speaker
I hardly am first call close.
00:28:53
Speaker
And I find that first call close has a higher cancel rate.
00:28:56
Speaker
I'm very nonchalant educational approach.
00:28:58
Speaker
That's what's worked for me.
00:29:00
Speaker
And so I do have a stronger second, third touch close.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:05
Speaker
No, it's a different approach for sure.
00:29:07
Speaker
And I think, you know, all of us door-to-door guys were like, same day close or die and all this stuff.
00:29:13
Speaker
But I mean, as I'm sure if you compared your actually pull-through rate, you know, the door-to-door pull-through rate is like 50% a long time.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker
It's tough.
00:29:23
Speaker
That's why.
00:29:24
Speaker
But no, I like that.
00:29:25
Speaker
And especially with the education-based things, I think that's what I see is like, especially on the door-to-door side, if we can't close them the first time, most people are just like, I'm going to completely forget about it.
00:29:36
Speaker
But yeah, it was like how many times.
00:29:39
Speaker
It's happened to me a lot where I go back to a neighborhood I was at and then all the people I sat with, half of them have solar.
00:29:46
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, I should have followed up with these people.
00:29:48
Speaker
You know, get a lot of them.
00:29:50
Speaker
The fortunes and the follow-up.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, no doubt.
00:29:53
Speaker
Yeah, and makes a lot easier.
00:29:54
Speaker
I'm sure it's evolved to I'm sure you're maybe instead of Apple reminders, if you have like the system, the CRMs and all that.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah, we use go high level CRMs that touch our unsold leads and we have different workflows set up to approach those for sure.
00:30:09
Speaker
Yeah, cool.
00:30:10
Speaker
So yeah, one more thing I want to touch on, I know we're going to get into some recruiting stuff, but one more thing I want to touch on before that is just, I know you guys are really good at setting up these referral partnerships.
Partnering with Realtors for Solar Referrals
00:30:23
Speaker
You know, I did a podcast with Jonathan Wilson, who is working with you guys now.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah, he's really good at just like the referral partnerships, working with, you know, roofers, people that are in somewhere.
00:30:35
Speaker
And she talked about like the B&I stuff, which I know is a good way to start.
00:30:38
Speaker
But yeah, what are some other, I don't know, maybe like effective things you've done to like get in front of these other industries and set up these referral partnerships and get referrals from other people in different industries?
00:30:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's honestly huge and led to a lot of explosive growth for me and for Power and for my team and all my seven-figure earners now.
00:30:59
Speaker
So referral partners, when you first start out, is literally just someone that's referring you and maybe they're getting compensated, maybe they're not.
00:31:08
Speaker
We call it an ambassador at Power.
00:31:11
Speaker
And they even have their own portal they can log into.
00:31:14
Speaker
They can even add a referral.
00:31:16
Speaker
They get to see the stages and they get direct paid to their bank a thousand bucks.
00:31:20
Speaker
easy easy referral ambassador program so a referral partner could be your clients could be your your family friends you know when you're reaching out to your warm market it's like hey i'm in the solar industry anyone you know that we can help i have a thousand dollar for like who do you know that can help you're not hard closing them but you're just asking for help so so some of you already know that i run my own door-to-door sales team here in san diego
00:31:48
Speaker
As we were gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:31:55
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
00:31:59
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called SolarScout.
00:32:02
Speaker
But it's not a door knocking app.
00:32:04
Speaker
It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:32:08
Speaker
It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:32:18
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
00:32:22
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up.
00:32:26
Speaker
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.
00:32:32
Speaker
And they did.
00:32:33
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.
00:32:42
Speaker
That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:32:46
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
00:32:48
Speaker
Also, referral partners would be anyone in particular that touches the homeowner.
00:32:53
Speaker
So we learned this in BNI and team networking.
00:32:56
Speaker
Like, who are your closest referral partners?
00:32:59
Speaker
For solar, it might be, you know, door-to-door partners.
00:33:04
Speaker
Alarm sales, it might be a painter, it might be HVAC people, electrician, a roofer was one of my best referral partners, a tax CPA, a realtor.
00:33:14
Speaker
So you really want to hone in on who are your best referral partners.
00:33:20
Speaker
And I think one of the things that we do really well is we kind of have two different levels for referral partners.
00:33:27
Speaker
You can join as an ambassador and get a free thousand dollars, Taylor.
00:33:32
Speaker
Or you can get a little more skin in the game at power, have a commitment, take a four hour training, and then you get half the commission for the referral.
00:33:42
Speaker
Just get the electric bill.
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:43
Speaker
Which one of those sounds better to you?
00:33:46
Speaker
You let me know.
00:33:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:47
Speaker
I'll send you more information or a link.
00:33:50
Speaker
And so if you have a good referral program or you even have a stronger offering, that's really key.
00:33:57
Speaker
And so what I found is a lot of people were like,
00:34:02
Speaker
wait, I can literally bolt on a solar division.
00:34:04
Speaker
I'm a roofer.
00:34:05
Speaker
I'm a realtor.
00:34:06
Speaker
I'm so-and-so.
00:34:07
Speaker
I can bolt on a referral division and get paid and just refer the leads to you and get half the commission or a thousand bucks.
00:34:15
Speaker
And so I'll give you one or two stories.
00:34:20
Speaker
A realtor gave me a few referrals.
00:34:22
Speaker
I'm like, Bobby, dude, you give me a few referrals.
00:34:26
Speaker
Do you want a little bit more skin in the game?
00:34:28
Speaker
You want to build a little solar division?
00:34:29
Speaker
You're already doing loans, real estate renovations.
00:34:32
Speaker
When you work with Bobby Rye team, you can also make money in solar.
00:34:36
Speaker
So we're adding value to him because his team, his real estate office now makes money four ways.
00:34:42
Speaker
He's like, heck yeah.
00:34:44
Speaker
So he's signed up for half the commission and he just took off.
00:34:49
Speaker
He's at the bank talking to the teller.
00:34:50
Speaker
He's mentioning real estate.
00:34:52
Speaker
Everyone knows a realtor.
00:34:53
Speaker
He mentioned solar.
00:34:54
Speaker
Boom, he closes that person, earns half the commission.
00:34:58
Speaker
He then went on and told a few other people that guy was closing one or two deals every single month and he didn't want to learn it.
00:35:07
Speaker
He just said, Chris, you're the closer.
00:35:09
Speaker
Jonathan, you're the closer.
00:35:11
Speaker
and they would split the commission 50-50.
00:35:13
Speaker
That's one realtor making a closer one or two sales a month.
00:35:19
Speaker
Now there's, you have to find the aces in the deck, right?
00:35:22
Speaker
You may have to talk to 20, 30 realtors, 40 realtors to find the Bobby Wright.
00:35:28
Speaker
And then we even have a more advanced way where we talk to the owner of an office broker.
00:35:33
Speaker
We say, hey, you can be in power.
00:35:35
Speaker
All your agents can make a thousand bucks and the closer will do all the work.
00:35:39
Speaker
So we had one realtor, her name's Sierra, top producing realtor in eXp Realty.
00:35:45
Speaker
She did the same thing like Bobby did.
00:35:47
Speaker
I'll take half of the compensation and I'll tag Cynthia to do all the closes.
00:35:53
Speaker
And Sierra was closing two or three deals a month, just referring the leads to Cynthia.
00:36:01
Speaker
That girl, Cynthia, I'm sorry, Sierra made 93K in one year, just referring her clients to our closer.
00:36:09
Speaker
Wow.
00:36:10
Speaker
And she stood up in the office of 20 agents and said, guys, this is amazing.
00:36:16
Speaker
I'll give you a few last things.
00:36:18
Speaker
She found that when she called her clients every Monday night, hey, Sally, how's the house?
00:36:23
Speaker
How's your loan?
00:36:24
Speaker
You ever looked at solar?
00:36:25
Speaker
My clients are going solar.
00:36:27
Speaker
I just got solar, dude.
00:36:28
Speaker
You got to check it out.
00:36:29
Speaker
Get a free savings report.
00:36:30
Speaker
See the tax incentives and the savings.
00:36:31
Speaker
Just talk to my girl, Cynthia.
00:36:33
Speaker
Shoot me your bill.
00:36:34
Speaker
I'll set it up.
00:36:35
Speaker
Hey, you just closed on your house.
00:36:37
Speaker
The process is in two weeks, you're gonna get your free energy report with Cynthia.
00:36:43
Speaker
She's a beast.
00:36:44
Speaker
And the way she set it up, 35% of her clients were already going solar or looking into it or got quotes.
00:36:53
Speaker
35%.
00:36:54
Speaker
Your clients are going solar with or without you.
00:36:57
Speaker
And are you gonna let them get screwed over in a bad deal?
00:37:00
Speaker
Or are you gonna bring the option to your client's doorstep as the real estate professional?
00:37:07
Speaker
So a little bit of a tangent there for you, but I want you to understand the power of referral partners.
00:37:10
Speaker
Like this is just realtors.
00:37:12
Speaker
You could do this with roofers and other people.
00:37:14
Speaker
And this is the long game, especially in real estate and lending.
00:37:18
Speaker
Interest rates are high right now.
00:37:19
Speaker
And there's no decrease really in sight this year in 2024 guaranteed.
00:37:24
Speaker
They need more commission.
00:37:25
Speaker
And...
00:37:29
Speaker
National Association of Realtors is changing the compensation structure for buyers agents right now.
00:37:33
Speaker
It's big news, like July 2024.
00:37:35
Speaker
So all these agents are stressing and they're looking for additional income.
00:37:40
Speaker
Most people right now to even live in the United States have a side hustle.
00:37:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:46
Speaker
And so in a sense, this can be a side hustle.
00:37:50
Speaker
And so when you join power, maybe a similar company, this is another income stream.
00:37:57
Speaker
And this is a way to get leads.
00:37:59
Speaker
I think it's one of the best lead gens in our industry.
00:38:03
Speaker
I like that.
00:38:04
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:38:04
Speaker
And for someone that's listening that maybe hasn't done anything like this before.
00:38:08
Speaker
So did you just start by, was it like being, were you like just calling up real estate offices and being like, Hey, can I come do a presentation or what are like some initial things you did to like maybe get in front of real estate guys or potential referral partners?
00:38:23
Speaker
Right.
00:38:23
Speaker
Yeah, great question.
00:38:24
Speaker
It definitely had to start somewhere, right?
00:38:26
Speaker
The Chamber of Commerce, the BNI, the networks, the connections.
00:38:30
Speaker
I was even doing free solar trainings, lunch and learns for the Association of Realtors in Southern California.
00:38:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:38
Speaker
So if you're a solar pro out there, anywhere in the nation, you can do a free...
00:38:42
Speaker
lunch and learn solar training in your local association of realtor in your area.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:48
Speaker
And that's just a way to get in touch with them.
00:38:50
Speaker
And at the end of the presentation, it's like, I want to be your nationwide solar referral partner.
00:38:57
Speaker
So when you reach out to real estate agents on Instagram, Facebook, you could go to EXP's database of realtors, Keller Williams database of realtors online.
00:39:08
Speaker
You can reach out to them, send them a DM.
00:39:12
Speaker
First question, do you work with a nationwide solar partner to help your deals that already have solar or to help your clients?
00:39:21
Speaker
That's it.
00:39:22
Speaker
And just ask the question.
00:39:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:24
Speaker
Get the interest and say, I got two options.
00:39:26
Speaker
You can get the $1,000 free or you could join us and have more skin in the game.
00:39:30
Speaker
I'd love to do a training, a presentation at your office and bring you guys breakfast together.
00:39:36
Speaker
Can I just stand up there with the other vendors and just say I'm the solar guy?
00:39:40
Speaker
Like I would just love to do that.
00:39:42
Speaker
Some of my guys, Taylor, are being asked to stand in front of real estate offices with 300 agents.
00:39:50
Speaker
Solar's everywhere.
00:39:51
Speaker
When you talk to a realtor, we could talk about this all day.
00:39:55
Speaker
There's more on YouTube.
00:39:56
Speaker
When you talk to a realtor, it's like,
00:39:59
Speaker
I know solar has been a pain in the butt.
00:40:01
Speaker
I know there's nasty hero pace lease programs.
00:40:04
Speaker
I know it prevents some deals from closing and transferring.
00:40:08
Speaker
I want to help you.
00:40:09
Speaker
I will read those contracts.
00:40:11
Speaker
I will talk to your buyers.
00:40:12
Speaker
I will help this for you.
00:40:14
Speaker
That's my value add.
00:40:15
Speaker
That's smart.
00:40:16
Speaker
Start with value add and start by acknowledging it's been a pain in the butt for them.
00:40:20
Speaker
It's literally stopped some food on getting on their family's table.
00:40:24
Speaker
It's been a pain and there's been some bad apples in our industry.
00:40:27
Speaker
So start with value add, get to know them, and then you offer your two referral options and you better visit that real estate office six, seven, eight times.
00:40:38
Speaker
Because you know realtors, they're not gonna do something or register for your ambassador program the first time.
00:40:43
Speaker
You gotta visit, get to know them.
00:40:45
Speaker
But I promise you, one real estate office can make you six figures if you work it right.
00:40:50
Speaker
One BNI, 13 deals in a year, could make you six.
00:40:55
Speaker
Six figures.
00:40:55
Speaker
It's just who's going to put in the work and the time and transition to that.
00:40:59
Speaker
So that's how I found some of my realtors and lenders from my connections, from social media, because I'm a real estate agent, because I was training realtors.
00:41:07
Speaker
And I was just offering two referral options and then try to get in front of the office.
00:41:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's so good.
00:41:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:14
Speaker
And like, I don't know why a lot of guys, I didn't think of this either, but like in our solar office, I mean, we bring in people at least a few times a year from like roofing companies, from like credit repair companies, and they're doing the same thing, like a lunch and learn for us.
00:41:29
Speaker
So I'm like, why am I not doing the same thing at their offices?
00:41:32
Speaker
Like they can come in.
00:41:34
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:36
Speaker
So most guys don't think of these things.
00:41:37
Speaker
And that's, you know, there's lots of good solar companies out there.
00:41:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:42
Speaker
But one of the reasons why I love power is the platform, the model, the join links, the ambassador links, the transparency, the pay, it's all transparent.
00:41:52
Speaker
The training, the mentors, closers in 23 states, sells virtually most of the time.
00:41:58
Speaker
That's what they crush.
00:41:59
Speaker
They crush at that.
00:42:01
Speaker
And so it helps when your company is nationwide and when you have some of those tools
00:42:07
Speaker
to grow it this way.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:10
Speaker
That's good.
00:42:10
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, even if you're not at power, maybe it's not because that is a very, you know, convenient way how you guys can just have them like kind of register or get paid directly.
00:42:19
Speaker
Right.
00:42:20
Speaker
But even then, you know, like you still, I think, you know, not super complicated to set up.
00:42:25
Speaker
Like I know for me, my company, I just send them to fill out the W9s or whatever and pay them out.
00:42:31
Speaker
And yeah, it's an extra step.
00:42:33
Speaker
But yeah, I think super worth it and that's something I'm trying to do.
00:42:36
Speaker
But yeah, I know my thing is like I just haven't put enough time.
00:42:39
Speaker
I talked to one real estate agent.
00:42:41
Speaker
It's like you got to treat it like almost like I would say almost like a side hustle, especially if I'm knocking doors.
00:42:47
Speaker
That has to be kind of like the side hustle for me setting that up and, you know, building.
00:42:51
Speaker
I do find that some people don't treat it like a solar sail.
00:42:56
Speaker
Yeah, they get they can get distracted on the time.
00:43:00
Speaker
And then we only have so much time in the day.
00:43:02
Speaker
But it's like, but what if you spend an hour every morning reaching out to 30 realtors?
00:43:07
Speaker
Like, what if?
00:43:10
Speaker
You know, there's a list of realtors online called green certified realtors, realtors that have gotten their green certification.
00:43:16
Speaker
So my my brother has a rep under him that called a few green certified realtors in Newport.
00:43:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:24
Speaker
One realtor said, yeah, I'll sign up for your ambassador program.
00:43:27
Speaker
I'm green certified.
00:43:28
Speaker
I don't have a nationwide referral partner.
00:43:30
Speaker
Literally within that week, he gave them a referral in Newport Beach to my brother's rep.
00:43:36
Speaker
My brother's rep assigned my brother as the closer, and they closed that deal just from calling a few realtors.
00:43:43
Speaker
Now, it doesn't happen all the time, but literally that realtor made $1,000.
00:43:47
Speaker
My brother's rep made his three grand and my brother made three grand for a nice Newport Beach deal.
00:43:52
Speaker
So, yeah, I would just say.
00:43:56
Speaker
Put time on the calendar or eventually get a VA to send 20, 30 messages on Instagram to realtors.
00:44:02
Speaker
So I have my assistant doing that for me.
00:44:04
Speaker
20 to 30 realtors every day on Instagram.
00:44:08
Speaker
Super smart.
00:44:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:09
Speaker
And it's for people that are in door to door.
00:44:11
Speaker
I'm thinking for myself as I'm hearing you say this, like, you know, the winter time and things like when it gets dark.
00:44:17
Speaker
I'm in San Diego.
00:44:18
Speaker
It's getting dark, you know, like 530, six o'clock.
00:44:22
Speaker
Most people probably aren't knocking super late into nighttime hours.
00:44:27
Speaker
So six, six o'clock, you still got an hour or two you could work.
00:44:31
Speaker
Why not use that time to go out and set up some of these partnerships, reach out to other people?
00:44:35
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:44:36
Speaker
So yeah, lots of different ways you can do it.
00:44:39
Speaker
But yeah, last thing I want to do as we start wrapping up here, Jonathan, we haven't even talked
Team Building in the Solar Industry
00:44:44
Speaker
about recruiting.
00:44:44
Speaker
We just did this recruiting panel and jammed on a ton of solid strategies.
00:44:49
Speaker
And that could be like a whole nother podcast alone.
00:44:53
Speaker
But yeah, just like, you know, a couple things to segue into that.
00:44:59
Speaker
You have like so many people.
00:45:00
Speaker
And I know that's another cool thing with power is you guys can set up so many people.
00:45:04
Speaker
under you and everything.
00:45:05
Speaker
But yeah, what's been like some of the fruits of your recruiting?
00:45:10
Speaker
How is that a supplement along with referral partnerships?
00:45:15
Speaker
What's been like the big advantage in recruiting for you?
00:45:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting.
00:45:21
Speaker
You know, even me, I was a traditional rep and to think of team building, being assigned as a mentor,
00:45:29
Speaker
or recruiting a realtor and referral partners.
00:45:31
Speaker
It takes time to learn these things, right?
00:45:34
Speaker
Often it's not a normal solar pro that's already doing these things.
00:45:38
Speaker
So from a team building perspective though, when I joined Power five years ago, I started telling a few people and recruiting a few people and they were tagging me as the closer and I was just like, wow, they're bringing their Rolodex of business and clients.
00:45:54
Speaker
They're bringing their warmest friends and family and they're assigning me as the closer.
00:45:58
Speaker
we're closing this thing a lot of the time and making good income and selling better than a lot of the competition.
00:46:05
Speaker
So from a team building perspective, I just, it was always in my DNA, you know, when I worked at Best Buy, hey, you should work here too.
00:46:12
Speaker
When I worked at Verizon Wireless, oh, you should work here too.
00:46:14
Speaker
And so I just always had that in my DNA, eXp Realty, like you should join eXp as a real estate agent.
00:46:20
Speaker
So it was no different when I joined Power.
00:46:23
Speaker
Every stepping stone I did before, power kind of just gave it to me together.
00:46:28
Speaker
And so, again, having multiple income streams, personal selling, being able to help mentor someone else's deal 50-50, and then team building.
00:46:38
Speaker
There's something called revenue share.
00:46:40
Speaker
So most companies have a SPF.
00:46:43
Speaker
override revenue share when you do recruit.
00:46:46
Speaker
And if you are the closer, the mentor, you also get the lead there.
00:46:49
Speaker
So the team did grow to about 1,200 consultants, 1099.
00:46:55
Speaker
It was higher before.
00:46:57
Speaker
And some of these are setters, some of these are closers.
00:46:59
Speaker
The barrier to entry is little, so a lot of people join.
00:47:04
Speaker
And the revenue share in team building that you can get if you choose the team build
00:47:10
Speaker
Literally there's been people in power making a couple thousand dollars a week passively five ten thousand dollars a week passively and the highest people you know we're making twenty thirty thousand a week passively and It's not like You know some people might use the word network marketing or MLM like every company I've ever been at and
00:47:34
Speaker
When I was at Sunrun, my manager got bonused off of us reps and his manager got bonus off of his performance and we hardly made anything.
00:47:42
Speaker
So like at Power, everyone gets the same baseline cost of goods.
00:47:48
Speaker
Power keeps 30% and gives half to six levels of leadership.
00:47:51
Speaker
So you have leaders that are genuinely interested in your success and helping you.
00:47:58
Speaker
So honestly, having one guy on your team close one or two deals a month, a few deals a month, that could literally give you hundreds or thousands of dollars passively every week or every month.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:11
Speaker
And so I just I just really believe that team building should be part of everyone's business plan at solar.
00:48:20
Speaker
If they want to be a team leader and they want to have extra income sources, especially when it's slow.
00:48:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:25
Speaker
You need to help have extra income.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:28
Speaker
And like even those that we're not all power and everything, but like.
00:48:32
Speaker
I know personally, as I bring on people, it helps me up level.
00:48:35
Speaker
Like you're teaching them the ropes and then they're bringing you their leads.
00:48:39
Speaker
Like that could be a huge lead source alone.
00:48:41
Speaker
Like even if you make zero override on, if you're at a company, you're not managing, you're not making like an override on team or whatever.
00:48:49
Speaker
I mean, like you're talking about, if you bring in one person, they got 10 people they know with homes and you do a split on those deals, that's like 10 deals that were probably a lot easier.
00:49:02
Speaker
That's like referral partner right there, basically.
00:49:04
Speaker
100%.
00:49:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:07
Speaker
So yeah, that alone.
00:49:08
Speaker
But yeah, I know you're now, you're pretty higher level, you're running all teams.
00:49:13
Speaker
So what point did that change you, closing a lot of deals, bringing now you're moreover managing a bunch of different guys?
From Sales to Leadership: Jonathan's Shift
00:49:22
Speaker
What was that transition like from you to kind of being in higher level sub versus when you're actively closing a lot of deals and everything?
00:49:29
Speaker
Right.
00:49:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's a transition that happened for me, um, slowly over time.
00:49:36
Speaker
And when it's busy, I'm, you know, I'm glad I made that transition.
00:49:39
Speaker
So it ebbs and flows, but when I was doing all those virtual deals, like in 2020, I had an assistant helping me do some recruiting.
00:49:49
Speaker
So that was able to take that weight off of my shoulders.
00:49:51
Speaker
Cause I wouldn't have been able to do 26 deals and 20 deals and follow up without having an assistant helping me recruit still.
00:49:59
Speaker
Um,
00:50:01
Speaker
And then moving forward, another year or two, I was just finding myself doing more trainings, right?
00:50:08
Speaker
Meeting with my guys, helping them, mentoring some of their deals.
00:50:12
Speaker
But then I started to get closers under me.
00:50:16
Speaker
And so I would recommend people to use them as the closers, the 50-50, the mentors.
00:50:21
Speaker
I no longer want to mentor.
00:50:23
Speaker
So I was just taking a few personal referrals.
00:50:25
Speaker
I was not mentoring deals.
00:50:28
Speaker
I was having my mentors do that, my closers do that.
00:50:31
Speaker
And then
00:50:33
Speaker
Eventually, I just realized, man, I'm helping my team.
00:50:36
Speaker
I'm responding to texts and emails.
00:50:37
Speaker
I'm doing trainings like I'm helping power in a leadership role and all this other stuff.
00:50:41
Speaker
So I started giving my referrals to one or two of my top notch closers, people I really trusted.
00:50:51
Speaker
And I can give them 50 percent or 40 percent of the compensation.
00:50:56
Speaker
I still want it to be strong.
00:50:57
Speaker
And I had expectations that you need to follow up at least six times, you know,
00:51:02
Speaker
keep this updated on a sheet.
00:51:04
Speaker
And so at that point I started giving off my own personal referrals.
00:51:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:09
Speaker
Um, so I gave up mentor deals.
00:51:11
Speaker
I eventually gave up personal deals because my team override revenue share was just so strong and so big.
00:51:19
Speaker
You know, when you're earning seven figures in a year,
00:51:22
Speaker
Should you really be following up with one referral a few times and getting them to sign, ask if they talk to their wife yet and spending the bandwidth on that?
00:51:32
Speaker
Or should you be helping your closers and your team excel at higher levels?
00:51:37
Speaker
And so that was a little bit of the transition for me to move on to no longer selling and helping the team.
00:51:45
Speaker
That's a good point.
00:51:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:47
Speaker
And then do you find that like, do you still try to be involved in sales and everything?
00:51:52
Speaker
Cause you know, like you want to be able to train new guys and all that.
00:51:55
Speaker
So how do you keep yourself like, you know, still stuck sharp where you can kind of like relate to the new guy coming in and all that?
00:52:01
Speaker
What are some, you put yourself in the trenches every once in a while.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:05
Speaker
Funny you say that.
00:52:06
Speaker
Cause I actually do.
00:52:07
Speaker
And I did it recently and I'm even telling my twin brother, like, dude, you need to get in the trenches, like get some deals in because it's,
00:52:13
Speaker
because the California market has changed overnight.
00:52:16
Speaker
The California market has changed.
00:52:18
Speaker
And so it is a little slower right now in 2024.
00:52:20
Speaker
We have some headwinds as far as interest rates, net metering changes, a little bit slow down in the industry, but I'm confident it'll come back.
00:52:29
Speaker
So with the slowdown,
00:52:30
Speaker
some of the constriction going on in the industry.
00:52:33
Speaker
I am finding myself taking a few of my referrals and making sure that I still have the presenting, the battery sizing, the California net metering three, you know, TPO lease PPA was my last three to four sales.
00:52:50
Speaker
So like the fixed, no escalator lease storage option we work with Sanova has been my last three, four sales.
00:52:57
Speaker
So I got in the trenches,
00:52:59
Speaker
presenting it like, whoa, what do I offer lease or cash or loan?
00:53:03
Speaker
How do I do this?
00:53:04
Speaker
And but yeah, I do find that it's it's really important to stay sharp, see what the process is like to keep my head in the game.
00:53:12
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:53:13
Speaker
Especially right now.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I've seen from, you know, like good leaders too is like, yeah, you're gonna be higher level stuff, but you always want to like, you know,
00:53:21
Speaker
come back and go to war with the guys.
00:53:24
Speaker
They want to see you can still do it.
00:53:26
Speaker
You still got it.
00:53:28
Speaker
I think that's one of my successes too, Taylor.
00:53:32
Speaker
Not to flex, but 470 deals at power in four to five years as the team did 7,000 installs.
00:53:39
Speaker
I'm lucky and fortunate in that so that they still have someone to look up to and a number to achieve as we're building the team.
00:53:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:50
Speaker
So good.
00:53:51
Speaker
Well, Jonathan, I want to be a respect.
00:53:53
Speaker
I know we got a lot going on here at solar con and we could probably go like five hours on this, but, uh, um, before I forget, if people want to, you know, hear more about power, connect with you more, ask you more questions.
00:54:04
Speaker
What's the best way to reach out and connect with you?
00:54:07
Speaker
Um,
00:54:09
Speaker
On YouTube, just look up John Bernasso, J-O-N-B-R-U-N-A-S-S-O.
00:54:14
Speaker
You can find me on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
00:54:20
Speaker
And just reach out.
00:54:21
Speaker
We have some videos you can watch, connect with, jump on a Zoom with us or whoever sent you this video.
00:54:27
Speaker
And yeah, we'd love to chat.
00:54:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:29
Speaker
So, yeah, we appreciate you coming on and we'll have to do a part two sometime in the future and, you know, jam on more recruiting stuff.
00:54:36
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:54:37
Speaker
Because you're a wealth of knowledge.
00:54:38
Speaker
So, guys, go reach out to John here.
00:54:41
Speaker
Let him know you appreciated him coming on the show.
00:54:43
Speaker
And, yeah, if you're looking for...
00:54:45
Speaker
Solid option, whatever company you're with, you know, important thing is you start to implement these strategies and, you know, not just focus on one stream of, you know, income, of leads, but start to do it all.
00:54:59
Speaker
And I think that's what the top guys are doing in the industry.
00:55:02
Speaker
So thanks again for coming on and we'll talk soon.
00:55:05
Speaker
Thank you.
00:55:06
Speaker
Game on.
00:55:06
Speaker
Appreciate it.
00:55:09
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question.
00:55:11
Speaker
What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:55:20
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:55:33
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
00:55:43
Speaker
And it's called Solciety.
00:55:45
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable and
00:55:57
Speaker
by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
00:56:05
Speaker
Currently, Soul Society is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
00:56:10
Speaker
So go to soulciety.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
00:56:18
Speaker
This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to soulciety.co and join.
00:56:26
Speaker
We'll see you on the inside.