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How To Get Your First Golden Door In Solar - Josh Hair
110 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
Introduction and Mission
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 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
Josh Herring's Journey
00:00:40
Speaker
become one.
00:00:40
Speaker
All right, what's up, everybody?
00:00:42
Speaker
We are here in the home studio, and I got someone we've been planning this podcast for a little while now.
00:00:48
Speaker
This guy is crushing tons and tons of deals.
00:00:51
Speaker
Got his golden door last year, first year in solar, right?
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, first full year in solar, yeah.
00:00:57
Speaker
First full year in solar and pulls a golden door.
00:01:00
Speaker
So pretty impressive.
00:01:02
Speaker
I'm excited to talk and jam.
00:01:03
Speaker
His name's Josh Herring.
00:01:04
Speaker
Thanks for coming on the podcast with us today, Josh.
00:01:06
Speaker
I appreciate the invite.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:09
Speaker
And coming to our home studio even.
00:01:12
Speaker
So got kids in the background.
00:01:15
Speaker
Had to come say hi to the kids and get shot by Nerf guns and all that.
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:20
Speaker
I love it.
00:01:21
Speaker
Appreciate you putting up with it.
00:01:22
Speaker
Oh, I love it.
00:01:23
Speaker
I like it.
00:01:24
Speaker
It's the vibe I like.
00:01:26
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:26
Speaker
You're from Utah, right?
00:01:27
Speaker
So yeah.
00:01:29
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:01:29
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:01:30
Speaker
My family, yeah, there's seven boys and two girls.
00:01:33
Speaker
So yeah.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yeah, I'm very used to the chaos.
00:01:36
Speaker
I got 10 or 11 nephews now.
00:01:38
Speaker
11 nephews, okay.
00:01:39
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:01:40
Speaker
Good.
00:01:41
Speaker
Glad you're prepared then.
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, no worries.
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:44
Speaker
So, yeah, we're going to talk about really what it takes to hit a golden door in your first year in solar.
00:01:51
Speaker
And he does some pretty impressive things with blitzes, comes from pest control.
00:01:56
Speaker
So, yeah, do you want to give our listeners and I guess your company, your dealers, JD Marketing, right?
00:02:01
Speaker
JD Marketing.
00:02:02
Speaker
Doesn't even have the word solar in it.
00:02:03
Speaker
How about that for Pat and Interrupt?
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:07
Speaker
So do your guys go to the door saying, hey, I'm with JD Marketing.
00:02:11
Speaker
I'm with JD Marketing.
00:02:12
Speaker
Exactly.
00:02:13
Speaker
No, it's kind of a unique situation because when I started the dealer, I was actually anti starting my own deal.
00:02:20
Speaker
I wanted to stay with the company I was with previously, but just with all the changes last year and with a lot of the companies going bankrupt and taking down some of the smaller companies, it was...
00:02:30
Speaker
It's just how everything linked up.
00:02:32
Speaker
But in order to secure some of those better partnerships, I needed to show that I had a business that had been profitable for five plus years.
00:02:39
Speaker
And so my personal LLC, JD Marketing, was all I had to show.
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:47
Speaker
Well, hey, got to get it done somehow.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:49
Speaker
Got to get those low red lines, right?
00:02:51
Speaker
Works.
00:02:51
Speaker
It works.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:52
Speaker
Maybe I'll DBA it at some point, but...
00:02:56
Speaker
But these guys, I mean, yeah, we, the guys that I have are, they're, they're all studs.
00:03:00
Speaker
Like they're all, they're all studs.
00:03:02
Speaker
And so they, they're, it doesn't matter what name's on your chest.
00:03:06
Speaker
Um, well, cool.
00:03:07
Speaker
So yeah, for our listeners, do you want to give us maybe like a little bit of your background, how you ended up being, getting into solar?
00:03:12
Speaker
I know you came from pest control.
00:03:14
Speaker
You were doing great at that from what I've heard.
00:03:17
Speaker
So yeah, what made, what made you switch to solar?
00:03:19
Speaker
How'd you end up in solar?
00:03:20
Speaker
And yeah, what's been your journey so far?
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:23
Speaker
So I started out in pest control.
00:03:25
Speaker
I did my first, first half summer when I was 18 years old, right after high school, went down to Houston, Texas and got thrown out on the doors.
00:03:35
Speaker
Didn't know what I was doing back then, but halfway through the summer I left on my mission.
00:03:38
Speaker
So I went on the mission.
00:03:40
Speaker
I told you earlier, I'd,
00:03:41
Speaker
got sent home after six months and got back into sales.
00:03:45
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:45
Speaker
So ever since then, it's just been pest control every summer.
00:03:48
Speaker
Um, did that all the way up until 20 summer of 2022.
00:03:55
Speaker
But, uh, we had started the pest control franchise with the company out in Oklahoma, sold out 2022, but in 2021, um, um,
00:04:05
Speaker
It's my second year in Oklahoma running the company there.
00:04:09
Speaker
And I was sick of Oklahoma.
00:04:11
Speaker
My business partner, Logan.
00:04:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:14
Speaker
Logan the Fab.
00:04:15
Speaker
Shout out to Logan.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:16
Speaker
Logan the Fab was out in solar making way more money than I was.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:21
Speaker
So after, I think it was like July of 2021 that I flew out, crashed with Logan and his wife for a week and I went and shadowed him and I saw kind of how solar worked and I was sold immediately.
00:04:35
Speaker
I was like, oh man, this is, I could do this.
00:04:38
Speaker
You're like, are you kidding me?
00:04:39
Speaker
I can only, I can just sit in air conditions homes and.
00:04:43
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
I have to go to Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma.
00:04:48
Speaker
And sit in the sun all day.
00:04:49
Speaker
And yeah, so it was, I was sold.
00:04:52
Speaker
So that whole, I ended up moving out to California a month later, two months later, I moved out to California full time.
00:04:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:05:01
Speaker
And glued myself to Logan, probably annoyed him with how all the questions and, and everything, but yeah.
00:05:08
Speaker
He ended up training me, taught me the ways, and that's kind of how I ended up doing solar.
00:05:14
Speaker
I still had to go out for another summer the following summer, but that was my last summer doing pest.
00:05:21
Speaker
Okay.
00:05:22
Speaker
And since about August of 2022, I've been doing solar full-time.
Sales Tactics: Pest Control vs. Solar
00:05:28
Speaker
Okay, that's awesome.
00:05:29
Speaker
So was it, I don't know, do you feel like it was way different coming from pest control, like a big adjustment for you?
00:05:36
Speaker
Or was it pretty much just like, okay, it's just door to door, same stuff, pretty easy?
00:05:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:41
Speaker
I would say it's different.
00:05:42
Speaker
It's definitely different in the sense that in pest control, when you're knocking doors, you're trying to burn through conversations as quick as possible.
00:05:50
Speaker
I don't want to be there with a homeowner more than 10, 15 minutes.
00:05:54
Speaker
It's like, okay, we got bugs.
00:05:55
Speaker
Let's get you signed up on the next door because I got to throw down six, seven, eight deals a day in pest to make my money.
00:06:03
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:06:04
Speaker
Versus solar...
00:06:06
Speaker
But solar is kind of a much more relaxed pace where it's not so I'm just burned through as many doors as I possibly can.
00:06:16
Speaker
It's like I'm trying to create, build value, actually qualify people versus in past everyone qualifies.
00:06:24
Speaker
You got a house, you got a pulse, you got a credit card.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:27
Speaker
Renter, no big deal.
00:06:28
Speaker
Doesn't matter.
00:06:29
Speaker
You'll get the renter's discount.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker
That's what I told everybody.
00:06:33
Speaker
So different for sure, but I think elements are the same.
00:06:37
Speaker
Like I feel like what I've noticed being in sales in general for so long is it's all the same.
00:06:43
Speaker
You know, like as far as the actual sales process, it's all the same.
00:06:47
Speaker
And I think the pest control background of just being in sales generally,
00:06:53
Speaker
Definitely helped getting into solar.
00:06:56
Speaker
So, and there's elements of both, you know, like, because pest controller is a lot of, you know, you're building urgency in a short amount of time and solar, it's all about creating the urgency versus, you know, spreading these deals out over months.
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's true.
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:13
Speaker
So I came from pest control too.
00:07:15
Speaker
I don't know if I told you that.
00:07:16
Speaker
I didn't know that.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yes.
00:07:17
Speaker
I did two summers of pest control before, um, did one summer and then did a mission, came back, did another summer and then similar things.
00:07:25
Speaker
Just one of the guys from my mission told me that, you know, he made all this money.
00:07:30
Speaker
He wasn't like knocking doors 10 hours a day.
00:07:33
Speaker
Like I was, I'm like, all right, we'll go try it out.
00:07:36
Speaker
And yeah, like got hooked pretty quick.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:40
Speaker
But yeah, like, so you're, I know you were like a company owner, right?
00:07:43
Speaker
A pest control.
00:07:44
Speaker
You had your own company though.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:46
Speaker
I was a minority, minority owner.
00:07:48
Speaker
So I was kind of the grunt.
00:07:50
Speaker
So I did all the, all the work that no one else wanted to do.
00:07:52
Speaker
I think that Logan made you do.
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:54
Speaker
Logan didn't want to do any of that work.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:56
Speaker
Especially once he got into solar.
00:07:58
Speaker
He's probably making you do everything.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:00
Speaker
I was like, okay, you're making so much more money than I am and I'm making way less money and I'm doing all the crappy Oklahoma work.
00:08:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:09
Speaker
But yeah, so like you being an owner, so has the money been way better in solar too?
00:08:14
Speaker
You switching over and... Oh, yeah.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:16
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:08:16
Speaker
Pest control.
00:08:18
Speaker
We could talk about pest control the whole podcast.
00:08:20
Speaker
I really have nothing against pest control.
00:08:22
Speaker
And in fact, I think it's a great industry.
00:08:26
Speaker
But the way that certain things are ran, it's...
00:08:29
Speaker
Yeah, I was pretty naive.
00:08:31
Speaker
I was glad that I was so young because I think I was 22 turning 23 when I became an owner over there.
00:08:37
Speaker
But I was young, hungry, and so I don't want to say I was blatantly taken advantage of, but for sure.
00:08:43
Speaker
I was so naive that I didn't go through any contracts, anything.
00:08:46
Speaker
It was like, oh, I'm going to be an owner.
00:08:48
Speaker
Like, sign me up.
00:08:49
Speaker
I'm going to be an owner at 23 years old of a company.
00:08:52
Speaker
Like, that's awesome.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:54
Speaker
And then looking back, I'm like, oh, like I would have made more money if I had not gone the ownership route and just ran a normal marketing deal in a different market.
Work Ethic and Team Dynamics
00:09:03
Speaker
But solar money for sure, even running a marketing deal in another market with a big team –
00:09:11
Speaker
I'll say the same thing I said on the Sam Tark, Tiger podcast.
00:09:14
Speaker
What really, if I could, if I like came to you, Taylor, and was like, hey, Taylor, I'll give you a golden door in pest control or a golden door in solar.
00:09:23
Speaker
Golden door in pest means you did about $650,000 in revenue.
00:09:25
Speaker
You're going to have attrition and you're probably making whatever they're making these days, 70, 80%.
00:09:30
Speaker
Who knows?
00:09:31
Speaker
Yes.
00:09:33
Speaker
Whatever they're getting of the pest control cells, which means you probably after attrition and everything are getting about 300,000, three to 350, right?
00:09:40
Speaker
If you're just hitting that golden door mark versus like golden door and solar, it's like the minimum is you got to do a meg.
00:09:48
Speaker
Well, there's a megawatt and then a bunch of different things that play into it.
00:09:52
Speaker
But golden door and solar typically means high six figures to some dudes making, you know, 2 million plus.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:57
Speaker
So yeah.
00:09:58
Speaker
If I were to give you both options and, and the pets and the solar one, you don't have to leave afterward.
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:06
Speaker
You don't have to leave for the summer.
00:10:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:07
Speaker
You don't have to uproot, leave all your friends, your family, your wife, you know, you get to stay in your market and get your solar golden door.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:16
Speaker
That was a no brainer.
00:10:18
Speaker
Just a no brainer.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I really have nothing against pest control.
00:10:20
Speaker
I just, it's funny because I just sent my brother to a pest control company to go sell for the summer.
00:10:26
Speaker
Really?
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:27
Speaker
He'd come out with me a couple of blitzes.
00:10:29
Speaker
He just got off his mission and I sent him to the grit.
00:10:33
Speaker
Wow.
00:10:34
Speaker
I don't get paid by the grit or anything, but I feel like for a young kid,
00:10:40
Speaker
Pest control, I'm glad I had that base, that background getting into because you did it.
00:10:46
Speaker
It's a grueling grind.
00:10:50
Speaker
But you develop some skills, a certain skill set when you're out there.
00:10:55
Speaker
And if you can be successful at that, it's like, all right, dude, go plug in at the grit where they're going to work you like a dog.
00:11:01
Speaker
Surround yourself with the best.
00:11:03
Speaker
I'm a big advocate of like –
00:11:06
Speaker
who you're around you become.
00:11:07
Speaker
And so if you go surround yourself with ballers, you will become a baller.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's true.
00:11:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's just – well, it's going to happen.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, so you're like – they'll train you.
00:11:18
Speaker
Then when you know how to work, come work with me.
00:11:20
Speaker
Well, solar, it's so easy to be lazy and make great money.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:24
Speaker
And so I felt like – and for my own brother, it's like I wouldn't want him to have like a disservice to be done to him working with me because I'm –
00:11:38
Speaker
I'm at a different place in my life and career, sales career now versus when I was out on the doors where it's like, dude, it's better to you go plug in with a group of killer dudes who are going to go out and work their asses off and then develop this skill set of how to work hard and how to sell.
00:11:56
Speaker
Because once you have that foundation, then you go transfer it into like a higher ticket item.
00:12:01
Speaker
Right.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point.
00:12:03
Speaker
My brother, he came out and did solar too, but it's funny because he was actually getting recruited by all his buddies doing pest control.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
And I was kind of like, yeah, you go do that.
00:12:12
Speaker
Cause I was kind of thinking the same thing in the back of my head.
00:12:15
Speaker
Like, oh, maybe I should, he should go do pest first, then come do solar after.
00:12:20
Speaker
um then he eventually ended up just coming straight to solar yeah which was fine but um he only lasted like a year in solar oh man he did good like i don't know he wasn't golden door or anything like that but i mean yeah he made six figures his first year and like you know did pretty well but the back of my head i'm like man maybe i should have sent him to uh pest first and then maybe he would have come at it and like taken more advantage of the opportunity and yeah
00:12:46
Speaker
Made more because I think for him, he's just like, yeah, I made six figures, but I still knocking doors.
00:12:51
Speaker
I want to like have the family life back in Utah and everything.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:56
Speaker
And so it's like, you know, I was like, dude, you stay out here.
00:12:59
Speaker
And like, but I think you just got caught up there.
00:13:03
Speaker
I made pretty good money, but not like enough for it to be life changing or justify like, you know, being away from family and friends and stuff in Utah.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:12
Speaker
So it's not for everyone.
00:13:14
Speaker
It's not for everyone.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:16
Speaker
But I mean, yeah, I just think there's opportunity everywhere and in anything.
00:13:23
Speaker
And if you do have that foundation where you can work hard, you can talk to people, you know how to sell, you could go talk yourself into most any job.
00:13:32
Speaker
For sure.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:35
Speaker
So, no, I think huge events.
00:13:37
Speaker
So anyone listening that's in pest control, like, yeah, go work with the grit or something and then hit me or hit Josh up and we'll give you the real money-making opportunity after that.
00:13:49
Speaker
Hit Taylor up.
00:13:50
Speaker
He'll hook you up.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:52
Speaker
I know you're running with your guys.
00:13:54
Speaker
Hit me up.
00:13:55
Speaker
I just don't.
00:13:56
Speaker
I genuinely, if I had...
00:13:59
Speaker
I think that the reason I've been successful in
First Year in Solar and Market Adaptation
00:14:02
Speaker
my sales career and in people's homes is I really tried to look out for people's best interests.
00:14:09
Speaker
And if I felt like I actually had an operation in place where like, yeah, a fresh dude could come plug in and just dominate, then I would say, hit me up.
00:14:19
Speaker
But like, I know like you do have an operation in place where people can plug into.
00:14:25
Speaker
I don't really, just to be honest.
00:14:28
Speaker
I don't have like a plug-and-play op.
00:14:30
Speaker
So, yeah, I would prefer people to like be taken care of.
00:14:37
Speaker
That's the whole reason I started the dealer was like I wanted my guys to get paid.
00:14:40
Speaker
I knew that if I was the one in control of that, like I would –
00:14:44
Speaker
You know, I would die before I let them all get screwed over.
00:14:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's more pressure.
00:14:50
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:14:51
Speaker
But yeah, and it's not for everyone.
00:14:53
Speaker
Like, I know we were talking before we started recording how it's like you've got your kind of core group of guys.
00:14:58
Speaker
You guys crush it, make a bunch of money.
00:15:01
Speaker
And it's easy to just be like, you know, like, yeah, we're all making good money.
00:15:05
Speaker
like why bring in other guys and um i know you're the people you do have they're like oh i just want to do my thing i don't have to worry about training other guys and new reps dealing with all that so yeah i what's it been have you thought about like building it did you once you started your dealer was always like okay we're just gonna keep it tight knit and everything or what made you decide to just kind of keep it like that instead of trying to like do all these indeed recruits and pulling new reps and stuff like that what was your thinking behind how you have it structured right now
00:15:34
Speaker
Um, the guys I have right now are, um, they're good dudes and they're studs.
00:15:39
Speaker
Like there's, they're studs and they're independent and we've got it pretty dialed in what we're doing to, to the point where like my time is, my time is valuable to me.
00:15:50
Speaker
Um, it used to be cause I used to recruit and lead huge teams, you know, in past cause that's where the money was.
00:15:57
Speaker
I, I,
00:15:59
Speaker
Like to go where the money is going.
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:02
Speaker
And right now the plan when I started the dealer was just to keep it tight knit.
00:16:07
Speaker
That's, that's been the plan from the start because I know like keeping it tight knit, I can hopefully create a good experience for all my guys.
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:16
Speaker
And so there's not a ton of turnover because there's in this business, there's no loyalty.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:22
Speaker
There is no loyalty in this business where if you train a guy up and they become a baller closer, they take half your team and dip.
00:16:32
Speaker
Same with pest control.
00:16:33
Speaker
You could have 50 dudes in March and then they go get –
00:16:39
Speaker
80% commission offers from Hawks and they're gone.
00:16:42
Speaker
And that's your income.
00:16:44
Speaker
That's your whole income.
00:16:44
Speaker
Whereas solar, your income is really in what you sell.
00:16:49
Speaker
And so I'm not as stressed about recruiting as I was in pest control because I know that I'm still in the streets.
00:16:55
Speaker
I'm still in the streets, in-houses, closing deals.
00:16:58
Speaker
And that's where my time is...
00:17:00
Speaker
best spent is closing deals because I don't see any other job that pays better.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny.
00:17:13
Speaker
I have a buddy that's coming out.
00:17:15
Speaker
He actually owned his own pest control company and all that, and he's done a few blitzes with us.
00:17:20
Speaker
But every time he comes into the blitz, he's like...
00:17:24
Speaker
He's like, in pest control, we get everything.
00:17:26
Speaker
They pay for, like, all my transportation hour.
00:17:28
Speaker
They pay for all my food.
00:17:30
Speaker
They pay for my Airbnb.
00:17:31
Speaker
Like, why are you guys?
00:17:32
Speaker
And we cover, like, a couple things for them.
00:17:34
Speaker
But he's like, why don't you guys cover everything and, like, give me some special deal and all that.
00:17:40
Speaker
I'm like, dude, well, we're making way more than all the pest control guys.
00:17:43
Speaker
Like, I guess we can cover more stuff and then have you make less on the deals and everything.
00:17:48
Speaker
But it's just funny, like, some guys getting that pest control mindset.
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:53
Speaker
They think everything should be covered and all that.
00:17:55
Speaker
I'm like, okay, would you rather have everything covered or do you want us to pay you a pest control rep and cover everything?
00:18:02
Speaker
Pay you less.
00:18:03
Speaker
Pay you less or just go out and hustle and make what you're worth?
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker
So yeah, I think it's a mindset shift for people because yeah, we're really like, even just your reps and everything, we're all essentially like our own business owners at the end of the day.
00:18:17
Speaker
Like we have to be the ones getting the sales to install.
00:18:21
Speaker
We have to be the ones clearing, clearing holds on accounts, managing it.
00:18:25
Speaker
So I don't know, for me, it's, I just think of it more, maybe it's like, I don't know, like a career type thing, like,
00:18:31
Speaker
real estate type thing.
00:18:33
Speaker
You got to do the work and really like you're the business owner in this.
00:18:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:36
Speaker
Well, you're making real estate commissions more.
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:39
Speaker
You're making real estate commissions just to the higher volume.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:42
Speaker
I'm sure there's real estate guys that do better, but yeah.
00:18:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:47
Speaker
Maybe the selling, you've seen that selling Sunset Show on Netflix.
00:18:51
Speaker
People selling like the $30 million homes and stuff like that.
00:18:54
Speaker
Getting a couple percent.
00:18:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:18:56
Speaker
I haven't made that much on a solar deal, but yeah, no, there's definitely guys.
00:19:00
Speaker
I've had guys from past come out and they, it's almost like they're offended that I'm not, that I'm not like, please come work with me, you know, please.
00:19:08
Speaker
Because in pest control, it's like, dude, I'm taking a dinner.
00:19:11
Speaker
I'm taking a Topgolf, like whining and dining you to come out and sell pest control this summer.
00:19:16
Speaker
I know.
00:19:16
Speaker
Versus in solar, it's like, dude, yeah, you want to come out?
00:19:18
Speaker
Come out.
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:20
Speaker
Like, I don't know.
00:19:20
Speaker
I'm not planning your flight.
00:19:22
Speaker
I know.
00:19:22
Speaker
It's like, yeah, come out.
00:19:24
Speaker
But like, we're not bowing down and rubbing people's feet.
00:19:28
Speaker
Dude, come out, work, have a good time, make some money, make a lot of money and...
00:19:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of like what I... The vibe I try to create with my guys where it's like, dude, you guys are not bound to me.
00:19:40
Speaker
You're not... As long as you want to be with me, I love working with the guys I have.
00:19:45
Speaker
Again, they're all studs.
00:19:47
Speaker
And I feel like we have an understanding where it's like, you guys know I'm going to take care of you.
00:19:50
Speaker
And I'm putting in a lot of work to make sure everything is smooth and everything is flowing, project management and all that.
00:20:00
Speaker
And so I...
00:20:02
Speaker
I think we have an understanding where it's like, I mean, they're going to get taken care of.
00:20:07
Speaker
And so there's loyalty created there versus if it was just like, dude, everybody come sell, come sell.
00:20:13
Speaker
You're going to have 80% of the reps quit, 20% stay.
00:20:16
Speaker
And to me, that's headache that I would prefer not to handle over the – it's all headache.
00:20:23
Speaker
Right.
00:20:24
Speaker
It's all headache, but you kind of get to pick the headache that you want to manage.
00:20:28
Speaker
And I would rather not manage the high turnover, the emotional reps, the ones coming in demanding deals or just crazy, crazy deals where it's like, dude, like, yeah, you got to.
00:20:40
Speaker
different company go to a different company if you want to get if you're hunting a super low red line go go somewhere else man but typically those guys are hunting you at low red lines aren't worth your time anyways yeah seriously yeah that's good well cool man i want to transition so yeah everyone wants to know like what it takes to hit a golden door so how many your first year in solar how many deals did you hit your golden door well i sold
00:21:03
Speaker
I think I sold to 38.
00:21:05
Speaker
I lost, I installed one 88, but I lost, I actually had two companies, EPCs I was using go bankrupt.
00:21:13
Speaker
So infinity was just the second.
00:21:15
Speaker
So I had a bunch of jobs with one company earlier in the year that, uh, when that company folded, I took those jobs, the ones that weren't installed yet and shifted them to, uh, infinity.
00:21:26
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:27
Speaker
So,
00:21:28
Speaker
And then Infinity went bankrupt.
00:21:30
Speaker
And so there's a lot of, there's some fall off in between where I think there's still some homeowners that are yet to be installed because then they went from Infinity to another IP.
00:21:42
Speaker
And it was just, I lost a lot of deals there, but still was able to install 188 deals.
00:21:48
Speaker
Man.
00:21:49
Speaker
Especially with all that, that's pretty, so 230 sold 188.
00:21:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:55
Speaker
238 and usually I have a much better sales to install ratio I just felt like yeah I was I wasn't terrible but still I try to keep it above 90% wow no well that's still incredible like most people even if they have a really solid installer that's you know that from what I hear that's really good ratios or like in my experience I'd be happy with those ratios yeah
00:22:19
Speaker
So, yeah, especially going through bankrupt installers and all that.
00:22:22
Speaker
That's that's freaking awesome.
00:22:25
Speaker
Well, that's cool.
00:22:25
Speaker
And so, yeah, for people that are wondering, yeah, like, I don't know, just from maybe like and I want to dive a little bit more into like how you retain so many of your deals because I think that's a good, important thing to talk about, too.
00:22:38
Speaker
But yeah, like what's what would you say is maybe the biggest like what does it take?
00:22:43
Speaker
What's like the schedule?
00:22:45
Speaker
How many deals were you?
00:22:47
Speaker
I don't know.
00:22:47
Speaker
Average are you getting in stuff like that?
00:22:49
Speaker
What's kind of like maybe some of the higher level stuff that like what does it take to hit that many deals in a year?
00:22:54
Speaker
Would you say?
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:56
Speaker
Broad perspective.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:58
Speaker
I worked an interesting schedule.
00:23:00
Speaker
The first three months was that NEM rush.
00:23:06
Speaker
So I did work balls to the wall in that first – NEM too, yeah.
00:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, end of January to March 15th, which is about the latest my EPCs would still say that they could get people into –
00:23:23
Speaker
Into NEM2.
00:23:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:25
Speaker
And so, yeah, those months I was working like seven days a week.
00:23:30
Speaker
I was like working sunup to sundown, just going to hand.
00:23:34
Speaker
But I mean I did from end of January to March 15th, I did I think 104 deals.
00:23:42
Speaker
And so I had one 10-day stretch where I broke my record.
00:23:48
Speaker
I did 23 deals in 10 days.
00:23:51
Speaker
I did 10 in two.
00:23:52
Speaker
I had two five spots back-to-back.
00:23:54
Speaker
Holy cow.
00:23:56
Speaker
And I broke it.
00:23:57
Speaker
The next 10 days, I actually did 28 in 10 days, the following 10 days.
00:24:01
Speaker
And so I did, I think that month, I did –
00:24:05
Speaker
Almost 50 that month.
00:24:08
Speaker
I know guys that did better than that.
00:24:10
Speaker
But to me, I was hustling.
00:24:13
Speaker
I was hustling to get that.
00:24:15
Speaker
And then after that, March 15th, I probably took like a month and a half, two months off.
00:24:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:23
Speaker
I still had some like trickle through deals that I sold with batteries.
00:24:26
Speaker
The ones that came after that people that, you know, had referrals or random deals here and there.
00:24:32
Speaker
So I was, I still closed in those two months I took off just organically.
00:24:37
Speaker
I still had probably like, you know, six to eight deals each of those months, just kind of organic deals.
00:24:42
Speaker
And then I picked it up again.
00:24:44
Speaker
I started, I ran a blitz in, I think from like August to the end of the year.
00:24:49
Speaker
July to the end of the year is when I really – I kind of dialed it back in.
00:24:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:54
Speaker
Dialed it back in and started working again.
00:24:57
Speaker
But I've become a big fan of the Blitz model.
00:25:00
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:01
Speaker
So I actually work more than the 10 days a month.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:25:04
Speaker
But at least for my core group, the way that we have it set up is there's 10 days where it's like these are the 10 days that we're working.
00:25:12
Speaker
Right.
00:25:13
Speaker
Everyone is going to hunker down and work because there are some guys that –
00:25:17
Speaker
that don't want to work more than the 10.
00:25:18
Speaker
That's fine.
00:25:19
Speaker
Cause you can make great money on the 10 days.
00:25:22
Speaker
But I also have other guys that are like, they want to come out more than the 10 days and they do.
00:25:26
Speaker
And so I'll work, I'll work the whole month still.
00:25:30
Speaker
I still work the whole month, but there is that 10 day bliss where it's like, we're sprinting doing as many as we can on those 10 day blitzes.
00:25:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:38
Speaker
But for last year, um,
00:25:41
Speaker
The part of the reason I took the time off too, because I really wanted to study up on batteries, study up on batteries, see exactly how any M3.0 looked and to see what I had to adjust.
00:25:52
Speaker
Because before that, I knew nothing about batteries.
00:25:54
Speaker
I never sold them.
00:25:55
Speaker
Don't really get paid on them.
00:25:56
Speaker
It's like, oh, you want a battery?
00:25:59
Speaker
No, you don't need a battery.
00:26:01
Speaker
No one buys a battery.
00:26:02
Speaker
It's just money down the drain.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:05
Speaker
And now it's every single system.
00:26:07
Speaker
Everything comes with the batteries.
00:26:09
Speaker
So I really wanted to – because I wasn't worried about an M3.
00:26:13
Speaker
I went balls to the wall because I recognized it was the easiest urgency build ever.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:21
Speaker
So, and so I was like, oh, I could make a ton of money in this timeframe because we actually have a hard deadline.
00:26:28
Speaker
You don't have to actually fake, fake urgency.
00:26:31
Speaker
I got a real urgency deadline.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:34
Speaker
But then, yeah, take, but then I wasn't super worried about it changing because I knew like I'd adapt.
00:26:40
Speaker
Like the most...
00:26:42
Speaker
What I learned in past control and managing teams is the best reps are the most adaptable reps where they're the guys that when change comes, like they can roll with it.
00:26:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:54
Speaker
And that a lot of friends in solar, I'm sure you did too, that dipped after April.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:59
Speaker
And then now they're coming back.
00:27:00
Speaker
They're like, wait, you're still selling?
00:27:02
Speaker
You're still making money in this?
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:04
Speaker
Like, yeah.
00:27:06
Speaker
So I mean, I got friends that dipped in February and it's like, oh, solar is dead.
00:27:11
Speaker
And it's like before the deadline, before the deadline.
00:27:14
Speaker
And then, yeah, they're kind of like, wait, you can still sell.
00:27:16
Speaker
It's like, it's like, man,
00:27:18
Speaker
I also believe that you shouldn't judge or cast or form an opinion yourself until you've actually experienced something.
Ethical Sales Practices
00:27:27
Speaker
And so like when people have prejudices against something and they've never experienced it, it's like, why?
00:27:37
Speaker
It's like, you don't know.
00:27:38
Speaker
Like, oh, you can still sell an M3?
00:27:41
Speaker
Yes, you can.
00:27:42
Speaker
Like if you had just stayed out here, you probably would have figured that out yourself.
00:27:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:46
Speaker
True.
00:27:47
Speaker
I know.
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's, yeah, I definitely pushed hard.
00:27:50
Speaker
But yeah, that was, I definitely left, you know, some gas in the tank and in that, you know, like three month time span.
00:27:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:57
Speaker
So that's one of my regrets is that I would have pushed harder and everything.
00:28:00
Speaker
So I guess that's a lesson for people that are coming up with some of those deadlines is like definitely take advantage because.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah, I closed a lot of deals, but I see, you know, like talking to you and I have so many buddies that they made like, you know, like six figures plus.
00:28:15
Speaker
And yeah, like, you know, like multiple six figures just in those three months and got like over 100.
00:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, one of my buddies, he made more money in the three months of that deadline than he made the rest of the year.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:28
Speaker
Like quite a bit more.
00:28:29
Speaker
A lot of guys did that.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:31
Speaker
I think he made like a couple hundred grand the first three months.
00:28:35
Speaker
Then he made like, you know, like 50, 75 grand the rest of the year.
00:28:41
Speaker
There's more, there's more opportunity coming because the reality is, is the M 3.0 probably won't be around that long either.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:50
Speaker
And so when NEM2 got passed, people were leaving.
00:28:54
Speaker
Oh, solar's dead.
00:28:54
Speaker
And then look what happened.
00:28:56
Speaker
And so same thing with NEM3.
00:28:57
Speaker
And so I was like, cool, people leaving the state, it'll clear up some of the competition.
00:29:01
Speaker
And then people will come back.
00:29:04
Speaker
Because once, obviously, you can still sell on NEM3.
00:29:07
Speaker
Really, the only thing that changed was it got a little more expensive.
00:29:12
Speaker
So some of those lower bills are disqualified.
00:29:15
Speaker
But it's...
00:29:16
Speaker
It's the same thing.
00:29:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:17
Speaker
But stay out of California.
00:29:19
Speaker
Stay out of California.
00:29:19
Speaker
California sucks now.
00:29:21
Speaker
California is the worst.
00:29:22
Speaker
But what you were saying about those other markets that like NEMS ending, like go balls to the wall, like take advantage.
00:29:29
Speaker
If they're giving you an easy urgency build, you know, like I know there's a couple of states right now that are about to can NEM.
00:29:36
Speaker
It's like you guys out there should be.
00:29:39
Speaker
doubling down.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:41
Speaker
You know?
00:29:42
Speaker
And it's still like, again, it's still fantastic right now.
00:29:44
Speaker
Like, solar's great.
00:29:46
Speaker
Really, like, my volume hasn't changed much since NEM3.
00:29:50
Speaker
But it was...
00:29:53
Speaker
It was objectively easier to sell in them too when you're just slicing people's bills in half.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
And like, you know, get definitely so higher because it's like, hey, like either do it now or it's your last opportunity.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:09
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely was easier.
00:30:12
Speaker
Well, so speaking of that, I know you had your team, your guys come out.
00:30:16
Speaker
So for people that are running these blitzes, how do you get your guys?
00:30:20
Speaker
I know you have some really experienced dudes you run with.
00:30:24
Speaker
But I don't know, for people running blitzes, how do you get your guys bought in?
00:30:28
Speaker
And how did you get them to be like, all right, guys, this is like...
00:30:32
Speaker
You know, we're going all out right now, leaving everything on the table.
00:30:36
Speaker
How did you get them to kind of run with that?
00:30:38
Speaker
Any tips you'd have on getting guys to buy in more?
00:30:40
Speaker
I had guys that didn't buy in.
00:30:42
Speaker
Some of my own guys that didn't, that they were taking time off in that three-month time.
00:30:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:48
Speaker
Which is okay.
00:30:49
Speaker
Like, I don't – again, like everyone has their own definition of success.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:54
Speaker
And I don't hold it against anybody.
00:30:56
Speaker
If they don't want to go work seven days a week, like I don't blame you.
00:31:01
Speaker
I don't blame you.
00:31:01
Speaker
For me though, I am – I mean I'm not married.
00:31:05
Speaker
I don't have kids.
00:31:06
Speaker
And so I don't have other obligations.
00:31:08
Speaker
And so it's like what else would I be doing if not working seven days a week in these time frames?
00:31:15
Speaker
But for my guys, success looks different for everybody.
00:31:19
Speaker
And so I got some guys that like to – on the blitzes, they like to be out early.
00:31:24
Speaker
and knock late.
00:31:25
Speaker
I got some guys that like to go out late and knock those later hours.
00:31:30
Speaker
And for me on my end, because I know them, like they're experienced guys, I'm not going to micromanage them.
00:31:36
Speaker
I'm going to say, you should be doing this and this and this for success.
00:31:40
Speaker
Because as long as they're getting results, which they are, then I'm not going to change it.
00:31:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:47
Speaker
You guys, we're all adults and I view us kind of all as...
00:31:51
Speaker
on the same playing field.
00:31:52
Speaker
And we're all there for the same reason to hustle and make money.
00:31:57
Speaker
And I do work.
00:32:00
Speaker
You can ask my girlfriend.
00:32:03
Speaker
I work a lot.
00:32:04
Speaker
I work a lot, a lot.
00:32:05
Speaker
And so like a- That's a good girlfriend.
00:32:07
Speaker
Letting you work all those hours.
00:32:09
Speaker
She is.
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah, she is.
00:32:11
Speaker
She has some perks.
00:32:13
Speaker
She gets some perks because of it.
00:32:15
Speaker
But I do work.
00:32:16
Speaker
I work a lot.
00:32:17
Speaker
And what I've – what it's kind of opened my eyes running with the dealer side as well was –
00:32:24
Speaker
I mean, I'm making more money than I was before running the dealer, obviously.
00:32:28
Speaker
But there's a trade-off where it's like I'm putting in a ton more hours.
00:32:32
Speaker
I was putting in a lot of hours before and now I'm working even more hours.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:35
Speaker
Because – and I've kind of opened my eyes to seeing that like money flows where like value is being provided.
00:32:45
Speaker
And so like the more value you provide, like the more money that's going to flow.
00:32:50
Speaker
And so guys –
00:32:52
Speaker
Guys that rub me the wrong way are the guys that expect to get things for nothing.
00:32:58
Speaker
You know, complaining about – what's that quote?
00:33:00
Speaker
Like don't complain about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do.
00:33:06
Speaker
I like that.
00:33:07
Speaker
And those guys that come in expecting the world or a guy being like, dude, I had a terrible blitz.
00:33:13
Speaker
And it's like, man, like –
00:33:15
Speaker
What were you doing?
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:17
Speaker
What were you doing on the blitz?
00:33:18
Speaker
You know, it's like, and there's obviously external factors that, that play in, but I, I really, I really believe that if you were actually like hustling and controlling the things you can control and staying balanced, you,
00:33:34
Speaker
Because, like I said earlier, the most effective rep is the most adaptable rep and the most balanced rep.
00:33:40
Speaker
So, like, emotionally.
00:33:42
Speaker
Because solar is a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster, where you've got a deal you just closed.
00:33:48
Speaker
I'm going to make $15,000 on this deal, and then it cancels.
00:33:52
Speaker
You know, it's like a... The worst.
00:33:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:55
Speaker
Especially for guys that...
00:33:58
Speaker
relying on that money.
00:34:01
Speaker
Early on in my sales career, it did hurt.
00:34:04
Speaker
When I had these deals canceled, it was like I'm calling them, being like, what do I got to do to fix this?
00:34:11
Speaker
Nowadays, I've...
00:34:16
Speaker
It's much different where it's like, I'm going to do everything I can to get the deal.
00:34:19
Speaker
But if it doesn't, I'm going to go replace it with two more.
00:34:22
Speaker
So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego.
00:34:27
Speaker
And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:34:34
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
00:34:38
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called SolarScout.
00:34:41
Speaker
But it's not a door knocking app.
00:34:43
Speaker
It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:34:47
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.
00:34:57
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
00:35:01
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up.
00:35:05
Speaker
But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show.
00:35:09
Speaker
You need to give my listeners a great deal.
00:35:11
Speaker
And they did.
00:35:12
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.
00:35:21
Speaker
That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:35:25
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
00:35:27
Speaker
That's a good mindset to have.
00:35:28
Speaker
But yeah, I like that.
00:35:29
Speaker
I think too, it's just like giving guys the flexibility.
00:35:33
Speaker
But as you've probably seen, there's some guys that like have all these big goals.
00:35:37
Speaker
And say all this stuff.
00:35:38
Speaker
And then like the work they put in doesn't reflect what their goal is and all that.
00:35:42
Speaker
So it's like, hey, well, you can do whatever you want.
00:35:45
Speaker
But if you want to hit this number, if you want to like make this money, then maybe you should think about working more than just like the two or three hours in the evening.
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:54
Speaker
You have to pay the piper.
00:35:56
Speaker
You have to pay the piper.
00:35:57
Speaker
And this is what, this is kind of the reason I sent my brother to the grit.
00:36:00
Speaker
Because I told my little brother, I was like, dude, you have to pay the piper.
00:36:04
Speaker
It's like, you cannot.
00:36:06
Speaker
Yes, yes, you 100%.
00:36:08
Speaker
You can get to the point one day, I'm sure, where you just have money coming in and you're not actively spending hours and hours and hours earning it.
00:36:17
Speaker
But like at some level, at some point, you have to pay the piper where like you put in the work and
00:36:23
Speaker
And you – I mean we get burned solar.
Overcoming Setbacks and Client Relations
00:36:26
Speaker
It's a high-risk, high-reward industry.
00:36:29
Speaker
But you have to pay the piper where if you have these high goals, like your effort level has to match those high goals.
00:36:37
Speaker
It can't be like I'm going to make a million dollars in solar this year and I'm going to put in $100,000 worth of effort.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:44
Speaker
And a lot of guys feel like because the money is so good that they can do that.
00:36:48
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:36:50
Speaker
And then they get, you know, like three big deals on the month and then I go on sets and then they don't have like, you know, the vision to go past that.
00:36:58
Speaker
I think a lot of guys they see.
00:36:59
Speaker
So.
00:37:00
Speaker
It's, it's, I kind of view it as it's not my money until it's in the bank account.
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:05
Speaker
That's good.
00:37:06
Speaker
That's how I've got to emotionally handle it.
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:09
Speaker
If you don't, it's, yeah, I just had one that was supposed to go in last Saturday actually.
00:37:13
Speaker
And then they show up to put the panels on.
00:37:16
Speaker
They're like getting out of their trucks.
00:37:18
Speaker
And then, you know, find out that they had, it was like a Mexican family that has the like room in their garage or whatever.
00:37:26
Speaker
It's not permitted.
00:37:28
Speaker
And so they, the installer starts telling them, Hey, you might like run an issue with that.
00:37:32
Speaker
And they're like, Oh, don't put it up then.
00:37:34
Speaker
Then don't install it.
00:37:36
Speaker
It's like, you know, electrical go into the room or would it, uh,
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah, it was just like, I don't know, I'm trying to figure it out.
00:37:43
Speaker
Still some workarounds.
00:37:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:45
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I've heard that they don't like, I guess that's a topic for another podcast.
00:37:51
Speaker
I don't know.
00:37:52
Speaker
I think that sometimes they'll like inspect it.
00:37:54
Speaker
And I guess it's a chance that it'll get called out and find and all that.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:59
Speaker
But yeah, they just like spooked the homeowner and then... You might be able to... I know this is a different podcast topic, but I don't know what the situation is with that one, but I run into like people have got patios that aren't permitted, chargers that aren't permitted.
00:38:12
Speaker
Usually I just have an electrician go out, I pay them three, four hundred bucks, cap the electrical, remove it all from that area because it's the electrical that's the issue typically.
00:38:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:21
Speaker
And then usually it passes inspection and then I'll reinstall it.
00:38:25
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:38:25
Speaker
That's smart.
00:38:26
Speaker
I don't know if you've done that before, but it happens all the time with like chargers.
00:38:30
Speaker
Again, that room might be different.
00:38:31
Speaker
So.
00:38:33
Speaker
Okay, I'll have to look into it.
00:38:34
Speaker
Bonus tip right there.
00:38:35
Speaker
Bonus tip.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:37
Speaker
I've got a guy on speed dial.
00:38:38
Speaker
It's like as soon as I get something that's like, hey, the city won't issue a permit because of this electric car charger.
00:38:44
Speaker
It's not permitted.
00:38:45
Speaker
It's like, hey, go.
00:38:47
Speaker
I just tell them it's not going to be there at time of inspection.
00:38:50
Speaker
And then when the inspection is scheduled, I have the dude show up the day before, uninstall it, reinstall it the day after.
00:38:56
Speaker
And they pass inspection.
00:38:57
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:58
Speaker
All right.
00:38:59
Speaker
I'll have to grab this guy's number after.
00:39:00
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:01
Speaker
Jose on speed dial.
00:39:03
Speaker
Jose on speed dial.
00:39:04
Speaker
Let's go.
00:39:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:05
Speaker
Cool.
00:39:06
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:39:06
Speaker
And then, so I want to talk before we're out of time here, Josh, I want to talk about two things.
00:39:13
Speaker
Number one, you have a really high, like close the install rate.
00:39:16
Speaker
Like we talked about, especially if some of these installers hadn't like, you know, gone bonkers out of business and all that.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:23
Speaker
So I'm talking about that and then we can get in maybe like some specific closing tips from, you know, golden door winner like yourself.
00:39:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:31
Speaker
I think it would be good.
00:39:32
Speaker
So yeah, what's some advice you'd have?
00:39:35
Speaker
What does it take to like... Because so many people, I know, especially even just looking at my team, it's like probably 50% sometimes is like these guys are signing so many deals, only 50%, sometimes even less are making it to actually get installed.
00:39:51
Speaker
So yeah, what do you guys do?
00:39:52
Speaker
What are some specific tips you would have to help these deals convert at a higher ratio?
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's all in the...
00:40:00
Speaker
It's all in the clothes.
00:40:02
Speaker
It's not still working.
00:40:04
Speaker
Oh, there you go.
00:40:06
Speaker
Okay, good.
00:40:09
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's all in the way that you set expectations, I feel.
00:40:13
Speaker
And I feel like with all my homeowners, I am...
00:40:18
Speaker
I'm setting really low expectations, really low expectations.
00:40:22
Speaker
Whereas like promising your homeowner, they're never going to see a bill, promise their homeowner, it's going to be installed in two weeks, three weeks or whatever.
00:40:29
Speaker
You know, promising the moon, it never goes well.
00:40:32
Speaker
And as soon as the first thing happens that doesn't align with your promises, they're going to get spooked and cancel.
00:40:38
Speaker
It's like all my homeowners, I tell them to expect way longer timelines than it's actually going to take.
00:40:44
Speaker
Okay.
00:40:44
Speaker
I use a lot of pullbacks where it's like, yeah, this is dependent on the site survey.
00:40:48
Speaker
We're basically doing the site survey to disqualify you.
00:40:51
Speaker
So as long as everything checks out, we should be set.
00:40:57
Speaker
But if we find anything, we're going to come back to you and ask you how you want to proceed.
00:41:01
Speaker
And there's different programs we had that will help like compensate if you need like a main electrical upgrade.
00:41:06
Speaker
If you need some roof work, we can work with you on it.
00:41:09
Speaker
But this is kind of all contingent on the site survey.
00:41:11
Speaker
Okay.
00:41:12
Speaker
But before I even get to that point, I'm just building a ton of value in myself as an asset.
00:41:19
Speaker
Whereas I want them to feel like I'm the pro.
00:41:23
Speaker
They might have met with 20 other companies before me, but I'm the sales nerd.
00:41:28
Speaker
I'm the nerd.
00:41:29
Speaker
I have the solar encyclopedia.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'm the solar nerd.
00:41:34
Speaker
I go to the conventions.
00:41:36
Speaker
I like to stay on the cutting edge of...
00:41:38
Speaker
Of everything solar.
00:41:39
Speaker
You listen, you tell me, listen, this will open your podcast.
00:41:42
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:41:43
Speaker
So I became an expert.
00:41:46
Speaker
But yeah, I want them to feel like, and I also know like probably a big tip to closers especially is like know the contract, like the back of your hand.
00:41:56
Speaker
It's like, go read.
00:41:57
Speaker
It's boring.
00:41:58
Speaker
It's boring.
00:41:58
Speaker
But like, go read the contract.
00:42:00
Speaker
Like if a homeowner asked me like, what are my buyout options?
00:42:02
Speaker
I'm like, oh, section nine to 10.
00:42:04
Speaker
Like, let's go look at it.
00:42:05
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:42:06
Speaker
You know, where it's like everything I say and with my homeowners before I leave, I walk them through the contract.
00:42:11
Speaker
Even if you get the homeowners that just zip through the docusign.
00:42:14
Speaker
You're like, whoa.
00:42:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:17
Speaker
I'll stop them because usually they're signing up on their phone or something like that.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:22
Speaker
I'll pull it back up on my computer and I'll walk them through.
00:42:24
Speaker
Hey, I told you that it was capped at 2.9% or 3.9%.
00:42:26
Speaker
I told you that you had buyout options in this year.
00:42:31
Speaker
I told you this.
00:42:31
Speaker
And this is where it says it in the contract.
00:42:34
Speaker
And so people really feel like, oh, like this guy cares that I feel 100% comfortable.
00:42:39
Speaker
And so – and then I stay in contact with my homeowners where it's like I've – even after they're installed, like I've went to – I've been to some birthday parties.
00:42:50
Speaker
So like if you're setting the right expectations and you're actually a pro, um, early on in, in the, my solar career, like I fumbled so many deals, you know, sitting in appointments that I shouldn't have been sitting in.
00:43:03
Speaker
That's cause I didn't know what I was doing.
00:43:05
Speaker
Um, and I, I don't blame them for not signing up.
00:43:09
Speaker
So, um, yeah.
00:43:12
Speaker
There's a lot with solar.
00:43:13
Speaker
Have you heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?
00:43:15
Speaker
Uh-uh.
00:43:15
Speaker
What is that?
00:43:17
Speaker
A friend of mine was telling me about this.
00:43:18
Speaker
It's what it means.
00:43:21
Speaker
So Dunning-Kruger effect...
00:43:23
Speaker
Is when you first learn about something, your confidence is high because you didn't – it went from zero to 100, your knowledge, right?
00:43:33
Speaker
But then you learn more about something and then you realize how much you don't know and so your confidence drops.
00:43:39
Speaker
And so the world, supposedly, the world is led by a bunch of –
00:43:45
Speaker
overconfident, incompetent people.
00:43:48
Speaker
So you know how there's like you have like a rookie rep who like learns knowledge and he starts giving everybody tips.
00:43:54
Speaker
Or the dude who just gets into the gym is like just starts working out and he starts giving everyone fitness tips.
00:43:59
Speaker
You know, that's the Dunning-Kruger effect.
00:44:01
Speaker
And I had that in solar where like I first learned about it.
00:44:04
Speaker
I was like, easiest thing ever to sell.
00:44:06
Speaker
I'm going to
Adapting Sales Pitches and Continuous Learning
00:44:07
Speaker
go close everybody.
00:44:07
Speaker
And I get into appointments and I'm like, oh shoot.
00:44:11
Speaker
Like...
00:44:12
Speaker
Once I started learning more.
00:44:14
Speaker
That's good.
00:44:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:16
Speaker
It's funny.
00:44:16
Speaker
That's so I do like some jujitsu and stuff for my workouts.
00:44:20
Speaker
And yeah, they talk about that all the time in jujitsu to like you get white belt and then the white, the belt after white is blue belt.
00:44:28
Speaker
So they always talk about how people become blue belts and think they're like jujitsu masters and all that.
00:44:32
Speaker
And they're the best in the world.
00:44:34
Speaker
But then the belt after that is purple.
00:44:38
Speaker
And then the joke is that once guys get their purple belt, they realize how much they still suck and don't know about jujitsu.
00:44:45
Speaker
But yeah, I think it's true.
00:44:46
Speaker
It's like in anything you do in any industry.
00:44:49
Speaker
Oh, it's true for them.
00:44:50
Speaker
And we're all guilty of it.
00:44:51
Speaker
And I don't – it's not necessarily – I'm not like talking trash on those people because we all do it.
00:44:58
Speaker
But I think that it's a really good principle to – especially once you do learn about a subject because it's the people that know the most that start to question themselves the most.
00:45:07
Speaker
I mean I've –
00:45:09
Speaker
I have my days.
00:45:10
Speaker
But it's like if you've really studied and you know your stuff, you should have confidence.
00:45:16
Speaker
Just as much confidence as the kid at the very beginning who just barely learned.
00:45:20
Speaker
You should have that confidence.
00:45:22
Speaker
And if you really know your stuff, your homeowners are going to feel that.
00:45:27
Speaker
um where they trust you to kind of get into the finish line yeah that's good but i love that what you're saying about the contract and it's funny everyone i think pretty much everyone i bring on that has really high conversion ratios they talk about that too like they know the contract really well they like go through section by section with the homeowner um they don't let them skip through that stuff and i'm guilty of it still all the time because you know how you probably when you first started to it's like oh they're just clicking through it sweet i got the deal but i got the deal
00:45:57
Speaker
I'm like, sweet, I can get to the next one.
00:45:58
Speaker
That works out perfect.
00:45:59
Speaker
I don't know what they're doing.
00:46:01
Speaker
In 20 minutes, I'm going to make it to it on time.
00:46:03
Speaker
You're like just seeing them click through and all that.
00:46:05
Speaker
But then it's like, you know, five days, three days later, you get a call.
00:46:09
Speaker
I'm like, hey, I was looking through the contract and I found this.
00:46:12
Speaker
We didn't even talk about this.
00:46:14
Speaker
What's this?
00:46:15
Speaker
You know what?
00:46:15
Speaker
I think I'm just going to put it on hold now.
00:46:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:17
Speaker
It's like, you know, that's happened to me a lot of times too, where it's like if I would have went through it.
00:46:22
Speaker
So I think what happens is if people feel a lot of these people just click through it in their heads, they're thinking, oh, I'll just click through it because I'm going to go through and like read through everything after.
00:46:32
Speaker
But if you go through it with them and like they feel like they understand it, then most of these people are just like, OK, like Josh, he went through it really in depth with me.
00:46:41
Speaker
um you know what i'm busy i want to go out to dinner with my wife whatever like i think i understand that i'm not going to open it back up again because they feel that they understood it like why do they need to go through it again yeah that makes sense and it can be uncomfortable because it's a long it can be some long contracts yeah yeah but it does help people feel more comfortable and therefore they're going to trust you more
00:47:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's so good.
00:47:04
Speaker
And then you talked about too, just kind of like communicating with them after.
00:47:07
Speaker
So do you have like a system in place?
00:47:09
Speaker
I don't know if you have like a day that you're giving them updates every time or what does that look like with communicating after you sign them up?
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:15
Speaker
So the EPCs I use, I don't have like project management where they don't get in contact.
00:47:21
Speaker
Every customer I have, I put them in a group chat with them and their spouse.
00:47:25
Speaker
And then I have a girl who helps me with project management.
00:47:28
Speaker
So I throw them in group chats and then throughout the project, you know, I'll, I'll check in or I'll get them an update where it's like, it's like, Hey, we just got your final design.
00:47:37
Speaker
Take a look.
00:47:38
Speaker
Like, what do you think?
00:47:39
Speaker
And there's little things like that, staying, staying in touch once it's installed.
00:47:45
Speaker
Every now and then I like to swing by.
00:47:48
Speaker
I mean, I do a lot of homes.
00:47:49
Speaker
I don't smell everybody.
00:47:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:51
Speaker
But if I'm in the neighborhood, I'll drop by someone that I did a year ago and I'll check in.
00:47:55
Speaker
Hey, how's it going?
00:47:56
Speaker
Like I'll take a picture of their bill and I'll take it to the next home.
00:48:02
Speaker
Cause it's a, if you ever want any type of longevity and,
00:48:06
Speaker
in a solar, the best way to do it is honestly, like honestly, and like build a reputation that you have the homeowner's best interest in mind.
00:48:16
Speaker
Um, because if you're going at this of just dollar signs, it's like, Oh my gosh, I'm gonna make $20,000 on this deal.
00:48:23
Speaker
I'm going to say whatever I got to say to get them to sign.
00:48:25
Speaker
I want them to be installed next week.
00:48:28
Speaker
You know, like you're not going to have, you're going to have to change your number because you're going to create some, some enemies.
00:48:36
Speaker
And I mean, more of karma.
00:48:39
Speaker
I believe in karma.
00:48:40
Speaker
Exactly.
00:48:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, so true.
00:48:43
Speaker
So hopefully, yeah, hopefully, if you're not, if you're being shady, then you'll probably learn pretty quick that it's not fun to be getting calls from homeowners when they didn't understand something.
00:48:53
Speaker
And, you know, yeah, especially at the NEM2, like, you know, or NEM3 now, it's like,
00:48:59
Speaker
I run into people that still were told by guys that they didn't need a battery or that they only needed one.
00:49:06
Speaker
Like Enphase, they have the 5P batteries now.
00:49:09
Speaker
The small batteries, yeah.
00:49:11
Speaker
With a little 5P.
00:49:13
Speaker
And I ran into one the other day.
00:49:14
Speaker
They signed in, got super low price.
00:49:16
Speaker
And sure enough, they had like one tiny battery with it.
00:49:18
Speaker
I'm like, okay.
00:49:19
Speaker
Some of that.
00:49:20
Speaker
Do you feel like, I feel like some of that should be on the EPC where it's like, if you see a job come in.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:26
Speaker
It's a 10 kilowatt with a 5P or the 3 kilowatt.
00:49:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:29
Speaker
It's like...
00:49:31
Speaker
Like go back to the homeowner and be like, yeah, like this is not going to get rid of your bill.
00:49:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:37
Speaker
That's a good point.
00:49:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:40
Speaker
But yeah.
00:49:40
Speaker
So no, really important that guys sell ethically for sure.
00:49:43
Speaker
And cause yeah, I don't, I don't know.
00:49:45
Speaker
I don't know how it's possible to like stay in the industry and like not feel terrible and be getting endless calls from pissed off customers.
00:49:53
Speaker
So yeah.
00:49:54
Speaker
Well, you've been doing this a long time.
00:49:55
Speaker
Eight years.
00:49:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:57
Speaker
Eight years.
00:49:57
Speaker
Yep.
00:49:57
Speaker
You know this long, yeah, eight years now.
00:49:59
Speaker
So it's a testament that you must be doing something, right?
00:50:02
Speaker
Yeah, well, I've done my share of, you know, doing.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately, whether it was stuff that I didn't know, like I always tell the story that when I first got into Solora, I was telling people that they would always have power, even during power outages and stuff without a battery.
00:50:17
Speaker
Because it made sense in my head.
00:50:19
Speaker
And actually, my manager at the time told me that too.
00:50:23
Speaker
So I was telling everybody that and then had to learn the hard way that that wasn't correct when the power went out.
00:50:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:29
Speaker
Oops.
00:50:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:30
Speaker
So it causes stress, causes headaches.
00:50:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:34
Speaker
Well, you get, again, back to the pest control.
00:50:36
Speaker
You get some like the pest control guys that are really used to just plug in deals through.
00:50:42
Speaker
And they'll come out and they'll, whatever they got to say, slam these deals in.
00:50:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:46
Speaker
screwing over screwing these people over left and right and like uh if you view it like a pest control sale it's really easy to do but this isn't a year contract that they can cancel halfway through this is a 25 year construction project that's fixed to their house and if if i wouldn't if i wouldn't give my mother the system like i'm not going to give it to the homeowner and uh
00:51:10
Speaker
Some guys get lost in the sauce.
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:15
Speaker
Get lost in the dollar signs.
00:51:17
Speaker
I know.
00:51:18
Speaker
But they'll be out of solar in a year.
00:51:21
Speaker
I know.
00:51:22
Speaker
But then, yeah, I mean, these people, they leave trails of destruction sometimes because I'm sure you've ran into lots of people on the doors or in deals that are just like so worried that they're going to get burned like their neighbor was or whatever.
00:51:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:36
Speaker
The horror stories.
00:51:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:38
Speaker
So scared to go solar.
00:51:39
Speaker
Yeah, because a lot of it is just correcting misconceptions about solar and educating people.
00:51:45
Speaker
That's like my biggest thing.
00:51:47
Speaker
This is probably why I do have so much confidence in the house is because like solar cells itself.
00:51:55
Speaker
And if someone really understands solar, like, yeah, someone really understands.
00:52:01
Speaker
Is that still working?
00:52:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:04
Speaker
So if someone like a homeowner really understands solar, it sells itself.
00:52:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:10
Speaker
And so all you really need to be in the home is an educator.
00:52:14
Speaker
So it's like, I'm just going into the home.
00:52:15
Speaker
I'm going to sit with you and I'm going to educate you on how solar works.
00:52:19
Speaker
And it's a no brainer.
00:52:21
Speaker
And at the end of it, as long as you pre-framed it right, built the urgency, like they're going to go solar with you.
00:52:26
Speaker
Because especially in California, I can't speak much to some of these other states that I don't have as much experience in.
00:52:33
Speaker
But in California...
00:52:37
Speaker
The only people that don't have solar are the ones that don't understand it, don't qualify.
00:52:41
Speaker
So as long as they understand it, they're going to go solar.
00:52:44
Speaker
And if you're their guy through that process and you can position yourself as the guy, they're going to trust you to take them to the finish line.
00:52:52
Speaker
Yeah, so true.
00:52:53
Speaker
Love that.
00:52:54
Speaker
So Josh, before we wrap up here, I wanted to ask you guys love hearing like, you know, specific clients and maybe like, from a guy that's a master closer like yourself.
00:53:05
Speaker
I want to hear what are some things that help you in the deal to close?
00:53:08
Speaker
So you talked about like urgency, talked about building trust.
00:53:12
Speaker
So maybe we can talk about that first.
00:53:14
Speaker
Like, what are some ways you built some
00:53:15
Speaker
emergency in the deal.
00:53:17
Speaker
What, I don't know if you have some things that help with the trust.
00:53:19
Speaker
I guess we talked about that a little bit, but yeah.
00:53:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:22
Speaker
Maybe a couple of things that help you in the clothes as we wrap up here.
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:26
Speaker
I wouldn't, I wouldn't say I have like a hard, I think like a line I say in every clothes that works every time, you know, not, not, not like that, but no, there, there are, but as far as like the energy, I want to like communicate with the homeowner.
00:53:42
Speaker
um it's like you're you're doing this like it's a very it's very assumptive process that i go through but by the end like i'm not asking them if they're if they're in or they're out it's like we're just going through yeah let's see if you qualify we're just going through to the end and they're looking at each other like are we doing this like yeah you're doing this like you understand it it makes sense you're doing it but like i do i kind of follow that same if you know michael o'donnell's process logan the fez process where it's like you make a friend you kill the bill
00:54:09
Speaker
That's kind of like the staple in every appointment where it's, she spent a little bit of time building some rapport and then you're going to spend a lot of time killing the bill, which is easy to do in California.
00:54:22
Speaker
So you break down the rate increases, all of it for people that's going to build trust, killing the bill and build a stressor where like the utility is a runaway train and the
00:54:34
Speaker
There's no other option.
00:54:36
Speaker
There's no other option.
00:54:37
Speaker
You can't switch it like Verizon to T-Mobile.
Psychology of Sales
00:54:41
Speaker
But then once you actually get to, I guess, as far as like the whole thing, I kind of tell like stories throughout the whole process where it's NEM3 is going to go away.
00:54:54
Speaker
NEM2 went away.
00:54:55
Speaker
NEM1 went away.
00:54:56
Speaker
NEM3 will go away.
00:54:57
Speaker
The people that go solar now are going to be the ones that are better off.
00:55:00
Speaker
You're better off going solar now.
00:55:02
Speaker
then you are a month from now, two months from now, a year from now.
00:55:05
Speaker
You should have gone solar a year ago.
00:55:07
Speaker
You should have gone solar five years ago.
00:55:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:09
Speaker
You know?
00:55:10
Speaker
So that's – I kind of tell that to everybody.
00:55:13
Speaker
But lines – I do have like a –
00:55:16
Speaker
A couple things that I'll do as a last resort.
00:55:19
Speaker
So if I get to the end and it's assumptive, I feel like, okay, they get it.
00:55:24
Speaker
They have a grasp on it.
00:55:25
Speaker
And you have those people that are just like, we want to think about it.
00:55:29
Speaker
When there's – you know that they know, this makes sense.
00:55:33
Speaker
And it's just kind of them being stubborn.
00:55:36
Speaker
I never want to give away something for nothing.
00:55:40
Speaker
And so it's kind of where I learned in pest control.
00:55:42
Speaker
Whereas if I start at $150 a quarter, I'm not just going to say, well, what about $109?
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:48
Speaker
Why didn't you give me that deal in the first place?
00:55:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:51
Speaker
So you never want to give away something for nothing.
00:55:53
Speaker
And so I'll look at the date.
00:55:56
Speaker
I'll be like –
00:55:58
Speaker
Well, let me see what promotions we got going on.
00:56:01
Speaker
I'll tell you what, you're my fourth stop today.
00:56:06
Speaker
I know you guys like this, it makes sense and I've walked you through the whole process.
00:56:13
Speaker
Just because I know this makes sense, there's an incentive ending today for my team.
00:56:18
Speaker
If I just give one more deal, I'll hit that bonus tier.
00:56:24
Speaker
I know I'm only asking you this because I know it makes sense and there's no pressure at all.
00:56:30
Speaker
But if you do help me out, what I'll do, I'll put you as a referral on the last job I just did before I came over and that'll get you 500 to a thousand bucks, whatever it is that I'm willing to send on the deal.
00:56:43
Speaker
And nine times out of 10,
00:56:46
Speaker
It depends on the demographic you're selling.
00:56:47
Speaker
But nine times out of 10, they're like, okay, fine.
00:56:51
Speaker
Like, we'll do it.
00:56:52
Speaker
You know, if you've built the rapport and they trust you and it actually makes sense, nine times out of 10, they're like, okay, fine.
00:56:58
Speaker
Like, we'll help you out.
00:56:59
Speaker
I even have people be like, did you get the bonus?
00:57:01
Speaker
I'm like, yes.
00:57:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:57:04
Speaker
Yes, I did.
00:57:06
Speaker
And I'll make sure like they get paid.
00:57:08
Speaker
So different things like that, because some people do need the extra little shove to get over the end.
00:57:13
Speaker
But I want it to be more of a...
00:57:16
Speaker
I'm doing this for you if you do this for me and we're both going to win.
00:57:20
Speaker
Like, thank you.
00:57:22
Speaker
Cause people are inclined to give when they've received.
00:57:26
Speaker
And so like people and people want to help people.
00:57:29
Speaker
So if you can kind of create that vibe in there, there's a really good video that I watched when I was like 19 years old.
00:57:34
Speaker
I still remember it's called the psychology of psychology of selling.
00:57:39
Speaker
It's a YouTube video.
00:57:41
Speaker
Man, I'll have to give it to you.
00:57:42
Speaker
You can put it in the link or something like that.
00:57:44
Speaker
It's really good.
00:57:45
Speaker
It's the psychology of getting a gift.
00:57:48
Speaker
I can't remember the name of it.
00:57:50
Speaker
But basically, it breaks down like the five psychological factors that go into somebody doing something for somebody else or somebody getting a sale.
00:57:58
Speaker
And it was actually done with studies and whatever.
00:58:04
Speaker
I can't.
00:58:05
Speaker
I don't know.
00:58:06
Speaker
But there's a...
00:58:07
Speaker
There's a really good example in there.
00:58:09
Speaker
I know we're going over, so this is the last thing I'll say.
00:58:13
Speaker
But there's a really good example in there where they did this study with like a waitress, with a waiter at a table.
00:58:20
Speaker
And so they were wanting to see if what the waiter did or said had any change in how people tipped.
00:58:28
Speaker
And so at the end of the meal, if the waiter doesn't say anything, says, all right, have a great day, they're getting 15%, 20% tip.
00:58:37
Speaker
If the waiter came and dropped off a mint, one mint, tips actually went up by a certain percentage.
00:58:44
Speaker
If they came back and dropped off two mints, it actually went up even a little bit more, not a ton, a little bit more.
00:58:50
Speaker
over time.
00:58:51
Speaker
But if the waiter went to the table, dropped off a mint, turned around, then came back and said, you know what?
00:58:58
Speaker
For you nice people, I'm going to give you an extra mint.
00:59:01
Speaker
Tips like went through the roof.
00:59:03
Speaker
Wow.
00:59:03
Speaker
And it didn't change.
00:59:05
Speaker
What was given wasn't changed at all.
00:59:07
Speaker
It was the same two mints, but the way that it was given is what changed.
00:59:12
Speaker
And it like went up like 200% or something like that.
00:59:15
Speaker
Like tips went up, went up a lot.
00:59:18
Speaker
A lot.
00:59:19
Speaker
I can't remember this percentage.
00:59:19
Speaker
You'll have to watch it.
00:59:21
Speaker
But it breaks down each of the, each of like the basis is.
00:59:25
Speaker
And so I feel like I've tried to like adopt that because one of the other ones is, um...
00:59:31
Speaker
is like being an expert.
00:59:34
Speaker
So this is, okay, I'm going to, is this okay?
00:59:37
Speaker
Is that okay?
00:59:37
Speaker
No, we're good.
00:59:39
Speaker
And I just remembered it.
00:59:41
Speaker
I just remembered it.
00:59:42
Speaker
And so it's coming back to me because the other one, so there's that one where it's just like the way you say things and the way you give things will change the way they're perceived.
00:59:51
Speaker
It's just perception.
00:59:53
Speaker
And then the other one is, the other example was, they did, it was like a real estate.
00:59:58
Speaker
So people called in and say, hey, I want to see,
01:00:02
Speaker
what my property would rent for.
01:00:03
Speaker
I want you guys to manage it, whatever it is.
01:00:06
Speaker
And so when they call them the receptionist, they would pass them off to somebody who's experienced in renting properties and property management.
01:00:14
Speaker
And so what they did was they changed the way the receptionist answered the phone or transferred, handed it off to
01:00:21
Speaker
To being, oh, you want to rent your property.
01:00:25
Speaker
Let me connect you with Adam, who has 15 years experience renting properties.
01:00:31
Speaker
He'll take care of you.
01:00:33
Speaker
And that resulted in another massive increase in getting that business.
01:00:39
Speaker
And so the way – this might be giving away a secret, but the way I train my setters is I have them before they set the appointment.
01:00:46
Speaker
It's like – it's going to be like, oh, I don't know if I can get you on my guy's schedule.
01:00:50
Speaker
He's really busy.
01:00:52
Speaker
but he is like the solar nerd.
01:00:55
Speaker
He's like the guy to meet with.
01:00:56
Speaker
And so I don't know if I can get you on a schedule then.
01:00:59
Speaker
Oh, we actually had a reschedule tomorrow.
01:01:00
Speaker
You'll be able at four.
01:01:02
Speaker
And so that, as soon as I show up, like people will, I got some setters that are really gotten crazy with it, but I'll show up and they're like, I hear you're a nerd about solar.
01:01:13
Speaker
And I'm like, well, yeah, like I love solar.
01:01:16
Speaker
Like I'll try not to get too nerdy on you guys.
01:01:18
Speaker
So if I get too nerdy, tell me to shut up.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:20
Speaker
You know, and like it's it makes a huge difference in just the way it's handed off.
01:01:26
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:27
Speaker
So I'll anyways.
01:01:28
Speaker
Well, that's fire.
01:01:30
Speaker
I like that.
01:01:31
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:31
Speaker
Well, then just creating that like, I don't know, maybe it's social pressure or whatever of like they don't want to disappoint you.
01:01:37
Speaker
I guess kind of going back to what you're saying about hooking them up with the deal, you know, if they don't sign.
01:01:43
Speaker
um because that just reminded me like i had a deal uh yesterday this mexican lady where like you know she was not what she wanted to think about it whatever and then we just had to push a little bit further and then finally like her true objection came out that she wanted to like talk to her daughter or whatever which her daughter was just like in the other room so like okay well yeah just get your daughter we'll just explain it to her right now yeah
01:02:06
Speaker
And then explained it to her, their daughter's like, yeah, mom, this sounds awesome.
01:02:10
Speaker
You should do it.
01:02:10
Speaker
They were like, okay, cool.
01:02:12
Speaker
Got it handled.
01:02:13
Speaker
But like so many people, they don't like, I don't know, push past it or like throw something out there.
01:02:20
Speaker
I think when you do that and people can see that they're helping you and then you're trying really hard to help them and
01:02:25
Speaker
you're not doing it in like a pressure way but it's just like hey like you guys can do this whenever um yeah i mean prices go up we lose incentives and all that so that's why i'm saying we're just trying to get you in before a lot of these deadlines but i want to help you guys um and like yeah and michael o'donnell i think he uses the whole like instead of us uh like having our follow-up team we have a whole like uh marking department and
01:02:49
Speaker
They can call you every day.
01:02:50
Speaker
They're really good at their job.
01:02:52
Speaker
But like, why don't we, instead of paying them, why don't we just use that and get you like, you know, 700 bucks bonus right now that we would have had to pay them.
01:02:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:00
Speaker
And we take care of it.
01:03:01
Speaker
So stuff like that.
01:03:02
Speaker
That's solid.
01:03:03
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:03
Speaker
I think it helps a ton.
01:03:05
Speaker
But no, I like that.
01:03:06
Speaker
And then, yeah, like maybe one last question here, Josh, like I guess for the setters to speaking of setters, I know we all struggle with like the appointments showing up and everything.
01:03:16
Speaker
And maybe that helps the line you just gave us here a second ago.
01:03:20
Speaker
But is there anything else you coach your setters on or that you see really successful setters to have like a good conversion on setting the appointment and I'm actually showing up and not like ghosting you or not like canceling at the door, falling through, stuff like that?
01:03:33
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:34
Speaker
There's a couple of things that I've had my setters do.
01:03:37
Speaker
Of course, you're always going to have appointments that fall through, that fall off.
01:03:42
Speaker
But if the setter has done a decent job of disqualifying them at the door, a lot of pullbacks.
01:03:49
Speaker
But in addition to like, I don't know if I can get my guy's schedule, there's also like, hey, do me a favor.
01:03:55
Speaker
If for any reason you can't make this appointment, let me know the day before.
01:04:00
Speaker
Because if I waste his time, I get in huge trouble.
01:04:04
Speaker
And so that typically will help increase the sitting percentage.
01:04:12
Speaker
But it just has to be like that vibe because from the start, Michael Donald, I was at SolarCon.
01:04:16
Speaker
I was just talking to him.
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:18
Speaker
Picked up another couple of nuggets every time I talked to him.
01:04:21
Speaker
He's good.
01:04:22
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:22
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:23
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:23
Speaker
So, I mean, he, uh, from the very, from the very first impression, like very first, like meeting at the door, it's kind of, it's kind of going to paint the path for the rest of like the sit.
01:04:35
Speaker
Cause like the, the setter can, can make a bunch of stuff.
01:04:38
Speaker
Why say this, this, it's not solar.
01:04:40
Speaker
It's this, it's that, you know?
01:04:41
Speaker
And then you show up and then like you mother effers, like, yeah, this is solar, you know?
01:04:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:47
Speaker
Like you guys lied.
01:04:49
Speaker
That's just like a bad first impression versus if it is – once they've gotten through and it's like a qualified set, if they're just doing those pullbacks where it's like, yeah, I'm not sure if you guys qualify.
01:04:59
Speaker
I'm not the expert.
01:05:00
Speaker
Let me see if I can get you on my guy's calendar.
01:05:03
Speaker
Like Josh is like the solar nerd.
01:05:07
Speaker
Like let me see if I can get you on his calendar.
01:05:08
Speaker
He's a hard one to nail down.
01:05:10
Speaker
But like, yeah.
01:05:11
Speaker
And then it's like, oh, before you leave, by the way, do me a favor.
01:05:13
Speaker
If you can't meet, tell me 24 hours in advance because I'll get in huge trouble if I waste his time.
01:05:18
Speaker
Yeah, and even if people are just maybe doing their own self-gen deals, I think you'd even just do, hey, our team, they spend an hour plus just preparing these designs and everything.
01:05:27
Speaker
So if they prepare it and we're not able to get it to you, then we get in big trouble.
01:05:31
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:32
Speaker
Probably do something like that.
01:05:33
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
Self-gen deals.
01:05:35
Speaker
I've heard some guys do self-gen, they'll charge them $20, take a $20 deposit or something.
01:05:40
Speaker
I don't know about that, but...
01:05:43
Speaker
But you're going to have fall off.
01:05:45
Speaker
And that's the other thing that you kind of have to accept, especially once you start doing a lot of volume is like, you're going to have some fall off.
01:05:52
Speaker
You're going to have some jobs, some deals fall off and you just have to take it in stride.
01:05:58
Speaker
It is what it is.
01:05:59
Speaker
And so you just go replace it with a couple more, do everything you can, like just control what you can control, stay emotionally centered and like, you'll, you'll be fine.
01:06:10
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:11
Speaker
So good.
01:06:11
Speaker
Well, Josh, it's been awesome hanging out with you, having you on the show today.
01:06:15
Speaker
So if people want to connect with you more, I know you're super selective joining the team.
01:06:19
Speaker
So, you know, you have to really qualify for that.
01:06:24
Speaker
If you want to join a solid team, hit up Taylor.
01:06:27
Speaker
I mean, there's room.
01:06:29
Speaker
I just built out a...
01:06:32
Speaker
I'd go into a couple other areas if guys are independent.
01:06:37
Speaker
I'm open to something like that.
01:06:38
Speaker
If guys are independent and just want a good spot to plug in, I can make sure guys get paid.
01:06:43
Speaker
But as far as a fresh recruit, I'm...
01:06:48
Speaker
I currently am just not a great, great spot for a fresh recruit just to be totally transparent.
01:06:54
Speaker
You're just doing a pullback right now.
01:06:55
Speaker
All these fresh guys are like, oh, I'm going to do whatever it takes.
01:06:58
Speaker
No, I'm saying it in a tailor because like you, yeah, I'm, I know you because legacy, legacy.
01:07:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:05
Speaker
You guys got a robust operation where I'm sure you've got training and all that.
01:07:09
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:09
Speaker
My training is like, yeah, I don't, I don't have like a sales book.
01:07:13
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:15
Speaker
That's cool.
01:07:16
Speaker
But yeah, maybe if people want to connect more with you, ask more questions, what's the best way to get in touch on your job, like Instagram or whatever you want to drop?
01:07:24
Speaker
Yeah, no, they can hit me up on Instagram for sure.
01:07:26
Speaker
It's just Joshua dot hair.
01:07:29
Speaker
I'm always open to like talk.
01:07:31
Speaker
I am pretty dang busy, but if guys want to text me, I'll throw out my number.
01:07:38
Speaker
It's 801-472-7621.
01:07:40
Speaker
If they want to hit me up directly, I'm always open for like questions, help dudes out.
Podcasting and Social Media
01:07:43
Speaker
Cool.
01:07:44
Speaker
Don't spam me, please.
01:07:46
Speaker
Yes.
01:07:46
Speaker
I don't know if that was good, but other than that, just socialjoshua.hair.
01:07:49
Speaker
I'm not super active.
01:07:51
Speaker
I don't post a lot.
01:07:53
Speaker
So after SolarCon, I feel like maybe I should be.
01:07:56
Speaker
There you be.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:57
Speaker
Well, I've been trying to, like, even, like, this podcast.
01:08:00
Speaker
I've only done one other podcast, and...
01:08:04
Speaker
I would like to get more into it.
01:08:07
Speaker
I don't know if it's interesting or not or if people would even be interested.
01:08:11
Speaker
But I would like to get more social.
01:08:12
Speaker
I've been trying to – it's just like finding the time to make Instagram posts and stuff.
01:08:18
Speaker
It's not something I'm great at.
01:08:20
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's a lot.
01:08:22
Speaker
You can always get social media managers and stuff like that.
01:08:25
Speaker
It can help.
01:08:27
Speaker
Do you have recommendations?
01:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'll recommend you some.
01:08:29
Speaker
I'm not going to tell the people on the podcast.
01:08:31
Speaker
Okay, good.
01:08:33
Speaker
No, you can hit us up for that too.
01:08:35
Speaker
But no, so yeah, again, it's been fun having you on, Josh.
01:08:38
Speaker
And maybe one final piece of advice.
01:08:41
Speaker
If someone's struggling or going through a rough patch right now, what would you say to that person?
01:08:46
Speaker
Just to wrap up the show here.
01:08:48
Speaker
Yeah, if you're struggling, it depends on what part of the process you're struggling in.
01:08:53
Speaker
But overall, if you can just dissect your process, reverse engineer it, and maybe come up with something new.
01:08:59
Speaker
But really, I think that the best piece of advice is just to stay balanced, where it's like you're going to have ruts.
01:09:08
Speaker
Like there's times where it's like you feel like nothing's going right.
01:09:11
Speaker
And in those times where you're like, nothing's going right, everything's falling off the calendar, people are canceling, like, why am I even doing this?
01:09:18
Speaker
Like, you have to stay balanced where it's like, oh, but, you know, a month ago I was up here.
01:09:24
Speaker
And so there's just valleys and there's hills and valleys.
01:09:27
Speaker
And so, like, the best piece of advice I can give to people is just to...
01:09:30
Speaker
Stay emotionally balanced.
01:09:32
Speaker
Stay emotionally balanced and just keep plugging away.
01:09:35
Speaker
Because if you keep plugging away, the deals come, like success comes.
01:09:40
Speaker
And it's the same with anything.
01:09:42
Speaker
Like it doesn't matter what industry and what your job is.
01:09:45
Speaker
If you're just plugging away and just focusing and controlling what you can control, like it's going to come.
01:09:51
Speaker
Just be patient.
Conclusion and Community Invitation
01:09:52
Speaker
So good.
01:09:53
Speaker
So good.
01:09:53
Speaker
So guys, go hit Josh up.
01:09:55
Speaker
Let them know you appreciated him coming on the show.
01:09:57
Speaker
And don't be spamming him with his number.
01:10:00
Speaker
Ladies, he's just got a girlfriend.
01:10:01
Speaker
So don't be a... And she's great.
01:10:03
Speaker
Shout out to Kendall because she'd be upset if I didn't shout her out at least once.
01:10:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:09
Speaker
Thanks, Kendall, for dealing with this guy.
01:10:10
Speaker
She let me come down here.
01:10:11
Speaker
This is my first day back in probably like three weeks.
01:10:15
Speaker
I haven't seen her.
01:10:15
Speaker
Okay.
01:10:16
Speaker
All right.
01:10:16
Speaker
Thank you, Kendall.
01:10:17
Speaker
Thank you.
01:10:18
Speaker
Okay.
01:10:19
Speaker
Well, thanks again, Josh.
01:10:20
Speaker
We look forward to hopefully having you on in a future episode.
01:10:22
Speaker
And yeah, thanks for all you do.
01:10:24
Speaker
Thanks, Taylor.
01:10:25
Speaker
And we'll talk soon.
01:10:25
Speaker
All right.
01:10:26
Speaker
Appreciate it.
01:10:28
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question.
01:10:30
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.
01:10:39
Speaker
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01:10:52
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals
01:10:58
Speaker
to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
01:11:03
Speaker
And it's called Solcitee.
01:11:05
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 by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
01:11:24
Speaker
Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
01:11:30
Speaker
So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
01:11:38
Speaker
This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join.
01:11:45
Speaker
We'll see you on the inside.