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From Top Producer to Top Leader
173 Plays3 days ago
Sam Manley is back for another episode to talk about his newfound position as an executive in one of the leading solar companies in the country. Alongside discussing incentivizing the sales process and new system implementations, we also focus on establishing personal worth and the work-life balance in a relatively demanding industry.
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Transcript
Taylor Armstrong's Solar Success Story
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made in 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.
The Rise of Solopreneurs in Solar Sales
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask? 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. All right, what's going on, everybody? We have got someone that's a
Sam Manley's Solar Record and Growth
00:00:44
Speaker
returning guest. This guy, he set, I think, the record at the time.
00:00:49
Speaker
i don't know if it's been broken, but ah the first podcast we did, he did 60-plus deals in a month. with his company and um just absolutely crushed that month.
00:01:00
Speaker
And he's been ah continually growing since then. So we're excited to welcome back for the second time on the show, Mr. Sam Manley. Thanks for coming back on with us, Sam.
Sam's Solar Journey and Leadership at SpartanX
00:01:11
Speaker
Yo, what's up, guys? Nah, it's always an honor, man. I think I told you the last podcast when I first got into solar, deep dove into your podcast, try to learn how to like knock doors and stuff. So it's always cool when it comes like full circle and things you know play out lot.
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, it's fun to have repeat guests. And especially ah what gets me super excited is um I've had some people that I've had on the show that I talk to them now and they're not in solar or even worse. I've had some people where I found out weren't weren't like that legit the first time I had them on. So it's super cool to have someone on for the second time that's that's even growing since what you've done before. And you guys have built a massive organization. You're doing lots of really cool things with a Spartan now. So ah yeah, man, just big congrats to your success. and i'm Really cool to see how much you guys have grown in. By the way, i think it's been two years now.
Navigating Market Changes with Confidence
00:02:00
Speaker
Excited to dive into it.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. I know. I've seen a lot of people exit the industry. Like you and me were talking earlier. you know There's always some story about how solar is going to die. But I always say all the time, like the QB that stays in the pocket the longest throws the most touchdowns. I found the pocket I want to be in, so I'm going to hang out in it.
00:02:16
Speaker
Love that. People have left a lot of people even on my team. So it's been tough to see since you've been in solar. Was there a point where you question like leaving back to know you're doing real estate before. Did you ever consider like switching out or any any doubts you had? or It's pretty much been once you gotten into it.
00:02:35
Speaker
It's been all full full in and all good. I think I've been pretty much like 100% all in. I mean, I think i also know just the way like markets change, even though like something real estate, like the market's really hot and then it cools down and it gets hot. Like it's just like cyclical market, more like market moving. And it happens to like every industry. But the leadership I have here with like Alex Smith and and Brian Schombach, like... They're very good at painting the vision, very high level leaders on like where we're going and what we're doing.
00:03:01
Speaker
So it's made it very easy to stay confident, even when it's like, you know, turbulent times, we don't what's going to happen.
Shifting Focus from Sales to Operations
00:03:07
Speaker
That's true. First podcast we did, you were just off your, I think it was 61 deals that month. Do you remember the exact number? That month it was, yeah, 61 deals. Have you ah broke that record since then or that that's still the record that stands?
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, did 74 last February. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. I didn't know that. That was my last day. Okay. yeah okay You're like, all right. I'm i'm fine with 74. Yeah.
00:03:33
Speaker
yeah yeah for a while Yeah. It kind of burned me out a little, man. I actually, it's funny. I got done with that and I was so exhausted because I was like a full month push away from home, you know, away from my fiance and your kids. So I actually flipped a setting and just started trying to like run ups home with my guys, get them in homes and stuff just because i was so mentally exhausted being at the table.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's got to be exhausting, Jaze. Can't even imagine. Must have been working up break of dawn till 10, 11, midnight. and that was At that point, solar was like no longer fun. We're just trying to get get it done.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah, Jaze. Well, I hope you took a vacation after that month. That's crazy. But no, congrats. I didn't know that. So that's awesome. And we'll link to the first podcast we did. um we actually just republished it recently. So I think it was like last month we published it again. So people can go check that out here, how to hit those big numbers in a month. um But so that was, I think, a few years back.
Transitioning to Company Efficiency and Growth
00:04:30
Speaker
So maybe just walk us through what are the biggest things that have ah changed in the past couple of years? Catching up our listeners, Sam, what's ah different now versus then? The biggest change is you know me and ah you know my best friend Ali, we were running a division together and we had a lot of success. And also we worked our way up into the company where he's the COO of SpartanX and I'm the VP of sales. So there's been a lot of growth, a lot of changes.
00:04:57
Speaker
It's always fun and interesting making that transition from running division to kind of like higher level, trying to see like how you can make the company more efficient and boost volume.
00:05:08
Speaker
it's ah It's a learning experience. And you know i was ah I was very blessed to have Alex Smith, who... It's just someone that runs at a million miles an hour and it's fun to try to keep up with him.
00:05:18
Speaker
He's just always on and dialed and really just stretched me as a person to try to try to see like what I'm made of and what I can accomplish. And so the growth has been phenomenal. We were talking before this, i lost...
00:05:31
Speaker
I think was little over 90 pounds. feel like a whole different person, but it's really translated into every other like facet of my
Personal Transformation and its Impact on Life
00:05:38
Speaker
life. With the weight loss, I just feel a lot more dialed and a lot more energetic through the day.
00:05:42
Speaker
For sure. Yeah, I was joking on our first podcast being like, because I yeah know a lot of people are smart and you guys are huge into fitness and all that. And I think of the first podcast, you'd lost...
00:05:53
Speaker
we're around 40 pounds or something. So you were already like on a really good track. But now it's like you probably got the six pack. You're ah you're all jacked and everything. So I'm like, now he's a true Spartan warrior. Now he's actually part of the company. I man feel like outside looking in, everyone sees like the jacked guys and stuff. And it's just something we like to compete in. But... I mean, I think ultimately, like you being a father, you probably relate to this. Like, I think my biggest goal with it is I just wanted to show up for my daughter correctly. You know, when you're that overweight, you're not setting the right example. I just wanted to be the example because I feel like nowadays you see a lot of dads that are just kind you know, overweight, kind of giving up can't participate in everything. And I just didn't want to be that guy. And so I really just took it as a challenge to set the example for my family on, you know, what it means to be healthy and active, you know?
00:06:41
Speaker
That's awesome. I was just watching, i don't know if you watched Joe Rogan's podcast, but he yeah interviewed that jelly roll guy that, you know, the country singer. And he was like over 500 pounds at one point. I think he's like under 200 pounds.
00:06:55
Speaker
You know, he why he lost like, I think 300 pounds or something. And yeah, he said a lot of the same stuff just so he couldn't show up with his kids and He would have to like, he couldn't even walk outside to play like ah catch with his kids, like throw with the ball around. He would you have to get like his brother-in-laws and stuff to do that. And he just got like emotional talking about how much it changed his life. And I mean, this job, I don't think anyone, i don't think you could do this job.
00:07:20
Speaker
at 500 pounds can you imagine trying to knock doors think anyone listening to this is ah that extreme but uh yeah there's something to be said about uh getting your your physical health in order and i think you would agree it helps in pretty much every other aspect especially in this job it's very physical when you're knocking doors and For me, it's a huge confidence
The Role of 'Why' and Mental Toughness in Fitness
00:07:40
Speaker
thing. Just showing up to the kitchen table at the homeowner, just feeling like I got my workout in, feeling like ate healthy and everything. And I'm not in good a shape as all you guys. um I go to the gym and do jujitsu and stuff like that.
00:07:54
Speaker
For people maybe that are feeling a little all overweight, they want to get that physical side in gear. What was your ah process? I know this isn't like a weight loss podcast, but how did you manage had you manage to drop so much weight and change your life that way.
00:08:08
Speaker
I think the big thing, and like, it sounds cliche, but just having like a big enough why to drive you, because like, it does get tough. I mean, once you lose like 40, 50 pounds, you're like, oh, this is good. Like, I'm good here. But like, what's really going to drive the needle?
00:08:21
Speaker
And then I treated it more of like a mental toughness battle than like a weight loss, you know, journey. Just because like, I mean, losing a lot of weight or getting in shape is tough. And like, I mean, if you look at the statistics of it, like majority of the population is not in shape. If you can just kind of approach it as like, hey, this is like more mental discipline and I'm going to come out to the other side, a mentally tougher person. I think that carries you a lot farther than, you know, just wanting abs to, you know, get girls and stuff like that. Definitely. A lot of fit people over at Spartan was at a pretty big, um you know, like motivator, just being around that environment and where most people are in really good shape. Did you say that was a big factor in losing the weight and getting fit? Yeah, I'd say it was definitely good influence. Everyone over here is like super cool, super motivating, super positive. So I never felt like out of place when I was heavier, but definitely was kind of like...
00:09:13
Speaker
hey i can't do the things these guys are doing like we would be doing workouts and stuff and i couldn't finish the workout or like halfway through i'd get hurt so it did kind of motivate me to be like hey i want to like compete go with the speed these guys can go so it's definitely a definitely factor in it i bet yeah i think our first podcast you're talking about how you guys went to like an andy elliott workout or something and you were like puking halfway through the workout and you're like, you're like, I don't want to be like this anymore.
00:09:41
Speaker
Time to step it up So yeah, no, that definitely helps a lot. And, um, you know, I'm sure it's helped in just, uh, being a leader for your other guys, you know, confidence, all the above. And then speaking of like your team.
00:09:54
Speaker
So last time you were You were in the trenches selling a ton and I know now your, your VP sales over there. What's your role changed or what are you doing different now as far as like, ah your role compared to the last
Creating Scalable and Independent Sales Teams
00:10:08
Speaker
time? Yes. Still have a division. I'm a, I'm very fortunate to have a guy, Carson Forbush that, that is kind of running full steam with me.
00:10:16
Speaker
And we got a guy, Braden Brithwatt, who is, uh, is helping us run the division. And really just leaning on the leaders here. We have phenomenal leader, like Carson's an absolute dog.
00:10:26
Speaker
We've got this guy, a Leo Jimenez, who's a dog, been in the industry for a while. So it's been really nice to kind of have the pillars where we can all lean on each other. So even when I'm on calls or running meetings or doing stuff like that, I know the things that need to get done are getting done.
00:10:41
Speaker
um And yeah, it's just making sure. I always say like, I don't really think you're a good regional or division leader if like you have to throw all the volume for the team to pump a lot of volume.
00:10:53
Speaker
Because like Mendes one time told us about the dancing bear concept. Like if you have to dance on stage to get paid, you're just, ah you have to perform. You're dancing there. So where you can truly scale and build something sustainable is if you take your volume out of it, what does the division do?
00:11:08
Speaker
Does it keep running? Does it fall down? I think that's the true test of, you know, if you have something that's scalable and it's going to last a long time. So how have you guys made it? What are some things you do to make it scalable? what Was it when you took out your volume? Was that kind of like an adjustment for people or people were like, oh, wow.
00:11:26
Speaker
We don't have the $70 a month from Sam anymore. How did your guys react when you kind of took a little step back? And I know you're still selling, but it's not at the same level it was before.
00:11:38
Speaker
So what was like that transition? It's good, man. I think it's just the concept of like being promoted out of a spot. You know, I was the white rabbit for a long time. I enjoyed it. It was fun, but You know, it kind of hit the point where, you know, i was a little tired of it. And also, you know, there's less on the table for the people that, you know, trust in me to get paid to eat.
00:11:59
Speaker
So me kind of stepping down from that role and giving it more to other people is awesome because it's just a chance for them to make more money. And ultimately, that's what fulfills me. Like if you asked anyone that that works with me, it's it's not about me getting rich.
00:12:13
Speaker
You know, how can I make you make the most money? And then how can we get smart about this where you're investing and you're building actual wealth for you and your your family? um yeah So it it was nice. I could focus less on on selfish things and more on other people, which really freed me up. And I found out that's more what I'm passionate about. It it's not to selling a bunch of deals that's that's fun but like helping someone grow and really hit things that they haven't hit before that's what truly fulfills me yeah that's good and and yeah it goes back to you know i think it's john maxwell talks about the four levels i think four or five levels of leadership right and it's like you got to lead yourself first then it's leading others and then it's building up leading leaders being like a leader of leaders And it's just progressing up that. And then whenever I talk to high higher level leaders and people that are leading regions, I'm sure you'd say the same, but they're way more excited about seeing other people make a million dollars than they were about making a million dollars themselves.
00:13:10
Speaker
So it's like if you can get that, then you know you're crushing it. If you can build up two, three other leaders and see them dominate. Yeah, imagine it's a good feeling and something I'm still working on. now I've had the personal success. I've built up some team members, but um it's got to be cool to see other people like step into other roles. Have you been to do that? Have you been able to do that? Help some guys progress into you know like regional positions and help them graduate and make make really good money and stuff?
Empowering Team Leadership and Financial Goals
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's like it's been it's funny you say that because This morning I was literally hitting up all the guys like, what's your income goal? are you going to hit it? And I wrote it on the front page of my notebook that I carry around all the way. And so the first thing I see every time I open that is the guy's income goals. And it's just something that I can track and pace. And yeah, it's been it's been awesome. Like Leo, somebody who's been the industry for a while, a little over the door knocking aspect of it.
00:14:02
Speaker
You know, we we plugged them into the virtual thing. Once I got that up to scale where it was running, efficiently and we had an s SOP on how to run it. Just handed it off to him and now he's running all the virtual in Michigan right now. So it's been cool. And then Carson Porbusch, who runs the division with me, like somebody that came in, asked for nothing and just started throwing down and running trainings and really taking Because always say leadership is taken, it's not given. And if you don't take it, someone else will.
00:14:28
Speaker
And I'd always like kind of sparks my curiosity when a guy comes in and just takes it. um So now he's he's run the division with me out here in Michigan. He is ah is an absolute dog. Like it's it's so fun running with a mountain turf. That's sick. That's awesome. So yeah, in Michigan, it's cool. I know before we started recording, you're talking about all the different markets you guys have jumped around to and sounds like some works.
00:14:52
Speaker
ah we're were better off than others. And um now you guys landed in Michigan. When we had done the podcast the first time, i know you're in Florida, but you were blitzing some other markets and stuff at that time too.
00:15:04
Speaker
So what's it been like jumping to all the other these other states, these different markets? What ah what are maybe like some lessons you've learned? And I know you mentioned some markets didn't go great.
00:15:15
Speaker
So what are what are like maybe people that listening, they're trying to look at a new market to blitz or go into? what are like some ah um What are some tips you'd give them in all all the markets you've been to?
00:15:27
Speaker
Dude, I would give you the biggest lesson I learned because I've hopped a lot. I've hit a lot of states. But the biggest takeaway I had is where you build the biggest is where you decide to stay.
00:15:38
Speaker
Because what I learned with the the blitzing thing is, you know, we'd go throw 180 deals in a city, but then we'd be in another city the next next month. Then these clients still need stuff and there's referrals and you're just leaving a lot on the table, jumping from market to market. Hitting all these different markets taught me more what I didn't want out of a market than what I did want, which I think was important because once we found Michigan, the numbers made sense. It advantageous for everyone involved.
00:16:05
Speaker
My guys are happy not to be here. It just made a lot more sense to say, let's just double down on this and stop jumping around because now we have like houses here. We're getting offices out here and we're truly able to build something organically where when you're blitzing, you're, you know, you're doing the classic like, oh, pay for your flights, food's covered.
00:16:23
Speaker
You know, you'll make a hundred K in a week. And then that guy goes home. What I wanted to do is really build a culture in a city where Sparnex can become name brand. Like, We've got our trucks driving around. like Really what we envision out here is that we knock on someone's door and they're like, we've seen you guys. You know yeah ah you don't get that sense of like community jumping from place to place. And it's very hard to to build long-term success. So we found Michigan.
00:16:50
Speaker
We all love it. So we decided to plant our flags here and do whatever it takes to build it out. Yeah, that's cool. Well, I'll say one thing. im I'm glad I'm not knocking there right now in the winter. but but like six, seven inches of snow on the ground. And like, like you said, I'm from Florida. So this is the third time I've ever seen snow. So it's been interesting, but I mean, the people are still receptive regardless of the cold. So we're going to, we're going to keep going.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah. Why not? So are you guys, you still run a
Success of Virtual Sales at SpartanX
00:17:20
Speaker
blitz model too? Do you still have guys come out are you pretty much just year round, you're working the market and just recruiting full-time people there to work year round now?
00:17:28
Speaker
Just year round. We sent a ah squad down to Georgia just because we weren't really sure what the winter was going to do um or how the doors were going to be received once it starts snowing. But we've decided in January just to pivot our own back up here and tough it out.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. And so you talked about ah you guys are doing virtual now too. um Is that something new? did you guys just roll virtual out recently or have you always had that?
00:17:53
Speaker
What's a virtual been like? We just rolled out Spartan leads. So, you know, I had gotten in touch with a ah big lead vendor and you know how the story goes. They promised the moon and the stars and, you know, nine times out of 10, it just doesn't really deliver. So, you know, this guy just pretty much said, hey, I'll front all the costs.
00:18:14
Speaker
I know I can make this work. And it took a couple of months, but once there was proof of concept with me running the leads and we had really kind of dialed it in, we brought it SNP and like, hey, this is something that we can scale.
00:18:25
Speaker
And so i would say we started the leads about four months ago. um and in the last four months, we've added almost a million dollars of extra commission from from the leads that have been coming in.
00:18:37
Speaker
And now we're building out a lead software. We're really going in all in in the virtual because once you find partners that actually can you know pull through and make it happen, there's ah there's a huge opportunity there. And What's nice is, you know, we have divisions that we're doing 50, 60, 70, 80 deals a month full. Now we can add another 30 or 40 deals on top of that.
00:18:59
Speaker
and Recruiting for in-house preset appointments is pretty easy. i mean, Leo calls it a closer stream. He wakes up, he's got ah appointmentful count or ah a calendar full of appointments and he just drives around and and sees what he can get.
00:19:12
Speaker
We're really shooting for $2 million in extra commission in q one um which I'm very confident will hit. And so when you do virtual, is that like you're getting the leads and you're closing them just all virtual too on Zoom or on the phone or whatever? Or you sending like people out in person to online appointments?
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah, we do a set appointment on the phone, but an in-house consultancy. um The conversion rate was just way higher. ah And then also just the referrals that we've been getting. Because I think a lot of people, you know, Brian said something one time and it really kind of hit me. It was never get paid once on a sale.
00:19:48
Speaker
I think so many people in the solar industry, and this was a big takeaway I had from real estate versus solar is realtors follow up and and stay in touch to the point where it's annoying, you know? like Yeah.
00:20:01
Speaker
Realtors are very aggressive, but solar people were kind of like, close the deal, it gets installed, they like it onto the next. Like we're always hunting that new business. And there's so much meat on the bones with your current pipeline that you've installed.
00:20:14
Speaker
And I just don't think people really take the time to milk them. So like, like I was telling Leo the other day in the car, i was like, dude, if you do this correctly, every sale you have from the virtual should stem one to four referrals.
00:20:27
Speaker
And then your income just goes crazy. Yeah, I know. it's yeah I've seen so many of my customers where I'll talk to them a couple years after and they'll be like, oh, by the way, we got some extra panels added up from from another company that knocked on the door. I'm like, im like like why didn't you call me? But that doesn't happen a ton, but a few people and and that's on me. I should have been the one following up with them, checking in, and doing at least like a yearly checkup to see how it's going. hey do you need more panels? Hey, is your system working? This and that. and
00:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. So many solar guys struggle with that because they're just on to the next, on to the next, on to the next. And especially if you have appointment setters or like preset appointments, sometimes it's even tough to find the time to like go through your pipeline, go through your past installs and and look for more money making opportunities on those. But yeah, something that's that's been tough for our teams, because we've had we've had some teams do virtual, we're doing mostly just door knocking right now. But how do you guys balance? Is that like a separate team you have that does the virtual stuff, or that runs those appointments? Or how do you like kind combine or I don't know if you keep separate door knocking versus virtual? um What do you guys do with
Dividing Teams for Effectiveness
00:21:39
Speaker
that?
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, so we have like our whole like Spartan leads department, which essentially like the lead setters and the technology. And then they'll dish it out to closers. Personally, how I run in my division is I just keep them completely separate. Like the guys running leads don't even stay in the house with the guys that do the doors because like it's very easy for the door guys to be like, well, that guy gets appointments all day. And then the appointment got to be like, oh, well, I had nine no-shows today. Like, it's just kind of the name of the game.
00:22:06
Speaker
What I saw worked the best was just splitting them up. So it's almost like two divisions within one, where this one's just running virtual, and I can kind of keep my palm on that and make sure it's running effectively.
00:22:16
Speaker
Then we still have the doors almost like its own entity within it. Okay. That's a good idea. Cause that's something that my team struggle with sometimes when we try to implement it is guys, it creates like laziness. Cause like, Oh sweet. Now there's online appointments or virtual. I'm just going to do that. And then,
00:22:33
Speaker
They're just you know waiting around for leads or whatever. And they could be knocking too. That's the thing is, it's good you got to earn it. like All the guys that run virtual right now are all guys that have earned it. you know Those people that have been in solar for years and thrown tons of deals and just kind of in that transition where like they'd rather rank a little less per deal without having to knock doors. So it's just that season, the career that they're in where someone like Leo just wants to be fed appointments and is cool with that.
00:23:02
Speaker
Where, you know, a newer guy, i would never put them on leads because I'm like, you got to earn it. Like you, you kind of have to go through the ringer and learn, learn this process. That's good. Yeah. It's the good. Yeah. i Almost make, yeah. But like a reward system. think that's what you got to do. Yeah. Avoid the lazy reps. That's good. And so with recruiting, are you guys recruiting? You got like recruiting going for virtual and for building your door team or what's it been like? Because I know before is all blitzing and I've noticed that's kind of like a different way to recruit, right? You're just recruiting people to come do a blitz for 10 days or whatever a week.
00:23:37
Speaker
So what's ah what's it been like now recruiting where you're trying to bring people on to a full-time market? You guys just looking for people in Michigan or how's that been? Yeah, the, yeah I mean, the recruiting is always, you know, Instagram, reach out, stuff like that. I think that's always the the biggest funnel, but um we're really just trying to recruit local, like specific to the market.
00:23:58
Speaker
I've noticed is it just gets super expensive. You know, if you recruit 30 guys to a blitz, And you now have to buy three or four houses, keep them all going, stuff like that. Where if I if i recruit people that live in Michigan, they already have their housing, they already have their car.
00:24:15
Speaker
Really, it's just plugging them into a structure in that day-to-day routine. um So I've found that the recruits are a lot more sticky and it's a lot more viable for a leader, especially if you're fronting a lot of expense.
00:24:26
Speaker
um So really, the I think the big change in recruiting is just we're less focused on the, hey, come come ah out on this blitz and more focused on the, hey, are you willing to like go live the market?
00:24:37
Speaker
like There's a huge opportunity here and and we're only going to let you come take it if you're you're actually going to commit to it. Yeah, that's huge. And what do you do to make this stick the recruits sticky? Because one of the challenges we have is um if you get people that are in market, yeah, it's nice because they you know they have ah they already have the place to live and their car and all that.
00:24:58
Speaker
For us, it's been a challenge sometimes because you get people that are like, like oh, if this doesn't work, then I'm just going to go back to whatever my old job was. And sometimes they're comfortable, they're living with their parents or whatever.
00:25:11
Speaker
So what do you guys do to create that buy-in? and Because ah Blitz, it's like people are coming out of town and you know they're, for the most part, people are gonna work because they came just to come work and they got that Blitz mentality. But i don't know if you guys struggle with that. And how how do you create the buy-in to get people actually like treat this like a full-time thing and not just go back to the other job they're working before once it gets hard on the doors and cold outside and all that?
00:25:36
Speaker
It's always like the kind of the struggle of the job, but I think it's really about like speed to pay because most of the kids that we're recruiting, you know, they're making three, maybe $5,000, $6,000 a month.
00:25:50
Speaker
And something I've always been big on is like, how quickly can I get a pipeline balance for this recruit? where they're like, oh, wow, like this is real. Even to the point where like if I have to go get the deal for it, because I've noticed that I can have a new guy on my hip same day walk in and and have someone go solar with me. I'll split that deal with it because I want them to get the taste. It's kind of like I view it the same way as I view referrals. So like I give out a $500 referral bonus for anyone that gives me a referral.
00:26:19
Speaker
If you give me a referral, I pay you the day that it closes on the first one just because you have that dopamine hit of like, hey, this is real. Like, yes, is that a risk for me? Like, I might lose 500 bucks if they cancel, that's fine.
00:26:32
Speaker
They're going to keep sending in referrals because they have that cash. It's the same thing with a setter. It's like if you can get those dopamine hits of, wow, this is real and hey, I can do this. And they open up their optimist and see $8,000 in ah and a week and a half.
00:26:48
Speaker
It's kind of hard to quit at that point, you know? Yeah. and And like, yeah, maybe as a leader, you take a short-term L, but like you're you're opening up an opportunity for someone that that the ROI is there. they're a good rep, the ROI is there on the back end. So why not make that sacrifice?
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah, so true. Yeah, I've had people on who have like run the stats and had some crazy number that if like new reps get a deal on their first two weeks or something like that, then the chance that they stick is is like exponentially higher than.
Ensuring Quick Success for New Recruits
00:27:19
Speaker
if they don't. So yeah, I think it's definitely about getting them paid and seeing how quick they can get a deal. And because yeah, it's so hard to keep keep guys on to like a commission only job if they don't see any quick success and they don't get that quick dopamine hit. So yes, that's good. That's good. Do you guys front people money that I don't know how your commission set up there, but do you have like any upfront pay or anything you do for setters to get them paid quicker so they don't have to wait till the install?
00:27:45
Speaker
Yeah. So the big thing that I think one of the biggest changes we we made for the positive was really how setters are paid. Because it's the typical story of solar. You know, new setter comes out, he pops off, he throws eight bills and six cancel. And he's like, well, and then then you've got the clawbacks starting to pile up and it's very hard to get motivated with a negative balance. So a big change we made is that we have $500 guaranteed pay So essentially if Setter gets the closer in a home, deal gets closed and that deal gets the permitting, they get 500 bucks. And if the deal cancels, they keep that $500. So that's been huge because at the end of the day, like I think a lot of Setters, I think a lot of companies and and teams in general don't treat Setter like gold. They're really the the ones going out and generating the business and the leads. And there's a lot of really good Setters that have left the industry just because they've been paired up with a bad closer. So I think that's the biggest thing is like the peace of mind knowing that if they get that project, at least the permitting, there's something coming in.
00:28:46
Speaker
That's good. And it's funny. we do We do the exact same thing. So I wonder if we stole it from you guys or something. Maybe maybe they sound like a little Spartan guy's got a good idea. like to say, if you're at the top, you're collaborating, you know?
00:28:58
Speaker
But no, it's it's true. And yeah, it's definitely helps a lot of our guys. We do it. They just once they get a site survey, yeah, they get paid the 500 upfront and yeah, they won't get a clawed back. um So yeah, I think there's something um to be said of getting quick money in their pocket. We do another thing ah called the eight and eight. So we have our new guys try to get ah eight deals in their first eight weeks.
00:29:21
Speaker
And then and we have they can do that then Yeah, we see that they're way more likely to stick. So if they get the eight deals in the eight weeks, they get like a cruise paid for and some swag and stuff they get every two deals, I think. So things like that. um Yeah, I know it's super important getting the new newer guys bought in and just having that structure. Do you guys do any like boot camps or like, I don't know what the training's like for a new guy? What does the training look like for a new guy starting and how do you like support them coming
Training New Reps: Action Over Preparation
00:29:50
Speaker
on? Yeah, I think the big thing is, so we use Inzy for knocking and really in that we've built out a whole training portal um from all the tops in the company. Like, yeah, like Eric Fox, Joe LaFrasa, Brandon Forrester, you know, Nick Finger, Joe Yusuf, John Flaher, like all these killers and in the markets.
00:30:07
Speaker
And they're different approach to doors, to closes. All our company trainings are in there. So really, if new rep onboards, always tell them I'm obsessed over this. like Just dive into it and treat it. Because I'm sure you were the same way when I got into solar. All I did is watch solar on YouTube and listen to podcasts. like I just obsessed over the crap because I wanted to get good at it.
00:30:30
Speaker
And you've got millions of dollars worth of value in this portal. So step one is like dive into it. Step two is what we've really hammered out is every division's blue credit. So, you know, divisions in the company run things a different way. Well, that should be in a packer that's handed to a new guy coming in. It's like, hey, these are our expectations. this is This is what you need to do to stay on the team.
00:30:53
Speaker
This is when we meet. This is how we knock. Here's your slicks for Michigan. Here's your closing slicks. Here's your information. So really give them like a sense of direction and it feels legit. You know, it's not just like thrown out on the doors with some guy starting to rip.
00:31:09
Speaker
From there, it's really just about role play. It's like, hey, let's start to learn the script. Let's get it going. You're going go out and shadow some of my top guys. And then from there, I'm very much a feed them to the wolves. You got to, you got to rip that bandaid off, you know, because I think a lot of people stay in, I call it like, uh, like success success zombies. Like they're constantly just trying to learn, learn, to learn before they do. But I've seen the same theme between everyone that's successful is they just at some point said, screw it. I'm going to go do it and figure it out on the way. So,
00:31:41
Speaker
I'm very big on kind of once we've given you the tools and you know the script, we've got to push you off the edge and you can build that flame on way down. Yeah, so good. Yeah, for me, in my first couple years in solar, I was like one of the guys that would look for all the events to go to.
00:31:57
Speaker
know, I would look look for like a new event to go to every couple months and take like half a week off to go to this event. And in my head, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm i'm working so much. I'm like improving so much.
00:32:08
Speaker
But then since then, I still go to events, but I had I've had to like tone it way down compared to what I used to do just because like I'm like, man, I'm going to a lot of events. I was into like all i was trying to do a lot of online marketing stuff. So I would go to those like ClickFunnels events and um online marketing and everything. And I was like, man, this is going to be like put me so far ahead of people. But looking back, I probably would have done like half the events because I wasn't even applying it. I was just like taking notes and then I would just go home and then go back to knocking doors and all those notes would just be sitting in a drawer wouldn't apply anything.
00:32:44
Speaker
So yeah, I think that's the trap that people can fall into. It's like you got to be obsessed. You got to watch this stuff. But there's also guys that like instead of working, instead of knocking on doors, they're in there.
00:32:56
Speaker
they're, you know, sitting in their car for hours, maybe studying their pitch or just watching YouTube videos of people. and It's like, hey, that's good, man. But like, you got to get out there, you got to do the work too. And then you're going to get more stuff to work on and be able to apply the stuff that you're studying. You can't just sit and be the guy that studies all day and reads books, um books all day either. I call them, seeing the plant it's it's so funny. Like I'll beam them. Like some of my guys would be like, dude, you'll be the success zombie. It's like they say knowledge is power. And I think that's wrong. It's knowledge is potential and applied knowledge is power.
00:33:28
Speaker
So you can go to every event in the world and read every book and, it could give you the one thing that you need to be super successful in life. But if you never get out there and it's because it's comfortable, like it's so comfortable to send a book or listen to a podcast or feel good at a seminar, but to go out and apply it where like you truly get to growth, that's uncomfortable, but that's the whole point of it. Yeah, so true.
00:33:50
Speaker
Yeah, I love that, man. um Well, so I know you still, ah you still have a house in Florida, right? And Florida is like still technically home for you and everything. Okay. So tell me about, um, I know you got fiance, a daughter and everything.
00:34:06
Speaker
So it's a pretty, uh, you know, I got three kids myself and, you know, we make the sacrifices, but, um, it can be a challenge to be there for the family. And, um, sounds like you're like two weeks on two weeks off. So how do you do this and how do you, uh,
00:34:21
Speaker
What's kind of like the been the vision and everything that you share with your fiance to be able to do this? Because it's tough being away from family like that and tough being away from, I'm sure you got family, friends and everything over in Florida. What's that been like? And what advice do you have for people that maybe they're having to travel like that, whether they're blitzing or working other markets
Balancing Work with Family Life
00:34:40
Speaker
like you do?
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah, man. I think that's ah that's a huge struggle. I think it's a huge struggle for a lot of people in the industry. And I think one, it's about who who do you have as a partner? like i'm I'm very blessed. like My fiance's got my back no matter what.
00:34:54
Speaker
And like she... She's one of the few people that like believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. So like i have that kind of like powerful backing behind me. um But also like she knows the mission, like she's bought in on the vision. And I i was was just having a conversation, you know, a guy's like, hey, my girl is is getting mad at me because I'm out here for two or three weeks.
00:35:15
Speaker
And I was like, dude, that's tough. But like your success isn't connected to her success. So like a big tip, something I love to do with my fiance is I'm like, hey, where do you want to go? Like, what trip do you want to do?
00:35:26
Speaker
And when we got engaged, she was like, I want to go to Italy. I want to get engaged in Italy. You know, we've been talking about it. ah was like, awesome. I'm going to work like crazy from January to September.
00:35:37
Speaker
And in October, we're going to go on that trip. I want let you know, like, there's two ways we can have that trip. One is like everyone else. Where, you know, we have to budget and and really kind of like plan out the trip. And the second way is we can do whatever ever we want. We're on vacation. It doesn't matter. First class flights, whatever hotel, Airbnb you want to stay in. And she was like, well, I'd rather have the second.
00:35:58
Speaker
i was like, great. These are the sacrifices we have to make. This trip's going be worth it. And she was super bought into my success leading up to that trip. Like i I would like have a deal or a day with no deals. And she was like, almost like talking crap to me. She's like, dude, like Italy's coming out. What do you doing? Get out there. Or like, hey, I don't want to work. And she'd like, dude, you're being a baby. Like, get out there. And it's because she is like, she's involved with my success. I think a lot of people that are like super but hyper aggressive on being successful forget that there's like another half of you that wants to feel part of that, you know?
00:36:31
Speaker
And if you can find something, whether a trip or maybe a house, like you want a house or a car, like something where they feel like attached to the success that you're chasing, it's completely game changing.
00:36:43
Speaker
Um, and then on the aspect of kids, dude, that's just a tough one. Like, That is like the biggest burden I think I hold, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice because I know what needs to be done. You know, five years from now, i can buy back all that time. I think a lot of people ask me theyre like, hey, you know, how do you stay away from your daughter for so long?
00:37:02
Speaker
But if you look at it like, Most fathers really are present in their kid's life and they're at home every single day. Someone told me one time they were like, dude, coming home from a nine to five, drinking a beer and like watching your kid on the floor is not being present. It's not about the amount of time you spend with your children. It's about the quality of time. It's actually, i think, made me more effective as a father because you know those 14 days that and I'm home, I like plan out my time with my daughter and I'm super effective and super like just one-on-one with her because I know I have to maximize that time. I create memories with her. i mean, Smith laughs. I'm always at Disney. like When I come home, my daughter knows like it's time to go to Disney World. Me and her just go to Disney and we catch up or talk about school and what's going on and
00:37:46
Speaker
It's just about like being one, just knowing that like you have to make that sacrifice and having a partner that can back you on it. But to just know that you're doing it for something. My hopes and aspirations in like five years, I can do whatever I want my daughter, go on trips and not care about anything. Like that's really the end goal here. But most people just aren't willing to make that sacrifice.
00:38:06
Speaker
No, that's true. And I love what you said about making this separation. And in some ways, I feel like it could be maybe and well even a little easier. Because like for me, I'm always 90% of the time just working the local market. We'll drive like an hour to different areas or whatever.
00:38:21
Speaker
But ah with that, I think what I struggle with is, like you said, I kind of let like work bleed a lot more sometimes into the home stuff because I'm like, oh, I can work where my home is too. So I can come home, can still chat with customers, appointment comes up, I'll go run to the appointment or whatever.
00:38:37
Speaker
So in some ways, I can see how that could be nice to where you know that for the two weeks you're all in on work. And then sounds like the other two weeks, it's like family is the priority. I'm sure you're still doing other stuff, but it sounds like it's way more and way more intentional that you know, hey okay, this is the stuff I have planned with the family and only got 14 days, fourteen days so I can't like bail on it and not doing other things during the 14 days. Yeah.
00:39:02
Speaker
It's just about like effective time planning. It's like, even when I'm home, I'm busy. But Smith always says, he says, it's super important to know when you work, but it's even more important to know when you don't. So like Sundays are like Smith's day off. Like that's a day where I'm really not trying to bug him.
00:39:17
Speaker
He's just resetting for the week because he's running a million miles an hour. So like with me, it's Tyler, my daughter, it's like, Hey, I'm swanful meeting still three, but guess what, Myla, we're going go to the park and we're going to to the trampoline park from, you know, four to six. And I'm not answering my phone.
00:39:32
Speaker
Like I don't care. no no deals ever died just within two hour window. Like nothing's that important, but I have to hop on and the phone's away and I can be intentional with it.
00:39:44
Speaker
Well, yeah, I like that. And I always like asking that because, yeah, you know, like I said, I'm a dad. I got three kids and it's something I struggle with just turning this job off because it can easily be like, you know, deal with customers at all hours of the day and can never turn off. So I'm always curious how high level people are able to balance that. And I know there's the different seasons, but it's cool to hear how you're doing it. And that's awesome. You're still building the relationship with the daughter and hopefully in five years you can spend way more time with her, like you said.
00:40:13
Speaker
and ah sacrifice now to spend more time with them later, right? So, well, cool, man. Well, before we wrap up here, just last couple of questions, Sam. um So I know you guys are doing in-house installs now. Is that just in Michigan that you're doing the in-house installs?
00:40:28
Speaker
So right now we're in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Philadelphia, Virginia. And then we have plans to open a couple more markets too.
00:40:39
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Yeah, you guys are over. Pretty incredible. You guys have grown it a lot. I know in-house, there's maybe some more challenges, things that are different being in-house. So what's that been like?
00:40:51
Speaker
I know if there's been some things that have been tough working with install. And I don't know how ah involved you are in that part of, you know, kind of like bridging the sales and the installs happening.
In-House Installations: Efficiency and Control
00:41:00
Speaker
But what are some things that have happened with that? What's what's the experience been like having everything in-house now?
00:41:07
Speaker
Dude, I wish, like i was telling this, Amir Smith talk about this all the time, is like, if we had had this last year, our company would have been unstoppable. Because i remember when we were first talking about kind of making this transition, i was pretty against it. I didn't really, you hear all the stories of the companies that go in-house and it just doesn't work out. And ended up hopping on a call with Brian and Smith and yeah Brian's just, he's an expert in that lane. And as someone that just can't confidently maneuver that sector, like a gangster, like he's just on it. And the team that he has around him running our backend team and worked with him for years and years, which kind of shows you who he is as an operator and a leader.
00:41:50
Speaker
So it's been phenomenal. Like, yes, there's hiccups, like there's hiccups with everything. But what we've noticed is that when we open a market the first six months, our timelines start to shrink. And by the six months, we're completely dialed. So Michigan, for instance, we first came out here, you know, it as a month and a half, two month installs, kind all over the place.
00:42:11
Speaker
I talked to a lot of guys out here with different companies that are three, four, five month installs. We're installing on average in 28 days. That's with permit, interconnection approved, glass on roof, and we're PTOing company-wide sub 30 days.
00:42:27
Speaker
The rep's happy, the customer's happy. It's just running efficiently. I think the biggest changes we made is we started working with a a guy named Casey Thompson with the table group and You know, he talks about there's two parts of the business. There's smart, which is, you know, your business department, financing, just this marketing, things that you can track. And then there's the healthy side of the business, which is really like low politicking, good communication. And I think that's something that completely changed our company is because we're not politicking. We're just getting the things we need to get done.
00:42:57
Speaker
and we're doing them quickly. And we really kind of dialed in as a company what we want to be as, and it's whatever it takes, you before me and dialed in. And we really live through those three mantras. It's like, you know, we do whatever it takes,
00:43:12
Speaker
to get the job done, to have it on the roof and for it to be good experience. We're dialed in. We know the software. We know how to sell correctly. we We are professionals in the home and then you before me.
00:43:23
Speaker
And that applies everywhere. It applies at the rep level, with our ops team, with the customer. It's always a you before me mentality. And just the culture of this company, it's been so cool to watch it just 360. Because, you know, at first it was this aggressive sales bro.
00:43:38
Speaker
let' Let's get after it. See see who can beat who. And now we've really kind of changed that into, yes we're very competitive, but like what impact can we make? And like, how do we build out these markets and and help the community? So it's been really fun to kind of watch the company. It's completely culture change for the better. Is there anything that's been harder than you thought? Or was was there a lot of speed bumps on the road getting to those 30-day installs? That hasn't been bad, easier than you thought? maybe because I'm the, you know I'm the VP of sales, dude. I'm not in like all the like day-to-day stuff. To me, it's felt like a breeze. Like if I, mean, we were a dealer for so long, man, companies would go out of business or this would happen. That would happen. Like, I think the big thing that I've appreciated is the transparency and control. Cause like now, firstly, as a rep, I have control on the deal. Like,
00:44:28
Speaker
I know what's going on. And when we built this out, like we wanted transparency to be a big thing. Like there was so much like emotional scarring in the industry from not getting paid from dealers or installers.
00:44:40
Speaker
So now it's like, dude, in our software, you can see the date and time that Spartan was funded on the job. Like, you know exactly when you're getting paid and reps have that. Like we want to show you under the hood so you have full confidence and just know that we can we can get the job done.
00:44:57
Speaker
I hop on calls all the time and I show them i'm like, yeah, see, look, it says funded M2 right there. There's the date, there's the time. And not a lot of companies have that. Yeah, well, I'm glad it's gone well for you because we're we're kind of in a similar thing. we have We do in-house installs, but we still use a few different installers. And ah our team, they complain because all the in-house installers, we we're still not at the timeline compared to the some of the and other installers we're using.
00:45:24
Speaker
So, you know, reps always want... usually quickest deals possible, quickest installs possible, but it is nice. Um, things have been improving on our side too. And it's true. You do have a lot more control and, um, we can make suggestions and actually get taken yeah seriously and everything where are the other installers, like they're going to do what they're going to do. So yeah, it is nice. Just have the extra communication and,
00:45:47
Speaker
a lot more control over the deal. I mean, what was cool is like when this started, like I respected Smith and Brian a ton for this is it wasn't like, hey, you're going to sell Spartan X. They left the other installers on the portal.
00:46:01
Speaker
And what Smith said is like, hey, we want to earn your business. Like this has to be something where you see multiple options and you choose us. So he kept installers on there that like I could go sell a deal with anybody I wanted, but I wanted to choose Spartan X.
00:46:16
Speaker
And that's what was cool is he still gave the optionality and the premise of like, I'm going to earn your business. And it just becomes so big and so good. They like, we just took the other installers off because we weren't throwing them any void.
00:46:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely way more powerful if people want to use it rather than just turn it off and be like, oh, you're forced to use it. Because I've had stuff like that happen where not with in-house installs, but I've had...
00:46:40
Speaker
where we turned off other installers and went to one that was supposedly better and it was worse. Then everyone's all pissed off that they have to use one that's like longer installs and everything. so So, but no, that's awesome. Cool, Sam. Well, it's awesome hearing your success. And yeah, sounds like you guys are blow blowing up Michigan. People, I'm sure we still have your info from last time, but if people want to reach out to you about maybe connecting with Spartan in Michigan or...
00:47:06
Speaker
hearing more about you guys, you want to drop the best way to get in touch with you or maybe your social media or whatever. Best way to get in touch. Yeah. it's ah So my Instagram, sandtheman0211. That's the best place.
00:47:20
Speaker
a lot of people DM me and stuff and constantly trying to deliver some value. I'm not the biggest Instagram guy, but Smith kind of changed my perspective on that. So I've been trying to just deliver some value out there. And I think the biggest thing is just the leadership here. Like we've,
00:47:35
Speaker
We've really taken the time to pour in with the leaders here. Like, i mean, Maryland's a huge market for us. You got Joe LaFrazzo and Eric Fox out there and Nick Finger in Iowa. John Flowers out in Georgia who's crushing it. You got Enoch out in Texas.
00:47:49
Speaker
Joe Yusuf out in Illinois. So we're kind of everywhere. And the thing that I'm really fortunate about is people kind of hit me up. And even if they're not coming to Michigan and they want these other states, I'm 100% confident that I'm giving them to a leader that knows how to make them successful.
00:48:05
Speaker
Nice. Love it. That's awesome. And so where do you, what's your plans? Last question. What's your plans for next year? Where do you see yourself going from here? What's some of your goals for maybe next year, next couple years?
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah, man. I think, ah I mean, if I look at the division, like the division we're running now, really want to scale it up to that 2,400, 3,000 sales per year. I think we're we're right on the cusp of that.
00:48:29
Speaker
And then the company, like, it's crazy because we're just doubling. It seems like every quarter, like our Q1 goals from for this Q1 coming up is double what it was last Q1 for like the Q1 for this year.
00:48:42
Speaker
And we're so confident we're going hit it. So, it's it's It's crazy, dude. it's it's It's a rocket ship. And I think 2026 is going to essentially double in size, if not triple.
00:48:54
Speaker
um So we just want to be the option, you know, the the option that everyone got to go to. Yeah. Well, you guys are blowing up, man. So keep it rolling. Congrats on your success, Sam. and ah yeah, I can't wait to hopefully run it back in another year or two and see you guys just taking over the whole country. So keep it keep it running, man. But thanks thanks again for coming on the podcast and thanks for being willing to come on for a second time for us.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yes, sir. Appreciate it as always, man. And it's always fun, Jim. Let's go. Thanks, brother. So some of you already know that I run my own door door sales team here in San Diego. And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:49:49
Speaker
It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood. It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:50:14
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:50:27
Speaker
Okay, back to the show. What's up, solopreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created it specifically for you in mind.
00:50:43
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast? You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:50:58
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.
00:51:11
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet 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. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:51:33
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.