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REPLAY: How To Build Insane Momentum In Solar Sales - Travis Hartman
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This episode is a throwback to our time with the owner of Momentvs, Travis Hartman. Leading a company through setting-closing, virtual sales, and valuable partnerships with players in the industry, he knows how to turn zeroes into absolute heroes.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur you might ask? solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one. Okay, what's going
Who is Travis Hartman?
00:00:42
Speaker
on? We are here with the one, the only, Travis Hartman. We're here up in the studio, better known one as their home office up here. Studio, office, whatever you want to call it. They got the setup. Excited to be here, so thanks for coming on the show with us here today, Travis. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, my man. Yeah, it's been a long time coming, and we'll let Travis introduce himself here in a second, but basically we've known each other for, was that, two, three years now? It seems like five, but like two to three, at least something or other. there Yeah.
00:01:10
Speaker
And ah I've always like respected what travis Travis. He's kind of the right-hand man of Ricardo Ritchie, who's been on the podcast, very well known. Travis is very well known at this point, too. But they've been crushing a ton of deals, doing some incredible things.
00:01:26
Speaker
And what's crazy is when you first started, I remember you were like, kicking me up, Travis, kind of asking me questions and yeahp trying to learn the ropes. And now it's like totally reversed. I'm like asking you guys questions, like blown away by some of the stuff you don't you've you've done. It's been a journey, man. It's been a journey. It's crazy to think that you guys were asking me questions at one point.
00:01:47
Speaker
But yeah, awesome to see the growth. So yeah, do you want to kind of introduce yourself and just give the little Reader's Digest version for those that haven't heard your
Travis's Journey from Alarms to Solar
00:01:55
Speaker
background yet? 100%, man. And and it's it's funny you say that. I actually remember when I first got into solar, i was listening your podcast like literally every single day.
00:02:03
Speaker
So now we've come full circle because you you had some seriously big hitters on the show back then. So literally, i remember every single day going out the hood, i was just obsessed, listening to the podcast, all the best guys on the show. And it's it's cool that we're full circle we back here. But um yeah, so Travis, one of the owners of Momentus, partners with Ricardo, which I'm sure a lot of you guys know.
00:02:23
Speaker
And yeah, man, I mean, a quick little background story about myself. Started out in alarms, as you know, in good old ah good old Kent, Ohio. So I did that for a couple months, figured out that I kind of like sales and came fairly naturally. and that's actually where I met Ricardo my first summer. So we ended up doing that and we got recruited to a pest control company in good old Tampa, Florida.
00:02:45
Speaker
So did that, grew one of the largest offices in Tampa, ended up crushing it, but we quickly realized that there was a glass ceiling in PES, right? As you know, I mean, really to make serious money in that industry, you've got to recruit an absolute army and you got to be in the game for a minute. Fast forward back to Vivint, one of the VPs we connected with, he started a solar company in San Diego.
00:03:04
Speaker
He started showing us some of the commission checks down there, the opportunity, and we were like, man, this is too good to be true. yeah But you know he kept on pastoring us. He was like, hey, man, you guys got to get down there. So we took him up, went down to San Diego, and saw some ah verified commission checks and bank ballots. He was like, heck yeah, we're we're all in. So next thing you know, we were we were in a random Airbnb in San Diego, and that's how we got into solar. That was three years ago to
Founding Momentus and Scaling the Business
00:03:27
Speaker
this day. So did that.
00:03:29
Speaker
grew His company was doing about 20 to 30 a month. Rima Carter came in there and within three months, grew it to about 150 to 200 a month. um All set or closure model, which I'm sure we're going to touch on in a little bit. yeah did that Wasn't the biggest fan of the management style down there. So we ended up starting our own branch within the company and Inland Empire.
00:03:47
Speaker
Scaling it at up to about 300, 400 jobs a month with only about 30 guys in the office, which that's what we we were working together. Yeah. You know, you saw us through the trenches, which was a really good time. um And then, yeah, long story short, it didn't work out with that installer.
00:04:02
Speaker
Happens to the best of us in this industry. It's kind of a rite of passage, as you know. And that forced us last August to essentially, we started our own company, which is now Momentus. Yeah. And yeah, we're doing pretty consistently between $300 to $400 a month. We've got a virtual team cooking, and now we're in this pretty cool office. So it brings us to today. Yeah, it's been a long road. Yeah, it's fire. Yeah, you guys have gone through some heat, taken some punches, but come back
Challenges and Perseverance in the Solar Industry
00:04:26
Speaker
up. And I think that's the difference between a lot of people that give up in this industry that aren't here anymore when these things with installers are all around, when they don't get paid. 100%. Some people just get out, give up, and say solar sucks.
00:04:39
Speaker
But you guys, I think you went even harder when we had some of these issues because we went through it together and we're not going to like get super deep in that. but Brings you closer than ever, right? Yeah. But i'm a lot of I'm owed a lot of money. Travis and Ricardo there are even more by some of these installers we're working with.
00:04:57
Speaker
So lesson learned. But yeah, I mean, i think that's a good question to ask you guys. um For people who maybe are thinking about giving up, having issues with installers or just companies,
00:05:08
Speaker
who have been maybe two, three companies, are're not having success. yeah what What are some, what's some advice you would give to those people? Like how have you been able to recover from some of these hits you've taken and not get super discouraged when yeah things have gone down with installers and stuff like that? one hundred percent. I mean, for me, this is going to be my sixth year in the game. and I've invested a ton of money in myself. When I first got into solar, the first thing I did was I invested 25K into Danny Pesci's Noxstar course. yeah the reason I'm bringing that up is because every single thing that happens to you, all the pieces of information doesn't happen to you, it happens for you. right All my mentors that I have right now, every last one of them, they've been screwed out of millions and millions of dollars. right and
00:05:49
Speaker
The thing that has remains constant with all of them is that they didn't give up. right So it's actually these clues. Every single thing that's happened to me, that's happened in my career, and that's happened to all my partners, like I have learned a very, very valuable lesson from it.
00:06:02
Speaker
And it has helped put me in the position that I am today, building up a company. And now when making further decisions with, hey, which installer are we going to partner with? Who are we going to partner with? What finances are we going to use? XYZ? get to look back on these past things and say, hey, I got to learn from it, right?
00:06:17
Speaker
So I'm super grateful for getting screwed over, for having installs gone wrong, for being owed money because it's taught invaluable lessons but what i would say to viewers is like look at the end of the day it is inevitable in business business is like war you are going to get hit right and if you can weather the storm and if you can remain stress-free i mean obviously you're gonna have stress but if you can weather the punches and you can take them on the chin and keep on rolling the worst scenario is you're going to learn from it the only downside to negative is if if you if you tap if you quit right because then you don't actually get to absorb and learn and grow from the lessons. right So I'm super grateful for all the stuff that's happened. Obviously, it isn't fun in the moment, but literally every single time stuff like that has happened, I've always looked back and been like, man, I'm i'm glad that happened. right I learned a ton from the experience. Yeah, so true. It's like they say there's no losing, only
Philosophy of Learning from Experiences
00:07:05
Speaker
learning. 100%. Only getting better. And I think for people that are getting discouraged, maybe you didn't close that deal that was going to make you 15, 20 grand.
00:07:13
Speaker
Maybe you didn't get paid. Just take that as a lesson and try to improve and then do what Travis did and push even harder. And then you guys you'll see the results, And the big thing about that too, it's like, well, why would I even be in the right position or why would I even be qualified to tell someone how to knock a door or to tell someone how to grow a business if I haven't been through the ringer? Yeah. right It's like you have to earn your stripes in business and in life, and how how can I say, hey, I'm the owner of a company if I haven't even been through some adversity, right? So I think, I mean, those scars are what gives you the credibility of even being on a podcast like this. but If I hadn't gone through those trials and tribulations, which I know it's only the beginning,
00:07:50
Speaker
I know that as I level up and as the company grows, there's going to be a lot more problems. I mean, to be quite blunt, I mean, in the position at right now, I have more problems than ever, right? But it's because of all the past six years of learning and growing and getting punched in the face, now I'm able to handle those problems a lot more effectively and be able to weather the storm a lot more. So it's a necessary evil to have in business and in life. Yeah.
00:08:12
Speaker
Yeah, i love that because you hear especially social media these days. There's so many guys that try to like share their knowledge, their wisdom when they haven't actually gone through that. Maybe even start companies. And it's like you guys have knocked tra Travis. Yes. What did you get? 250 installed or something? Yeah, last year was my biggest year. Just missed the double golden door. But ah close, 375. I want to say installed like 250, 260.
00:08:36
Speaker
So it was it was a good year. Incredible. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny. was just trying to keep up with Ricardo. I think he goes like 550 or something crazy. know. In any other company, that'd be like number one rep by far when you're working with Ricardo.
Scaling a Solar Business and Managing Teams
00:08:48
Speaker
Story of my career, my man.
00:08:51
Speaker
But no, it's pretty incredible. And that's part of what I've tried to do with the podcast too, is just like not be a guy that's just talking about going and knocking doors, closing bills and all that, but still be doing it myself and getting out there.
00:09:01
Speaker
like think it's important that you still do that. And like you said, with more money, more success comes more problems. Completely. hands Grant Cardone talks about it too. When you're seeing problems in business, that's probably what means you're growing typically. Absolutely. You see more problems come up.
00:09:16
Speaker
um But yeah, speaking of problems, I know you guys have grown a ton. You're doing call centers now. You have, what, over 100 reps you said Yeah. Losing track, but yeah, we're we're about, I mean, give or take 90 to 110.
00:09:28
Speaker
and Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. So um I know you're not, you said the past four or five months, you haven't even been able to make it to too many deals and um yeah, dealing with some of the new problems I'm sure you guys are encountering.
00:09:41
Speaker
But yeah, what does that look like now? What's kind of your daily things that you do now as you're like building your organization? Yeah, 100%. So, I mean, obviously you've been selling for the last five to six years, and for all you new guys, I mean, the number one skill that you need to develop in the in the beginning is sales, right? If you can't understand how to acquire a customer, you can't fulfill a customer, right? So for the first, I mean, five, six years was just,
00:10:03
Speaker
it like pure focus on mastery of the full process. So knocking doors, that's where alarms pest control came in like massively, right? So learning the in-home presentation, learning how to transition, that directly translated into solar, which I think was a big reason why we've had so much success in the industry is because we've we've been in multiple different industries to be able to translate that craft into this craft.
00:10:24
Speaker
So number one is like you have to really understand the skill set in the beginning. So laser focused on that for the last five to six years. Then as you know, you get to a point where now All you should be doing is maximizing your leverage, right? I'm not going to be able to sell as many as ah as an organization of 100 people, right? So for the last four or five months, basically, my sole focus has been on growing and scaling the business.
00:10:44
Speaker
So we've been recruiting in a lot of top talent, right?
The Meaning Behind 'Momentus' and Company Growth
00:10:47
Speaker
What's kind of cool is we've grown almost our entire company organically, just from our numbers, just people hitting us up and wanting to work with us from all the momentum that we've built.
00:10:55
Speaker
um But yeah, really most of my time right now is just implementing systems, processes, recruiting and people managing the day to day. And as of the last two months, it it has been dabbling into a little bit of the virtual side of things as well, which has been, a speaking of problems, it's been a whole other beast, dealing with dialers and different CRMs and all that fun stuff, data management. But um yeah, man, for the most part, it's really just been juggling the systems and aligning our leadership for the most part.
00:11:19
Speaker
Yeah, well, and I love that you guys called your, with Momentus, right? Momentus, yeah. yeah It was funny about that we, ah this was at door-to-door con last year. We're sitting at the table with a bunch of guys just thinking about names on, it I literally wrote it down on the napkin, Momentus. And the reason why we we came up with that name was just because the number one principle we always teach in sales is the law of momentum. Yeah.
00:11:41
Speaker
which as you know, is literally like in the beginning, you have to be super disciplined. And when before you knock a door, you have that anxiety and you you have that doubt. But if you can push past that, once you get those wins and once you start getting that momentum, it's like a superpower.
00:11:55
Speaker
yeah You can sell anybody, right? we always train our guys. It's like, look, you got to get the momentum in the beginning. But if you can hold on to that longer than anybody in in the industry, it turns into a snowball effect, right? So that's why we named our company Momentum. Well, it's very fitting because I think you and Ricardo, like embody that to the max. like' say hope so yeah And it's funny. I even talked to, i can't remember this kid's name. I'm sure he's still working for you guys. But um I think this is at door to door con, slower con, one of the events.
00:12:24
Speaker
And he he said he just started working with you guys and he would left his, he was closing at another company was doing decent. yeahp But he's like, yeah, I'm going to work with Momentus and I'm just going to be a setter there because I think I can make more money and I like what they're doing.
00:12:37
Speaker
And so it's great. You got people lining up through the doors to maybe take like what they see as like a downgraded position or whatever. And I'm sure a lot of these guys are making way more money when when he's sending them in. Yeah, their centers are making a a good chunk of change. But it also helps that they've got good closures as well. yeah You know, that's true.
00:12:54
Speaker
um But yeah, like it's just about building that momentum. And I think the setters see that. And I've got a buddy of mine and that we're talking about, Anthony, that literally drives up from San Diego. He's an hour and a half, hour 40. Like almost, we'll probably like for almost four hour round trip driving every day to come work with you guys.
00:13:15
Speaker
And I'm like, bro, how do you keep doing this? And he's like, well, I'm having success and I like what they're doing. So when people are jiving four hours every day to work with you, that's when you got going right. I mean, the big thing is we pride ourselves on the training that we pride to our guys. I mean, ah everything that we've built, the backbone of it has been our processes and our training, right?
00:13:34
Speaker
So I mean, we get we get people from all over the place flying in just to learn what we're doing. And the thing that we're most proud of is we can I can look at any guy who's been in any industry and confidently say, if you commit to our process, there will be no better sales in the industry and there'll be no better training in the industry. So we have a very specific process that you just saw taking a tour of our office. We have what's called the roadmap built out, which intro
Specialization and Training in Sales Roles
00:13:56
Speaker
bridge, et cetera, et cetera. So we break it down to the nuance for all of our guys and really instill it. And typically over a long enough time horizon, we turn out killers. Nice. So it's been big for us being able to implement our processes within guys. And I mean, they're they're getting some serious numbers from it. So we're pretty proud of it. and That's awesome. But yeah, so I want to transition a little bit and talk about some of those processes that you've set up. Because something my see a lot all the time is people that build, maybe they have really good trainings, guys are cranking out deals, but then they get like, maybe 30, 40 guys.
00:14:26
Speaker
And people get lost in the sea, they're not getting the training, not getting attention. So tell me about some of what are like the systems you guys set up? How have you tried? I'm sure there's still things you're adjusting, but as you've grown and all that. Perfect. That's for sure. Working for August. Yeah. no um But like, what have you guys done to maybe like ensure that guys are getting the training they need and not get just like left behind as you grow? Cause it's tough. Even me, I've got like 10 new guys that start in our office. I'm kind of like helping them train. And sometimes I forget. I'm like, Oh shoot. I got to give this guy more attention. 100%. I've been caught up with them. So i don't know if you organize it into groups, but yeah, tell me about some of the systems and processes you guys have in place. Yeah, absolutely. I'd be here be here all day if we went over everything. But um the root of it is the art of running a proper set or closure model, which me and Ricky, we've talked about on other podcasts before, it's really the bread and butter. When we first got into solar, we were mind-blown how few people actually thought that this a good it was a good model. Most them were doing self-gen. They were like, how does it make sense to set an appointment
00:15:29
Speaker
follow up with appointment, close it, and do the follow up, it just doesn't make sense. There's way too many moving parts. All the best people in any industry, they typically focus on one thing, and they get really, really good at it. and They either get really good at setting, they get really, really good at closing, or they get really, really good on the fulfillment.
00:15:44
Speaker
So that that has been the the system that we've set up and per and have essentially perfected over the years. And step number one to do that is you have to have the right expectations with your people.
00:15:55
Speaker
So a lot of the times we'll have guys coming in and they're hey, want to get to closing, and we want to get to closing. And we're like, look, man, unless you've been in the industry for two plus years and have a track record, you're going to be you're going to be a setter. right Well, why are you going to do that? Well, one, in order to replicate this model, you got to know how to set. I mean, you know better than me, there's a lot of closers in the industry, they have no clue how to knock a door properly. yeah They can't even, like, how are you going to run a setter team if you don't know how to set yourself? yeah right So we've just gotten really good at holding the line and setting expectations with people coming in the doors like, hey man, you gotta come in for at least six months, set and produce serious numbers before you transition to closing. Why? well so you can train other people on how to do it. You gotta be able to replace the volume. Because as you know,
00:16:33
Speaker
the most valuable part of the business is the lead gen. yeah You can find any closer in the industry to go and say, hey, we'll give you 10 leads and fill up your calendar. People are gonna run off the shelves to do that.
00:16:44
Speaker
so that's the number one is holding the expectation. And number two has been our training on the guys on door. The number one thing that we train on really is just our roadmap, which consists of the intro, which as you know, in California, it's a pretty saturated market.
00:16:59
Speaker
So it's really important. A lot of guys in this industry, new people, they just start spewing in the beginning. And the problem is, is nobody is actually listening to the pitch. So we train on is you got to ask a lot of questions in the beginning and you got to move people. There's only two ways to control the conversation.
00:17:14
Speaker
It's questions and movement. So we train all of our guys to break the preoccupation to actually get the customer listening so that they can actually pitch them and they can hear what they're saying. and then number two is it's going to be our discovery process.
00:17:26
Speaker
the number one thing we always train is you gotta figure out what the customer want and what they don't want. That's it. And how do you do that? You ask the right questions. So our question that we always ask is the three main questions. It's one, people like to do solar for three main reasons.
00:17:37
Speaker
To save money, you've heard this, to save money, build equity and use more power. The main mistake people will do with that is once they get a hey, yeah, I wanna save money, they immediately try to provide value to that. Hey, here's how can save you money.
00:17:51
Speaker
Well, the problem is is you're not really going to figure out the root of what the customer wants. So we always try and you got to dig three levels deep. So, okay, you said you want to save money. Can you elaborate on that?
00:18:02
Speaker
Can you tell me a little bit more? Oh, I want to save money for XYZ. Okay, well, why do you want to save money for XYZ? And we dig deep and figure out their emotional reason as to why they want it. Because people buy for emotional reasons, not logical reasons, right?
00:18:15
Speaker
So it's always intro. And then we have breaking preoccupation, transition to the meter. And then what we have is called setting the frame. we always have our guys set very clear expectations with every single person they talk to.
00:18:26
Speaker
hey to be honest with I'm not sure this is going to make sense. I'm going to tell you guys the good and tell you guys the bad. If we can do X, Y, Z, hot button and handle your concern, obviously, Taylor, you're a smart guy. This would be ah a no-brainer for you guys, right?
00:18:39
Speaker
Great. Not sure this will make sense. What I'm gonna do is we'll set up a time for you, have our energy expert come, and then we'll set up a consultation for you. Is that sound fair? Okay, great. So that's really been our bread and butter, is really distilling down the roadmap every single day. We have our guys come in Monday through Friday at 10.30. Every single day, we're religious about this.
00:18:59
Speaker
hammering in role plays every single day, and we just hold our guys to it, hammer in the training, and eventually over a long enough time horizon, as long as they're sticking to the schedule with our training, eventually just they're they're setting five to six appointments a day. yeah and ah And it turns into a machine where we have 30 to 50 appointments on the schedule every single day.
00:19:16
Speaker
I love that. Yeah. it's Yeah. Literally like a Navy sales schedule. You guys got like putting them through the ringer. Yeah. We, we, uh, let's just say we don't have the most, uh, loose schedule. yeah Well, yeah. And like what I love about it is if guys aren't meeting the standards, then you're just like, okay, go find somewhere else. i think I've got no problem saying see the door. No problem. And our guys know that too. yeah I think that's why people respect um like coming to work with you guys so much and they want to come work because they know ah yeah i but think some guys I've talked to her they they know it's probably going to suck to like work with you guys and have to work way harder than they ever have but you see guys rolling up in these nice cars and all that having a ton of success like well yeah what's what's some accomplishments from your setters what's your best setter doing would you say Yeah, I mean, we've had we've had some amazing, like we've got the best setters in the industry. i mean And truthfully, we would not be in the position we're at if it weren't for our setters. yeah
00:20:14
Speaker
Like the only reason why i'm able to close through 75 accounts is because our setting team is grinding, is dialed, they're putting in the work and they're sacrificing. If it weren't for those guys, i mean, that we wouldn't have a company. Right. So setters always the lifeblood of the business.
00:20:27
Speaker
It's one of the most overlooked parts of the business as well. a lot of companies, they, again, they let guys transition to closing too much. And I'm a firm believer that you're actually doing setters a disservice, transitioning them too quickly because they're not getting those reference experience and they're not sharpening the sword. And because closing solar ain't easy. Yeah. You know, you got to close a 25 year contract. You got to get it installed. That's not easy, right? So you have to have a high level of skill in order to do that. So I genuinely think it's a disservice not transitioning people. um As for accomplishments, I mean, our top setter last year made over half a million dollars, which is pretty cool. We've had a couple of setters get golden doors.
00:21:03
Speaker
I had one setter, he retired as his family. Shout out Robbie. He retired his parents in Savinia. So weve we've had some setters do some pretty awesome things. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. And, and, um, yeah, it's, yeah, it just speaks volumes to what you guys are doing. Like some people in bigger companies.
00:21:20
Speaker
Yeah. I guess another question I had with that, I see these bigger companies where there's not like a structure people just, it's kind of at the closer's discretion when yeah they want to let guys progress or whatever.
00:21:31
Speaker
so do you guys have like a set standard in place? Like, Oh, you have to get this many deals before you can even think about closing or is just six months or yeah standard? Yeah, i that's a really good question. To to be honest with you, in the beginning, that we didn't even have a standard. It was kind of an as for basis, but obviously, as you know, it's not scalable model. yeah So now what we have is typically, if you want to be a setter to transition, you got to make it loud and clear with your production that you're you're capable of moving forward. So typically, all of our top setters, they're doing between 10 to 15 a month consistently for at least a full quarter to then entertain the conversation to transition. And the big reason why that's so important is it's not even, hey, do we doubt you as a center you can transition to closer? A lot of my guys, I know for fact they can close, but the problem that breaks the model is if your setters don't believe in the closer, right? So what happens is like in other companies, you have guys, they transition after a month,
00:22:26
Speaker
And the the news setters are knocking. They don't even believe that their closer is are going to be capable and competent enough to close their deals, right? So we make it loud and clear. Hey, it's a pretty easy path forward. You set, you absolutely blow up the leaderboard. Typically, again, it's, yeah, 15 to 20 a month for a good three months, which I know is a lot, but that's the standard in our company. You make it loud and freaking clear.
00:22:46
Speaker
that you're dominant in the setting position, and then so that you can basically have proof of concept for the guys in the organization that you're gonna be able to handle their leads. yeah you know because so that's what happens That's how the model is broken. Pardon me, if you're setters, they don't believe in your closers. It breaks the model very quickly. yeah so Right now, we're we're implementing some new, we we haven't implemented the exact new standard yet, but we're most likely gonna have it set up to where um After you have 75 deals closed, etc., then you can have the conversation to transition to a closer, or you can go down the setter management route.
00:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, and I think you probably agree with this. Some people companies, they look at setter as a negative word, like it's the lowest position on the totem pole or whatever. It's most important part the business. Yeah, but I've talked to a lot of your guys and they're like stoked to be setter. like I think they take pride in being a setter. and Oh, yeah. Yeah, like most closers aren't making.
00:23:40
Speaker
There's very few closers that make half a million a year. Completely. Some people setting up the deal. Yeah, I mean, one of the most things I'm proud of is, I mean, our setters are making more than most closers in the industry. Yeah. They're absolutely crushing it and they're they're making a ton of money. Yeah. Right? But, i mean, they it's because they work their ass off and they actually are applying the things that we're teaching them. Yeah.
00:23:57
Speaker
and and I think when you get to that point where people want to want to stay sitting, they're like they're making good money and they're happy with it. Well, yeah, it goes back. My buddy Anthony that's working with you guys, he's making great money being a setter and he's like,
00:24:13
Speaker
He's like, why would I close? I'm making good money. have freedom with my schedule. I can just do get handle my business, then go back home. Doesn't have to worry about the rest of it. Well, I mean, speaking of leverage, I mean, there's no higher leverage activity than being a setter. Yeah. Right? i mean, you can go out for a couple hours and literally have five, six of the best closers in the industry in your appointments. Yeah. Right? As a closer, I can only be in one home at a time. Yeah. Right? So, I mean, we always say, look, you want to maximize your revenue-generating activities. Yeah.
00:24:41
Speaker
Most people, they don't want have to deal with the stress of having to deal with their customers, have to deal with managing the pipeline, having installs go wrong. That falls on the closer, right? And that's stressful. And it's not, as you know, it's it's not fun at times, right? Obviously, i mean, top, top closers in the industry. I mean, that's where you can make a ton, a ton of money. But nine times out 10, being a setter, you have more leverage, you have more stress. it it's It's a lot more enjoyable on the day-to-day. Yeah, you know for sure.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, and like... Yeah, I'm and i'm sure you were your setters made more than I did setting deals, then you could not enclose them. Yeah, we've we've but we've got some savages on the doors. That's awesome. yeah um But yeah, and then as we've talked about, you've been running with Ricardo for quite a while now. You guys are like Batman and Robin just blowing this thing up.
00:25:29
Speaker
Um, so like Ricardo, we know he's like probably the best in the industry. i don't think anyone's done what he's done. Not that I know of. Yeah. So insane. Um, but yeah, tell me, I know you guys, I've seen you guys butt heads at times. um so I know both you guys are, uh, you know, these type A's. don't know what you're talking about. Maybe not butt heads, but. No, we butt heads all the time. Yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
But both of you guys are some intense dudes. So maybe people that are running like a partnership like you guys got. What's that been like running with Ricardo? I know you're you've learned a ton from him. He's like the best. but um Maybe you got two people that are like...
00:26:08
Speaker
Both think they're the best. that You guys are both extremely competitive too, always competing. Completely. So how has that been?
Building Strong Business Partnerships
00:26:14
Speaker
Have you ever like been like, oh man, screw Ricardo, I'm going go start my own thing? yeah like but like What's it been like working with Ricardo all the same? Yeah, I mean, it's it's one of those things where, I mean, business is, it's not easy, right? So I've been fortunate enough to have, i mean, Ricardo, he's thet one of the closest things to have the blood. I mean, we've known each other since day one, so I trust him with my life. And being able to go through adversity in business with someone you trust with your life is a very, very special thing and it's a powerful thing.
00:26:38
Speaker
right And number one principle in business is speed. right If you can execute something with speed, then you'll win. The only thing that usually is a bottleneck and in in that is having someone you trust, right is getting backstabbed or getting screwed over, which as you know happens all the time.
00:26:52
Speaker
So we, I mean, our our partnership is very special. We trust each other with our lives. You have to have honest communication though in a partnership, and neither of us have any problem saying how we feel in a certain situation. Yes, we butt heads, but we always come to some sort of consensus. I'm usually to to the left, he's usually to the right, we usually meet the middle. Yes, sometimes you know things can get difficult, but I'm a firm believer, i mean if you're holding things back in a partnership and if you can't have honest communication, then you're not going to be able to effectively solve problems. so Through all that butting of heads, we we have been able to effectively solve problems over time. and
00:27:28
Speaker
I mean, it's just it' just part of the game. You know what i mean? But yeah, we've been running Mane since day one. We're going to be in business for life together. You know what mean? And I think that's been one of the number one things for us to be able to scale our business is he's literally, there's no better. I mean, I've learned so much from him in sales, right? mean, a lot of the success I've had in sales has been from him, but also a lot of the stuff systematically. And when it comes to like management, I've you know helped out tremendously with, and he's learned a lot from me, right? So you have to have that yin-yang.
00:27:58
Speaker
A partnership doesn't make sense if you have two people with the same strengths. yeah You have to have people with complementary skill sets. So it's been great. We've complemented our skill sets fantastically over the last six years. We're still learning day-to-day on how to work with one another. But obviously, I mean, it's it's worked pretty well so far. And ah yeah, it's it's it's been a great journey. Yeah, no doubt. So what do you feel like? You're a little more of an operator compared to Ricardo? like For sure. was making of him. He barely even knows how to log into Google Sheets. But yeah, I mean, I've i've always i've always been a lot more organized and a little bit more detail-oriented, which, as you know, when running ah when're running the backend operation, when it comes to like the financing and the the pipeline is incredibly important to have in this industry. So yeah, last four or five months, I've mainly been setting up all the systems and processes. And as you know, Ricky, he's the GOAT when it comes to selling. So he's he's the driver, he's the visionary. he's i mean the he's It's kind of like the four minute a mile, right? It doesn't happen until it happens. So he he's the guy who really shows what is possible in this industry and our company, and he's the driver.
00:28:58
Speaker
And what I come in is i I still drive, but I clean up a lot of the problems. Because as you know, when you scale a business, a lot of things break. Yeah. Right? So I've been ah been fixing a lot of fires that have been created. what you having Well, I got to hand it to you guys. printing Any installer you go to, I think you break half of them because you send them 100 deals in like a month's time. and Yeah. hope They're like, oh, shoot. i don't know what to do about this. It's funny, every single installer, when we sat down at at the table with them, we said, hey guys, we're we're going to be putting up 100 to 200 accounts your first month.
00:29:29
Speaker
Can you handle this volume? Every they're like, oh yeah, no problem. No, we say no, no, no. Can you handle the volume? And more than half the time, it's been a nightmare in the back end, to be honest. But it's been good. A lot of lessons learned in that process. Yeah, no doubt.
00:29:44
Speaker
but yeah and so I know um as you've been through some of those lessons and not working well with with certain installers, yeah what do you guys look for in the installers you're working with now? um We were talking before we hit record, like there's no perfect installer. There's always going to issues. sure But do you have any advice for someone who's maybe starting their dealer on picking installers or like mistakes you made? that What lessons you learned from picking your installers? Yeah, so you did you brought up systems little a bit earlier. Before you even get into installers, the number one system you need to have is if you want to put up a lot of volume, is you you have to have an internal admin. So we have all of our guys, for every two closures we have, they have one admin. That's the only way to do 30, 40. Because if you're going to put up 30 in month, there's a lot you need to deal with on the back end. So having that support, having an admin, at least at our company, we pay them base pay and a certain dollar amount per account, because we want them incentivized actually get installs.
00:30:36
Speaker
So step number one is if you really want to put a volume, make sure that you have an internal admin. um As an owner, we supply it to our guys and we take care of that cost for them. It's a really big value add. Number two, systematically, you got to make sure that their systems and processes are dialed. So I'm always looking to make sure, hey, do they have a CRM? Believe it or not, a lot of installers, they operate out of Google Sheets. yeah Believe it or not.
00:30:58
Speaker
Number two, as you know, it's really important to have complete transparency in terms of visibility and adder costs. So always make sure that, you know, You don't want to have an installer that they have the lowest red line. you don't want to have an installer that has the highest red line. Typically, the best ones are one that meet in the middle because they still have to have their operational cost.
00:31:13
Speaker
So we we look to make sure that their pricing structure is properly. we want to make sure that they have all the right financing. But really, the biggest thing is like I love having visibility on the back end. Why? one it's easy to manage. Number two, it's so that my setters and my closers, they can have that visibility, which means that I'm not going to have to constantly be relaying information from the installer to them. It takes up a lot of time, as you know. So really the big thing is visibility in the back end, having reasonable pricing and having that operational support as in if their team is dialed on the back end in terms of communicating, typically, that's the number one thing I'm looking for is in the beginning of building relationship with the new installers, how is their communication? yeah
00:31:51
Speaker
If they're not following up with my texts or my emails in the beginning, they're sure as hell not going doing it when we're doing 200 to 300 month. yeah So those are really the big three that we're focused on. Love that. no Yeah, so important.
00:32:02
Speaker
And yeah, I think that's a lesson we definitely had to learn when you know we were working together a few years back. is Completely. We... ah Yeah, I think, well, yeah, we weren't the ones really setting up the relationship with the installers. ye And we probably both learned that lesson is maybe you have leaders that are setting up their relationship with the installer. hundred percent They don't know to ask these questions.
00:32:24
Speaker
So like if I could go back to that time, then I probably would have questioned the people who were setting up the relationship with the installers. Yeah. Did you ask them this question? Did you see they're actually organized? Of course. Did you see if they have CRM?
00:32:36
Speaker
And I don't know, maybe the answer would have been no. It's funny because, I mean, at the end of the solar is construction, yeah right? And construction, you've got you've got permanent, you've got crews, right? There's so many different aspects of the business.
00:32:51
Speaker
It's not who's the best, it's it's who's the least shit at the end of the truthfully, right? And that's just the reality of the industry. And that's why we're able to make so much money. Yeah. Right. I mean, if you look at, you know, mortgage back in 08, or if you look at insurance back in the early nineteen eighty s and 1990s, it was an absolute gold rush, but the systems with processes weren't perfect.
00:33:07
Speaker
Right. You can't have everything. Right. And over time, the industry is going to get regulated and there's going to be a lot more big private equity money coming to the business and it's going to be streamlined, but that comes with a cost. Right. So as these installers, they get better, which they will, then the margins going to, is going to drive down. So the big thing as an owner, you have to relate your guys is look at the end of the day, this is construction. It's not going to be perfect. Right.
00:33:28
Speaker
As a leader, I'm not goingnna be perfect. I'm going to make mistakes, but anticipate that there are going to be jobs that go wrong. There is going to be some accounts that don't get paid on time. That's just a reality. That's how you're able to make million dollars a year, right? Because you have to deal with these things, right? But obviously my job as an owner is to make sure that my guys are in the best position possible. But at the end, I mean, there's still stuff that happens left and right. So you've got to be able to anticipate that there are going to be operational holdups and all you can do is be proactive about it at the end of the day. Yeah, no doubt.
00:33:58
Speaker
Yes, there's no perfect installer. There's always any issues. The crews maybe, yeah, I don't know. The other big thing I would say is, I mean, obviously do you do diligence in the beginning, but when you do pick an installer, it's important. Don't just jump ship.
00:34:12
Speaker
It takes anything. i mean, anything worthwhile takes time. Yeah. A good installer will listen you and will integrate what you're looking for. So if you're willing to work with them and you know if they are willing to integrate with some of the CRMs that you have set up with some of the processes, let that play out its course and eventually it will get better. You need to learn, it's a relationship at the end of the day. It takes time to integrate. Each sales force is different. Each sales force has different processes.
00:34:36
Speaker
So if if you're willing to withstand the adversity in the short term, typically on the other side of it is, hey, you actually have a process that works. right Yeah, and probably especially if you're doing quite a few deals through them because for you guys, if you send someone 100 deals, they're probably going to probably gonna at least get a little bit of their attention. 100%. Yeah. So if you're someone that sent an install or two deals and they both went bad, yeah maybe yeah, maybe they didn't care about your deals. Yeah. Maybe that's not a big enough sample size to do that.
00:35:04
Speaker
But no, I love that. Very important lessons and good advice for anyone that's looking into just that relationship between you and different installers. um But yeah, two things I want to get to before we're out ah out of time here, Travis. I know you guys have dabbled a little bit. You're starting to dabbled more and more into like the phone, the online like phone leads, stuff like that.
00:35:26
Speaker
um So that's the first, cut yeah, I guess we can start with that. So how did you get into this whole space? I've seen you've been posting more and more, setting up like a virtual team and all that. So how did this, how this come to pass and what are you guys doing with all this? Yeah, and hundred percent. I mean, it's it's kind of funny. i mean,
00:35:45
Speaker
As you scale, opening up verticals is usually just a byproduct. yeah right so I'm pretty well connected in the business. I've seen a lot of people making a lot of money virtually. so Eventually, we got to the point where our door door-to-door team was operating, doing pretty consistently between 300 to 400 a month, which actually gave us some time to say actually look at different verticals.
Transitioning to Virtual Sales and Techniques
00:36:03
Speaker
The big thing that opened our eyes was we, i i can go on and on about this, but we connected with Tarka Musa, Brian Decker, and Shelby Elias. These guys are big-time mortgage guys.
00:36:14
Speaker
And we were explaining before the podcast. So these guys, they helped build UWM Mortgage, which exited for $40 billion. It's a massive mortgage company. The owner, Matt Ishbiya, he bought out the Phoenix Sun. So these are big-time guys.
00:36:25
Speaker
They're making millions and millions of dollars in ah in mortgage. Yeah. And long story short, with interest rates increasing, their business took a massive hit. Their loan volume dropped massively and they wanted to figure out a way, hey, how are we going to supplement this income? Well, they found solar, obviously, because they're working with homes. And the system they developed was they were taking all their past client databases and converting all those leads using copy and inside inside cold callers into solar leads. Within their first three months, I think they closed five or 600 deals.
00:36:56
Speaker
So they were absolutely crushing it, and we connected with them through Zane at Better Earth, and through seeing that opportunity to really open our eyes to, hey, this is a real opportunity. So we've connected with them. We've been doing a lot of the inside sales for them, mainly managing the ah our dialer team. and we've started to get some serious momentum. They've been absolutely crushing. Our guys are absolute savages. But at the end of the day, I mean, it's the same thing. Our guys need to stick to their KPIs. They need to stick to their non-negotiables, stick to the script.
00:37:24
Speaker
And again, if they put in enough reps that they have right training, you start to see results. But to be completely honest with you, i mean, it wasn't easy the beginning. yeah right i mean It was a big ego hit. right We're used to closing 10, 15, 20 deals a day on our door-to-door. So when we go a couple weeks with only closing a couple day, i mean it wasn't fun. so were now after two, three months, we're finally starting to get traction. But i mean it still has been it still has been a battle, getting the processes in place. but What's nice is with virtual is there's a lot less overhead and it's a massively scalable opportunity. I mean, to be able to get someone from home and fill up their calendar with a call center lead, I mean, anybody in the industry, that's like a solar person's dream, yeah right? So yeah, we've been placing a good amount of our time and energy on doing it at that vertical, but what I find is a lot of guys in the industry who try to get in the call center, what they do is they neglect
00:38:15
Speaker
what is working, which is a door-to-door team. So we make it a point to say, we want to keep the foot on the gas with our door-to-door team, because at the end of the that's our bread and butter, and what we're good at. Keep the foot on the gas, and then and and then build that the vertical. Who make the mistake is they jump the gun on the door-to-door team, because ver because call centers and virtual is all sexy, right? At the end of the day, what what's going to fund those verticals is what works, which is our door-to-door team.
00:38:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think that's an ah important message for people are in this. Yep. Because I've done some podcasts in the past where we only talk about like virtual phones and all that. Yep. Now here are some guys. Some guys will hit me up and be like, oh, dude, after this podcast, I'm going all in on the virtual stuff when they haven't had success in knocking doors or whatever. 100%. Other stuff stuff. Yeah. I can't really listen to this. It's just like the girl in the red dress. You know what mean? Everybody wants to focus on the next big thing. And then you pick your head up you're like, oh, crap, we're not putting up any volume anymore. Exactly. You know?
00:39:07
Speaker
It's like we all have ADD and solar, so focus on one thing, get really good at it, and then you can slowly add another thing. 100%. That's cool. and yeah I know that's probably a whole other podcast, but I'm just curious how you guys got that started. I think the sun would go down if we wanted to know the nitty gritty of it. but no It's been super fun. you know it's It's a new vertical that we've been tapping into. I've been learning a ton every single day, but at end of the day, sales sales. right The same principles apply. And the beautiful part about door-to-door is if you can figure out door-to-door, figure out any vertical.
00:39:35
Speaker
Being able to knock on someone's door and literally convince them to sit down with a stranger, that is the hardest lead avenue to figure out. right So what we've been finding is there literally every single thing we've learned in door-to-door translate directly to that vertical. So it's it's been it's it's been a lot easier, let's just say, getting started in that vertical than it has been on the door-to-door side of things. Yeah, I bet. That's cool.
00:39:59
Speaker
Cool. Well, and so just as we start wrapping up here, Travis, a lot of people I think are curious. Well, yeah, like I know Ricardo did. the 500 deals or whatever, four or 500. He's got a couple of loose screws. That's the only way did it. It's literally insane.
00:40:13
Speaker
But you yourself, even 250 installs, that's still unfathomable for most people in the industry. So I wanted to touch on that. like For people who are like, wow, how the how the freak did he do this? what was Can you talk about that? like What does it take to be a top rep?
Becoming a Top Sales Rep and Overcoming Beliefs
00:40:31
Speaker
What does it take to like reach that kind of level? 100%. Maybe we can dive into like schedule, like really what you have to do to hit 250 installs in year. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, obviously, if a lot of blood, sweat, and tears involved. I mean, you were working with me during that time. i mean, at any given moment...
00:40:48
Speaker
I was working the entire time. like In order to get those numbers, you have to sacrifice massively. But the number one thing is in the beginning, I mean, obviously I'm big on goal setting, right? So you gotta set your goals, you gotta have your vision for what you wanna accomplish, but the number one thing you need to sell is yourself. yeah I was completely sold on, my goal was I wanted to make my first million.
00:41:06
Speaker
I was completely sold and already identified with doing that before i even started the year. I was dead set on that was happening, it was life or death. yeah So that was number one. Number two, obviously, I mean, it helps being in an environment, because I wasn't the only one who was putting up big numbers that year. So being in an environment with guys like Ricardo, with guys like Chandler, and a couple other guys that are absolute killers in the industry that were pushing the bar that I was competing with,
00:41:28
Speaker
it was massive, right? Because, I mean, as you know, being a big fish in a small pond is completely different than being a small fish in a big pond, right? So being able to I'm a very competitive guy, so being able to compete every single day with guys that were pushing it was huge. I think that's one of the most underrated things in the industry. A lot of guys, they want to be the top guy in their company, but there's a lot of bigger fish out there. yeah So i'd highly recommend putting yourself in an environment of actual killers. Even if you're making less money per job, put yourself in that environment. Why? Well, because it takes a lot less motivation to be competing with guys that are better than you.
00:42:01
Speaker
um As for schedule, We're kind psychopaths with the schedules, as you know, but the biggest two things that I think helped out with that was having myself stick to non-negotiables and our setting team. but I would not have been able to put up the numbers I did without our setters being completely dialed in.
00:42:20
Speaker
So the way you have it set up is Monday through Friday, 10.30 for an hour, we meet and train and role play every single day. So without that consistent lead volume from the setters, I would not have been able to be in three to five homes every single day. So, I mean, yeah, shout out to our setters, would not have been able to close as many deals as I did if they weren't putting up the volume. So that was number one, being able to do the consistent training and role playing. And number two, at least my non-negotiables, was if there was a deal on the calendar, I'm going to it.
00:42:47
Speaker
I don't care if I'm hurt, I don't care if I'm sick, I don't care if I don't feel like it, it doesn't matter, I'm showing up. I literally cannot think of a time where I didn't show up to a lead. right So that was that was number one. nice And what's nice is once you pair having infinite lead flow with a good process, eventually you build up, like I said, that momentum.
00:43:07
Speaker
right And it just it just becomes easy. You start you get in flow state, you stick to that non-negotiable over a long enough time horizon, and the deals just flow. So one one piece of advice, really I'd say is number number one, again, gotta have the belief, which I know it's cliche, but it's true, you have to have the belief. yeah Having the consistent lead flows, having a dialed in setter team was massive, and then really is you just have to stick to the schedule like your life depends on it.
00:43:32
Speaker
A lot of guys, as you know, in this industry, they get a 10 to 15,000 check on a 10 kilowatt system and then they're off. Vacation for a month. Right? So I don't care if I got a deal closed. I don't care if I had a good day. i don't care if I had a bad day. I'm doing the same thing regardless of how i feel.
00:43:47
Speaker
And I'm sticking with it until i hit my goal. Yeah. That's huge. Yeah. Well, and something that blows my mind, like you're what? 23? 23. Yeah. So like...
00:43:58
Speaker
insanely young. When I was 23, I couldn't even imagine making six figures yet, let alone a million. Well, as you know, this industry ages you real quick. I mean, I i started knocking doors when I was 18 and I dropped out of a college to pursue this full time. So five six years and door to door, of course, like 15 years in the real world. yeah So it ages you real quick. Exactly.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah, but like, so before you made a million, what was the most you made a year before that point? It would have been the year before that, so half a million in my first year in solar. Wow. And then before that, i think was, I barely scrapped away in pest control making six figures. Wow, yeah.
00:44:31
Speaker
Because I think back, especially when was that young, you made 500, half a million is still insane amount of money. But even half a million to a million, that's a massive jump. I don't think there's any other industry where you could literally double your money in a year. Completely, yeah. Did you ever have limiting beliefs? Because for me, I think back to when I was that young, my thoughts would have been like, oh, I'm too young. Like there's no way I could make a million at this age.
00:44:58
Speaker
um Maybe you didn't, but like, I don't know if you've had limiting beliefs. Like, how do you convince yourself that you deserve to make that much money and that you're like the person that's worth a million? But I still have limiting beliefs today. yeah You know, I mean, I remember, it's it's kind of funny you say that.
00:45:13
Speaker
When I made my first million, I felt poorer than ever, which is funny because a lot of my guys that are that I know in other industries in my network that make millions of dollars a year, they they feel poorer than ever. Well, why? It's because they're a smaller fish in a bigger ocean, right? When you when you make that type of money, you connect with people, big business owners, and you you see what they've accomplished.
00:45:32
Speaker
you realize that there's a lot bigger mountains to climb. So it's funny you say that because after my first summer, even knocking alarms, making 20 grand in summer, I felt richer than ever. I was at the top of the world, right? But um so to answer your question, every step of the way I had limiting beliefs.
00:45:47
Speaker
And one of my favorite books I always recommend to my guys is Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracing. You have to fake it till you make it. So I remember in the beginning I was constantly saying, I'm a good salesman, I'm gonna win, I'm gonna be the top guy in the office. And when you do that long enough and get that result over and over and over again, eventually becomes reality.
00:46:07
Speaker
Eventually, as I said, you gotta sell yourself that you are a good salesperson, that you can achieve your goals. Well, if you're working every single day, If you're putting in the schedule, you have the right training, and you're getting the results over a long enough time horizon, then eventually limiting beliefs go away. why? Well, because you've sold yourself.
00:46:22
Speaker
They are actually the person that you're telling yourself in the head. But in the beginning, dude, I mean, it was, I've had crippling moments. Like i've I doubted myself a lot. There were times where I wanted to quit, right? But I'd always told myself, like, regardless what happens, I'm never going to tap. And eventually, after going through the adversity, right, connecting with mentors, just putting in the work over the years, eventually you become your thoughts, and that becomes who you are, right?
Finding True Motivation Beyond Money
00:46:48
Speaker
um So, yeah, it's been a journey. But the number one thing I'd say is, like,
00:46:52
Speaker
you have to just self-talk. Like your life depends on it and surround yourself with good people because people good people with good mentality, that will transmute directly into you. And then eventually you'll become that.
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's so huge. yeah I think very powerful. And think it's Jim Rohn that talks about that. You're yeah the average of the five people you spend the most time with. It's it's funny. It's always the most cliche stuff that actually works.
00:47:16
Speaker
You know what i mean? But it's true. Yeah. Well, and that stuff helps, I think, conquer the limiting beliefs too. Because like if you're on, maybe it was Chandler. Yeah, I remember Chandler would like pass you some months or whatever. And then you'd be like, he pissed me off deeply. There's no way i'm losing to Chandler. Yep. No shot. You go above him. So I think that's a huge key to success. You're very competitive. You're always trying to chase the next guy in place. Well, and the big thing at the end of the day is, I mean, in the beginning, obviously, it was about the money, right? So I wanted to make my first 100,000, wanted to make million. That drove me in the beginning. But once once you hit the goal, you realize that, I mean, money is not going to solve your problems, and it's not what it's about.
00:47:52
Speaker
At the end of the day, like, growth and, you know, going through the trials and tribulations, it's about helping yourself so you can help you you can help others at the end of the day. Yeah. I don't really, I mean, the money's great, you know, driving the nice car, or getting a nice watch, that's all cool. But at the end of the day, when you put your head on your pillow, is that really what you're going to feel good about?
00:48:09
Speaker
For me, I quickly realized that that's not what it's about. What it's about is being able to go through the trials and tribulations and becoming a person that can provide value to other people. And that's what feels good at the end of the day. When I see my my boy like Robbie, we're hiring his family. Or if I see Chandler crushing it in my organization, or if I see, you know, like, for example, Austin, you know, kid, he looks like he's freaking 17 years old, getting his golden door and absolutely crushing it. That is what really freaking pumps me up. And that's what it's all about. But I do think it's important in the beginning to have money to drive you to a certain point.
00:48:40
Speaker
But all the top, top guys, as you know, i mean, it gets old really quickly. That's not what it's about at the end of the day. Yeah. You know, that's incredible, man. yeah Well, when you first started, could you imagine, like, was this your goal? Did you think you ever could imagine that you'd be running like a hundred person organization? and and I could barely tie my shoes.
00:48:57
Speaker
I could barely put my freaking, my shoes on in the morning. You know, that's crazy. yeah I mean, at at the beginning it was, hey hopefully I can make some money yeah and it would be cool to make 50 or 60 grand. yeah But as you know, as you grow and as, as you accomplish more than your, your, you know, your goals change. yeah And now it gets to the point where my goals are,
00:49:18
Speaker
you know, they're a hell of a lot bigger than when they started, you know? So it's incredible. Well, it's been, ah it's been fun chatting with you, man. And iwise brother as we, as we end here, if people want to connect with you more, what's the best way to hit you up? Or maybe they want to check, check out more minutes and all that. Yeah. they to Connect with you. Yeah, I mean, you can ask my guys, my messaging is my inbox is always full, so that definitely best way to contact me is on ah is on Instagram, it's Travis.Hartman.
00:49:43
Speaker
cool um We're also, we're gonna start ramping up the Momentous page as well. We actually are literally about to hire an in-house videographer, so you guys are gonna start to see some cool content on there, but yeah, definitely Instagram, 100%.
00:49:55
Speaker
Cool, well guys, go shoot them a follow, and um yeah, you've been hanging out with both of us today. Remember, you're the average of the five people you hang out with. and you've been hanging out with Travis Hartman today. So just that's going to help if you improve.
00:50:06
Speaker
Um, but yeah, uh, just to wrap up here, any other final like words of wisdom or advice you give to maybe a struggling rep or, uh, Anything you want to wrap up with, Jermit? Yeah, absolutely. I'd say the biggest thing is he who has the highest stress tolerance in life and in business always wins. Okay. So as we were discussing before, in this industry, in sales, it's incredibly difficult in the beginning.
00:50:30
Speaker
But if you can really learn to absorb those punches and to learn to love the failure and to love the process and be able to handle those and be unwavering, you will win. period, where i see a lot of guys get caught they get caught up when their install doesn't go through, they get caught up when an appointment flakes. If you can learn to just accept that and and be able to handle the stress on a day-to-day, it's impossible to lose.
00:50:50
Speaker
So I would just say focus on cultivating your stress tolerance and see what happens. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm glad you touched on that because yeah I've definitely had it affect me. How many people listening saying to this? You had an appointment cancel.
00:51:02
Speaker
and you're sitting in the car right now you don't want to go out, or you just lost a big commission. It's part the game, man. Yeah, you learn that to tolerate it. It's part of the game But yeah, man, I really appreciate you having me on. Seriously, this podcast is awesome. Again, I remember listening to it when I first started in the industry. It's super valuable stuff that you're providing the industry.
00:51:19
Speaker
And yeah, keep it up, man. Appreciate it. Appreciate that. Yeah. It's been awesome having you on guys. Go hit up Travis. Let them know you go. Give a thank you for coming on the podcast. We'll catch you soon, brother. So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego. And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:51:40
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:52:03
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show. can give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:52:18
Speaker
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00:52:31
Speaker
Okay, back to the show. Hey, solopreneurs, quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:52:45
Speaker
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00:53:08
Speaker
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Speaker
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