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 fail.
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 solopreneur, you might ask?
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.
Speaker: What's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Taylor Armstrong back with another podcast.
Speaker: Today, we're going to be talking about success, the big S word, how bad do you want success, and do your actions match up with the success you truly want in solar.
Speaker: We're going to be talking about that today and much more.
Speaker: Welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: Hope you're doing awesome.
Speaker: Hope you're finishing up the summer strong or closing a lot of deals whenever you're listening to this podcast.
Speaker: We're coming at you and we are free and available on Spotify, iTunes, wherever you listen to podcasts every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker: Make sure you tune in.
Speaker: And I can't wait for the next podcast.
Speaker: This is going to be somewhat of a preview for the next podcast because we have someone that is probably the top 10
Speaker: producing rep in solar.
Speaker: His name is Ricardo Richie.
Speaker: You should have heard of him.
Speaker: He's been on the podcast.
Speaker: I think it's been a year, a year and a half that he was last on the podcast.
Speaker: And just breaking records and seeing what he's been able to do.
Speaker: Got a triple golden, maybe just a double golden door, triple, but had over 400 sales last year, over 200.
Speaker: 300, I believe, went to install.
Speaker: Just absolute insanity.
Speaker: So we're going to be hearing from him for the second time on the podcast.
Speaker: He graced us with his presence and he just got me thinking about a lot of things and really the success or the actions that we take in solar.
Speaker: Are they matching up with what we actually want?
Speaker: And so that's what I'm going to be talking about previewing a little bit today because something that we talked quite a bit about on Ricardo's podcast is coming up here is just how he sees with reps, how they'll come to him and they'll say, hey, Ricardo, I want to do this many deals.
Speaker: I want to get a double, triple Golden Door award just like you did.
Speaker: What do I have to do?
Speaker: And he's saying that a lot of people are saying they want these big grand things.
Speaker: They want to hit these huge numbers.
Speaker: But then when he tells them what's required,
Speaker: All of a sudden, they're not as excited about going after that goal.
Speaker: So I think most people don't realize in order to hit these insane numbers, you got to sacrifice a lot.
Speaker: OK, and that's the second S word that we're going to be talking about in the podcast today is sacrifice.
Speaker: something that Taylor McCarthy would always talk about when I was in the Noxstar program with him is next to the word success in the dictionary is sacrifice.
Speaker: Okay, one more time.
Speaker: Next, the word success in the dictionary is sacrifice.
Speaker: And if we're not willing to sacrifice for our goals, to sacrifice for what we truly want, for the income we want to make, for the amount of deals we want to
Speaker: close, really just anything we're trying to accomplish in life.
Speaker: If we don't have the sacrifice, then we're not going to hit the goals.
Speaker: So that's the topic.
Speaker: Ricardo on this next podcast, he just hit a huge feat of closing.
Speaker: I think it was 115 deals in 60 days.
Speaker: So I was asking him, I'm like, man, what was your schedule?
Speaker: What did you need to do to actually hit this?
Speaker: When I did the podcast with Ricardo, I
Speaker: You may see if you see some of the video, but this guy is looking skinny.
Speaker: This guy is looking like he came out of concentration camp.
Speaker: Okay, maybe not that bad, but I can tell he's lost weight and I've seen him practically skin and bones at times.
Speaker: And that's part of what he told me is he said, Taylor, most people don't realize that I literally wake up, go to the gym, then I'm selling all day long.
Speaker: That's all I do.
Speaker: He's eating, sleeping, breathing cells.
Speaker: He's with a customer.
Speaker: He's at a door all day long.
Speaker: That's his pure focus.
Speaker: Everything else he's having someone else do.
Speaker: He's not washing his clothes.
Speaker: He's not doing dishes at night.
Speaker: Nothing.
Speaker: He's just doing the small things that he knows gets his mind right, like going to the gym.
Speaker: But other than that, he's in appointments all day long, just selling.
Speaker: So that's one of the sacrifices he made.
Speaker: And if you are someone that wants to hit those numbers, ask yourself, are you willing to do the same thing?
Speaker: Are you willing to be on the doors at 9 a.m., work until 9 p.m., 12-hour days, probably longer?
Speaker: Are you willing to sacrifice sleep?
Speaker: Are you willing to sacrifice food?
Speaker: Are you willing to sacrifice relationships?
Speaker: Not forever, but...
Speaker: In order to have extreme success, these guys are sacrificing relationships as well.
Speaker: So if you're answering no to any of these questions, then you're probably not going to hit those types of numbers.
Speaker: Newsflash.
Speaker: Because Ricardo, he is one of the top sellers, but he's also putting in the effort.
Speaker: And something I thought was interesting that he said, and I hope I don't give away.
Speaker: I'm spoiling a lot here.
Speaker: So if you think this is good, wait till next podcast.
Speaker: But something else he said is that there were weeks where he sold at an extremely high level.
Speaker: We're talking 10 plus deals.
Speaker: that he was actually disappointed because he knew he didn't put in the effort that he could have put in.
Speaker: There are weeks where he was more proud of himself for selling three or four on the week because he knows he put in more effort that week than some other weeks where he got five deals in the first few days and he slowed down, put his foot on the brake.
Speaker: So I thought that's an interesting thing is that how many how many weeks do we have where we're at a couple of deals on the week.
Speaker: It's a Monday or Tuesday.
Speaker: We're feeling good about ourselves and we put our foot on the brakes.
Speaker: I've been guilty of it many times.
Speaker: So important differentiating factor between the great people in this industry and the average people is that they speed up when others slow down.
Speaker: When they've got a couple deals, maybe they close two, three on a Monday, they're taking that momentum into the entire week.
Speaker: A lot of average mediocre salespeople, maybe they'll make 10 grand two days in a week and they're off on vacation.
Speaker: They're like, sweet, I'm taking the rest of the week off.
Speaker: But that's what separates the contenders from the pretenders is they are speeding up, especially when they have weeks like that.
Speaker: But one other thing I want to talk about...
Speaker: is just the importance of knowing your numbers.
Speaker: And again, we'll get more into this in next episode with Ricardo.
Speaker: But you need to know the numbers you truly need to hit.
Speaker: Essentially, the sacrifice you need to make with your numbers to hit your goals.
Speaker: It goes back to if you say you want to do eight deals in a week,
Speaker: Do you know what's required to hit that?
Speaker: And I'm willing to bet a lot of people listening to this, they don't know their numbers.
Speaker: They don't know what's actually required to hit it.
Speaker: Another person that I heard talk about this recently is River Skinner.
Speaker: He has this podcast called The Valor Morning.
Speaker: Great podcast.
Speaker: We're going to go check it out.
Speaker: Shout out to River.
Speaker: He's been on the show many times, but this guy, he sells an extremely high level as well.
Speaker: And he recently finished up a blitz where he closed 20 deals in 10 days.
Speaker: And so he did a podcast on it, what it took to hit those numbers and
Speaker: And he broke it down just to a ridiculousness where he knows, OK, I need to get in this many appointments.
Speaker: I need to book this many leads, book this many appointments.
Speaker: So I think after breaking it down, you can listen to the episode.
Speaker: But he said he needed to set 80 appointments.
Speaker: OK, he knew he was going to sit down with 40 of them.
Speaker: And then he knew he was going to close 20 of them.
Speaker: Those were his stats on it.
Speaker: He closed 20 deals in the 10 days.
Speaker: So he breaks it down.
Speaker: He's like, okay, all I need to do in order to hit this is focus on the top part of that funnel, the leads.
Speaker: I know if I can get 80 appointments set, I'm going to close 20 deals.
Speaker: That's just how the ratios work out.
Speaker: So he went out and he did, he broke it down.
Speaker: He knew he needed work X amount of hours.
Speaker: I think, I mean, he was working all day long.
Speaker: Obviously it's insane numbers.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But he put in the sacrifice.
Speaker: He was, um, when appointments fell through, he didn't go and sit in his car.
Speaker: He was out grinding.
Speaker: He knew he had to get those 80 appointments set and he pulled it off.
Speaker: Okay, so it's another important thing is do you know your numbers?
Speaker: Do you know how many leads you have to set to actually get the amount of deals you need to close, you want to close?
Speaker: Okay, maybe your ratios are similar to that.
Speaker: That's a good ratio that River talked about.
Speaker: But I would say that's a good number to shoot for is you're going to set appointments, half of them are going to actually sit down.
Speaker: And then if you're a good closer, you should be able to close around 50% if you're a great closer.
Speaker: If you're starting out, you should be able to close 20 or 30 percent.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So think about those ratios.
Speaker: I recently started using a different app to track my numbers.
Speaker: I was using an app called Counter.
Speaker: This one, I believe, is called Streaks.
Speaker: I'll post it in the show notes.
Speaker: Sorry, I'm getting the apps mixed up.
Speaker: But it's an app where you just check off your numbers as you hit them.
Speaker: Hey, you're out there, you're knocking doors, you're tracking your conversations.
Speaker: And what's really important as you're tracking your numbers is you need to keep a record of them.
Speaker: Hey, this app does it in the app.
Speaker: It shows you your stats on it.
Speaker: Sorry, the app is called Tally, by the way.
Speaker: But this app, it breaks it down.
Speaker: It tracks your numbers weekly so you can go back and see what the stats are.
Speaker: So very important tool you need to utilize to make sure you are putting in the inputs to actually get what you say you want to hit, to actually hit your goals.
Speaker: Okay, so those are the important points of the podcast today.
Speaker: Know your numbers and then know the sacrifice you need to put out to actually hit the goals you desire.
Speaker: And then last thing, just to wrap up, I'm a big Eric Thomas fan.
Speaker: If you've listened to Eric Thomas, this guy's motivational.
Speaker: Maybe we'll get him on the podcast someday.
Speaker: But he talks about how bad you want the success.
Speaker: He has an awesome speech on it.
Speaker: So I want to play just a piece of it.
Speaker: You can go listen to it.
Speaker: It's on YouTube.
Speaker: But I want to play a piece of it.
Speaker: And I think it ties in very, very good to what we're talking about here.
Speaker: It was a young man who, you know, he wanted to make a lot of money.
Speaker: And so he went to this guru.
Speaker: He told the guru, you know, I want to be on the same level you are.
Speaker: And so the guru said, if you want to be on the same level I'm on, I'll meet you tomorrow at the beach at 4 a.m.
Speaker: He's like, the beach?
Speaker: I said, I want to make money.
Speaker: I don't want to swim.
Speaker: Guru said, if you want to make money, I'll meet you tomorrow, 4 a.m.
Speaker: So the young man got there at 4 a.m.
Speaker: He already rock and roll, got on a suit.
Speaker: He should have wore shorts.
Speaker: The old man grabs his hand and said, how bad do you want to be successful?
Speaker: He said, real bad.
Speaker: He said, walk on out in the water.
Speaker: When he walks out to the water, it goes waist deep.
Speaker: So he's like, this guy crazy.
Speaker: I want to make money.
Speaker: He got me out here swimming.
Speaker: I didn't ask to be a lifeguard.
Speaker: I want to make money.
Speaker: So he said, come on a little further.
Speaker: Walked out a little further.
Speaker: Then he had it right around this area.
Speaker: So this old man crazy.
Speaker: He's making money, but he crazy.
Speaker: He said, come on out a little further.
Speaker: Came out a little further, right at his mouth.
Speaker: My man like, I'm about to go back in here.
Speaker: This guy, this is mine.
Speaker: The old man said, I thought you said you wanted to be successful.
Speaker: He said, I do.
Speaker: He said, walk a little further.
Speaker: He came, dropped his head in, held him down, holding down.
Speaker: Just before my man was about to pass out, he raised him up.
Speaker: He said, I got a question for you.
Speaker: When you were underwater, what did you want to do?
Speaker: He said I wanted to breathe.
Speaker: He told the guy, when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.
Speaker: The only thing you're trying to do is get some air.
Speaker: You don't care about no basketball game.
Speaker: You don't care what's on TV.
Speaker: You don't care about nobody calling you.
Speaker: You don't care about a party.
Speaker: The only thing you care about when you're trying to breathe is to get some fresh air.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: And when you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful, as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.
Speaker: There you have it.
Speaker: Extremely powerful.
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed the motivational music next to it.
Speaker: Okay, so hopefully that gets you fired up.
Speaker: When you want success as much as you want to breathe, then that's when you're going to find it.
Speaker: So powerful.
Speaker: Love it.
Speaker: And I think it applies so much to what we're doing in solar, in door-to-door.
Speaker: If you want to have success, if you want to make the money that the top earners are making, you need to be willing to put in the sacrifice that it takes.
Speaker: Hey, another line by one of my friends, Chris Munizzi.
Speaker: Stop checking your Facebook and start facing your checkbook.
Speaker: Okay, stop checking your Facebook, start facing your checkbook.
Speaker: Hopefully that inspires you today.
Speaker: Send this to someone that is dragging their feet in solar.
Speaker: You deserve to have the success.
Speaker: You just need to put in the sacrifice to achieve that success.
Speaker: And remember, if you're not seeing success right now, if you're sacrificing, these things don't come overnight.
Speaker: It took me a long time to find success.
Speaker: And there's still days where I feel like I'm just going through the motions, not seeing the success I want.
Speaker: Extremely frustrating at times.
Speaker: But this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Speaker: So go out there, put in the sacrifice.
Speaker: And I promise you, you will see the fruits of your labors if you stick with it over time.
Speaker: And that's the podcast today.
Speaker: And make sure you tune in next podcast.
Speaker: We're going to hear from one of the greatest of all time in solar, Ricardo Rucci.
Speaker: He's going to be dropping some bombs.
Speaker: Yes, we'll see you on the next one.
Speaker: Please send this to someone.
Speaker: Please rate and review us if you have not.
Speaker: Wouldn't mean a ton.
Speaker: And we'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker: What's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed the episode.
Speaker: Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
Speaker: One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
Speaker: What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
Speaker: You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
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 Solrepreneur.
Speaker: We put them together all in one sheet.
Speaker: So you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet.
Speaker: So go download it right now.
Speaker: It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes.
Speaker: Go download it right now.
Speaker: And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
Speaker: That's going to show you how.
Speaker: So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.
