Transcript
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: What is up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: This is James Swinerski and Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: We haven't had an episode together in, what, like 10 months, right?
Speaker: Yeah, it's been a while, man.
Speaker: Miss you on the show.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's sweet.
Speaker: It's sweet.
Speaker: So yeah, it's been a good while.
Speaker: We wanted to actually do on this episode some coaching calls, specifically like some role plays.
Speaker: We're going to role play some common scenarios.
Speaker: I know a lot of you guys are going through.
Speaker: Taylor's going to handle some.
Speaker: Give me some advice.
Speaker: I'm going to handle some.
Speaker: Give him some advice.
Speaker: It's going to be a fun time.
Speaker: Let's go ahead and roll the intro and we'll get started.
Speaker: What do you call an underground group of solar professionals on a mission to create a more sustainable world?
Speaker: We call ourselves solarpreneurs and while some might call us crazy, foolish, and dissatisfied with the status quo, we're the ones taking action to create a better future for ourselves and the world.
Speaker: Solarpreneur is dedicated to give you, the solar professional, the tools, skills, technology, and mentorship to take the industry by storm and sell more solar with less effort.
Speaker: We are solarpreneurs and this is our story.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Welcome back, school for new words.
Speaker: This is James Swinorski here.
Speaker: I've got the man, Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: Say hello to everybody.
Speaker: What's up, dude?
Speaker: I got to ask, man.
Speaker: Did you have like your Darth Vader mask on or something for that intro?
Speaker: Sometimes I'm like, no, I did it.
Speaker: I did it really early in the morning is what happened.
Speaker: I don't know what it is.
Speaker: The first couple hours in the morning, my voice is like a good, I don't know, however you measure voice volume.
Speaker: It's low.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it is a sick intro, but every time I'm like, he must have the Darth Vader mask on or something.
Speaker: Could have done the Batman voice.
Speaker: It would have been better.
Speaker: Next time, we're going to have to have different superhero themes and change the voice for each one.
Speaker: Not have those voice changers.
Speaker: What happens?
Speaker: We hired a guy on Upwork actually due to that intro and we had a few people do it and it was awful, just straight awful.
Speaker: The guy sounded like he was playing a Halo game or something, like an alien blaster.
Speaker: Yeah, the voice was just – he had this hard rock music.
Speaker: I'm like, man, I'm just going to do it myself.
Speaker: It was terrible.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: it's embarrassing yeah all right good stuff man good stuff well tanner what the heck is the solopreneur about man who's the welcome people who are new to the show man tell them what it's about yeah so if you hadn't heard our past episodes i would definitely suggest go back and listen to episode number one that's where we go into what is a solopreneur going in the background and
Speaker: And we're constantly trying to improve the episodes, so maybe it did get a bit rambly and stuff in the first episodes.
Speaker: But yeah, basically a solopreneur is just someone that's trying to put the entrepreneurship into their solar game.
Speaker: Because when you talk about solar, at least when I got in here, I thought that solar was just going to be like any other door-to-door type thing.
Speaker: Came from the pest control industry.
Speaker: So I thought it was going to be knocking on some doors, closing them on the spots.
Speaker: What I didn't realize is that to truly master a solar game, you got to master the follow up.
Speaker: You got to master the close.
Speaker: You got to master the digital marketing.
Speaker: So in my opinion, that's what being a solopreneur is.
Speaker: It's just learning all these aspects and then also learning to grow a team and get people to help you with the stuff where you're uncomfortable.
Speaker: So that's what's been a solopreneur is all about for me.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker: So Taylor, I think we're going to dive into some role plays, man, hopefully.
Speaker: And the goal of this is, guys, we don't do enough live action role plays, recordings of actual in-home presentations.
Speaker: And that's kind of the content route, I think, that's...
Speaker: going to help solopreneurs out more than anything right now is the application.
Speaker: So you can actually see all the stuff that we've talked about that maybe you think sounds good in theory, but you're not sure how you could pull it off or how you can apply it to your market, right?
Speaker: So we're really just going to take those questions out here.
Speaker: I'll really show you how it's done, how to apply this.
Speaker: San Diego is a spot where Taylor and I both sell.
Speaker: And Taylor's been doing it a very long time.
Speaker: He's pretty experienced, gets a pretty consistent deal flow in San Diego.
Speaker: I think he really knows his stuff too.
Speaker: So I think it's going to be good to role play with him, go off of that.
Speaker: You'll have to excuse me.
Speaker: I'm sick right now.
Speaker: So my voice is pretty messed up as well.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: If I cough or something, yeah, you know what's up.
Speaker: So Taylor, let's go ahead and dive into some role plays, man.
Speaker: If you want to do like... Let's do just in the house, man.
Speaker: So you just show up at the house, do all of your... Hey, how you doing?
Speaker: And then we'll just get started with that.
Speaker: I'll be the...
Speaker: homeowner to start and then we'll trade off and go from there.
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: And yeah, just a disclaimer before, I mean, obviously we're over the phone, but we're doing in-house presentation versus on the phone.
Speaker: This is going to be a little bit different when I'm doing over the phone.
Speaker: I try to use like a zoom room or join me some, some type of thing where they can see my screen.
Speaker: Um, but I'm going to do it as if we're in the home here.
Speaker: So if I'm in the home, I'm going to be using a notepad.
Speaker: I'm going to be showing resources and be showing links of a couple of different things.
Speaker: So you're not going to see that on the audio, obviously, but just a little disclaimer.
Speaker: But let's get it rolling.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I walk up to James' home, sit down on, first of all, not going to sit down on the couch.
Speaker: I'm going to get to the kitchen table.
Speaker: Should be hopefully a no-brainer for people, but...
Speaker: I like to think people are, forget the saying, but it's a pest outside of the home.
Speaker: Do you remember what that saying is?
Speaker: A pest on the porch, a guest in the house.
Speaker: I don't know what it is, but I like where it's going.
Speaker: I've never heard it.
Speaker: Okay, I butchered that, but there's some saying.
Speaker: A pest on the house, a guest on the couch, yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm stealing that one.
Speaker: That's funny.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, I'll figure out the story later.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So we're sitting on the table.
Speaker: We're sitting down with James and his wife.
Speaker: In this scenario, he's married.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm married now.
Speaker: Newsflash.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So James, we built some rapport.
Speaker: We talked about his dog.
Speaker: We talked about his kids.
Speaker: Five, 10 minutes, maybe we talked about that stuff.
Speaker: Built some rapport.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So James, now that I've gotten to know you a little bit, I do have to be a little bit quick.
Speaker: We're meeting with so many people out here.
Speaker: But tell me, what is it that you're looking to get out of going solar?
Speaker: I just want to save money.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So if we can save you some money, you'd be happy with it?
Speaker: You'd be ready to roll?
Speaker: Yeah, let's save some money, man.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Well, let's get that happening.
Speaker: And then what questions or concerns would you have about going solar?
Speaker: How do I save money if I got to spend money?
Speaker: That doesn't make any sense.
Speaker: Okay, good question.
Speaker: I'm going to write that down.
Speaker: What if the panels stop working?
Speaker: Okay, great question.
Speaker: What if the utility company, what if SPG&E stops working?
Speaker: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker: I'm going to write all that down.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Uh, I see.
Speaker: What if like some birds come in like, or like a golf ball breaks one of the panels.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: If a kid throws a Frisbee up there or something, my kids are pretty crazy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Got to keep those rascals under control.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, thanks for your parenting advice, Taylor.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm having to appreciate it.
Speaker: I'm having to keep myself.
Speaker: Got one on the way, one on the way.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: Sweet.
Speaker: I think that's about it, man.
Speaker: That's all the questions I have.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Right now.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: I just kind of want to hear your presentation though.
Speaker: Four questions.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: And then you guys plan on staying in the home, right, James?
Speaker: No plans to sell?
Speaker: Not as far as I know.
Speaker: Okay, awesome.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Well, my goal with this is I want to answer all your questions, and I want you to ask as many questions as possible because our goal here is to help you come to a decision either way.
Speaker: I'm fine with either one.
Speaker: So what we'll do, James, is, yeah, I'm going to obviously show you how the solar works.
Speaker: We're going to look at how much you'll save each month, stuff like that.
Speaker: Then we'll get into your questions.
Speaker: So assuming I can answer your questions and everything looks good, what I'll do today with you is submit an application.
Speaker: And help you guys come to decision.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But if there are unanswered questions or it's not what you expected, then I don't expect you guys to do anything.
Speaker: But if it is, then great.
Speaker: We'll get it rolling, do an application and submit some documents with you guys.
Speaker: That sound fair?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sounds okay.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Well, let's get into this, James.
Speaker: So you, you guys have been in the home, what, about five years now?
Speaker: Yeah, five.
Speaker: Yeah, just about.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So the way solar works, I don't know how much you've heard, but we have an agreement with the utility company out here.
Speaker: It's called net metering.
Speaker: Have you guys heard about that before?
Speaker: Never heard about it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So what it is, it's what allows you to get solar without needing to buy a bunch of batteries.
Speaker: Because as you know, you're not going to produce anything at nighttime.
Speaker: You're only producing energy during the day.
Speaker: So we have the agreements where they will credit you for all the energy you produce during the day.
Speaker: And then you can just use it back at nighttime or when it's cloudy, things like that.
Speaker: So that makes it nice.
Speaker: And then the other thing is they let you bank it up over time.
Speaker: And it works kind of like, do you remember how they used to have the roll over minutes with the cell phones?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Yeah, so same concept.
Speaker: If you guys don't use all your energy one month, it's going to roll into the future months and keep on using that energy bank that you build up.
Speaker: But hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker: They got rid of rollover minutes, though.
Speaker: What if they get rid of this?
Speaker: Yeah, good point, good point.
Speaker: So they are trying to change a lot of things, and that's actually what I was going to tell you, is they do charge about $10 a month to be connected to this.
Speaker: That's kind of their connection fee that they charge.
Speaker: So that's the one thing they don't let us get rid of.
Speaker: And it's gotten worse as time goes on, believe it or not.
Speaker: Because in the past, yeah, they used to give people, write people checks, give people a lot more credits.
Speaker: So here's what happens.
Speaker: If we can get you approved and SDG&E approves this, the utility company approves it, we will get your grandfathered in to how it is right now, James, and everything will be good.
Speaker: They said that they're going to grandfather for 20 years.
Speaker: So yeah, I would hope they wouldn't change it after that, but at least you got 20 years.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, that's why we're meeting with so many people right now is hopefully we can get everything approved, worked out.
Speaker: We'll get it all approved, all locked in.
Speaker: That way they can't change it.
Speaker: So it can't be like the whole roll over minutes that change.
Speaker: Does that answer your question though, James?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: So that's how that works.
Speaker: And then as far as how they bill you, have you guys actually looked at your utility bills?
Speaker: Would you guys mostly just pay them and kind of get rid of them?
Speaker: Just pay it, man.
Speaker: It's auto pay.
Speaker: I'd never see it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, just a couple of things that people have told me and then I'm going to pull up your proposal here, James.
Speaker: But just so you know, there's been quite a few issues with the utility going on.
Speaker: Part of it is they have these things called tiers.
Speaker: And I'll draw it out here for you on my pad of paper.
Speaker: What's happening is the more energy you use, the more they bill you for it.
Speaker: So it's kind of the opposite.
Speaker: Like I shop at Costco.
Speaker: It looks like you guys do too.
Speaker: Got some Costco muffins over there.
Speaker: So Costco, they usually give you a discount for buying in bulk, you know.
Speaker: But SDG&E, the utility company, they're going to charge you more for the more energy you use.
Speaker: So that's what's going on, and that's why people are getting such high bills in the summer and other months is because your rate is literally doubling when you cross the thresholds.
Speaker: So every time you use over the amount that they give you, they move you up into a higher tier and you pay more per unit of electricity, more per kilowatt.
Speaker: They do it.
Speaker: So that's the first thing people are telling me about.
Speaker: And the other thing, James, is there's been a lot of things going on here in San Diego.
Speaker: One is like they closed that nuclear power plant down.
Speaker: It's called San Onofre.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys have seen it along the I-5 there.
Speaker: But did you know that they're making us pay for that, for the decommissioning of it?
Speaker: I didn't know that, no.
Speaker: Well, yeah, I'll show you on your bill here.
Speaker: But it shows you here we pay for nuclear decommissioning.
Speaker: And then also we're paying for a lot of the fires.
Speaker: Probably heard about some of the fires they've had in the past.
Speaker: So, yeah, the rates are going up.
Speaker: You knew the rates were going up, though, every year, right?
Speaker: I'm sure that's not a surprise.
Speaker: I guess so, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I'll show you a couple articles here.
Speaker: But, yeah, as you can see in this news article, it's going up.
Speaker: They just requested a 28% rate hike.
Speaker: It's been going up on average like 6% a year or so.
Speaker: It's pretty bad.
Speaker: But yeah, so maybe you heard that.
Speaker: The main thing is, though, they got the monopoly.
Speaker: So unless you guys want to go Amish or stop using energy, I guess you got no choice but to continue using SDGD.
Speaker: So just a couple things, James.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, things are going up always.
Speaker: So what we're doing here with the solar, it's pretty straightforward.
Speaker: The solar is just going up on the roof, and we're just swapping out the bill.
Speaker: So we're going to eliminate your bill
Speaker: with utility, you'll stop paying SDG&E and we're going to give you a new bill.
Speaker: And the difference is now it's just going towards an asset on the home that's adding value to your home.
Speaker: And that's going to be something you own up there too.
Speaker: And that's really the main point of it.
Speaker: Because like if you're paying electricity already, don't you think it'd be better to go towards something that at least adds to your home?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I would think so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So yeah, that's the main point of it.
Speaker: I guess on a side note though, it will be cheaper than what you're paying.
Speaker: And then also the bills will stay flat.
Speaker: So you're not going to have any of these rate hikes like I just showed you with SDG&E.
Speaker: And then with this program, the bill will end.
Speaker: You guys have been here five years and talked to people that have been paying their utility bill for 50 years now.
Speaker: Never ending.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So with this, the bill will end when you guys move or at 20 years, whichever comes first.
Speaker: So it's just going to add value to the home.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So that's about it, James.
Speaker: So that's the whole concept of it.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: Well, cool.
Speaker: We're going to go ahead and think about this, man.
Speaker: Thanks for the information, man.
Speaker: You've been really informative.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: So yeah, do you feel like you have enough information to be able to make a decision on it with what I've showed you here, James?
Speaker: I feel like maybe we... I don't think you answered my questions, though.
Speaker: Remember, what if something hits or blocks the panels?
Speaker: What if the panels break?
Speaker: I had a couple questions.
Speaker: You kind of skipped over those.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah, let's get into those questions.
Speaker: So I'll just, okay, cool.
Speaker: We'll stop there.
Speaker: We'll play.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Cause I don't think Taylor wrote down the questions, which is fine.
Speaker: We're talking here, but anyway, yeah.
Speaker: Taylor would have answered my questions.
Speaker: I've seen, I've been on appointments with him.
Speaker: He answers the questions.
Speaker: We go from there.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: So Taylor, what'd you think about your role play, man?
Speaker: What, how do you think it went?
Speaker: What do you think could have went better?
Speaker: Just kind of from your perspective.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it was, I think it was not bad.
Speaker: Obviously, like I mentioned before, doing it over the phone.
Speaker: I'm going to be showing them, writing a lot more stuff down, and obviously showing them some stuff on the computer as I'm talking.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: Taylor's pretty old school.
Speaker: He does mostly in-person appointments, so it's kind of his style.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I'm definitely not the expert yet for the virtual ones, like the Master James here.
Speaker: But yeah, I thought it was decent.
Speaker: You can kind of tell how sold people are.
Speaker: So, like just listening over the phone with James, you can kind of sense that he wasn't sold.
Speaker: I mean, that's why he said, great.
Speaker: Thanks for the information.
Speaker: I'm going to think about it.
Speaker: So what I've realized is that'll happen a lot of times.
Speaker: That just means they haven't gotten enough information yet.
Speaker: They're not sold and built urgency.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Yeah, that's kind of my thoughts on it.
Speaker: Yeah, no, a couple of things.
Speaker: So I like Taylor did a great job at asking introductory questions.
Speaker: So he really had that discovery phase fully in there.
Speaker: What happens is the more time you could spend really discovering what your prospects intentions are with questions they have, what their current understanding is, the more familiar you're going to be with where they stand at, right?
Speaker: And if we know our prospects,
Speaker: as well as we know ourselves, then we're able to predict where they're going to go.
Speaker: We know what they're going to say, and it's not going to come as a surprise.
Speaker: We're able to actually steer and take control of the entire sale and lead it to where we want to.
Speaker: So Taylor did a great job at that.
Speaker: The more questions you can ask in the beginning part of your pitch, that gives you more ammunition to use later on so you can leverage that.
Speaker: So some of the things I would have done with Taylor here...
Speaker: I want to ask more deep questions on understanding why they want to save money.
Speaker: So they said they want to save money, but ask them specifically like, hey, what do they do?
Speaker: What do you guys do for work?
Speaker: Speaking of money, we do this and this.
Speaker: Do you guys get a lot of free time?
Speaker: Do you go on vacations?
Speaker: What do you guys do for fun?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: We do this.
Speaker: Maybe they say something like, we don't have a lot of time.
Speaker: Or they complain about money and they say they don't have a lot of money to go do a ton of stuff, right?
Speaker: Then I'll ask them, well, look, our average customer in San Diego right now, they're saving like $25,000, $26,000 off their electricity costs just by swapping to solar.
Speaker: What would you guys do with an extra $26,000?
Speaker: And get them talking, right?
Speaker: You paint that picture.
Speaker: Yeah, because what this does, this opens up the emotional floodgates.
Speaker: That's what I call them, just right off the bat.
Speaker: They start thinking emotionally.
Speaker: They stop thinking with their head, start thinking with their heart more.
Speaker: That's what we're looking for because if you can unlock that, get them thinking with emotion, then now we have more control over the sale.
Speaker: Just how people pay attention during a movie, right?
Speaker: They don't walk out in the middle of a movie.
Speaker: because they're emotionally invested.
Speaker: Get them emotionally invested as quickly as possible in your pitch.
Speaker: That's the only other thing I would say with Taylor's role play.
Speaker: It was really good, really structured.
Speaker: He covered most of the information.
Speaker: He would have covered the questions.
Speaker: It just didn't have any emotion was the problem.
Speaker: Yeah, true.
Speaker: Without emotion, you're not going to have a whole lot of urgency.
Speaker: They're not going to feel anything.
Speaker: And it's just going to look like a transactional, like logical based thing.
Speaker: If Taylor had a story about somebody, and I've heard him use a story or two before, a story about somebody who actually went solar and they had X result.
Speaker: And that result happened to be exactly what the prospect was looking for.
Speaker: Then boom, he would have clicked it.
Speaker: Just like a movie, they can relate to that character.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: That's the thing I would have changed with Taylor's pitch more than anything.
Speaker: Cause at the end of that, you're going to get the usual objections because they don't feel like a drive to move forward.
Speaker: You got them the information.
Speaker: They just maybe don't want to make a move quite yet.
Speaker: No, I agree.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: And I can definitely tell that in my deals.
Speaker: Cause I'll usually get exactly what James just did.
Speaker: Just, Oh, I need to think about it.
Speaker: Then tell when they're not connected.
Speaker: Cause you won't get as much interaction from them.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: stuff like that.
Speaker: So what do you do, James, if they're not like talking and if you're not getting them to open up, do you like kind of call them out on it?
Speaker: Or do you ever get that where people like don't open up and like, why they want to save money?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I call this frame control, right?
Speaker: And I think Taylor's talked about it a little bit.
Speaker: We borrowed this from Oren Klaff, really have used it just in solar and gotten crazy results from it.
Speaker: If you guys don't know Oren Klaff, he actually has a background in investment banking.
Speaker: And really just being one of those like hardcore B2B type of sales guys, you might say, well, how can I apply B2B investment banking to solar homeowners, to homeowners?
Speaker: And it's really frame control, which is just the outcome of a social interaction.
Speaker: Like when Taylor and I talk, when we hop on this podcast, there is a frame battle going on.
Speaker: And you can tell like the person who usually leads the conversation or asks the question and the other person answers it, they usually control the frame and kind of how the social outcome would be going.
Speaker: So how I would use this with Taylor in this situation is you just want to make sure you're taking control of asking questions like Taylor did.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Taylor, specifically, what was your question?
Speaker: Again, man, I just lost my train of thought.
Speaker: I'm just saying like, if they don't give you like feedback,
Speaker: If they don't open up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So to get them to open up, I just call them out.
Speaker: So we call this a pattern interrupt and it's really heavy on what we call the power frame.
Speaker: So somebody is just like, like in me in that case, or I'm just like, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker: I'll just say, Hey, obviously this isn't very interesting for you guys.
Speaker: Let me ask you before I go here, what were you hoping to get out of this appointment?
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: Love it.
Speaker: So you take away, you say, look, obviously something's on your mind and this isn't very interesting.
Speaker: Does that sound correct?
Speaker: And they're like, what the... Instantly, it's going to shock them, right?
Speaker: Because they're like, nobody talks to me like that.
Speaker: I thought this guy was just going to spew on his pitch, right?
Speaker: Stop them immediately.
Speaker: If you're in person...
Speaker: This is really easy to tell engagement because you can see their eyes, right?
Speaker: If the eye, if they ever stop like making eye contact or they look in the other room, I stop immediately.
Speaker: I don't keep going.
Speaker: I don't say a single word more.
Speaker: It's done.
Speaker: Like, all right, guys.
Speaker: something's on your mind.
Speaker: Let's get out of here.
Speaker: If they're checking the phone, they're checking the watch, they're trying to talk to the kid, end the thing.
Speaker: If you're doing a virtual presentation and you're doing it over the phone, it's a little bit more difficult because you may not know where their attention is.
Speaker: This is why your pitch has to be
Speaker: so dialed in.
Speaker: That's why the emotional story side has to be like 80% of it over the phone because they could go look at anything.
Speaker: I don't know what they're looking at.
Speaker: They could be cooking a meal for all I know, right?
Speaker: They could be washing the dishes or something like that.
Speaker: You got to be able to be so engaging and so enticing just over the phone.
Speaker: Things like tonality, you've got to hook them in.
Speaker: So I don't recommend if you've heard the virtual sales episode,
Speaker: Most people should not start virtually.
Speaker: Absolutely just suicide because there's so many elements you can't control.
Speaker: There's a lot of things have to be set up correctly.
Speaker: So yeah, that's what I think.
Speaker: In fact, I made a mistake on that this morning.
Speaker: I was literally in a deal this morning.
Speaker: The guy was watching TV in the deal.
Speaker: His TV was more important than what I was saying.
Speaker: Yeah, you got to get rid of those distractions.
Speaker: I think it would have been way more effective if I did what you did.
Speaker: I asked him to turn the TV off.
Speaker: I'm like, I'm like, look, man, can we, uh, let me just show you what I got here.
Speaker: Let's turn the TV off.
Speaker: That's okay.
Speaker: So you turn it off, but, um, I think it would have even been even better, like caught his attention.
Speaker: And I think if I would have done that, cause I didn't close this deal, maybe I would have closed them.
Speaker: Cause then I would have completely taken the frame from, I think, but.
Speaker: I think that's huge.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, let's do a role play.
Speaker: So I'll give you kind of an idea of how I would start a pitch.
Speaker: I'll do the same thing Taylor did.
Speaker: We could go the other side.
Speaker: It's going to be a very different pitch style because, again, I do mostly virtual sales.
Speaker: So the setup Taylor and I are talking right now is exactly how I would do it in real life.
Speaker: So it's not too different.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Let's roll.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I just come in.
Speaker: Taylor, what's up, man?
Speaker: How are you doing?
Speaker: Yeah, we're... What's going on?
Speaker: Hey.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Taylor, I don't want to be too abrasive here, man, but I got about 12, 15 minutes to go over this.
Speaker: We're seeing a lot of homeowners in the area here.
Speaker: You just happened to be my appointment here at 6 o'clock.
Speaker: So do you want to sit at the kitchen table or do you want to go in the living room?
Speaker: Yeah, you know what?
Speaker: Let's just go on the couch here.
Speaker: And yeah, that works out good because I'm pretty busy too.
Speaker: So the couch here, okay?
Speaker: Cool, cool.
Speaker: Yep, that's fine.
Speaker: And then your wife didn't want to make this.
Speaker: It sounds like you said you would be comfortable making a decision on this from our phone calls.
Speaker: That's still the case.
Speaker: Yeah, probably wouldn't be able to make a decision today.
Speaker: But yeah, looking forward to seeing what you got.
Speaker: So go ahead.
Speaker: All right, well, I didn't know if this was super clear, so I should probably take off then.
Speaker: My job today is pretty simple, Taylor.
Speaker: I'm going to help you decide if solar makes sense or not, okay?
Speaker: And I'm fine if it doesn't make sense.
Speaker: I'm the guy who's going to tell you the truth with this.
Speaker: If it does make sense, cool, I'll help you move forward.
Speaker: But at the end of our conversation, if we move forward with this today, I don't want to hear like, I need to think about it.
Speaker: I need to do more research because that means I didn't do my job right.
Speaker: My job is to help you feel comfortable making a yes or no decision.
Speaker: So Taylor, before we even move forward here, can you agree that you'll be able to make that firm decision if you have the correct information?
Speaker: I guess if I have the correct information, so we'll see.
Speaker: I don't want to make any promises, but yeah, if I have all the information.
Speaker: Are you sure?
Speaker: Doesn't sound like you're too sure about that, man.
Speaker: If it's a no, man, it's fine.
Speaker: I could take off right now.
Speaker: Okay, well...
Speaker: Yeah, I guess just show me what you got and yeah, let's do it.
Speaker: All right, Taylor, I think we should do this.
Speaker: I think I'm going to send you a video I've got here.
Speaker: I'm going to pack up and leave here.
Speaker: you and your wife watched that video.
Speaker: You could communicate with me on Messenger or email, give you my contact information.
Speaker: If you have any questions on that, that you need, like maybe you got to go research somebody who's went solar with our company.
Speaker: Maybe you got to do a little research on solar itself.
Speaker: Why don't you do that first?
Speaker: Because when I come over, I mean business and we're going to get the job done.
Speaker: Yes or no.
Speaker: And I don't want to waste the next 15 minutes of your time if you're not ready to move forward with this.
Speaker: Does that sound fair enough?
Speaker: Go ahead and send me it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sounds great.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, we didn't get into the presentation because Taylor wanted to hardball me.
Speaker: Super real scenario though.
Speaker: I've done this a million, million times.
Speaker: That exact thing right there, I won't present.
Speaker: If they need to do something like research, they need a client testimonial, they need to talk to another homeowner, I'm going to give it to them first.
Speaker: Because what happens when I unleash that proposal and the price?
Speaker: You know this, Taylor.
Speaker: As soon as that hits the table and they've seen the numbers, what happens?
Speaker: Then they have everything.
Speaker: They make a decision either way.
Speaker: They have all the leverage, all leverage, right?
Speaker: They have nothing.
Speaker: I'm holding the prize right now.
Speaker: And by me pulling away and saying, I'm not presenting because you're not following my agenda.
Speaker: That's the frame that's happening here.
Speaker: I don't literally say that, but they get the feel.
Speaker: They're like, oh shit.
Speaker: Like this guy, he's serious.
Speaker: Like what's going on here, right?
Speaker: And I'm like, nope, this is how we play the game.
Speaker: You can play by my rules or we can't play at all.
Speaker: Instantly.
Speaker: It may seem like you're turning off the customer.
Speaker: This is what most salespeople would think, right?
Speaker: You're solidifying your status immediately.
Speaker: You're like the super prized surgeon that people wait eight months to go and see, right?
Speaker: Like, boom, letter of the law.
Speaker: This is how you operate.
Speaker: And if you have like a third party resource, like a video, I like to use video sequences or some sort of resource to build that relationship up more, you're going to get that deal.
Speaker: And if they have competitors, you're going to win the deal.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: That was ballsy, man.
Speaker: Got to have big balls to do that for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Let's do an actual pitch, though.
Speaker: Let's see if you let me in.
Speaker: So let you in.
Speaker: Yeah, James, you know what?
Speaker: If I have all the information, I'll go ahead and make a decision.
Speaker: So show me what you got.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Are you sure?
Speaker: All right, cool.
Speaker: Let's get started.
Speaker: So Taylor, tell me first, man.
Speaker: We had a little bit of a conversation about it, but remind me, I got some notes here.
Speaker: I'm whipping out my notepad.
Speaker: I know we're over the phone.
Speaker: I guess we're in person here.
Speaker: All right, so I got my notepad.
Speaker: I'm going to take some notes here.
Speaker: Tell me, man, what do you know about solar?
Speaker: What kind of questions do you have about it so far?
Speaker: I just want to know, well, price is the big one because, yeah, obviously I want it.
Speaker: a good deal on what we're doing here.
Speaker: And I just want to know like what happens if they break.
Speaker: And then I've heard like there's some like leasing programs.
Speaker: So I want to know, like I've thought about maybe like leasing them.
Speaker: So if you can like explain to me that difference, but that's pretty much it, man.
Speaker: Just the price and then warranty, I guess.
Speaker: And then explain to me, uh,
Speaker: about leasing, if that's what you guys are doing.
Speaker: Would I be leasing them with you guys?
Speaker: Yeah, so Taylor...
Speaker: I'm not sure what kind of research you did too on us.
Speaker: I don't actually do leasing.
Speaker: You could go and talk to another company that does leasing.
Speaker: I actually have a couple of guys in the business I can recommend to you, but I don't do leasing programs for solar.
Speaker: It's not personally what I would put on my own house.
Speaker: When I got my parents' solar a couple of years back, I didn't get them leasing either.
Speaker: And I'll explain why.
Speaker: But if you're looking for leasing and you're dead set on that, maybe I should recommend you to somebody else.
Speaker: Well, no, I'm not dead set on it.
Speaker: So if you're saying...
Speaker: If you're telling me owning is better, then yeah, then that's what I'd want to do.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So what do you know about solar so far, though?
Speaker: So it sounds like you've checked it out a couple of times, right?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I've had some neighbors do it.
Speaker: So I know it saves people money.
Speaker: Yeah, I know it's good for the environment.
Speaker: What have they said about it?
Speaker: I mean, they've said some of them have told me it's cut their bill in half.
Speaker: So that's pretty much it.
Speaker: I mean...
Speaker: is there any other reason to go solar besides saving money and I guess helping the environment?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: You tell me.
Speaker: You don't know anything else?
Speaker: It's just environment and money then.
Speaker: So let's see what you got.
Speaker: Fair enough.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Do you have any other like concerns about solar?
Speaker: I've got a pretty good list here.
Speaker: Pretty good idea.
Speaker: Anything else you'd want me to know?
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's it.
Speaker: Do you have to have good credit for this too?
Speaker: Yeah, is that going to be a problem?
Speaker: No, I got good credit.
Speaker: Yeah, so it should be fine.
Speaker: No, so why did you ask the question?
Speaker: Just because I have some friends that don't have good credit that we're thinking about going solar.
Speaker: So... Hmm, okay.
Speaker: Actually, I'm glad you brought that up, Taylor.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Obviously, I'm going to help you decide if this makes sense or not, answer your questions.
Speaker: But if I'm able to do that, could you help me out and actually get in front of some more people that would be interested in going solar as well so I can help them make that decision as well?
Speaker: If it makes complete sense and helps me out, then yeah.
Speaker: I'll look and see who we can help you guys get.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So Taylor, I'm not going to be a broken record here.
Speaker: You know the idea with solar, right?
Speaker: You have one bill.
Speaker: Looks like you guys are paying about $160 a month or so right now.
Speaker: We can usually cut that down by 20%, 30% from month one.
Speaker: But you know that too.
Speaker: You're a smart guy.
Speaker: That's like $20.
Speaker: And people don't go solar just to save $20, right?
Speaker: I mean, is it really worth the hassle to save $20 a month?
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: And that's kind of why we hadn't looked into it much before because... Yeah, I didn't know if it was worth the hassle.
Speaker: Yeah, for $20 a month, I wouldn't get solar on my house.
Speaker: Not a million years.
Speaker: Okay, well, why should I do this then?
Speaker: That's all it did.
Speaker: Yeah, but why do you think people go solar besides just saving a couple of bucks month to month?
Speaker: Why are they really interested in doing this?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I thought that's what you were here to tell me, James.
Speaker: I am.
Speaker: I'm just curious where your thoughts are on this as well.
Speaker: Would it be the environment?
Speaker: Yeah, I would guess the environment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Is that pretty important to you guys?
Speaker: It doesn't sound like it's too big of a deal, right?
Speaker: Yeah, it's good.
Speaker: We care more about saving money probably, but we probably care more about the green in our pockets than the actual green.
Speaker: But I guess it's nice.
Speaker: I mean, we're not like tree huggers or anything.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Not tree huggers.
Speaker: But if you had the option to do good for the environment and your pocket, wouldn't you want to do both?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: You sure?
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: So here's the deal.
Speaker: What we're looking at right now, I've got your proposal, right?
Speaker: You guys are going to save about $23,000 is what it looks like over the long term.
Speaker: The reason this happens is simple.
Speaker: You cut down the bill.
Speaker: It's about 20% less.
Speaker: We talked about that.
Speaker: But it's not about just saving that money today.
Speaker: It's about locking in that rate, okay?
Speaker: Taylor, I want you to imagine for a second that we went back to 1996 when I was born, okay?
Speaker: And the price of gas, a gallon of gas was like 75 cents a gallon, okay?
Speaker: Imagine that you had an ability, some magic genie gave you a wish and said, all right, we can lock in this rate and it's never gonna go up for the rest of your life and you're gonna pay 75 cents for a gallon of gas today, right?
Speaker: What kind of money would you have been saving over that last 23 years?
Speaker: Oh yeah, that'd be huge.
Speaker: I mean, I can't even imagine, but yeah, thousands.
Speaker: A lot of money, right?
Speaker: Well, guess what?
Speaker: I actually have one of those cards in my pocket right now.
Speaker: These gasoline cards.
Speaker: I want you to have it.
Speaker: I'm just kidding.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's for you.
Speaker: It's yours right now.
Speaker: $14.99.
Speaker: Here we go.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So all seriousness aside though, Taylor, this is the exact same thing for solar.
Speaker: We're doing the same thing with electricity here.
Speaker: We're allowing you right now to lock in the rate for you pay electricity right now for the next 20 years.
Speaker: After 20 years,
Speaker: Unlike that gallon of gasoline card from the Magic Genie, you actually get to own your system completely and pay nothing for electricity after 20 years.
Speaker: So we're literally allowing you, yes, the opportunity to save 20 bucks a month, that's cool.
Speaker: But we get to lock it in over 20 years.
Speaker: Looks like we're going to save 23 grand over the next 20 years as well.
Speaker: You're going to save the environment at the same time.
Speaker: Uncle Sam's going to cut you a check for 30% of the cost of your system.
Speaker: And you get to be a pretty sweet badass on your corner.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: With those panels on your house, right?
Speaker: So that's why people go smaller, man.
Speaker: How do I know I'm getting?
Speaker: Because I know there's lots of companies.
Speaker: How do I know I'm getting the best deal out there, James?
Speaker: Because I don't want to shop around.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: How do you know, Taylor?
Speaker: You're the one who's making the decision here.
Speaker: How would you know if you're getting the best company?
Speaker: Well, I'd have to research them.
Speaker: But I told you I'd make a decision.
Speaker: So can you tell me, I guess, a little bit about your company, James?
Speaker: Like, why are you guys the best ones?
Speaker: Why should I pick you guys?
Speaker: Well, no.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I respect you in research.
Speaker: I do research as well on stuff I buy, of course, especially if it's something like this, right?
Speaker: It'd be ludicrous not to research these types of things.
Speaker: So let's say, Taylor, I gave you like two days, right?
Speaker: And you did some research on my company, Lumen.
Speaker: What kind of research would you be looking for?
Speaker: What would you be doing during that research?
Speaker: Probably look on Better Business Bureau, look on Yelp, just make sure you guys don't have a ton of negatives.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: That's probably about it, honestly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's about it.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So let's say that you jumped on Better Business Bureau.
Speaker: You checked out Google Reviews.
Speaker: Maybe Solar Reviews is another great site I'd recommend you check out.
Speaker: Lots of solar companies on there in San Diego.
Speaker: So you check it out.
Speaker: Everything looks good.
Speaker: What would you tell me?
Speaker: I mean, I'd be happy.
Speaker: Be happy with the decision.
Speaker: You'd be happy moving forward.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, why don't we look at some reviews right now?
Speaker: Check it out.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Wow, looks great.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: No negatives.
Speaker: Cool, man.
Speaker: Well, here's the next step, Taylor.
Speaker: We just submit an application to the credit union.
Speaker: They're going to check, make sure that you're good.
Speaker: You're going to qualify for solar.
Speaker: We'll submit an application here with the power company for the net metering program.
Speaker: This is how you're going to work hand in hand with the power company a little bit.
Speaker: We didn't go into too much detail because I'm assuming that you know a little bit about it.
Speaker: But basically, that's just so you don't have to get like backup batteries.
Speaker: And it's how you're able to send the excess electricity that you create with your solar system.
Speaker: You send it into the grid and then they give it back to you when the sun's not shining.
Speaker: That's pretty much how it works.
Speaker: So we submit an application in.
Speaker: If you're approved, our install crew comes out.
Speaker: It takes about 30, 45 days to get everything approved and up and running from there.
Speaker: They're going to check the roof, make sure everything's good there.
Speaker: If something's not good, we're going to let you know and the whole thing's null and void.
Speaker: So actually, I got their calendar open here.
Speaker: When's a better time to have them come out and check out the roof and whatnot?
Speaker: Can you guys come weekends like on Saturday?
Speaker: Yeah, I'll have to check with them.
Speaker: Probably Saturday from like 2 to 5.
Speaker: Does that work?
Speaker: It only takes about like 30 minutes, but they like to leave an opening of about three hours or so.
Speaker: How much are we talking here?
Speaker: You didn't even show me the price, James.
Speaker: So what would I have to pay to do this?
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: Yeah, so right now the monthly payment on that is $125,000.
Speaker: The total cost to the system is about $31,000.
Speaker: Like I said, you don't pay anything out of pocket for it.
Speaker: It's just a simple swap of your bill.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: All right, let's end the role play.
Speaker: Okay, Taylor.
Speaker: So different kind of role play.
Speaker: Definitely different.
Speaker: What stood out to you is this role play.
Speaker: Very much in control.
Speaker: I don't think I've ever felt as...
Speaker: like as much out of control as that before because you could just see that James had control of the entire situation and every question I asked it was like it was like basically what do you think first so yeah I think you had complete like frame control all the time
Speaker: Yeah, one of those stood out.
Speaker: You asked me a tough one.
Speaker: I know a lot of listeners are having.
Speaker: You asked me one question.
Speaker: It was, what are some of the questions you asked?
Speaker: I know you were trying to be a hard ass on those questions too.
Speaker: I was trying to think of a way to make it hard, but not have you say, okay, I'm going to come back because you're not ready.
Speaker: But yeah, I asked about the company.
Speaker: I asked, how do I know that I'm getting...
Speaker: Something like the best deal from the best company.
Speaker: Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: How do I know you're a good company?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: You tell me.
Speaker: That's a great saying, okay?
Speaker: That's fantastic.
Speaker: Because you know what this does, that saying?
Speaker: First of all, it's a default.
Speaker: You could say it literally on anything.
Speaker: And what does it do?
Speaker: It throws off the prospect.
Speaker: Because you're the salesperson.
Speaker: You're supposed to know everything, right?
Speaker: Wrong.
Speaker: You don't know everything.
Speaker: You absolutely do not.
Speaker: That's why I'm talking to Taylor.
Speaker: I don't know what the hell he's thinking.
Speaker: I don't know what he does when he researches a company.
Speaker: How am I supposed to overcome that objection if I don't even know what he's thinking?
Speaker: So I'm going to flip it back on.
Speaker: Hey, I don't know, man.
Speaker: When you research a company, what are you looking for?
Speaker: Then I can address it.
Speaker: I knew he wanted to look at reviews and I was able to, boom, handle that thing right on the spot.
Speaker: I think that's a mistake a lot of people make is you're not trying to have them go and do it themselves.
Speaker: I know Oren Klaff talks about this.
Speaker: He shows them the information that they need right at the moment, but he doesn't let them overanalyze them because the second you let them get in that analysis mode, then they're instantly going to want to think about it more effectively.
Speaker: So I like what James did, showed him right then.
Speaker: You don't need to let him sit and analyze it, but just be like, yeah, so I'll show you right here.
Speaker: We got five stars on Yelp.
Speaker: We're A-plus better business for all.
Speaker: Got our Google reviews, and then boom.
Speaker: That should be about it.
Speaker: So I think you did a good job at tackling that projection.
Speaker: Like if you get...
Speaker: Yeah, because if you can't show them, your job is to help them make a decision and feel comfortable making that decision.
Speaker: What are they going to find?
Speaker: I always ask prospects this too.
Speaker: I'll ask them, all right, let's say you do research.
Speaker: What do you think you're going to find online that you can't get from me, somebody who's worked at the company for the last three years today?
Speaker: What are you going to find that I can't help you with?
Speaker: Because if I can't help you do it, you certainly can't do it, right?
Speaker: What's the problem?
Speaker: And guys, the flip on this that makes it so easy, I think the general like button up the package here because there's a lot of crap going on in that presentation that we even have time to break down here, which is in a lot of other episodes.
Speaker: I just wanted to give you a picture.
Speaker: The main thing is, and it's a quote, I've been doing it for solar with years, right?
Speaker: The helping them make a decision, but I actually recently was watching a Jeff Bezos documentary on Amazon Prime
Speaker: And he actually founded this out and he used this strategy with Amazon back in the early 90s.
Speaker: Okay, guys?
Speaker: And he said, and super profound, he said that people... You don't make money, he said, selling people something.
Speaker: You don't make money when you sell something to someone.
Speaker: You make money when you help someone make a purchase decision.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And the reason Bezos said this was at the time in the 90s when he started Amazon, e-commerce businesses didn't want to put negative reviews up on their website.
Speaker: They didn't want to.
Speaker: They only published positive reviews.
Speaker: And one of the members of the board actually went and asked Bezos and they said, why are we deciding to publish negative reviews?
Speaker: And this was Bezos's answer.
Speaker: Like you make money when you help people make a purchase decision, because what happens when you are the guy who's ballsy enough to tell this prospect that no, PPAs don't make sense.
Speaker: I don't do PPAs.
Speaker: This is how I operate.
Speaker: I'm going to help you make a decision.
Speaker: If it's a no, fantastic.
Speaker: I don't even care, right?
Speaker: I could tell you that the people that I do help decide solar does not make sense.
Speaker: And it happens a lot of the time, okay?
Speaker: Normally, I try to get it out before the presentation.
Speaker: I get so many referrals off of those people.
Speaker: And you know why?
Speaker: They trust me.
Speaker: They trust me instantly.
Speaker: I've gotten like... I think my best...
Speaker: String with that is I told this one lady, we basically had this popcorn bucket movie ticket thing at my company in Utah.
Speaker: And we gave these out for appointments.
Speaker: So I show up, I give her the bucket and the movie tickets, and she starts zoning out within 60 seconds.
Speaker: And I say, look, I know you just did this for the movie bucket and the tickets, right?
Speaker: And she's like, uh...
Speaker: It threw her off.
Speaker: And then she's like, yeah, yeah, that's probably true.
Speaker: Honestly, we're moving in six months.
Speaker: It's just not going to make sense.
Speaker: I'm like, look, my job is to help you decide if this makes sense or not.
Speaker: Sounds like it's a no-go.
Speaker: Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and take off here.
Speaker: Anything else you need from me?
Speaker: And she's like, can I get your number?
Speaker: I want to text this.
Speaker: I want to text some of my friends actually around here and see if they'd be interested in hearing this.
Speaker: Because honestly...
Speaker: Like, you've been the best sales rep to work with.
Speaker: She told me this.
Speaker: I've been in the house for three minutes.
Speaker: We didn't even sit down."
Speaker: And this is what she said, right?
Speaker: I'm like, cool.
Speaker: I ended up closing three deals off of her string of friends in that exact same neighborhood because of this one moment.
Speaker: What would the average sales rep do?
Speaker: They'd say, hey, just give me like 30 minutes.
Speaker: So I'll try to explain why you should do it anyway, right?
Speaker: No, it's not what you do.
Speaker: If you wouldn't do it and you're the homeowner, don't freaking do it, okay?
Speaker: People can see this.
Speaker: This is what today's buyer needs.
Speaker: This is how you make a difference in any marketplace.
Speaker: And I think there's that balance.
Speaker: Yeah, James, as you can see,
Speaker: He's like, they're not going to make a decision, shut it down right away.
Speaker: But I think there's a balance.
Speaker: You just got to, and you, I think you get it as experience comes, you start to realize when it's a waste of time and then you do what James is doing and just shut it down.
Speaker: Don't waste your time.
Speaker: Don't spend time with people.
Speaker: Aren't going to make a decision, but you also got to realize there's some people that as they get the more information, they can make a decision.
Speaker: So yeah, I think it's just finding that balance and learning to recognize the signs.
Speaker: Because yeah, people do get afraid to say they're going to make a decision now.
Speaker: People want every excuse to back out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it's no doubt.
Speaker: Let's fight in Taylor's circumstance here.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: The way I do it, you're going to lose out on opportunities, okay?
Speaker: And you need to be okay with it.
Speaker: I would say I'd probably lose 20% of potential deals by doing this method, okay?
Speaker: And why do I do it though?
Speaker: I value my time first and foremost, but I've also got an influx of leads.
Speaker: If you don't have a lot of leads going on right now, you can't do this stuff.
Speaker: There's no way.
Speaker: Because you're losing out on potential deals, 100%.
Speaker: And if you're in person, obviously, you're going to have a lot more sway as well because you got body language, you have tonality, you can have eye contact, all the different communication channels.
Speaker: Over the phone, it's just voice.
Speaker: It's quick.
Speaker: It's transactional.
Speaker: Let's get the job done.
Speaker: So yeah, Taylor's definitely right on that one.
Speaker: The way I do this is you got to be in a state of abundance.
Speaker: If you know, all right, I've got...
Speaker: five other homeowners I could speak to today, why the hell would I waste time with this tire kicker right here when I could get the job done with the next guy in half the time?
Speaker: That's how I think when I go into it.
Speaker: But yeah, both ways work.
Speaker: There's nothing wrong with how Taylor does it.
Speaker: A lot of leads because then you can afford to do that.
Speaker: I mean, don't spend time with the people because you've got 10 more leads that probably will do it.
Speaker: So I think there's a lot to be said.
Speaker: And then, yeah, over the phone, I agree 100% with what James is doing because you got to be like that on the phone.
Speaker: Otherwise, you're just going to start wasting time.
Speaker: But especially in person, number one thing I have seen, like if the spouse isn't there, you got to ask that question right away.
Speaker: Ask them if they're going to be okay to make a decision without their spouse.
Speaker: And if it's a no, I think you're just wasting your time pretty much from there.
Speaker: You are.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: I used to think... I think it was... Yeah, you studied this too.
Speaker: Grant Cardone's closed his book.
Speaker: He has a bunch of spouse objection ones in there.
Speaker: I remember that I thought I was pretty hot stuff doing this.
Speaker: And I'm like, hey, these are sweet.
Speaker: I could close every single spouse that's coming through.
Speaker: And I did.
Speaker: I did close all these one-legged appointments.
Speaker: And guess what happened?
Speaker: They just canceled.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Every single time.
Speaker: They always cancel.
Speaker: So I think find the balance and then learn lead generation because then you can do whatever you want with the leads.
Speaker: Then you just scrap the ones right away that aren't going to make a decision.
Speaker: So good stuff to be learned.
Speaker: It's like...
Speaker: It's like your methodology on lead gen too, because I wouldn't say it's like scrapping them because the way I like to do lead gen and the way I'm able to sell solar for over $5 a watt, Taylor also does it over $5 a watt.
Speaker: The way you're able to do that and break through the competition, I don't care how many bids are on the table.
Speaker: I'm going to beat out every single one of them with this pitch.
Speaker: It's because I elevate my status.
Speaker: I understand buyer psychology.
Speaker: I understand that perceived value and actual value are completely different.
Speaker: So by taking myself out of the situation, constantly pulling away from the sale and testing the homeowner, I'm instantly skyrocketing my status to where the competition has zero chance of ever beating me at that point.
Speaker: So that's why I do it.
Speaker: It allows you to just work a lot easier to get leads.
Speaker: But yeah, it's definitely some work to get up there.
Speaker: The only other thing I would...
Speaker: Well, I'm sure maybe you do this in an in-person appointment, James, but everyone knows, I think, sell with emotion, close with logic.
Speaker: So I like to use some sort of spreadsheets when you're breaking down the price.
Speaker: Show them some type of spreadsheets.
Speaker: Just make it a logical thing.
Speaker: And that's been helping me to close out.
Speaker: Oh, sure.
Speaker: Just breaking down the numbers.
Speaker: They can see year after year.
Speaker: Their electricity rates are going up.
Speaker: Their other rate is staying the same.
Speaker: Break that down for them.
Speaker: Maybe even pull out a calculator.
Speaker: Do you use the calculator?
Speaker: Do you use like a calculator?
Speaker: Show them like the 4% to 6% increase on the monthly payments?
Speaker: I use a spreadsheet that is automatically on there.
Speaker: I think you might have seen me use it.
Speaker: We went to some deals, but... Yeah.
Speaker: Nah, 100%.
Speaker: Yeah, it depends on the buyer too.
Speaker: Like...
Speaker: If they really want the logical reason, yeah, you're going to have to give it to them.
Speaker: Some people don't though, honestly.
Speaker: You could close deals without even showing them numbers.
Speaker: And when you see they're sold, no reason to wait.
Speaker: I think that's another mistake people make is like, you don't have to go through a full presentation every time.
Speaker: I've had people, I've seen their solds in 10 minutes and boom, close right there.
Speaker: So good stuff.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Have you guys seen enough to move forward with this?
Speaker: Classic grant.
Speaker: You guys ready to move?
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Well, I think that was a successful episode, Taylor.
Speaker: I think there's a lot of value in there.
Speaker: Let us know how it's going, closing like James.
Speaker: Let us know what you implemented.
Speaker: And I think that's it for the episode.
Speaker: Anything else, James?
Speaker: No, that's it, guys.
Speaker: Keep crushing it.
Speaker: We'll see you.
Speaker: And if you found any value in this episode or it's helped you in any way, all I ask in return is that you just take 30 seconds of your time and leave us a review on iTunes so that we can help more solopreneurs like you to change the world.
Speaker: And as a gift for leaving us a review, we have a special training package exclusive for solopreneur listeners over at solopreneurs.com.
Speaker: Remember, you need to leave us a review on iTunes to qualify for the training package.
Speaker: So take care of that now and we'll see you on the next episode.
