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The Key to Longevity in Solar Sales - Kenny Crosby
48 Plays4 years ago
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Transcript
Taylor's Journey and Podcast Mission
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
Speaker
I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one.
Introduction of Kenny Crosby
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm Taylor Armstrong, host of the Solopreneur Podcast, and we're here with Kenny Crosby.
00:00:46
Speaker
Thanks for coming on with us, Kenny.
00:00:47
Speaker
Thanks for having me, man.
00:00:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:49
Speaker
a good time so we just finished up the knock start and it's actually getting ready to pack my bags to venting McCarthy comes up and says yo dude you gotta get this guy on he's been working with me for you know what how long has it been close to 18 years 18 years long time
00:01:05
Speaker
So, yeah, any recommendation that comes from Taylor McCarthy, you know, is going to be top notch.
00:01:11
Speaker
So I'm like, well, all right.
00:01:12
Speaker
All right.
00:01:13
Speaker
Let's, if Taylor's recommending it, then we're going to get this guy on.
00:01:18
Speaker
So, yeah, excited to have you on, Kenny.
00:01:20
Speaker
So do you want to kind of tell us your story, how you got into door-to-door?
00:01:23
Speaker
And, I mean, you've been doing this forever.
00:01:25
Speaker
So that's kind of how you got into it.
00:01:27
Speaker
I've seen quite a bit over the years.
Kenny's Beginnings in Sales
00:01:30
Speaker
I've been really blessed to have a long career.
00:01:32
Speaker
I started selling in New York when I was about 16, 17 years old, right before my freshman year in college.
00:01:38
Speaker
I was selling Verizon files door to door.
00:01:39
Speaker
Wow.
00:01:40
Speaker
Like my one friend from high school, like, you know, I didn't have a lot.
00:01:44
Speaker
I had like a hand-me-down car.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:46
Speaker
Paid like 500 bucks for it.
00:01:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:47
Speaker
And like I was lucky to be able to start it every day, right?
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:51
Speaker
And this kid Justin, he's showing up with brand new WRX and like has all this stuff and like literally isn't worrying about anything.
00:01:57
Speaker
I was like, dude, what are you doing?
00:01:58
Speaker
Like I was working at TGI Fridays at the time.
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:00
Speaker
And he's like, yeah, I'm knocking doors.
00:02:03
Speaker
This is what I'm doing.
00:02:03
Speaker
Come to work with me.
00:02:04
Speaker
So I went in, I sat on the correlation with him and I was like, oh, I'm, I can definitely do this.
00:02:09
Speaker
I can definitely, you guys, this is what you guys look like and I'll do and like, this is what's going on.
00:02:14
Speaker
Like we can definitely do this.
00:02:16
Speaker
And I sucked for like the first month and a half.
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I was like, I don't know if I can do this, dude.
00:02:23
Speaker
I'll never forget.
00:02:24
Speaker
I got my first sale on Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers.
00:02:27
Speaker
Wow.
00:02:27
Speaker
And that kind of changed the game forever because like once I felt like what making a,
00:02:32
Speaker
true cold call sale was that adrenaline rush.
00:02:35
Speaker
I was like, I'm hooked.
00:02:36
Speaker
This is a new sport.
00:02:38
Speaker
Nice.
00:02:39
Speaker
And then from there, I mean, I sold in New York.
00:02:41
Speaker
I went down to
00:02:45
Speaker
No, I went to Chicago.
00:02:47
Speaker
Me and T worked out in Chicago for a while, selling alarms out there.
00:02:51
Speaker
Lived in Colorado, Detroit,
Challenges and Excitements in Sales
00:02:54
Speaker
California, Florida, Boston, all over the map.
00:02:57
Speaker
So we get to see a lot of cool people in our country here too.
00:03:02
Speaker
Sounds like it.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:04
Speaker
That's crazy.
00:03:04
Speaker
You've been all over.
00:03:05
Speaker
So at what point, how old were you when you first met Taylor then?
00:03:09
Speaker
I was about 17.
00:03:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:10
Speaker
So you met him pretty soon after you first started then?
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, that was about, I started selling door to door probably about four and a half months, six months before I met T. Okay.
00:03:20
Speaker
So I was going to school up in Albany, New York.
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:23
Speaker
Taylor was in an office in Boston.
00:03:25
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:26
Speaker
I guess he won a sales competition to come and help like groom the new Albany market.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:31
Speaker
And me and him were the only like kids in the office.
00:03:35
Speaker
So we kind of just like became friends naturally and then just started competing.
00:03:39
Speaker
Nice.
00:03:39
Speaker
Did you ever beat him in a, in a sell off or anything?
00:03:42
Speaker
There was one day in my whole 18 year career that I got to beat T. Yeah.
00:03:48
Speaker
So at least there's one day.
00:03:49
Speaker
But every other day that he actually went to work and tried, no, there wasn't a shot.
00:03:53
Speaker
I think Danny Pesce has one day, too.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, there's not many of us that ever have a day on T, dude.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, pretty impressive, though.
00:04:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:01
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:04:02
Speaker
And so what was it like?
00:04:03
Speaker
I mean, you got in super young.
00:04:04
Speaker
Was it pretty nerve-wracking being that young?
00:04:07
Speaker
Because I started when I was 18, and I remember going out in that first door, and I'm like, oh, I'm way too young to be doing this, and all those thoughts and everything.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:16
Speaker
Did that go through your mind?
00:04:18
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:04:19
Speaker
I think I was more excited for it all.
00:04:21
Speaker
The traveling aspect, being able to leave my hometown and go out and see new places.
00:04:28
Speaker
After a while though, it gets old.
00:04:30
Speaker
Like living out of a suitcase, having single serving friends every time you go to a new state, you know what I mean?
00:04:35
Speaker
Like until you really evolve in the space and like you meet some guys that have also been in the space for a long time.
00:04:40
Speaker
Now you've built some really cool friendships, but like looking back on it,
00:04:45
Speaker
Did I have a blast at 19 years old living in a hotel room in Chicago playing NHL
Team Camaraderie and Competition
00:04:50
Speaker
with Taylor for fucking six months?
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:54
Speaker
There was probably a lot more fun stuff that my friends were doing back home.
00:04:58
Speaker
But I think the way we treated it as a game and as a competition all the time and always in a new market, it kind of really kept us on our toes.
00:05:07
Speaker
And like we became obsessed about it because it was the only thing that we did.
00:05:11
Speaker
Like when he tells you he slept in his shirt and his badge.
00:05:14
Speaker
That's true.
00:05:15
Speaker
For weeks.
00:05:17
Speaker
Like all summer in Detroit, I don't know if the kid changed his clothes.
00:05:21
Speaker
But he went balls to the wall and he set the tone every single day, like out of the house, really freaking early sandwiches stuffed in his pockets.
00:05:29
Speaker
And it set the tone, right?
00:05:30
Speaker
Because it raised the bar.
00:05:31
Speaker
Everybody else, you know, sold up to that level.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:05:35
Speaker
Do you think was your whole group kind of like that or was Taylor the one that was like taking?
00:05:40
Speaker
No, he always forced all of us to level up.
00:05:43
Speaker
Like our whole squad was thrown down and it was good because it just, it wasn't acceptable.
00:05:49
Speaker
Like if he did, like he would go out and do 11 on a Saturday, you know?
00:05:53
Speaker
So to come back with even like a three spot is like, dude, did you even work?
00:05:58
Speaker
You know, so it's really good.
00:06:00
Speaker
There's been days I hated T. But like 18 years back, like best friend on the planet.
00:06:05
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:06:06
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:06:07
Speaker
You've been able to learn from him.
00:06:08
Speaker
I mean, look where both of you
Returning to Door-to-Door Sales
00:06:10
Speaker
are at now.
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, dude.
00:06:11
Speaker
I mean, honestly, if it weren't for him, like when I really made the jump to be like, all right, I'm going back into door-to-door sales and like we're going to give it everything I had.
00:06:19
Speaker
I think I had like $600 in my pocket.
00:06:20
Speaker
I spent like $350 on a plane ticket.
00:06:26
Speaker
And if it weren't for T saying, dude, I got you.
00:06:29
Speaker
Let's go.
00:06:30
Speaker
I promise this is the real deal.
00:06:31
Speaker
Like you're good.
00:06:32
Speaker
Come out and fucking work.
00:06:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:34
Speaker
If I didn't take that leap of faith back then on that, like who freaking knows?
00:06:38
Speaker
Like, so I'm super thankful for the journey.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:42
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:06:42
Speaker
Do you think, well, when you first got in, did you imagine yourself being in it for what?
00:06:47
Speaker
18 years now?
00:06:47
Speaker
No.
00:06:48
Speaker
Or was it kind of like, I'm going to do this for, he was like, yeah, I'll make a couple bucks.
00:06:52
Speaker
I'll like pay for beer money while I'm at college.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:55
Speaker
And then it was like, well, every other job wants me to clock in and be here certain times and pay me only this much.
00:07:01
Speaker
And I was like, I just can't.
00:07:04
Speaker
I have a problem working for people.
00:07:06
Speaker
It's tough.
00:07:07
Speaker
I don't want you to drink the Kool-Aid.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:10
Speaker
So I mean, yeah, this job is really giving you
00:07:13
Speaker
all kinds of freedoms and all kinds of experiences.
00:07:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:16
Speaker
You know, that's awesome.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:17
Speaker
So something I think was really cool to see in you and, you know, Taylor guys that have been in it for super long time now is just like the longevity.
00:07:26
Speaker
You guys been doing this forever.
00:07:27
Speaker
And, um, something I like tell my newer reps and stuff like that is to just treat it like a career and show up and think of it more as a career because I don't know about you.
00:07:36
Speaker
Well, I was same as you when I first got into pest control was back in 2012.
00:07:41
Speaker
I'm like, oh, this is just, yeah, paying for my food at my university and stuff, hanging out.
00:07:47
Speaker
Right.
00:07:48
Speaker
So did you have something that, like, shifted in your head?
00:07:50
Speaker
Just start thinking about more like a career or, I don't know, any tips you'd give maybe, like, managers on how to get their reps to, like, take it seriously and not just think of it as just, like, a thing they're going to do for a couple months?
00:08:02
Speaker
I think from early on, uh...
00:08:06
Speaker
We all traveled together.
00:08:09
Speaker
There was a bunch of us.
00:08:10
Speaker
Like I said, if you haven't had Jordan Levent on, you need to.
00:08:15
Speaker
Jordan was my roommate in Detroit, right?
00:08:18
Speaker
Kurt Lebrecht, Justin Kosco.
00:08:20
Speaker
There's a lot of us that have been in the game for a long time, and we all traveled to these same markets.
00:08:25
Speaker
And I think that speaks a lot about T because he built a really good culture, and we knew he had our back, and we wanted to sell the win as a unit.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:35
Speaker
And so I think what's really cool and what really kept me in it is I grew this family as we traveled the country for seven years.
00:08:42
Speaker
And that, like, without even looking at it, it was like, okay, this is, like, I guess we have our 10,000 hours in now.
00:08:48
Speaker
And, like, we're professionals.
00:08:50
Speaker
I don't want to go put 10,000 hours in to learn something new.
Transition to Solar Sales
00:08:55
Speaker
And then once you really start scaling teams, I think the next level, aside from your own accolades when you're selling, is –
00:09:03
Speaker
watching other people have success.
00:09:06
Speaker
Like I was dirt broke.
00:09:07
Speaker
I don't worry about anything anymore.
00:09:09
Speaker
Right.
00:09:09
Speaker
But there was a time where I was willing to take a risk and to see that same thing happen with some new guys right now that might be in a situation like I was 20 years ago.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker
And to see them like be 22 years old, buying brand new cars and like not worrying about stuff, moving out of their parents' house.
00:09:25
Speaker
I'm like, and just like feeling really confident about what they're doing and like coming into, you know,
00:09:31
Speaker
Their mature personality is, like, super cool to see.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:34
Speaker
So I think that's what kind of keeps us going now.
00:09:36
Speaker
For sure.
00:09:37
Speaker
And just, like, a rising tide lifts all ships.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:40
Speaker
You know, so I think what's really cool with going on with Noxstar and stuff that you do, like, you should shed light on the industry.
00:09:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:47
Speaker
To keep guys engaged, to keep guys transparent so that they can have a long career.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:52
Speaker
There's a lot of...
00:09:54
Speaker
It's a really cool career.
00:09:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:55
Speaker
For sure.
00:09:56
Speaker
And the cool thing is when guys start treating it like a career instead of just like a part-time thing they're going to do for their beer money or whatever.
00:10:03
Speaker
For me, I've seen guys like, you know, double their results just by making that shift in their head.
00:10:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:08
Speaker
This is like, you know, a career.
00:10:10
Speaker
This is when we commit.
00:10:11
Speaker
We had, you know, Ty, uh, Ty, uh, see, you know, on the podcast yesterday and he talked about how just like once he decided to commit, that's when he became, you know, beast, closed the 250 deals, uh,
00:10:24
Speaker
in solar so for those that are listening if you were on the fence about how committed you are if you're treating this like a part-time job i mean just remember you're gonna get part-time results but if you really want to be some of the dinosaurs in the industry like kenny here you know people i've been doing solar six years now people like oh my gosh that's like forever
00:10:42
Speaker
I've been doing it just like a year that's crazy that's six years I feel like I just barely started still but like in solar that's a long time there's there's nights where I'll like literally wake up and I'm in a dream and I'm like at a kitchen table yeah I'm like that's when you kind of know you know exactly but yeah so Kenny tell me uh how did you like transition to solar eventually and I know you started off in what was it satellite is that what you said
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah, I started selling cable, transitioned to alarms.
00:11:11
Speaker
We were in California at the time.
00:11:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:14
Speaker
A little town called Wrightwood up in the mountains.
00:11:17
Speaker
And at this point, I'd been on the road for a long time.
00:11:19
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:21
Speaker
Like I hadn't been home in a long time.
00:11:23
Speaker
A lot of relationships got affected by it, you know.
00:11:27
Speaker
I'd miss my brother's high school graduation, like my little sister's growing up.
00:11:30
Speaker
My dad got sick, and it was kind of just like...
00:11:33
Speaker
We all got home from work one day and there was this guy named Jesse Folsom sitting on the couch in our living room.
00:11:37
Speaker
And T's like, yo, you should probably listen.
00:11:39
Speaker
I'm like, okay, what's up?
00:11:41
Speaker
And Jesse told us about Solar City and the opportunity to move back to the East Coast.
00:11:46
Speaker
And we all kind of just looked at each other and we're like, we're kind of burnt out of alarms.
00:11:51
Speaker
We've been running at this for a minute now.
00:11:53
Speaker
Solar sounds like a really cool change of pace.
00:11:56
Speaker
And I would love an opportunity to get back to the East Coast.
00:11:59
Speaker
Because I hadn't seen my family in a long time.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's tough.
00:12:03
Speaker
So, um, and you guys were selling alarms year round too, or it's just like in the summer we were doing blitzes, but because we were in California, like we were trickling them in as a year round thing.
00:12:14
Speaker
Like we went super, super hard for the summer, but because we were in a year round market, we would go whenever.
00:12:21
Speaker
Um,
00:12:22
Speaker
But yeah, it wasn't until I think 2011, 2012, the flip of that year when I got back to the East Coast and started doing solar.
00:12:31
Speaker
Started in Massachusetts in the middle of a snowstorm.
00:12:35
Speaker
There's like two and a half feet of snow on the ground.
Early Solar Sales Challenges
00:12:37
Speaker
And I'm out there learning how to do solar.
00:12:39
Speaker
Crazy.
00:12:40
Speaker
Was it pretty different back then?
00:12:42
Speaker
I mean, back then solar was just barely becoming a thing.
00:12:45
Speaker
We didn't know what the hell we were doing.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was like, the site survey trucks will be here on Thursday.
00:12:52
Speaker
Fill out this form and, you know, I think this is what your power will be.
00:12:57
Speaker
And, yeah, we threw a lot of shit on the walls in the beginning and shit didn't stick.
00:13:01
Speaker
And we learned pretty quickly how the right way to sell solar was.
00:13:05
Speaker
You know, once you learn how to not do it,
00:13:08
Speaker
Over enough, you really learn what doesn't work.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yeah, especially back then.
00:13:13
Speaker
Yeah, the industry has changed a lot, dude.
00:13:14
Speaker
We were only selling PPAs.
00:13:16
Speaker
There wasn't any – you couldn't even do a loan.
00:13:19
Speaker
Right?
00:13:20
Speaker
And think about the market now.
00:13:21
Speaker
Who really sells leases?
00:13:23
Speaker
I mean, I guess it depends on what state you're in, but for me, I've been selling loans for eight years now.
00:13:28
Speaker
I don't think I've ever sold a PPA since the early Solar City days.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:32
Speaker
Crazy.
00:13:32
Speaker
I know.
00:13:33
Speaker
California, we've still got quite a few of them, but... Do you?
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:36
Speaker
But other markets, it's like...
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's all they do is loans pretty much.
00:13:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:40
Speaker
Changed a lot.
00:13:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:42
Speaker
That's crazy.
00:13:42
Speaker
And so you were with SolarCity for how long, man?
00:13:45
Speaker
Probably about six years.
00:13:48
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:49
Speaker
I was actually in a house when Lyndon sent out an email.
00:13:53
Speaker
Lyndon was like, we had a call on like Wednesday night with Lyndon.
00:13:57
Speaker
And he was like, yeah, we're doubling down on direct.
00:13:59
Speaker
And we were like all super pumped.
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:01
Speaker
and then I was in a house on Friday at like 3 o'clock in the afternoon I get an email and it's like mandatory call for everybody in an indirect at 530 and I was like okay I finished writing that deal hopped on the zoom call and it was like yeah all of direct is finished effective immediately and we were like what?
00:14:23
Speaker
And the industry kind of got crazy from that point forward.
00:14:25
Speaker
That was probably about four and a half years ago.
00:14:28
Speaker
Wow.
00:14:28
Speaker
And then that's when all those, you know, solar cities just started jumping to other companies and all that.
00:14:34
Speaker
Wow.
00:14:34
Speaker
That's crazy, man.
00:14:36
Speaker
Yeah, so you've been doing this forever.
00:14:38
Speaker
So you've been with Taylor the entire time.
00:14:41
Speaker
You guys were always the same company, same?
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:44
Speaker
We've had the same small group the whole freaking time.
00:14:47
Speaker
Jeez.
00:14:48
Speaker
Yeah, we've been selling with the same group of guys for a super long time now.
00:14:53
Speaker
That's even more.
00:14:54
Speaker
I think that's the first time I've heard that someone has later been selling in the same company, same company.
Formation of Home Nerds
00:15:00
Speaker
Well, so Home Nerds is new.
00:15:02
Speaker
Home Nerds is new now.
00:15:04
Speaker
Actually, so we'll back up.
00:15:05
Speaker
Taylor and I actually came down to Florida to start selling roofs in Naples, like insurance claims and stuff.
00:15:13
Speaker
Great industry.
00:15:14
Speaker
There's a ton of money to be made there, but we just didn't do our research, and we ended up working with a company.
00:15:19
Speaker
I'm not going to say their name, and they just – not somebody I wanted to grow with.
00:15:24
Speaker
Lost trust.
00:15:25
Speaker
Couldn't recruit for them, so therefore I can't build there, right?
00:15:28
Speaker
And T and I were like, dude,
00:15:32
Speaker
we know exactly what we're doing.
00:15:34
Speaker
Why are we trying to build somebody else an organization at this point?
00:15:37
Speaker
There's a certain way things need to be done.
00:15:39
Speaker
You need to treat people with dignity and respect and the perfect customer experience.
00:15:43
Speaker
So honestly, the only reason we did this... Hell, my life would be a hell of a lot easier just working for an EPC selling deals on my own.
00:15:50
Speaker
But the reason we did it and we had to do it in our mind was because we had to provide salespeople with the perfect experience, customers with the perfect customer experience, and provide the right type of training.
00:16:01
Speaker
You know, because...
00:16:03
Speaker
There's a lot of stuff out there that people just don't pay attention to.
00:16:05
Speaker
That means
Building Sales Training Systems
00:16:06
Speaker
a lot.
00:16:06
Speaker
For sure.
00:16:07
Speaker
And so for our listeners that don't know, I don't know if we introduced this, but you were CEO of Home Nerds.
00:16:13
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:13
Speaker
And that's yours.
00:16:16
Speaker
You and Taylor started it together, right?
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah, and Suki as well.
00:16:19
Speaker
And Suki, okay.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yep.
00:16:20
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, so they're crushing deals down there.
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, doing them a ton.
00:16:25
Speaker
But yeah, that's funny.
00:16:27
Speaker
I hear a lot of things that you say that Taylor says too, so I can definitely tell that you guys are working together.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, dude.
00:16:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:34
Speaker
So no, yeah.
00:16:36
Speaker
Like what in particular just stuck out to you?
00:16:38
Speaker
Well, the perfect customer experience.
00:16:40
Speaker
Oh.
00:16:41
Speaker
Taylor trains on that all the time and
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah, but it's a big deal.
00:16:44
Speaker
It is a big deal, right?
00:16:46
Speaker
Especially for a rep too.
00:16:47
Speaker
If you bring in too many reps and you don't have the right systems and you don't have the right culture and you don't have the right belief instilled, then that guy's going to have a bad experience and he's going to leave.
00:16:55
Speaker
And that might have been the opportunity to get a career guy in the industry.
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker
But because you did him a disservice his first six weeks, he's back to work in a footlocker.
00:17:04
Speaker
Exactly.
00:17:04
Speaker
And his life sucks.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:06
Speaker
But that's on me because I didn't give him the right experience.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:09
Speaker
I love that and I've learned a lot from Taylor talking about perfect customer experience, perfect rep experience if you're leading a team or running an office because if you're not creating goals, you're losing customers, you're losing your reps and then you're not feeling as good about the service, you're not as confident in what you're offering to your reps and your customers.
00:17:29
Speaker
But yeah, well, that's something we can talk about.
00:17:32
Speaker
Do you want to talk about like stuff you guys do at home nerds?
00:17:34
Speaker
I know Taylor's probably does a lot of different things too.
00:17:37
Speaker
Stuff that you guys do to create a perfect customer experience and also a perfect experience for like your reps and people working with you guys.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker
So I guess we'll start with the reps.
00:17:50
Speaker
One thing that we really, really, really try and do, I think it works best when you have new reps come in in like a class situation.
00:17:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:56
Speaker
Don't just hire one guy because you have one guy to hire.
00:18:00
Speaker
you have a set training regiment and whether it's you have a new hire class every week or you run two a month, but you don't hire that class until there's whatever the number is, five bodies.
00:18:12
Speaker
So you got five guys coming in together.
00:18:14
Speaker
Now they're kind of looking at each other as like the support group, but they're also gauging their own success six months later, a year later.
00:18:20
Speaker
Like if you came in with five guys and you're the only guy standing from your group, you know what I mean?
00:18:25
Speaker
Or like you're,
00:18:27
Speaker
you're, let's say you're almost like you, you're bageling every single day, but the three other guys that were hired in your onboarding class are killing it.
00:18:35
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:18:36
Speaker
It kind of makes it easier.
00:18:37
Speaker
It's like, dude, maybe this isn't for you type of deal.
00:18:42
Speaker
And I feel like there's a lot of more competition that comes along with it and they want to stand out in that new hire class.
00:18:48
Speaker
So I think having a system in place where
Creating a Competitive Sales Environment
00:18:51
Speaker
A, onboarding is easy.
00:18:53
Speaker
People, who was it that said it?
00:18:55
Speaker
Mendez said it, right?
00:18:57
Speaker
Like a super simple system that the people know exactly how they're being rewarded for recruiting.
00:19:02
Speaker
And it's a cookie cutter fashion.
00:19:03
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:06
Speaker
And you really, really, really spend time developing your middle leaders.
00:19:10
Speaker
I think that's where a lot of the bottlenecks will and could happen if you don't... If the people that you're delegating your authority to aren't tens, if you didn't put everything you had into those people, it's the law of the lid, right?
00:19:26
Speaker
They can't go and groom tens.
00:19:28
Speaker
So I think it really... Your middle management, the guys that you're relying on to beat the drum and carry the carriage...
00:19:36
Speaker
they got to know the vision.
00:19:38
Speaker
They got to feel loved, truly supported.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:41
Speaker
And that you have their back in their decision-making to let somebody go.
00:19:45
Speaker
Um,
00:19:46
Speaker
Because one deal doesn't matter.
00:19:49
Speaker
The culture of the team matters.
00:19:51
Speaker
So I don't care if you're, nobody wants to play with Keyshawn Johnson or Antonio Brown.
00:19:54
Speaker
I don't care how many touchdowns you score.
00:19:57
Speaker
If you're not good for the locker room, you're not good for the locker room.
00:20:00
Speaker
And so I think having a system in place where you get to kind of see that locker room feel right off the bat helps.
00:20:06
Speaker
Because people are trying to compete against each other right away.
00:20:08
Speaker
Kind of gauging and looking at themselves.
00:20:10
Speaker
It just gives us a... A, it's easier and it's way more scalable.
00:20:14
Speaker
Because then everything's just done in larger groups.
00:20:18
Speaker
And you can kind of hold people a little bit more accountable.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah, I love that.
00:20:20
Speaker
Because it's like... And then they can see they're not comparing themselves to you or Taylor.
00:20:25
Speaker
They've been there forever.
00:20:25
Speaker
Like, oh, this guy, he started the same day, dude.
00:20:28
Speaker
He just threw down three accounts today or whatever.
00:20:32
Speaker
So, I mean, yeah, like you said, if they're not raising that level, then...
00:20:36
Speaker
Hopefully they can figure out pretty quick that maybe it's not for them.
00:20:39
Speaker
Right, because think about it.
00:20:40
Speaker
If a new guy goes out and watches Taylor do six today, sure, like in his mind he knows it's possible, but he's also sitting there being like, all right, but this guy's been doing it for 18 years.
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:49
Speaker
If he sees another brand new guy come in and throw a three spot down on his second weekend, and he has had a really hard time having conversations, he's either going to really dig deep, find out what's working for that guy, or politely bow out.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:02
Speaker
And a lot of the decision making on the company was kind of relieved.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah, true.
00:21:07
Speaker
And so, yeah, obviously, Taylor, he's been running, you know, Noxstar.
00:21:10
Speaker
And I know he's super busy with that.
00:21:12
Speaker
So what's it been like once he's, now that he's, you know, going pretty hard on Noxstar and, you know, traveling to other teams, training lots of different groups, organizations.
00:21:22
Speaker
What's that been like?
00:21:23
Speaker
And have you had to step up more?
00:21:25
Speaker
What would you say it's been the change in your group?
00:21:28
Speaker
How have you been adjusted with all that?
00:21:30
Speaker
I think it's awesome.
00:21:31
Speaker
I think it really is awesome what he's doing for the industry with him and Danny.
00:21:36
Speaker
I think it is awesome.
00:21:37
Speaker
And for us, it's just our baked in sales training platform.
00:21:42
Speaker
So I think it's to have a chief sales officer like Taylor McCarthy, I think that's probably one of the most beautiful things that you can ask for.
00:21:49
Speaker
Especially like when we're doing blitzes and he's in the house and like guys are seeing somebody do 14, 15, 16 accounts in a week.
00:21:57
Speaker
it just levels the bar up a little bit.
00:22:00
Speaker
And guys will coach themselves out at that point when they hang around a guy like T. Don't get me wrong.
00:22:07
Speaker
He has been super busy, but he has also just built a forever sales platform for anybody that we bring into the company, which has been super freaking awesome.
00:22:15
Speaker
And when he's in town, having him on the scoreboard and seeing the guys have somebody like him light up the scoreboard,
00:22:27
Speaker
They feel terrible if they're not.
00:22:30
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:22:30
Speaker
Because then it's like you feel guilty that you're letting your team down.
00:22:34
Speaker
I don't know.
00:22:35
Speaker
Just the persona he carries.
00:22:37
Speaker
I bet.
00:22:37
Speaker
It makes people want to sell for their team.
00:22:39
Speaker
Sell for your teammates.
00:22:41
Speaker
He does a really good job of bringing people together in that sense and lighting a fire up and keeping it going.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:47
Speaker
Well, it brings up a good point.
00:22:48
Speaker
Like when he's gone, I'm sure the production rises when he's there and everyone's like, oh, my gosh.
00:22:54
Speaker
Step it up and all
Sustaining Team Performance
00:22:55
Speaker
that.
00:22:55
Speaker
So what have you guys done to hopefully keep a similar production even when he's gone?
00:23:00
Speaker
Because I'm sure it's hard as I go.
00:23:01
Speaker
Taylor's basically the best.
00:23:05
Speaker
I don't know if you guys struggle with that.
00:23:07
Speaker
Your guy's like, I'm going to take it easy.
00:23:09
Speaker
Taylor's not here to look over my shoulder.
00:23:11
Speaker
No, I don't think it's like that at all, actually.
00:23:15
Speaker
I mean, sure, everybody's going to kind of ebb and flow, right?
00:23:19
Speaker
There's some guys that sell in Florida for us that are from out of state, but most of our guys live in
00:23:25
Speaker
live in the state of Florida and so what we did is we just got a really big Airbnb and we have constant rep housing.
00:23:31
Speaker
And so if you're the lowest on the week, you lose your spot.
00:23:34
Speaker
So nobody wants to lose their spot because the Airbnb is right in the middle of the best turf.
00:23:39
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:23:39
Speaker
So it's a constant, hey, you want to keep your spot on the squad.
00:23:43
Speaker
And it's just, we're always looking to replace the bottom 20%.
00:23:46
Speaker
You know, so you just coach them up or coach them out.
00:23:49
Speaker
And I think because they respect how long we've been in the game, we're not here to blitz.
00:23:57
Speaker
You don't have to throw down massive numbers every single week, but you need to give effort or get better every single week.
00:24:04
Speaker
You know?
00:24:05
Speaker
So if you're just, excuse my French, but if you're just dicking around, you're not going to last long with us because your teammates are going to be like, dude,
00:24:14
Speaker
I'm going to work every day.
00:24:16
Speaker
Get out of the house.
00:24:17
Speaker
Nice.
00:24:18
Speaker
I like that.
00:24:19
Speaker
So I think it's just like when you have your core group of guys on the same mission as you, let them run with it.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:29
Speaker
They're building.
00:24:30
Speaker
You're just coaching.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:32
Speaker
You know?
00:24:32
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:24:33
Speaker
It kind of changes the perspective.
00:24:34
Speaker
So it doesn't matter if I'm there or Taylor's there or Suki's there.
00:24:36
Speaker
It doesn't matter.
00:24:37
Speaker
The mission's the mission.
00:24:39
Speaker
Nice.
00:24:39
Speaker
You know?
00:24:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that...
00:24:42
Speaker
the level that all the guys are bought in and give them some pressure too.
00:24:46
Speaker
That's cool.
00:24:47
Speaker
I like that.
00:24:48
Speaker
Stuff like this.
00:24:49
Speaker
I may not be there for a month.
00:24:50
Speaker
I may be out doing something or he may be too, but quarterly incentive every single time as long as you hit those metrics, you get to come to these types of events and you get to work on your business and you get to network.
00:25:00
Speaker
I think things like that and having that home nerds knock star relationship is also really awesome in the sense that we get to take advantage of these types of situations too.
00:25:11
Speaker
you know, as, as guys are leveling up.
00:25:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:13
Speaker
You know, that's awesome.
00:25:14
Speaker
You guys probably have a huge advantage in like recruiting guys and stuff.
00:25:18
Speaker
Like, yo, we got a knock star.
00:25:19
Speaker
We got Taylor.
00:25:20
Speaker
It certainly helps.
00:25:23
Speaker
It certainly helps.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:25
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:25:26
Speaker
So with the reps that like aren't producing, so you're kicking them out of the house and are they still like, they're just, they just have to get their own housing at that point or,
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah, or knock where you live or commute to where you want to work.
00:25:38
Speaker
It's a privilege to have a house provided for you in turf.
00:25:42
Speaker
I'm not asking you to pay for it.
00:25:44
Speaker
I'm just saying we're having a lot of success in these neighborhoods, and if you want to be close to turf every day, you're more than welcome to stay here.
00:25:51
Speaker
Nice.
00:25:52
Speaker
And it's turned into...
00:25:54
Speaker
I live at the rep house now until somebody takes my spot.
00:25:58
Speaker
So that's been a lot of fun.
00:25:59
Speaker
And it's like, you know, the guys are playing poker at night together.
00:26:02
Speaker
They're hanging out.
00:26:03
Speaker
They're constantly going over stuff.
00:26:05
Speaker
Like I walked into the rep house the other night and there were six people I hadn't even met yet.
00:26:08
Speaker
And I was like, this is cool.
00:26:11
Speaker
We're growing and I'm not even here.
00:26:13
Speaker
So that's when you really start to know that your guys are bought in.
00:26:16
Speaker
Because, you know, trust and loyalty, man.
00:26:18
Speaker
Like longevity.
00:26:19
Speaker
Like if you work on the couple guys that you want to build around and you turn them into tens and you feed them the vision and you give them the tools, like it's really cool to step back and watch somebody else like do what you wanted to.
00:26:36
Speaker
like what we wanted to build is like happening and other people are like playing a big role in it and having a lot of success doing it.
00:26:44
Speaker
That's cool.
00:26:45
Speaker
No, it's really cool to see you have.
00:26:47
Speaker
Well, you and Taylor, you've been 18 years and then, was it Suki?
00:26:52
Speaker
Suki, yeah.
00:26:53
Speaker
Suki, okay.
00:26:54
Speaker
So actually when I started at SolarCity, Suki was already at SolarCity and he was my manager.
00:26:59
Speaker
Taylor and I's manager when we got to SolarCity was Suki.
00:27:02
Speaker
Wow.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:03
Speaker
It's come full circle so he came yeah, we came full circle and brought the brought the tribe back home Yeah, that's really 18 years that's longer than most people like you've been married and all that I mean yeah, and you look back at it and like we were literally just kids your kids driving around the country not knowing what the heck we were doing just pounding on doors and
00:27:26
Speaker
And it's been a really fun journey.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yeah, slow traveling, circus freaks or something.
00:27:31
Speaker
Yeah.
Building Long-term Business Relationships
00:27:32
Speaker
We've definitely had an unconventional growing up because we've been doing it for so long.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
You know?
00:27:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's something else I wanted to ask you too, Kenny.
00:27:40
Speaker
Being together for so long, I mean, I don't think anyone's been together so long for that long.
00:27:45
Speaker
But you guys like all managing, being together, uh...
00:27:49
Speaker
leading your teams and all that.
00:27:51
Speaker
Do you have any tips for people that maybe they've been, I don't know, maybe they're having friction or... I'm sure it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.
00:27:57
Speaker
No, there was a point in time... Yeah, I left T. I was like, dude, screw this.
00:28:02
Speaker
I'm out.
00:28:03
Speaker
And I like...
00:28:04
Speaker
Left Pinnacle, went to Vivint, and I realized very quickly that was a very emotional decision.
00:28:11
Speaker
And because I was in a situation, because I had slacked off, I needed a handout, right?
00:28:18
Speaker
And of course, the competitor's always going to give you an ear real quick, and he's trying to build the best office that's possible, and we're in the middle of correlation.
00:28:27
Speaker
And there was a situation, I don't even know how long ago, probably about 10 years ago, where I literally left Taylor's organization.
00:28:34
Speaker
Straight up.
00:28:35
Speaker
And there was like, dude, this is stupid.
00:28:42
Speaker
He called me.
00:28:42
Speaker
He's like, my bad.
00:28:44
Speaker
It was the middle of summer.
00:28:45
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:28:45
Speaker
And I was like, I also apologize.
00:28:48
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:28:48
Speaker
Like I was fucking freaking out.
00:28:50
Speaker
I was in a situation.
00:28:51
Speaker
And dude, like, but step back, right?
00:28:57
Speaker
Like don't ever burn a bridge.
00:28:58
Speaker
Just step back for a minute.
00:29:00
Speaker
Um, and like, think about the true qualities of the person that you want to work with and what intangibles do they have?
00:29:08
Speaker
Is it replaceable with that kid has?
00:29:10
Speaker
No, it's not replaceable.
00:29:12
Speaker
He's got intangibles.
00:29:14
Speaker
Right.
00:29:14
Speaker
And I think to a certain extent, all this, all the people that we've stayed working with for so long have enough of those intangibles that it's like, okay,
00:29:24
Speaker
if we're having a little bit of friction, you just got to go chill out for a minute.
00:29:26
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:29:26
Speaker
And we've been doing it for so long.
00:29:28
Speaker
Like I can tell them, I'm like, dude, you're way out of line.
00:29:32
Speaker
Like that's just never going to work.
00:29:33
Speaker
Or he'll tell me the same shit.
00:29:34
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:29:35
Speaker
So it's, I don't know.
00:29:37
Speaker
When you, it's like you, you can fight with your best friends, you know, and you can't really fight with strangers.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:43
Speaker
So no matter, you know, but we don't fight like at, at this point.
00:29:46
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:29:46
Speaker
When we were younger, 18, 19 years old, living out of hotels, um,
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah, you fight.
00:29:53
Speaker
But now, like, no.
00:29:56
Speaker
It's all good stuff, constructive stuff, game planning, strategizing, and then just enjoying free time, you know, looking at the things that have been built over the years and kind of just really appreciating it.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool.
00:30:09
Speaker
You guys have been through a ton.
00:30:10
Speaker
You're not married, are you?
00:30:11
Speaker
No.
00:30:12
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:12
Speaker
You're going to say, because, yeah, I mean, you'd probably be pretty good at being married with all this stuff you learned.
00:30:19
Speaker
Because of the right stuff, man.
00:30:21
Speaker
Like, some of the stuff you're saying and stuff I have to, like, I look at my marriage sometimes and, you know, it's like similar things.
00:30:28
Speaker
You're saying, oh, you have to step back and not react quickly.
00:30:32
Speaker
That's something I've had to learn, like being married now.
00:30:34
Speaker
I've been married for five years, something like that.
00:30:37
Speaker
It's the exact same thing, dude.
00:30:40
Speaker
We'll be tired.
00:30:40
Speaker
We'll be fighting about stupid stuff before we go into bed.
00:30:44
Speaker
Sometimes it's best to just don't react now.
00:30:48
Speaker
Wake up in the morning and then analyze the situation better.
00:30:51
Speaker
Sounds like it's similar stuff.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, and I think it always is just communication.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:58
Speaker
Because it's not like she's wrong about something or you're wrong or something.
00:31:01
Speaker
Did I just flip off?
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:04
Speaker
But yeah, so that's like, sounds like you and Taylor's pretty, pretty much a marriage at that point.
00:31:10
Speaker
I mean, yeah, at some points it certainly has, but I think I look back at it now, right?
00:31:17
Speaker
Because I've sacrificed a lot in my own personal relationships in the past.
00:31:22
Speaker
Like you're speaking on your marriage and,
00:31:25
Speaker
I think I'm looking at that now coming out of relationships, right?
00:31:29
Speaker
Like you said, you want to be grateful and present with the things you have before they become the things you had.
00:31:38
Speaker
Right.
00:31:39
Speaker
And I think once you've lost something like that or you've made a transition and you find yourself in a place where it's like, oh, wow, like I had that.
00:31:49
Speaker
I find myself looking for that now, but I had that.
00:31:52
Speaker
But I didn't appreciate it when I was in it.
00:31:56
Speaker
I think I've sacrificed a lot of those personal relationships on the outside because I've been so focused on building.
00:32:02
Speaker
Yeah.
Balancing Professional and Personal Life
00:32:03
Speaker
But it's funny to hear you say it on this because my priority has always been building.
00:32:09
Speaker
It hasn't necessarily been build your own personal relationships as well as you possibly could with the sense of serving.
00:32:17
Speaker
It's always been focused on the business to do that.
00:32:20
Speaker
But yeah, for a marriage, yeah, sometimes just step away.
00:32:23
Speaker
Same thing I have to do with sales reps or business partners or customers that want to cancel.
00:32:28
Speaker
It's like...
00:32:29
Speaker
Not everything has to be fixed immediately.
00:32:31
Speaker
It's okay for a minute.
00:32:35
Speaker
Once I kind of started doing that, everything got a lot easier.
00:32:38
Speaker
Realistically, yeah.
00:32:38
Speaker
Because otherwise you're in your head, you're putting fires out all the time.
00:32:43
Speaker
you know?
00:32:43
Speaker
For sure.
00:32:44
Speaker
No, I'm sure it's something you had to learn, especially in solar.
00:32:46
Speaker
Guys tend to react so quickly to stuff going wrong.
00:32:49
Speaker
Oh, I'm going to jump companies.
00:32:51
Speaker
This didn't go right.
00:32:53
Speaker
Or, oh, solar isn't for me.
00:32:55
Speaker
This customer canceled.
00:32:56
Speaker
Yep.
00:32:57
Speaker
It's like they had all their chips on one customer.
00:32:59
Speaker
So I think, especially in solar, I see it over and over.
00:33:02
Speaker
Guys, like, have such quick reactions, you know?
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:04
Speaker
We get paid so much for deals and, you know, guys have reactions.
00:33:09
Speaker
They probably would benefit just by stepping back, like you said, and
00:33:13
Speaker
and I'm in the situation more.
00:33:14
Speaker
So I think that's a great point.
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:16
Speaker
Rather than getting all, all uptight with your project manager, like take five minutes, come cool your jets and then call them and then ask politely for them to help you get stipulations or whatever the case may be.
00:33:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:28
Speaker
It's just, you know, gratitude is a big thing.
00:33:31
Speaker
And your ego goes away when you just say, hey, I'm here and I'm thankful.
00:33:36
Speaker
Whether things are going good or bad.
00:33:38
Speaker
And you can look at things a little bit differently and it's like, all right, it's not the end of the world.
00:33:43
Speaker
We'll get that fixed.
00:33:46
Speaker
Love that.
00:33:47
Speaker
So Kenny, I know you're heading out here soon, staying in another cabin, going snowmobiling tomorrow, so I want to be respectful of your time.
00:33:53
Speaker
But last couple of questions for you.
00:33:56
Speaker
You've been in this probably on the podcast that we've had longer than just about anybody, I guess you and Taylor.
00:34:04
Speaker
So is there anything, looking back 18 years ago whenever you started, is there anything that you would have told you yourself or anything you would have changed when you would have started clear back then?
00:34:14
Speaker
If you could, you know, go back in the past.
00:34:17
Speaker
Yeah, money's just a tool.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:19
Speaker
It's not a goal.
00:34:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:20
Speaker
It's just a tool.
00:34:21
Speaker
Freedom's the goal.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:25
Speaker
And, like, slow down and enjoy it.
00:34:28
Speaker
Because, like, I'll never be 22 living with my buddies in a hotel room in Southern California again.
00:34:37
Speaker
Right.
00:34:39
Speaker
You know, like that, those days are behind us.
00:34:41
Speaker
That'll never happen again.
00:34:42
Speaker
But there's some really awesome memories that happened along the way.
00:34:45
Speaker
So like, don't be, don't be in such a rush to get to the next thing.
00:34:49
Speaker
Nice.
00:34:51
Speaker
Fall in love with the grind, man.
00:34:52
Speaker
Like fall in love with the process, fall in love with the development.
00:34:55
Speaker
And if there's somebody in your life that you want at the end of the, at the end of the race, sitting on that porch swing with you, like put time into that person or those people with you.
00:35:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:05
Speaker
Because it's not all about putting everything you have into the business.
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:08
Speaker
You know, because like you're going to spend the money.
00:35:11
Speaker
You're going to buy stupid shit.
00:35:12
Speaker
You're going to buy cool shit.
00:35:13
Speaker
But when it all goes away, who do you want to be with you at the end?
00:35:19
Speaker
That's important.
00:35:20
Speaker
Like me and T will be on a fucking swing set together.
00:35:22
Speaker
He always talks about that.
00:35:23
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:35:24
Speaker
Like me and like the guys that we've been working together.
00:35:26
Speaker
Like, yeah, we're, and so that's really cool.
00:35:28
Speaker
So find people that you want to build with because people will either drain you or they'll inspire you.
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:36
Speaker
And you, I'm sure you've heard him say that before too.
00:35:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:40
Speaker
But work with people that inspire you.
00:35:41
Speaker
Love that.
00:35:42
Speaker
And like force you to level up.
00:35:44
Speaker
You know, if you're not, if you're not creating enough problems, you're not moving fast enough.
00:35:48
Speaker
That's fire.
00:35:49
Speaker
So don't be mad at them for bringing problems to your attention.
00:35:53
Speaker
Be thankful that you have a loyal person in your organization to be like, hey, look,
00:35:57
Speaker
you might have a problem with that.
00:35:58
Speaker
Let's fix that.
00:35:59
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:36:01
Speaker
Super important.
00:36:01
Speaker
And I guess kind of just wrapping up here, being in it so long, I'm sure you've heard this a bunch of times too from reps, oh, I'm just so burned out.
00:36:11
Speaker
I can't go work.
00:36:12
Speaker
I can't knock any more doors.
00:36:14
Speaker
I've been doing this all year long.
00:36:16
Speaker
Danny, what are we supposed to do?
00:36:17
Speaker
What do you say to those reps or people that like, oh, I'm burning out.
00:36:21
Speaker
Can't keep doing this.
00:36:23
Speaker
Candles burn out.
00:36:24
Speaker
People don't burn out.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:27
Speaker
uh just a mindset you know you're only in a rut if you tell yourself you're in a rut but um they you need to have balance yeah right like if you're going seven days a week and I don't I don't care if your enjoyment is to sit out and watch the sunset for five minutes a night like find something that you enjoy on a deeper level and find time for it because if you don't what the hell are you working for yeah
00:36:56
Speaker
Because money doesn't matter.
00:36:59
Speaker
It's just, it's fake.
00:37:01
Speaker
But like the freedom to give you the things that you truly enjoy in life is like the things that you'll, that'll keep you going.
00:37:07
Speaker
You know, like for me, I take a vacation or I try and change up my environment once a quarter where I have a couple of days and I literally just turn my phone off.
00:37:15
Speaker
I like being in the woods.
00:37:16
Speaker
Right.
00:37:16
Speaker
So that's kind of like my recharge.
00:37:18
Speaker
Go find a national park, turn my phone off, hang out for a couple of days.
00:37:22
Speaker
So find something that you truly enjoy and, um,
00:37:26
Speaker
make it a goal to go and reset yourself.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:29
Speaker
Because burning out is bullshit.
00:37:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:31
Speaker
Really.
00:37:32
Speaker
If you're, if you love what you do and you enjoy the process and you find things to do that like truly bring you joy, you shouldn't be burnt out.
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:42
Speaker
You should be right.
00:37:44
Speaker
Like when you're building and you're creating, you're,
00:37:47
Speaker
that's exciting, but maintaining something is exhausting.
00:37:51
Speaker
So I think switching that mindset too helps a lot.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I think it's so important finding something that just excites you, that recharges you, because so many reps listen to this, maybe they're just going home, turn it on Netflix, turn it on the Xbox.
00:38:04
Speaker
It's like find something that you can do that actually
00:38:06
Speaker
You know, lights that fire.
00:38:08
Speaker
Sure.
00:38:08
Speaker
You know, Danny Pesce talks.
00:38:09
Speaker
I mean, he's going to spas and stuff.
00:38:11
Speaker
So maybe he's not going to spas.
00:38:14
Speaker
He took us to the Korean bathhouse last time.
00:38:16
Speaker
While y'all were in Texas.
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:19
Speaker
So, you know, we're naked in the room with 50 guys sitting in spas and stuff like that.
00:38:24
Speaker
I mean, that's not for everybody, but the point is find something that recharges you.
00:38:27
Speaker
Sure.
Overcoming Sales Slumps
00:38:28
Speaker
And go do it because that's how Kenny's been able to do 18 years.
00:38:31
Speaker
And I mean, I think that's how people can, you know, just be able to push through without.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah, I've been knocking doors longer than I haven't been knocking doors at this point.
00:38:40
Speaker
Does that blow your mind sometimes?
00:38:42
Speaker
That's kind of actually weird to say that.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker
That's insane.
00:38:48
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:48
Speaker
Appreciate you coming on the show today.
00:38:50
Speaker
So before we let you go here, can you give our listeners if they want to like connect with you or I don't know, maybe find more out about home nerds, hit you guys up.
00:38:59
Speaker
Do you have any, any, any people can connect with you, social media, anything like that?
00:39:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:03
Speaker
I'm on Instagram.
00:39:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:05
Speaker
Bubble cause.
00:39:06
Speaker
Bubba Cause?
00:39:07
Speaker
That's right, baby.
00:39:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:08
Speaker
I don't know why.
00:39:09
Speaker
Maybe I should change it and make it my name so people can find me, but right now it's Bubba Cause.
00:39:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:14
Speaker
Cool.
00:39:15
Speaker
Or you can go to homenerds.com, but probably sending me a DM or Taylor a DM would probably be the best way to link up with us.
00:39:21
Speaker
For sure.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:22
Speaker
Well, we will link that in the show notes.
00:39:24
Speaker
So anyone that wants to, you know, go give Kenny a shout out, let them know you appreciate him coming on the show.
00:39:30
Speaker
Go do that.
00:39:31
Speaker
And then last question before we let you go here, Kenny, if there's, I don't know, someone that's struggling, we've got people that listen to us.
00:39:39
Speaker
I get questions like, oh, how do I get out of my slump?
00:39:42
Speaker
How do I get to that next level?
00:39:44
Speaker
So you've been doing this so long, I'm sure you wouldn't be here.
00:39:47
Speaker
Obviously, you're not going to keep doing this if you haven't reached a high level of success.
00:39:50
Speaker
Sure.
00:39:51
Speaker
You haven't been making a lot of money.
00:39:53
Speaker
So what would you say to those reps that maybe they're in a slump or maybe they're struggling to keep pushing through?
00:39:59
Speaker
I think they're interested, but they're not committed.
00:40:04
Speaker
It's the chicken or the egg, right?
00:40:06
Speaker
In order to make a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, a chicken makes a contribution of an egg.
00:40:11
Speaker
The pig has to make a commitment to provide the bacon.
00:40:15
Speaker
I think you get burnt out because you're half in.
00:40:18
Speaker
You're not really learning the business.
00:40:21
Speaker
You're not coaching yourself up on sales.
00:40:23
Speaker
You're not recording yourself.
00:40:24
Speaker
You're not putting in the effort outside of the doors to be excited to have new shit to put into play.
00:40:33
Speaker
If the coach came up with a new trick play or something, I'd be super stoked to run that if the defense prevented an opportunity for us to run that play.
00:40:40
Speaker
I think I...
00:40:44
Speaker
put sales in like a football mentality a lot too it's like oh new nugget dude if we're on third down and short and we're in the red zone like this might work you know what i mean so it's all situational shit um but yeah like like be excited about it make it a game you know and if like you truly need a day off you need to take a mental day like
00:41:02
Speaker
take a mental day or two.
00:41:03
Speaker
Like, if you've got to turn your phone off, turn your phone off.
00:41:06
Speaker
Like, it's not the end of the world.
00:41:08
Speaker
So, I feel like if you're not truly good inside through and through, you can't do the job that we do at a high level.
00:41:17
Speaker
And be happy about it.
00:41:18
Speaker
Like, sure, you can go through the motions and people are going to see that and you're going to get doors slammed in your face all day.
00:41:23
Speaker
Like, you need to be full in order to go do what we do.
00:41:26
Speaker
So,
00:41:27
Speaker
If you feel like you're in a rut, go charge yourself up.
00:41:31
Speaker
Nice.
00:41:32
Speaker
So important.
00:41:33
Speaker
So for our solopreneurs, make sure you're recharging yourself.
00:41:36
Speaker
Make sure you're taking care of yourself.
00:41:38
Speaker
And then, like Kenny has seen, treat the job like you're a professional.
00:41:42
Speaker
A lot of these people, they expect to get professional results when they're acting like an amateur out there.
00:41:47
Speaker
They're not training.
00:41:48
Speaker
They're not coming to events.
00:41:49
Speaker
They're not listening to podcasts like this.
00:41:52
Speaker
Because, yeah, I mean, you've seen – I know a lot of stuff you're saying is similar to what Taylor says.
00:41:56
Speaker
I know he studies these sales books and he lights up like – I mean, he gets so stoked over this like new sales technique he's going to go try in.
00:42:04
Speaker
All this J. Douglas, Edward stuff and all that.
00:42:06
Speaker
You wouldn't believe how stoked, bro.
00:42:09
Speaker
He's like staying up late to read these books.
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah, like there will be situations like we'll be playing Madden too and he's like, bro, like I just came up with this new line.
00:42:19
Speaker
So it's like always shit like that, you know.
00:42:21
Speaker
He's always thinking about it.
00:42:22
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think, it's not, for him it doesn't turn off, which is good.
00:42:25
Speaker
And proximity of that, it's like you're always just learning new little things that you can go ahead and put into play.
00:42:29
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I think that's what it takes.
00:42:32
Speaker
So take a look inside, see if you're that committed, and I think that's what it takes to, you know, have longevity and have success.
00:42:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:40
Speaker
Just like Kenny has.
00:42:41
Speaker
So appreciate you coming on, Kenny.
00:42:42
Speaker
Can't wait to see what you do next.
00:42:44
Speaker
And hopefully you come out with some courses and programs.
00:42:46
Speaker
Can't wait to see, you know, the training you start doing.
00:42:50
Speaker
So I appreciate it.
00:42:51
Speaker
And hopefully we'll have you on someday in the future.
00:42:53
Speaker
Right on.
00:42:53
Speaker
Thanks, man.
00:42:55
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs?
00:42:56
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:42:58
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, I wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:43:09
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:43:16
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:43:19
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:43:23
Speaker
So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solopreneur.
00:43:36
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet.
00:43:39
Speaker
So you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new and you do not want to not have this sheet.
00:43:45
Speaker
So go download it right now.
00:43:47
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:43:51
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
00:43:56
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:43:58
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
00:44:00
Speaker
Go download it right now.
00:44:02
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to him, go listen to him and you can re-listen to him.
00:44:07
Speaker
That's going to show you how.
00:44:09
Speaker
So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.