Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
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.
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.
Speaker: What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Hey, solarpreneurs, Taylor here.
Speaker: I wanted to give a quick intro to this next episode.
Speaker: As you heard on last episode, we had Josue Phillips.
Speaker: What you may not know is he is co-founder of a software called Pipe Solar.
Speaker: We're going to have this co-founder on, Dojin.
Speaker: They're going to be talking about how their software can help you crush more deals, be more organized, and follow up better with your customers.
Speaker: And we're going to
Speaker: With that, we're going to be having some continuation on that.
Speaker: We're going to be talking more about CRMs, proposal softwares, and how it can help you be more effective in your solar business.
Speaker: Hope you enjoy today's episode and keep crushing those deals.
Speaker: All right, what's going on?
Speaker: We are live here at SolarCon 2023.
Speaker: How's it going?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Welcome and we're here with these legends here.
Speaker: We got Doe and we got Josue who's a familiar face.
Speaker: And if you don't know, thank you for having us.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I'm excited to have you guys on.
Speaker: So yeah, you guys want to, so they run a, well Doe, I know you're kind of taking the reins on this, but you run Pipe.
Speaker: So do you guys want to introduce yourselves a little bit?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, it's the first time at the conference here.
Speaker: A lot of people have seen Pipe.
Speaker: But Pipe Solar is a design and proposal company for taking a lot of pain points from existing products out there and kind of solving that problem.
Speaker: But it is a B2B software for solar companies to kind of carry on with the designs and proposals.
Speaker: Man, I was tired of using five different software companies that wouldn't interact with each other.
Speaker: And we got together and we're creating that one-stop shop for all of Solar needs.
Speaker: Literally, that's what we're trying to create.
Speaker: Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker: And I think you guys make a great team because we all know Josue.
Speaker: He's been on the podcast.
Speaker: So if you haven't listened to him, we'll link in the show notes.
Speaker: But I know you've been running with Solar for a while.
Speaker: So it seems like you probably know the direct needs, boots on the ground, knowing what the needs are.
Speaker: It's pretty cool.
Speaker: It's a very great dynamic.
Speaker: I think that's one of the mistakes from software companies that they don't understand their clients.
Speaker: They don't understand their clients.
Speaker: They don't know their needs.
Speaker: And that's why we work so well together because being so long in the industry, I really understand.
Speaker: what EPC sales organizations reps need and we can create that not only that for example we have some project management features that we have been working on that makes way easier their life of the project coordinators and people in the back office moving the projects forward yeah
Speaker: Well, yeah, and I did a little demo and I'll let you guys, you know, talk more about some features and stuff like that.
Speaker: But, yeah, so it seems like those kind of like the mad scientists in the background.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Getting stuff going.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, yeah, I think there's a big need.
Speaker: So what before we get into, like, you know, the features and you guys can tell more about what it does.
Speaker: But what led you guys to, I guess, like see the need?
Speaker: I know you talked that you were using five different softwares, but how did you guys come together with the background of starting pipe and everything?
Speaker: Yeah, well, it's actually a very interesting story.
Speaker: I haven't met Josue at all until two years ago.
Speaker: I was a CPA, so I was looking for the CPA exams.
Speaker: And at that point, I was very familiar with the 10Q and 10K, the financial statements for the publicly traded companies.
Speaker: So I was shorting In-Face stocks actually and it kept going up.
Speaker: So I was like, what is this company doing?
Speaker: So I read their financial statements and I was very mind blown about the solar industry guidance and projection.
Speaker: And I said, I kind of got to know about solar industry by reading the financial statements.
Speaker: So I joined Facebook group.
Speaker: And I said, I got to get into solar.
Speaker: Power of social media.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I dropped becoming a CPA and I went full on solar.
Speaker: I joined Facebook groups, kind of slid into a lot of people's DMs, got to know about solar industry.
Speaker: And I got to meet Josue through a Facebook message.
Speaker: So if anybody's doubting the power of sliding DMs, two years later, here we are at the solar conference.
Speaker: Man, I met my wife and my business partner on Facebook.
Speaker: So I do believe in the thing.
Speaker: So if there's anybody doubting the power, just go for it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, that's really cool.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I have a lot of people that I just ignore.
Speaker: So you actually.
Speaker: So was it just like.
Speaker: You never know when you're going to meet your next business partner.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, what caught your attention?
Speaker: What did he send you to actually?
Speaker: So I was like, oh my goodness.
Speaker: All of like another guy trying to sell appointments.
Speaker: And he was like, no, no, no, not at all.
Speaker: He was like, can you jump and assume?
Speaker: And I was like, sure.
Speaker: And I was trying to call him out because it looked a lot like another software.
Speaker: And I was like, bro, are you trying to white label this product?
Speaker: And he was like, no, I created it all.
Speaker: And then he showed me the code and I was like, oh, holy crap.
Speaker: And I was like, what else can you do?
Speaker: and he was like anything and i was like what do you mean because a bunch of people say that and then he showed me and i was like wow these guys crazy good fast and when he told me i'm a cpa i was like what you're a cpa how do you learn and he was like i pretty much taught myself and he was really really high school in college too for computer science so i had the basics uh but through the partnership i
Speaker: Went back to learning more.
Speaker: We also have internal engineers that we work with and started building products.
Speaker: I went to Josue, you have a domain expertise.
Speaker: Well, there's some pain points that you're facing.
Speaker: So we kind of get together, build pipe solo together.
Speaker: Yeah, I asked him, hey, I would love to see this on the platform.
Speaker: And that was even before working together.
Speaker: How quick can you do it?
Speaker: And he did it in like day and a half.
Speaker: And I was like, holy crap, holy crap.
Speaker: And that's when I switched the conversation and I said, hey, are you looking for somebody to partner with?
Speaker: Because we could work together very well.
Speaker: I know what the industry needs and I understand what's going on.
Speaker: And you know what, we've got to develop to be ahead of the curve.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: and we started working together in the rest of history we have been growing like crazy and we have a bunch of new clients and a bunch of people dropping their current services to work with us because it's easier cheaper and more efficient yeah that's really cool because to be honest when i first came and met doe yesterday um i'm like is this guy lost or something i like you look so young man yeah so you're i don't know if you get that a lot but i do it's impressive that you
Speaker: It's also like an Asian guy at the conference.
Speaker: You don't see a lot of Asian people here.
Speaker: My age.
Speaker: A solar panel manufacturer, what is he doing here?
Speaker: Yeah, what is he doing here?
Speaker: He's trying to sell some solar panels from China, but actually trying to solve some big problems in terms of the
Speaker: proposals, designing, as far as installers connecting with the dealers.
Speaker: So we have a installer network that can reach out to a lot of dealers, but also dealers can push the deals through a lot of installers.
Speaker: And we have a collaborative tools where they can discuss project stages, say where the activity is as far as the projects.
Speaker: So we go beyond the design and proposal.
Speaker: We focus on the project management.
Speaker: and collaboration tools.
Speaker: Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker: And we can talk about that, but like, I know it's been a big problem for me communicating with the installers and them dropping the ball on things.
Speaker: So I think you guys would agree that communication is super important now, especially when you're running a dealer trying to run with like multiple installation companies, EPCs, it would be a huge headache.
Speaker: So I think that's something that seems like you guys are solving and helping a lot with your software.
Speaker: The great thing about PIPE is that we are built by Solar Pros for Solar Pros and we heard you guys.
Speaker: So for example, you can check what's happening with your project at every stage.
Speaker: So when, for example, permit was filed, you have a visual on when that permit was filed.
Speaker: When you got the engineering stampings and the signs, you can see them.
Speaker: We're actually working on a platform where homeowners can also see what's going on with their project.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Because just imagine, you order a $10 item on Amazon and they keep you updated throughout the process, but out of a sudden you buy an $80,000 solar project and they don't tell you anything for seven months and out of a sudden they're calling you like, hey, we have to extend your loan, but we're good to go to install.
Speaker: And they were like, and it has happened like, oh, we already got solar with somebody else.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Because they never reached out.
Speaker: So we're working on that so we can provide good communication and the homeowners, dealers, EPCs, they can all be communicated in a very easy way.
Speaker: Very straightforward.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a huge need for that because I've been just doing like band-aid solutions.
Speaker: I'm selling.
Speaker: I'm not even like running my own dealer right now.
Speaker: Getting a VA to keep posted with things.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I would say one thing that we're working on right now that we're going to ship in a few weeks is the customer portal.
Speaker: So a lot of installers, after they sign a contract with the homeowners, homeowners are kind of left stranded on stages, communications.
Speaker: So we're going to build a customer portal for all the homeowners to kind of click on the link, check the latest stage.
Speaker: But also we have a referral portal.
Speaker: button so they can refer to other people for these dollars they have a copy of a contract if there's any change orders they have a link with the new action items where they can sign a new contract and stuff like that so we're trying to solve some big problems here so yeah no that's much needed again like I just met with
Speaker: Doug Robinson the other day, Legacy Power, and did a podcast with him, but they have a lot of these things you're saying.
Speaker: They have their own team of software engineers.
Speaker: I know these massive companies just make their own software to do some of these things.
Speaker: But it's like for us guys that are just running smaller dealers, smaller organizations, we're like running 10 different softwares and like running around trying to communicate.
Speaker: It's really expensive, brother.
Speaker: So it's extremely expensive.
Speaker: And that's one of the highlights of Pipe.
Speaker: We haven't talked about it, but you can create instant designs.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they're very, very accurate.
Speaker: So it's not just like those tools where you can go and lay panels, just pressing fingers and it looks horrible.
Speaker: Ours looks really great.
Speaker: You can create proposals on the spot.
Speaker: I have time and you can actually be creating the proposal to run in credit in under three, four minutes.
Speaker: So it's really great.
Speaker: Other of the highlights, if I may, is that you can even process change orders inside of PIPE.
Speaker: so you don't have to call good leap or mosaic to process change orders you can literally just press two clicks you can let's say update the amount you got an adder you gotta add you know like an adder or something like that you can do it and trigger a change order that will send the homeowner the loan documents so you don't have to call anybody now so it's just saving time in accelerating the installation process yeah that's awesome
Speaker: Well, yeah, as we start wrapping up here, I know you guys got competition.
Speaker: There's, you know, there's Aurora, there's Solo.
Speaker: Solo.
Speaker: And so some people listening are surprising themselves.
Speaker: Man, our company has this or the difference.
Speaker: Like we have this.
Speaker: So why do we need to check out these guys?
Speaker: And so I know we've talked about some features.
Speaker: That's I don't think some of these other guys.
Speaker: But what's your guy if you're trying to like explain it?
Speaker: What's like your competitive advantage?
Speaker: Why should people switch to you?
Speaker: Number one is the pricing.
Speaker: So we're $15 per proposal with unlimited revisions.
Speaker: It allows sales reps to kind of design on the spot.
Speaker: So you don't have to kind of wait 30 minutes or 20 minutes.
Speaker: Also, we have a project management site.
Speaker: So rather than just focusing on proposal, we have a backend.
Speaker: project management, a collaborative tool between installers and dealers.
Speaker: Dealers can search for different installers, push deals through within their dealers portal.
Speaker: So also we're working on our own AI model called Allray.
Speaker: So we're trading a model from the scratch.
Speaker: So essentially what we're going to do with is you provide the address and the consumption.
Speaker: And then we're going to spit out the perfectly.
Speaker: So we detect the roof structures, initialize the setbacks and then put the solar panels at the most optimal place.
Speaker: And we're going to make it as a standalone software company product.
Speaker: And we're working with RepCard, other companies out there to utilize our designing tool.
Speaker: So we have a lot of things in the roadmap and pipeline.
Speaker: But continue to solve the problems customer portals and many things.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fire.
Speaker: So guys anyone listen this I know we got cells reps just listening to this But yeah, I mean a lot of this stuff because because you guys like a soldier wants to use it's more just like companies and start using it right?
Speaker: This is a great way where they can make money because let's say there is a rep or a dealer and they really want to use PIPE with their installer.
Speaker: They can go to the installer, provide them the link for our affiliate marketing and they can make up to 10% of the revenue from their installer.
Speaker: So whatever the installer pays as a whole for all their proposals, they can make 10% revenue.
Speaker: So, yeah, you can say, oh, yeah, it's only for EPCs.
Speaker: Well, you can refer your EPCs and make money doing it.
Speaker: So that's a great feature we just enabled.
Speaker: And it's super transparent.
Speaker: And literally when the installer pays, the rep or the person that referred them gets paid.
Speaker: So it's really cool.
Speaker: We're all about transparency and, you know, trying to provide solutions.
Speaker: It's got to be a win-win.
Speaker: It's always got to be a win-win.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, so even if you're just a sales rep listening to this or maybe you're not running your own deal or whatever.
Speaker: I mean, I'm sure you guys do demos and all that.
Speaker: So what I've done, like, sometimes I don't have control.
Speaker: Like a lot of these people here at that booth says Solarcon.
Speaker: It's like we're not making decisions sometimes for these softwares and tools.
Speaker: But what I have done is you go back to your company, you can make recommendations.
Speaker: So even if you're just using maybe Solo or different software,
Speaker: I think it doesn't hurt to go to like maybe your owners, company leaders.
Speaker: You guys do demos, right?
Speaker: All the time.
Speaker: Actually, we're going to enable you a link so you can just put it there.
Speaker: And if there's anybody interested on a demo, they can just click your link.
Speaker: Yeah, perfect.
Speaker: So guys, go check them out.
Speaker: And so if people do want to get a demo or yeah, we'll put the link here in the show notes, but if they want to reach out, get a demo, what's the best way to do that?
Speaker: The best way to get in contact with us and get a full demo is to go to a pipe.solar.
Speaker: There's a big button says book a demo and they will probably see me in this one call.
Speaker: Okay Awesome.
Speaker: We appreciate you guys coming on and can't wait to see what's next you guys are Changing the way we communicate and that's what's about.
Speaker: We got to evolve as an industry We got to get better Thanks to software like this that we're doing that and keeping customers happy.
Speaker: Wonderful.
Speaker: Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker: It's always a pleasure to be here.
Speaker: Yeah, great.
Speaker: Thanks guys
Speaker: Hey, solarpreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your cells increase?
Speaker: Well, so was I, and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
Speaker: So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free cells diagnostic.
Speaker: We'll break down your cells process.
Speaker: figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve so act now we have six bucks for this month so book a call now don't miss out what you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com that's taylor at solarpreneurs with an s.com i'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best so shoot that email and let's increase your sales
