Transcript
Speaker: What's up guys, Taylor Armstrong here.
Speaker: We are doing a replay of an episode from a couple years back now.
Speaker: And this episode is specifically about knocking in the dark.
Speaker: I thought it was very fitting because at the time of this recording, it's daylight savings time.
Speaker: We got to get back used to knocking in the dark.
Speaker: So I'm going to replay this episode.
Speaker: I thought I had some good little nuggets in here.
Speaker: And before we jump into that, I wanted to thank everyone that left a review.
Speaker: As I mentioned in some of the previous episodes,
Speaker: I want to do something special for the person who left the 200th review.
Speaker: And that person that I am seeing here, review number 200, whatever your gender is, guess we can call you a they.
Speaker: but it says finding topics to help from sweet CN.
Speaker: I've been around solar and in it a little.
Speaker: I search and find all sorts of topics.
Speaker: I enjoy motivated individuals, people changing themselves.
Speaker: Thanks for the podcast.
Speaker: You are very welcome.
Speaker: Sweet.
Speaker: Cian, I guess that's how you say it.
Speaker: Thank you for the review.
Speaker: And this is the one that I counted as the 200th review.
Speaker: We did have another person post that they were number 200th.
Speaker: But appreciate all the reviews.
Speaker: So whoever you are, if you want to shoot me a DM on Instagram, on Facebook, or shoot me an email, I want to send you a little something.
Speaker: So hit me up.
Speaker: If I don't hear from you, I'll hit up maybe the other ones that posted that they were the 200th.
Speaker: Appreciate all the reviews.
Speaker: It is so very much appreciated.
Speaker: And hope you guys enjoy the replay of this episode, Knocking in the Dark.
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 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, Solarpreneurs?
Speaker: Taylor Armstrong here.
Speaker: How are you?
Speaker: Back with another episode here to help you close more deals, generate more leads, get more referrals, and hopefully make your life a lot easier as a solar sales rep, solar business owner, or whoever you may be involved in the solar industry.
Speaker: So today we are in the fall season, winter season, I should say.
Speaker: I'm in San Diego, so really it's basically the same weather all the time here.
Speaker: It is getting a little chilly.
Speaker: But with that being said, a lot of people use the fall winter weather as a time to dial back down, not work as much, give up easier than usual, not close as many deals.
Speaker: I hear it all the time from newer reps especially.
Speaker: It's darker earlier.
Speaker: People are busy with the holidays.
Speaker: Really, you could come up with all sorts of excuses, especially right now we're in the middle of COVID pandemic.
Speaker: So we've been dealing with this for an entire year, basically, of excuses we can tell ourselves.
Speaker: But now I know a lot of people are dealing with new obstacles during this winter season.
Speaker: That's what we're gonna talk about today.
Speaker: Something that's, especially now we just hit daylight savings time, which here in California where I'm at, it is dark.
Speaker: It's five o'clock, it's dark outside.
Speaker: And it's not late, but it's dark.
Speaker: What we're gonna talk about today is how can you continue to dominate even when it's darker earlier, even when it's winter.
Speaker: For those of you that are in different markets, maybe it's snowing outside.
Speaker: And that I won't be able to speak as much about.
Speaker: I've never knocked in the snow personally.
Speaker: I should go and do that.
Speaker: I'll fly out to Utah where I'm from, go knock a little bit.
Speaker: But I do enjoy the weather.
Speaker: So if you want to not knock where it's freezing, then hit me up.
Speaker: We'll hook you up with an opportunity out here in California.
Speaker: But it does get dark extremely early.
Speaker: So today we're going to talk about that.
Speaker: How do you continue to knock?
Speaker: How do you generate leads?
Speaker: How do you continue working even when it gets darker earlier?
Speaker: Even when you can come up with plenty of excuses?
Speaker: So I've got a few tips, things that have helped me.
Speaker: And then obviously I always love to hear from our listeners.
Speaker: What are you guys doing to dominate in the dark?
Speaker: So here's the tips.
Speaker: The first thing is you have to realize that it's not actually late when it's dark.
Speaker: Here, like I said, it's dark at five o'clock, but is it late?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Five o'clock, that's not late.
Speaker: I don't think anyone's going to bed that early.
Speaker: So you've got to realize that that's a thought you tell yourself.
Speaker: Grant Cardone says any objections that you think you hear, any objections you hear, they were your objection first.
Speaker: So if you have this thing in your head going, it's too late to knock, it's too late to be outside talking to people, it's too late to be working, guess what?
Speaker: That's your objection.
Speaker: That's not the customer's objection.
Speaker: That's something that you're telling yourself and it's coming across in your work ethic and what you're doing.
Speaker: So realize that it's not actually late.
Speaker: It's just dark.
Speaker: Okay, and you can go listen to other podcasts.
Speaker: Anyone that has been knocking doors for any amount of time, you heard these alarm guys, pest control guys, pretty much from any different industry, go listen to the door-to-door podcast.
Speaker: over Sam Taggart's podcast.
Speaker: He interviews people all the time.
Speaker: I just listened to one of his episodes.
Speaker: He interviewed a girl actually that I think manages for an alarm company.
Speaker: She told stories about how she is knocking literally until midnight, a lot of nights.
Speaker: She's out working, out hustling super, super late.
Speaker: Obviously, ladies are generally more cautious later it gets, right?
Speaker: So if a girl can go out there and knock until midnight, then I think anyone should be able to do it, right?
Speaker: We're telling ourselves excuses if we're not willing to get out there and hustle.
Speaker: So get it out of your head.
Speaker: Get that excuse out of there.
Speaker: Go listen to those other podcasts if you want to hear people that are knocking until literally midnight.
Speaker: If they're doing it, then it can be done.
Speaker: And then the second tip is look for clues.
Speaker: You can use this to your advantage.
Speaker: When it's late, you can see what lights are turned on.
Speaker: It's a lot easier to tell who's home and who's not home.
Speaker: So in a way, it's actually easier.
Speaker: In a way, you should be talking to more people.
Speaker: And I get it.
Speaker: Some people are going to answer the doors less.
Speaker: Some people don't want to open the door when it's dark.
Speaker: But generally, you're going to talk to probably just as many people when it's dark because of that reason, because of the clues you're able to identify.
Speaker: Look for garage doors that are open.
Speaker: Look for lights that are on.
Speaker: And granted, all the people from the alarm industries, other industries, if they're knocking until midnight, they're not knocking every door.
Speaker: So I'm not saying go knock until midnight and knock every single door.
Speaker: You got to be strategic about it.
Speaker: That's what they're looking for.
Speaker: They're looking for clues.
Speaker: They're looking for people who are home.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, even if you absolutely refuse to knock in the dark or go out and work, guess what?
Speaker: You still got a huge opportunity.
Speaker: Go out and hustle all day, generate leads, and schedule all your appointments for when it is dark.
Speaker: Then you won't have to be cold calling, knocking on doors in the dark.
Speaker: Just schedule your appointments for after dark and that solves the issue right there.
Speaker: But inevitably appointments are going to fall through.
Speaker: There's going to be times where you don't have anything scheduled for those evening hours.
Speaker: You need to be willing to get out there and hustle.
Speaker: Go and take someone out if you need to.
Speaker: Go train someone.
Speaker: Knock with another rep.
Speaker: But don't be afraid to get out there.
Speaker: Okay, and the other tip I have is use names to your advantage.
Speaker: In previous episodes, I've talked about how we train all of our reps to use a name list.
Speaker: So keeping track of who you've talked to in the neighborhood, who you've already scheduled appointments with.
Speaker: And this becomes, I think, even more important when you are knocking in the evening hours.
Speaker: So if they know you just finished with Joe across the street and you're just coming swinging by here, the last stop of the night, then they're way more likely to listen to you.
Speaker: And use that in your evening pitch too.
Speaker: Bring it up before they do.
Speaker: If you've been in sales, you know that we need to bring up objections before the customer does.
Speaker: So it's no different when you're out there.
Speaker: If it's dark, bring it up before the customer can.
Speaker: Hey, Mr. Jones, I know it's dark outside.
Speaker: It gets dark super early now, right?
Speaker: But yeah, you guys are actually the last person I needed to let know what's going on out here.
Speaker: You're right after James across the street.
Speaker: If you bring it up before they do, they can't use that as an excuse.
Speaker: They can't get mad that you're knocking in the dark.
Speaker: So a couple tips for you.
Speaker: Hope these things helped.
Speaker: Really just get out of your head that you can't work.
Speaker: Be willing to follow up.
Speaker: Be willing to schedule go backs.
Speaker: Like I said, these are all things that I know it's ideal.
Speaker: You want to be in appointments.
Speaker: You want to be going to scheduled visits when it is dark.
Speaker: But I challenge you, get out there this week, especially if you haven't done it before.
Speaker: Go out, hustle in the dark, put your sweatshirt on, and just do it.
Speaker: And I always feel good after I knock in the dark because, yeah, it is spooky to get out there sometimes, Halloween and all that.
Speaker: I know it's past Halloween now, but it does get spooky out there.
Speaker: But that's my last tip is get a little light out there.
Speaker: We have these, I'll post a link to it, but you can get on Amazon these flashing lanyards.
Speaker: And what they do is they just, the whole lanyard, it has these little lights in it and they're flashing.
Speaker: And it's cool.
Speaker: You feel cool out there knocking with them.
Speaker: And it's also a great conversation starter.
Speaker: So we'll post a link to that.
Speaker: But if you're afraid of the dark like me, go out and get a flashing lanyard.
Speaker: It's going to help you see and it's going to help you be seen and that's going to be something cool to talk about.
Speaker: I also like to use the little mini segues.
Speaker: They have a light on them.
Speaker: Those are pretty cool.
Speaker: If you're not trying those, go get yourself a little mini segue.
Speaker: They help you jet super fast door to door and then you'll also be seen.
Speaker: So it's just a few tips.
Speaker: Don't use that as an excuse.
Speaker: Get out there.
Speaker: Knock on some night doors today.
Speaker: Don't be afraid of it.
Speaker: And most of all, keep dominating.
Speaker: So we'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker: Let me know what you thought of this.
Speaker: Let me know what other tips you have.
Speaker: As always, we invite everyone to join the Solarpreneur Facebook group.
Speaker: And there we want to talk more discussion about each topic of the show and connect with our listeners.
Speaker: So I hope you enjoyed the episode and we will see you on the next one.
Speaker: Hey, Solar Pruners, quick question.
Speaker: What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
Speaker: For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
Speaker: That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals and
Speaker: to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
Speaker: And it's called Solcitee.
Speaker: This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
Speaker: Currently, Soul Society is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
Speaker: So go to soulciety.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
Speaker: This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to soulciety.co and join.
Speaker: We'll see you on the inside.
