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How To Sell Solar From Home (5 Key Strategies To Taking Control Of Your Time, Income, And Energy)
53 Plays6 years ago
What's up Solarpreneurs it's James Swiderski and I'm excited to be back after going off grid for the last 3 months. In this episode I am spilling my best kept secrets on exactly how my virtual sales team is able to close deals over the phone from across the world, and how you can do the same.
If you want to access the exact lead and sales platform I use for my own solar company and learn how to master virtual selling yourself, visit Solarspartansystem.com to get free demo to start creating the income and impact you've always known was possible in this industry.
Enjoy
Recommended
Transcript
Guide to Selling Solar Remotely
00:00:00
Speaker
on this episode of the solarpreneur podcast i'm gonna talk about how to sell solar from home there's very few people who have done this successfully and i happen to be one of the few and i have a step-by-step guide and five tips that you need to follow if you want to learn how to sell solar remotely over the phone or via online presentation let's get going
00:00:20
Speaker
Look, in the solar business, there's really only two types of people.
00:00:24
Speaker
There's the ones that crush it, make six, seven, and eight figures, and then there's everyone else.
00:00:29
Speaker
The question is, which one will you be?
00:00:32
Speaker
Over the last four years, we've studied the sharpest solar sales and marketing pros.
00:00:37
Speaker
and how they build multi-million dollar incomes using only the best solar sales and marketing strategies.
Secrets of Successful Solar Salespeople
00:00:44
Speaker
So how do these solarpreneurs do what they do and what makes them so successful?
00:00:49
Speaker
This podcast is your answer.
00:00:52
Speaker
Join us and thousands of sales pros, marketers, and entrepreneurs as we take the solar industry by storm and uncover what it takes to sell more solar with less effort.
00:01:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast.
James Swiderski's Learnings in Solar Sales
00:01:10
Speaker
What is up, everybody?
00:01:11
Speaker
This is James Swiderski.
00:01:13
Speaker
I know, I know.
00:01:14
Speaker
It's been like three months since I've been on this podcast, putting out any content, and there's a good reason for it.
00:01:24
Speaker
So first, we're going to talk about where I've been, some of the things that I've learned and how they're going to apply to you, and then we're going to dive into today's topic, which is a doozy,
Virtual Sales: Trend or Effective Method?
00:01:33
Speaker
right?
00:01:33
Speaker
How to sell virtually.
00:01:34
Speaker
There's been a lot of
00:01:36
Speaker
buzz around the industry is the best word I can putt for it.
00:01:40
Speaker
But there's been a lot of talk about, you know, selling virtually over the phone via online meeting.
00:01:45
Speaker
Is it even worth your time?
00:01:47
Speaker
Is it a gimmick?
00:01:48
Speaker
Is it just something that people like to talk about, but there's no proven process for it?
00:01:53
Speaker
Is anybody actually doing it successfully?
00:01:56
Speaker
And then some of the questions you guys have around virtual sales as well, right?
00:02:00
Speaker
I'm not oblivious to the fact that there's the same four or five questions that keep going around and I'm gonna answer those for you to finally put this thing to rest and decide if this is worth your time, if there's something you're missing out on and if it's gonna be a right fit for you or your company.
Challenges in Virtual Solar Sales
00:02:17
Speaker
So some of those questions, right, we're gonna talk about
00:02:20
Speaker
How do you build enough trust with homeowners to do a virtual sale?
00:02:24
Speaker
What if the job requires, you know, an upgrade or something needs to be changed later?
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Speaker
Maybe they need an electrical upgrade.
00:02:31
Speaker
What do you do in that scenario when you can't actually go check it out yourself?
00:02:34
Speaker
What if the roof's in a bad condition?
00:02:36
Speaker
What if there are distractions, right?
00:02:38
Speaker
Like a kid or...
00:02:41
Speaker
various whatever, right?
00:02:42
Speaker
You know all the distractions, phones going off.
00:02:44
Speaker
How do you know the homeowner is actually paying attention to you in an online meeting?
00:02:48
Speaker
And then what if both decision makers aren't present, right?
00:02:51
Speaker
You don't really know.
00:02:52
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You can't see them.
00:02:53
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How do you present to them and make them come to the decision to close?
00:02:58
Speaker
These are the common objections that I get when I bring up the topic of virtual sales, and I'm going to answer those.
Lumen Solar's New Focus
00:03:04
Speaker
But before we get into that, though, I want to talk about what I've been up to in the last three months, right?
00:03:09
Speaker
I've kind of ghosted out.
00:03:11
Speaker
I've went off grid, so to speak, the last three months to really work on myself personally, work on my products and work on my company, Lumen Solar as well.
00:03:21
Speaker
As many of you know, I've had a solar sales team, a virtual solar sales team for a couple of years, right?
00:03:26
Speaker
In addition to the clients that we have.
00:03:28
Speaker
And I've decided to restructure that company into Lumen Solar is the new company here.
00:03:34
Speaker
Really dial things back into a select few markets and states that are going to be most profitable for us and allow us to focus on what we do best, which is closing.
00:03:45
Speaker
Some of the things that I've improved on are lead generation, which I'm going to be talking about in the coming episodes.
00:03:51
Speaker
I've went around and been working with some of the top lead gen mentors.
00:03:56
Speaker
Joseph, that you've met on the other episodes, he's going to be appearing on episodes as well to share some of those secrets.
Mentorship and Lead Generation Strategies
00:04:02
Speaker
But he's been working hard with me on this, and we've developed some projects.
00:04:05
Speaker
Pretty killer lead gen strategies that not only help with virtual sales primarily is where we focused on, but they're also going to help with just everyday solar lead gen, right?
00:04:17
Speaker
Kitchen table conversations.
00:04:19
Speaker
So that's where I've been.
00:04:20
Speaker
The last three months has really been me working on my company, working on myself, working on my process, and working on something I'm very excited to announce in this episode, quite possibly the best sales and lead gen platform system on this market.
00:04:35
Speaker
I know it is because I've been working on it for three years straight here.
00:04:39
Speaker
This is the compilation of everything I've learned in the industry through mentors and investing, and it is a kick-ass system, guys.
00:04:46
Speaker
You are going to love it.
00:04:48
Speaker
But enough about that.
00:04:49
Speaker
We won't talk about it right now.
00:04:50
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I want to dive into the topic at hand
Virtual vs Traditional Sales Methods
00:04:53
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here.
00:04:53
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Virtual sales.
00:04:55
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And first and foremost, I want you to realize this.
00:04:58
Speaker
Virtual sales sounds cool, right?
00:05:00
Speaker
It's one of those things that people like to flash around fancy terms and strategies, like tick chat bots, for example, right?
00:05:09
Speaker
Everybody's obsessed with chatbots, or they were really obsessed with it earlier this year, and especially in 2018.
00:05:17
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That was the thing.
00:05:18
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And I was guilty of that too.
00:05:19
Speaker
I was selling off chatbots.
00:05:21
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I was involved in it, in the trenches with it.
00:05:23
Speaker
And I can tell you that it will work, just like everything else, just like knocking doors, just like any sales strategy, just like hide the sales rep type of marketing.
00:05:33
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They work.
00:05:34
Speaker
but they're not for everyone.
00:05:36
Speaker
There is no one clear-cut strategy that works for every single professional in this industry.
00:05:44
Speaker
Chatbots may not be for you.
00:05:46
Speaker
Personally, I don't like chatbots.
00:05:48
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I don't like them at all.
00:05:49
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They don't work well for my company.
00:05:51
Speaker
Of course, maybe I'm missing out on things, right?
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And I decided to get rid of chatbots altogether this year because I think they're just not as effective for what we're doing with my company and what my clients are doing
00:06:04
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getting to use as well as part of my programs.
00:06:07
Speaker
So I cut those out, right?
00:06:08
Speaker
So for you, where I'm getting at is virtual sales may be one of those things that you take a pass on.
00:06:15
Speaker
You just say, hey, you know what?
00:06:18
Speaker
It's for some people, but it's not for me.
00:06:19
Speaker
It's not for my company.
00:06:21
Speaker
And I want you to know that's perfectly fine.
00:06:23
Speaker
You know this, there's people in this industry that are absolutely just destroying it.
00:06:28
Speaker
There's guys who only knock doors right now and clear $3 million in commissions a year.
00:06:34
Speaker
They're putting $30 million in the bank and jobs for their company.
00:06:39
Speaker
You don't need to try and do all of these things.
00:06:42
Speaker
You don't need to feel like you have to reinvent the wheel and you don't need to feel like you're missing out.
00:06:47
Speaker
This isn't a case of FOMO here, right?
00:06:50
Speaker
You're not missing out if virtual sales is not part of your game.
Choosing the Right Sales Method
00:06:55
Speaker
So...
00:06:56
Speaker
If you don't want to do virtual sales, if this isn't for you, then skip this episode.
00:07:00
Speaker
That's what we're going to talk about for the rest of this.
00:07:02
Speaker
But if you want to stay around, you want to get the truth on this, really.
00:07:05
Speaker
You want to get some actual strategies on this topic.
00:07:08
Speaker
None of this fluffy bullshit stuff, right?
00:07:10
Speaker
This is going to be concrete stuff that works and what doesn't work because I'm the guy who's been selling virtually for almost my entire career in this industry.
00:07:20
Speaker
I've been in the industry for three years.
00:07:21
Speaker
I've been selling virtually off and on about two and a half of those three years.
00:07:26
Speaker
I've been doing it longer than anyone and I could tell you I've made every mistake in the book with this.
00:07:32
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I've been the guy who's tried to force virtual sales onto my team when they weren't ready for it and it was just a bad move.
00:07:39
Speaker
So I could tell you that's first.
00:07:41
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Decide what kind of solar rep, what kind of solar company you wanna be.
00:07:45
Speaker
Figure out what the heck your goals are, right?
00:07:48
Speaker
Have some clarity and some vision.
00:07:50
Speaker
What do you wanna accomplish?
00:07:52
Speaker
If you just want to make six figures and commissions, you don't need to sell
Benefits of Virtual Sales
00:07:56
Speaker
virtually.
00:07:56
Speaker
I would say absolutely avoid it.
00:07:58
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It's ludicrous.
00:08:00
Speaker
You don't need fucking chatbots if you want to learn how to sell virtually.
00:08:05
Speaker
I mean, you don't need chatbots if you want to make 100 grand.
00:08:07
Speaker
You don't need funnels if you want to make 100 grand.
00:08:10
Speaker
All these terms that are getting buzzed around are just madness.
00:08:13
Speaker
You just need to focus on one thing that amplifies your strengths.
00:08:18
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So one of my strengths...
00:08:20
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is selling over the phone.
00:08:22
Speaker
I've been selling over the phone for years, way before I got into solar.
00:08:27
Speaker
I used to do coaching programs in music and fine arts.
00:08:30
Speaker
I used to do coaching programs in real estate.
00:08:34
Speaker
So I'm comfortable on the phone more than even in person, right?
00:08:38
Speaker
And I prefer this.
00:08:40
Speaker
I prefer the one-line communication where it's just tonality and words to talk with people.
00:08:46
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So that played off of my strengths.
00:08:48
Speaker
Virtual sales was a no-brainer at this point.
00:08:51
Speaker
But maybe you're a guy who likes to connect with somebody across the table, shake hands with them.
00:08:56
Speaker
Boom.
00:08:56
Speaker
Good for you.
00:08:58
Speaker
You're gonna be successful at it if you're using proper training, you're learning proper methods, you have a proper lead gen system, all things we talk about on the Solarpreneur podcast.
00:09:08
Speaker
And we will be giving more strategies, of course.
00:09:10
Speaker
So, let's dive into virtual.
00:09:14
Speaker
If you feel like you need more time in your day
00:09:18
Speaker
If you feel like you have too many leads right now to handle or you want to learn how to do those leads so you can eventually sell virtually.
00:09:26
Speaker
If you want to be able to control your resources, right?
00:09:30
Speaker
The three resources every solely professional has, which is time, energy, and income, money.
00:09:37
Speaker
If you want to control those, and I call them the three currencies actually with our clients, controlling those three currencies, balancing them, spending your energy in places where it matters most, where you'll get the most return on your investment of energy.
00:09:51
Speaker
Where can you spend your time, right?
00:09:53
Speaker
We talk about time management a lot.
00:09:55
Speaker
Where do you spend your time that gives you the most return on your time invested?
Tips for Successful Virtual Sales
00:09:59
Speaker
And then where do you spend your money, right?
00:10:01
Speaker
These are the three currencies.
00:10:02
Speaker
That's a whole separate episode and topic there.
00:10:05
Speaker
But I want you to realize that virtual sales may be the key to this.
00:10:11
Speaker
If you want to make more of your career, if you want to become a massive company.
00:10:17
Speaker
Personally, I want to grow Lumen Solar to be a nine-figure solar company.
00:10:23
Speaker
It's a hundred million in revenue.
00:10:25
Speaker
That's a huge goal.
00:10:26
Speaker
And I know virtual is going to be the key for us getting there mainly because I have a proven process for this that has worked and I'm able to scale my company at a rapid pace using these strategies.
00:10:36
Speaker
So if you want to take more control of your income, energy, and time, virtual sales is definitely one of the answers.
00:10:45
Speaker
Now, five steps here.
00:10:46
Speaker
I'm going to give you five tips on how to successfully sell virtually.
00:10:49
Speaker
I'm going to get straight to the point.
00:10:51
Speaker
And just so you know, right, this is right out of my program.
00:10:54
Speaker
The new program I'm going to talk about, I'm excited about is the Solar Spartan System.
00:11:00
Speaker
This is right out of one of the modules in there where we give you the exact blueprint to developing virtual sales processes that kick some serious ass.
00:11:09
Speaker
But we'll talk about that later, okay?
00:11:11
Speaker
Let's dive into the five tips.
00:11:13
Speaker
So number one here is about lead generation.
00:11:17
Speaker
Virtual sales starts at lead gen.
00:11:19
Speaker
And the reason it starts here is simple.
00:11:21
Speaker
If you go knock on somebody's door, okay?
00:11:24
Speaker
Say you're still knocking doors for lead generation, which is fine, right?
00:11:27
Speaker
You can make a lot of money doing so.
00:11:30
Speaker
If you tell that person, hey, and you connect with them on the door, hey, I'm just going to do a phone call instead, right, or a video presentation.
00:11:37
Speaker
I don't really want to come over here.
00:11:38
Speaker
They're going to think it's kind of weird because you connected with them one way, right, in person with various communication avenues, right, body language, tonality, how you're speaking to them.
00:11:51
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They could see you're a genuine person.
00:11:52
Speaker
And then you cut off those communications.
00:11:54
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There's a disconnect and rapport there.
00:11:57
Speaker
So where you generate the lead determines where you present.
00:12:02
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I'm going to say that again, where you generate and how you generate your lead and the expectations you put out with that lead is going to determine what kind of presentation is available or not available to you.
00:12:15
Speaker
And in this case, virtual or non-virtual.
Importance of Trust and Connection
00:12:19
Speaker
So the way you do this is simple.
00:12:21
Speaker
You got to master online lead generation, right?
00:12:24
Speaker
There's a lot of ways to do this.
00:12:25
Speaker
Facebook ads, chatbots, Facebook lead forms, funnels, webinars, LinkedIn prospecting, Instagram, Facebook groups, all the stuff we teach you in the Spartan system.
00:12:37
Speaker
It doesn't matter which one you pick, but you got to pick it and set the expectation with that homeowner the correct way that you're going to present virtually.
00:12:48
Speaker
Now there's three parts to this lead gen that are different, that are controversial, that are different than from what maybe some of you guys are using in other programs out there about lead generation.
00:12:59
Speaker
First and foremost, the hide the sales rep strategy, right?
00:13:03
Speaker
And I use this with Lumen Solar locally, right?
00:13:06
Speaker
When I'm selling in Utah or San Diego locally, we use what we call the hide the sales rep strategy where it's a community group, right?
00:13:13
Speaker
Where we're putting out articles and content there and we're able to connect the homeowner with us, the salespeople later on.
00:13:22
Speaker
And it's fine, they don't know who we are because we're gonna go over and build all the rapport and that connection with them
00:13:28
Speaker
across from the kitchen table.
00:13:31
Speaker
But let me ask you this.
00:13:32
Speaker
If you use the hide the sales rep methodology, and if you guys aren't familiar with that, there's plenty of videos and things that people are talking about, right?
00:13:41
Speaker
Just go look at any solar company page.
00:13:42
Speaker
A lot of them are doing that right now.
00:13:45
Speaker
If you use that strategy,
00:13:48
Speaker
You don't have any connection with the prospect prior to the appointment.
00:13:52
Speaker
And if there's one thing I want you to realize with virtual sales is yes, your objection of is it more difficult to connect with people, get them to trust you, absolutely, if you go at it a traditional way.
00:14:05
Speaker
The traditional way, of course, is you show up to the phone presentation or the webinar and you try to connect and build rapport with that prospect as if you guys have never known each other.
00:14:14
Speaker
That is not going to work.
00:14:17
Speaker
The key to virtual sales is to build that trust and that credibility with their prospect before you ever have a presentation.
00:14:26
Speaker
How you do this is simple.
00:14:28
Speaker
Focus on organic lead generation first.
00:14:31
Speaker
Master organic lead gen.
00:14:33
Speaker
This is connecting with a prospect via message, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, LinkedIn, whatever your platform is, text, phone calls.
00:14:42
Speaker
Master this organic lead gen first and foremost.
00:14:47
Speaker
This isn't gonna be a today type of sale.
00:14:49
Speaker
Virtual sales is long form.
00:14:51
Speaker
It's three, four, five months plus.
00:14:54
Speaker
You gotta have a killer follow-up process.
00:14:56
Speaker
You gotta use automation tools, right?
00:14:58
Speaker
Following up with these people.
00:15:00
Speaker
But organically, Jen's gonna do one thing
00:15:03
Speaker
best.
00:15:03
Speaker
It's going to develop trust with your prospect.
00:15:06
Speaker
They're going to trust that you're not just a fly by night sales guy because you've been talking to them via messenger.
00:15:12
Speaker
You've been following up with them the last one month, two, three, four, five, six, 12 months even.
00:15:19
Speaker
That is key.
00:15:21
Speaker
You have to show your face.
00:15:22
Speaker
And along with that is personal branding.
00:15:24
Speaker
You can't use hide the sales rep methods with virtual sales because they don't know who you are.
00:15:31
Speaker
And when it comes down to it, when push comes to shove, right?
00:15:34
Speaker
If a homeowner is going to get a virtual presentation from you and they've had two other in-person appointments where they actually got to shake the hand of that sales rep, they're nine times out of 10, if you've never met them before and you don't have a relationship, they're going to go with those in-person sales professionals.
00:15:53
Speaker
That's the matter of fact, right?
00:15:54
Speaker
People buy you.
00:15:55
Speaker
They buy the person and the connection.
00:15:58
Speaker
So the question with virtual isn't how do I connect with people on the phone call?
00:16:03
Speaker
It's how do I connect with people before the phone call?
00:16:06
Speaker
Organic lead generation, personal branding, and then you could think about paid traffic.
00:16:12
Speaker
Paid traffic does one thing and one thing only.
00:16:16
Speaker
It amplifies what your business and your sales pipeline is already doing.
00:16:21
Speaker
It's gonna show all of the problems.
00:16:23
Speaker
You know this too.
00:16:25
Speaker
If you guys, if this sounds familiar, right, you launch a Facebook ad campaign, you get just tons of leads, right?
00:16:32
Speaker
30, 40, 50 leads coming in the door.
00:16:34
Speaker
That's easy.
00:16:35
Speaker
A lot of people could do that.
00:16:36
Speaker
There's a lot of systems out there that help you do that.
00:16:39
Speaker
Especially in the last year, there's a lot of systems that have popped up.
00:16:43
Speaker
But what happens after those leads are generated?
00:16:45
Speaker
How many of those are actually sit down appointments?
00:16:49
Speaker
The difference is there's no connection.
00:16:53
Speaker
The reason your leads aren't converting into appointments is there's no personal connection.
00:16:59
Speaker
So that's the problem.
00:17:01
Speaker
Online lead chain and paid traffic just amplified that problem.
00:17:04
Speaker
It showed you at a bigger scale that, oh crap, we're not connecting with our prospect.
00:17:08
Speaker
They don't know who we are.
00:17:09
Speaker
They don't trust us.
00:17:10
Speaker
No wonder they don't want to meet with us.
00:17:17
Speaker
So to wrap up point number one, the golden rule of successfully connecting with your prospect is you need to develop more trust and a system to develop more trust than somebody would in an in-person appointment.
Mindset for Virtual Sales Success
00:17:32
Speaker
Okay?
00:17:34
Speaker
Step number two is a mindset issue.
00:17:37
Speaker
I get this a lot.
00:17:38
Speaker
James, I'm a traditional guy.
00:17:40
Speaker
I can't sell virtually.
00:17:42
Speaker
Or how can I connect with somebody, right?
00:17:44
Speaker
I don't think the prospect's gonna make a big purchase decision when I'm not across from the kitchen table with them, right?
00:17:52
Speaker
Shaking their hand, making eye contact.
00:17:54
Speaker
False.
00:17:55
Speaker
This is a limiting belief.
00:17:57
Speaker
Remember, and I've said a million times, you create your own obstacles in sales.
00:18:03
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You don't have sales problems.
00:18:05
Speaker
You don't have virtual sales problems.
00:18:07
Speaker
You don't have business problems.
00:18:08
Speaker
You have personal problems and beliefs that are reflecting in your business.
00:18:14
Speaker
You create your own objections.
00:18:16
Speaker
So if you believe right now that virtual sales is going to be hard, boom, it's going to be difficult.
00:18:24
Speaker
No question.
00:18:26
Speaker
If you believe that virtual sales is going to be hard to connect and build trust with them, then you're right.
00:18:32
Speaker
If you believe it's hard to do an online meeting or sell over the phone, boom, you're right.
00:18:38
Speaker
So you got to get your mindset right.
00:18:40
Speaker
There's no getting around this.
00:18:42
Speaker
That goes along with anything, right?
00:18:45
Speaker
But especially virtual sales.
00:18:47
Speaker
A lot of you guys think it's impossible because of course nobody's done it.
00:18:51
Speaker
This is one of the first, I'm one of the first few people have done this at scale, right?
00:18:55
Speaker
And you don't see a lot of people pulling this off.
00:18:58
Speaker
So it seems impossible at the surface until you actually do it and you install that belief.
00:19:04
Speaker
So the best way to overcome this is find an example, find somebody who is selling virtually, learn from them, figure out what they're doing so that you can believe it is possible.
00:19:17
Speaker
That belief you could then build off of and understand that you are really just creating your own roadblocks with this and that anybody could sell virtually.
00:19:26
Speaker
Think about it.
00:19:27
Speaker
We buy everything else online.
00:19:30
Speaker
We could buy cars now that get delivered to our home online without meeting anybody in person.
00:19:36
Speaker
Who decided solar had to be any different?
00:19:39
Speaker
Think about it.
00:19:40
Speaker
Why do we think the way we think?
00:19:43
Speaker
Really ponder that because I'm telling you, it's just because other people are doing it is why you believe that is the tried and true way.
00:19:52
Speaker
Number three, phone or online meeting.
00:19:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:57
Speaker
Those are the primary two ways to do a virtual sale.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yes, you can use a webinar.
00:20:01
Speaker
Yes, you can use a long form video, but when it comes down to it, when you answer those few objections that they have, you give that
Effective Presentation Techniques
00:20:08
Speaker
pitch.
00:20:08
Speaker
It's going to be a phone or an online meeting.
00:20:11
Speaker
Which one do you use?
00:20:12
Speaker
Is there a preference?
00:20:13
Speaker
Is one better than the other?
00:20:15
Speaker
One of the big mistakes that most people make, some of our students in the Spartan system when they first come in and they want to learn how to do this, is they attempt to overcomplicate the situation.
00:20:28
Speaker
They want to make it overcomplicated because it's cool.
00:20:30
Speaker
It's a new shiny object.
00:20:32
Speaker
It's exciting.
00:20:34
Speaker
So they go, what do they do?
00:20:35
Speaker
They go out and they make like five, six different variations of pitch decks and super long slides that are complicated with videos and all this stuff.
00:20:44
Speaker
They find the best software for sharing a screen and video with somebody.
00:20:49
Speaker
And what happens?
00:20:51
Speaker
The homeowner has no idea how to install the software.
00:20:54
Speaker
There's technical issues.
00:20:56
Speaker
Signal breaks up.
00:20:58
Speaker
They don't pay attention.
00:20:59
Speaker
They don't close.
00:20:59
Speaker
And it just becomes a distraction from their process.
00:21:04
Speaker
So the key with this is to simplify.
00:21:09
Speaker
I personally rarely do video presentations virtually.
00:21:15
Speaker
I literally just pick up the phone, have them put it on speakerphone so that they can hear me, both the husband and the wife or the spouses, right?
00:21:23
Speaker
And that's freaking it.
00:21:25
Speaker
And why does that work?
00:21:26
Speaker
Because they already know who I am.
00:21:27
Speaker
They've seen my face because I'm sending them sales videos.
00:21:31
Speaker
They've seen my content.
00:21:33
Speaker
They've messaged me before, back and forth, for maybe a couple of weeks.
00:21:38
Speaker
So they have a relationship with me before that.
00:21:40
Speaker
So they don't give two flying freaks, right, about if they see me or if the video's right or if my background looks good or how my slides look.
00:21:49
Speaker
simplify.
00:21:51
Speaker
And if you are going to use slides in a software, make it simple.
00:21:54
Speaker
Don't make them install a software, right?
00:21:56
Speaker
And make sure they're comfortable with the technology.
00:21:59
Speaker
Just ask your prospect, do you want to do a phone, an online meeting, or do you want to do in person?
00:22:05
Speaker
Just give them the options.
00:22:07
Speaker
So me, when I want to do virtual, it's just, do you prefer phone or do you want to hop on the computer for this?
00:22:12
Speaker
Oh, phone's fine.
00:22:14
Speaker
They just go for phone, right?
00:22:15
Speaker
And I can tell you this, an online video presentation is not going to build that much more trust than a phone one.
00:22:23
Speaker
What is going to build trust is making things a better experience for your prospect.
00:22:29
Speaker
not forcing them to download a video software if they suck at technology.
00:22:34
Speaker
That's going to build more trust for them than maybe a couple of slides you could have shown them.
Solar Spartan System Training Platform
00:22:40
Speaker
And if you're following the stuff we teach in the Spartan system where it's a simple 20-minute presentation, you don't need a complicated slide.
00:22:48
Speaker
There's honestly five, six slides I would use, and they have like 10 words on them.
00:22:53
Speaker
They have a little graph to show them the monthly payments.
00:22:56
Speaker
That's freaking it.
00:22:58
Speaker
So guys, I've got two more tips on this coming up, but we're going to go ahead and take a break and we'll be right back.
00:23:07
Speaker
Hey listeners, it's James Swiderski here.
00:23:08
Speaker
I promise we'll be right back to this fire content you're enjoying, but I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you about the number one training platform that I trust my own clients as well as my own solar team with, and it's called the Solar Spartan System.
00:23:22
Speaker
Now, the Solar Spartan System is not your traditional course.
00:23:25
Speaker
It's a solar sales transformation experience that's combined over 11,000 hours of research on today's top sales and marketing professionals and condensed their strategies into one streamlined system that practically forces you...
00:23:40
Speaker
yeah, that's right, forces you to have success in reaching your goals.
00:23:45
Speaker
And the best part is, guys, it's designed specifically for solar, and it's been tested on over 800 solar professionals to date.
00:23:53
Speaker
Now, you might be saying, James, that's cool, but...
00:23:56
Speaker
How does it force me to have success?
00:23:58
Speaker
And this is where it gets pretty ninja, my friends.
00:24:00
Speaker
So listen up.
00:24:01
Speaker
So here's what makes the Solar Spartan system so effective.
00:24:05
Speaker
It's the combination of applying the minimum amount of inputs, minimum effective dose of what it takes to get you to that next level.
00:24:14
Speaker
Combining that with the power of social accountability and then top-notch strategies used by today's solar professionals, solopreneurs, right?
00:24:24
Speaker
So what does this mean for you?
00:24:25
Speaker
No more watching 15-hour courses.
00:24:28
Speaker
No more banging your head trying to figure out how to apply Grant Cardone's strategies over here and Dan Lok's strategies over here to solar specifically.
00:24:37
Speaker
And no more guesswork.
00:24:39
Speaker
The Solar Spartan system is 100% action oriented, meaning you won't be given more content to study than what you need to actually reach your next four deals, 10 deals, 16, 20 deals, whatever your goal is, there's a milestone for it within the system.
00:24:56
Speaker
And to give you guys an idea of what you can expect out of this, I've taken some of my lowest producing reps and clients from closing one to maybe struggling to get that third or fourth deal a month, all the way to closing 18 to 20 deals a month in less than 90 days.
00:25:12
Speaker
It's that good.
00:25:14
Speaker
That's why I want to go ahead and offer you guys, Solapreneur listeners, a special discount on the Solar Spartan System.
00:25:20
Speaker
You guys head on over to Solarspartansystem.com.
00:25:23
Speaker
You could try it out for 30 days.
00:25:25
Speaker
Again, guys, don't put your success on hold.
00:25:27
Speaker
This is something I would not promote on the podcast if I didn't fully believe in it.
00:25:32
Speaker
It's something I trust my clients, but as well my own solar company, my own reps,
00:25:37
Speaker
They go through this exact same training.
00:25:40
Speaker
So again, head over to solarspartansystem.com to get started and my team and I will see you inside.
00:25:47
Speaker
Let's get back to the show.
00:25:49
Speaker
All right.
00:25:50
Speaker
Welcome back, solopreneurs.
00:25:52
Speaker
James Swiderski here.
00:25:53
Speaker
Today, we're talking about virtual sales, if you're just tuning in here.
00:25:57
Speaker
That little commercial break was about the solar Spartan system I talked about and the primary goal of the Spartan system and what I've used and learned from the last three years of study, working relentlessly on this system.
00:26:09
Speaker
is helping you have the opportunity to master lead generation through these skills.
00:26:14
Speaker
Master appointment setting, master closing, presenting in 20 minutes, right?
00:26:19
Speaker
Getting your prospects to sell you instead of the other way around.
00:26:23
Speaker
Master leads coming in automatically through paid advertising, organic free advertising.
00:26:29
Speaker
And mastering virtual sales and providing the tools and the platform it takes to do so.
00:26:35
Speaker
These are the skills that are taught in the Spartan system.
00:26:38
Speaker
And as I talked about in the transformation triangle, right?
00:26:41
Speaker
The methodology we use in the learning system I've developed for this is after mastering the skills, we help you develop mentorship, right?
00:26:50
Speaker
We assign every one of the Spartans as a member of this program a mentor who has actually used and had success at the thing you're trying to master.
Adapting to Market Conditions
00:26:58
Speaker
So if you're trying to master door knocking, we have Spartan mentors who are going to help you with door knocking.
00:27:04
Speaker
If you want to master paid ads, we have the best paid advertisers in the industry available to train you.
00:27:10
Speaker
Want to master virtual sales and making seven figures a year?
00:27:14
Speaker
We've got sales reps who are clearing a million dollars in commissions a year and they're going to help you do it.
00:27:20
Speaker
That's part of the Spartan system.
00:27:21
Speaker
We keep it simple, tactical, and give you what you need to get you results.
00:27:25
Speaker
That's enough about the commercial break.
00:27:27
Speaker
If you want to check that out, I've got a free live demo of this.
00:27:30
Speaker
Take a demo of the system.
00:27:31
Speaker
Take it for a test drive and tell me what you think about it and decide for yourself if it's going to be worth your investment in time.
00:27:38
Speaker
Go to solarspartansystem.com.
00:27:41
Speaker
All right, back to our topic here.
00:27:43
Speaker
So four, mastering markets.
00:27:48
Speaker
This is one of those things that I neglected to think about when I got into virtual sales and I got hit in the face with it pretty recently.
00:27:56
Speaker
This summer, I started doing sales for the first time with Lumen in North and South Carolina.
00:28:02
Speaker
Never sold over there before.
00:28:03
Speaker
Didn't know anything about the markets.
00:28:06
Speaker
Attempted to go in there, right, thinking that I knew enough, right?
00:28:09
Speaker
People were maybe 10 years behind the technology.
00:28:12
Speaker
They didn't understand it.
00:28:14
Speaker
They kind of spoke with a thick accent, right?
00:28:16
Speaker
And it was a little difficult for me to communicate with them.
00:28:19
Speaker
Those are the things I thought I knew.
00:28:21
Speaker
And then I got hit with, you know, some of the utility companies that are very anti-solar companies.
00:28:28
Speaker
And then I got hit with the motivations of those buyers.
00:28:32
Speaker
The people over there were motivated by money and they couldn't give two craps about the environment like in San Diego where I'm selling a lot of the time or Utah.
00:28:42
Speaker
So these are some of the things you got to be aware of.
00:28:45
Speaker
You got to know what you're getting into.
00:28:46
Speaker
What kind of solar makes the most sense?
00:28:48
Speaker
Is it a lease?
00:28:49
Speaker
Is a lease going to be best over here or is it going to be a loan system?
00:28:55
Speaker
Is it going to go against the net metering?
00:28:58
Speaker
Do they have good net metering policies?
00:28:59
Speaker
Is it time of use?
00:29:01
Speaker
How are they working over there, right?
Supporting Platforms for Virtual Sales
00:29:03
Speaker
Every market is completely different with solar.
00:29:06
Speaker
There's no similarities.
00:29:09
Speaker
Every utility company's got their own policy.
00:29:11
Speaker
Every buyer is going to be different.
00:29:13
Speaker
One of the main things I would say you need to focus on in markets is what is the motivation of that type of buyer and that customer?
00:29:21
Speaker
an easy tactical thing to do.
00:29:22
Speaker
If you want to jump into a new market, start selling, and you have the platform to do so, what I would do is I would go to Facebook, Instagram, your social media of choice, and start searching the location and just scroll through what those locals are talking about.
00:29:37
Speaker
How do they talk?
00:29:39
Speaker
What do they like?
00:29:40
Speaker
What kind of products do they like?
00:29:43
Speaker
Are they skeptical about solar or are they open to it?
00:29:46
Speaker
Have they been hit really hard with solar and you need to do a different angle?
00:29:50
Speaker
You've got to know your market.
00:29:51
Speaker
Understand what those people are thinking before you go in it blindly.
00:29:57
Speaker
Number five, the last piece here, you need a platform that allows you the flexibility of virtual sales.
00:30:05
Speaker
There are a lot of platforms out there.
00:30:07
Speaker
You could connect with an EPC company.
00:30:10
Speaker
You could connect with installers yourself.
00:30:13
Speaker
You could connect with companies like Power, right, where they have a fantastic platform for that.
00:30:18
Speaker
You could connect with any of these guys, and I've done all of the above.
00:30:22
Speaker
But I can tell you what's most important is you need to have confidence in the install, that the install is going to be a good product, that the company is going to take care of your customer.
00:30:31
Speaker
And that installer can back this up.
00:30:33
Speaker
They could show you some of these things.
00:30:36
Speaker
And then you need to have the support it takes.
00:30:38
Speaker
Be transparent.
00:30:40
Speaker
Tell the platform of choice.
00:30:42
Speaker
Tell the install company what you're trying to do, how you're going to do it.
00:30:48
Speaker
and see if they could support you along
Key Takeaways and Call to Action
00:30:50
Speaker
that route.
00:30:50
Speaker
See if they could provide the level of support with designs and systems and make sure that things like contracts are in place, contingency agreements, to where if the customer needed an electrical upgrade after a site survey, they could take care of that and you don't have to worry about it.
00:31:05
Speaker
These are some of the qualifications you wanna make sure with a good platform.
00:31:09
Speaker
And it all comes down to transparency, telling them you're trying to sell virtually, setting the intention, and getting the job done.
00:31:16
Speaker
So guys, that's it.
00:31:17
Speaker
Let's review this real quick.
00:31:20
Speaker
So you got to mask your lead gen.
00:31:22
Speaker
More importantly, you got to build trust and a method and system to build more trust upfront than at the appointment.
00:31:30
Speaker
Most of the trust has to be done upfront.
00:31:32
Speaker
How you present online or phone does not matter.
00:31:36
Speaker
What matters is your presentation is simple, sharp, clean, and effective.
00:31:42
Speaker
You create your own obstacles and objections with virtual sales.
00:31:47
Speaker
If you believe it's difficult, it will be.
00:31:49
Speaker
If you believe it's easy, it will be.
00:31:54
Speaker
You need to master your market.
00:31:55
Speaker
You need to be knowledgeable.
00:31:57
Speaker
You need to know just as much, if not more, than somebody who has been living in that market for 20 years.
00:32:04
Speaker
See what the locals are doing.
00:32:05
Speaker
See what their intentions are.
00:32:07
Speaker
See how they end up making purchasing decisions and their decisions on solar.
00:32:12
Speaker
Look at the pricing.
00:32:14
Speaker
How much does solar cost in that area so you can know what to base off of?
00:32:18
Speaker
Do your research.
00:32:20
Speaker
And then last, make sure you have a solid platform that allows you to accomplish your goals with virtual sales or heck, even non-virtual sales.
00:32:28
Speaker
Make sure you have a good company.
00:32:30
Speaker
Guys, that is it for this episode of the Solipreneur podcast.
00:32:35
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed it.
00:32:36
Speaker
I wanted to really lay down the exact methods and tips that I can offer on virtual sales.
00:32:43
Speaker
If you want to learn how to sell virtually, if you want access to a platform that I've been developing for the last three years with the best lead gen training on paid advertising, organic presentations, closing, and
00:32:56
Speaker
check out the Solar Spartan System again.
00:32:58
Speaker
I've been working my tail off the last three months, perfecting this, the final 10%, the final stretch to help you or your company get to the next level.
00:33:08
Speaker
Go to solarspartansystem.com.
00:33:11
Speaker
Check out a free demo today.
00:33:12
Speaker
Okay, guys, that's it for this episode.
00:33:15
Speaker
As always,
00:33:16
Speaker
subscribe, right?
00:33:17
Speaker
Go leave us a review on iTunes.
00:33:19
Speaker
I'm going to be making appearances on this.
00:33:21
Speaker
I want to make sure the content on this podcast is a quality world-class, giving you all the tools and knowledge that I've developed.
00:33:28
Speaker
That's going to help you be successful in this industry.
00:33:31
Speaker
Okay, guys, I'll catch you later.