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Losing a Team of 75 Reps Overnight - River Skinner image

Losing a Team of 75 Reps Overnight - River Skinner

E149 ยท The Solarpreneur
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44 Plays4 years ago

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Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and 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. online teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become one what's up Solarpreneurs.

Speaker 2 (00:43):

We are back. We are alive from door to door Fest here in Dallas, Texas, and I'm stoked today because not too often, do we get to do a live interview like this. And we have got the man the myth, the legend river Skinner on today. So river, thanks for coming on the show. Excited to have you.

Speaker 3 (01:00):

Yeah. I'm excited that we do get to do it live because I think you've missed kind of like a element. Yeah,

Speaker 2 (01:06):

I know. I love it. It's cool. I've never done one from my hotel room, so nice stuff off

Speaker 3 (01:11):

View of unmade beds, you know?

Speaker 2 (01:15):

Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. My dirty clothes are sitting right behind, uh, you know, the mic, the camera here. So don't mind that if we don't get in the S what he smells there, did a few workouts. So if you smell smoky clothes, that's mere river, but I can handle it for 45 minutes. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I'm excited to be here. So river, we just heard you speak here at door to door Fest and you gave an awesome talk on recruiting. We'll dive into that. And you're here in Texas. So we want to hear all those things our listeners want to know, but yeah. Do you want to kind of share maybe how you got into solar and your story with that? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:50):

Um, I I've always been into sales. I grew up, you know, eight years old. My dad will actually, you know, my dad, my whole life owned produce stands, and he's paying me $3 an hour to work at the produce stands. And he ended up telling him, he's like, Hey, listen, I can pay three bucks an hour. Or if you sell watermelons for me, I'll pay you 50 cents a watermelon. I'm like sweet. So every person that came through the door, I came through the door, but came into the sh into the produce stand I'd, sell them watermelons, make 50 cents a pop. And I was making more off my commission than I was on my hourly pay. I'm like, this is awesome. So, anyway, so I got recruited into door-to-door from one of my dad's other employees named Aaron, Aaron invited me to go satellite with him.

Speaker 3 (02:33):

And I went and sold satellite with him. Um, that summer, the summer I graduated, um, that following year, no two years later, uh, one of my good friends, um, just was like, dude, why are you not selling solar yet? I'm like, I don't know. Um, so I started recruiting. I got recruited in Utah to sell solar sold solar for a month. I sold eight deals my first month. And, um, back then I, that was like 10 grand or something. And I was like, ecstatic. I was like, oh my gosh, I just made 10 grand in a month. Um, I wasn't making good money previously, um, in door to door. So like, for me, that was like, awesome. And I just fell in love with the product. Uh,

Speaker 2 (03:15):

That's awesome. I know it's, especially in Utah, it's, uh, I got out of Utah, so scared of selling all the, you know, Mormons and stuff out there

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Transcript

Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast

00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
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.
00:00:19
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.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.

Live Interview with River Skinner at Door to Door Fest

00:00:41
Speaker
What's up, Sorpreneurs?
00:00:43
Speaker
We are back.
00:00:43
Speaker
We are live from Door to Door Fest here in Dallas, Texas.
00:00:47
Speaker
And I'm stoked today because not too often do we get to do a live interview like this.
00:00:52
Speaker
And we have got the man, the myth, the legend, River Skinner on today.
00:00:57
Speaker
So River, thanks for coming on the show.
00:00:58
Speaker
Excited

River Skinner's Sales Journey

00:00:59
Speaker
to have you.
00:00:59
Speaker
I'm excited too.
00:01:00
Speaker
I'm excited that we do get to do it live because I think you've missed kind of like an element over Zoom.
00:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:01:06
Speaker
I love it.
00:01:07
Speaker
It's cool.
00:01:07
Speaker
I've never done one from a hotel room, so.
00:01:10
Speaker
Nice.
00:01:10
Speaker
You don't get the nice view of unmade beds, you know, every day.
00:01:16
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:01:17
Speaker
Yeah, my dirty clothes are sitting right behind, you know, the mic, the camera here, so don't mind that.
00:01:23
Speaker
Hopefully you don't get any sweaty smells here.
00:01:25
Speaker
Did a few workouts, so.
00:01:26
Speaker
If you smell sweaty clothes, that's me, River.
00:01:28
Speaker
I can handle it for 45 minutes.
00:01:30
Speaker
I told it.
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, I'm excited to be here.
00:01:33
Speaker
So River, we just heard you speak here at Door to Door Fest and you gave an awesome talk on recruiting.
00:01:39
Speaker
We'll dive into that.
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:40
Speaker
And you're here in Texas, so we want to hear all those things our listeners want to know.
00:01:44
Speaker
But yeah, do you want to kind of share maybe how you got into solar and your story with that?
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah,

Comparing Solar Markets: Utah, Texas, and California

00:01:51
Speaker
I've always been into sales.
00:01:52
Speaker
I grew up eight years old.
00:01:55
Speaker
My dad, well actually, my dad my whole life owned produce stands and he's paying me $3 an hour to work at the produce stands and he ended up
00:02:05
Speaker
He's like, hey, listen, I can pay you $3 an hour or if you sell watermelons for me, I'll pay you $0.50 a watermelon.
00:02:11
Speaker
I'm like, sweet.
00:02:13
Speaker
So every person that came through the door, or came through the door but came into the produce stand, I'd sell them watermelons, make $0.50 a pop, and I was making more off my commission than I was on my hourly pay.
00:02:23
Speaker
I'm like, this is awesome.
00:02:25
Speaker
So anyway, so I got recruited into door-to-door from one of my dad's other employees named Aaron.
00:02:31
Speaker
Aaron invited me to go sell satellite with him and I went and sold satellite with him that summer.
00:02:36
Speaker
The summer I graduated.
00:02:38
Speaker
That following year, two years later, one of my good friends just was like, dude, why are you not selling solar yet?
00:02:47
Speaker
I'm like, I don't know.
00:02:49
Speaker
So I got recruited in Utah to sell solar.
00:02:53
Speaker
Sold solar for a month.
00:02:55
Speaker
I sold eight deals my first month.
00:02:57
Speaker
Wow.
00:02:58
Speaker
Back then, that was like 10 grand or something, and I was ecstatic.
00:03:03
Speaker
I was like, oh my gosh, I just made 10 grand in a month.
00:03:07
Speaker
I wasn't making good money previously in door-to-door, so for me, that was awesome, and I just fell in love with the product.
00:03:14
Speaker
Wow, that's awesome.
00:03:16
Speaker
I know, especially in Utah.
00:03:19
Speaker
I got out

Closing Deals: River's Success at Noxstar

00:03:20
Speaker
of Utah because I was scared of selling to all the Mormons and stuff out there.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, they're scary.
00:03:24
Speaker
Just kidding.
00:03:26
Speaker
They're intimidating.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, but lower rates, so I'm in California.
00:03:30
Speaker
But yeah, if you've been with someone in Utah, do you feel like, and I know now you're in Texas, what do you feel like the differences are between the markets?
00:03:39
Speaker
Do you feel like it's pretty similar to have an experience, pull the markets?
00:03:43
Speaker
I think Texas is unique in the sense that it's deregulated.
00:03:46
Speaker
And a lot of the utilities, they're deregulated.
00:03:49
Speaker
Some of them are co-ops where it's just one utility.
00:03:52
Speaker
So it's really different in the sense like you don't know like, hey, you're not with SDG&E.
00:03:56
Speaker
You're not with Rocky Mountain Power.
00:03:57
Speaker
You could be with one of a thousand different power companies.
00:04:01
Speaker
And so they could be paying $0.08 a kilowatt hour to $0.22 a kilowatt hour, and you have no idea until you collect their power bill.
00:04:10
Speaker
And so that's something that's really unique to Texas is that you're kind of like Easter egg hunting.
00:04:14
Speaker
It's like, hey, it may be a super sexy prop, or it may not be.
00:04:18
Speaker
you know, comparative to Utah.
00:04:20
Speaker
But, you know, Utah, I think, I think is great.
00:04:22
Speaker
I grew, I started selling in Utah.
00:04:25
Speaker
I sold in Boise where rates are even cheaper than Utah.
00:04:29
Speaker
And so I've never been to a market like California where, you know, you're showing people these crazy savings.
00:04:34
Speaker
I've just never, I don't even know what that's like.
00:04:36
Speaker
And so Texas.
00:04:36
Speaker
Well, you're invited anytime, my friend.
00:04:38
Speaker
Thank you.
00:04:39
Speaker
So Texas, if they have a large bill, great.
00:04:42
Speaker
If they're not paying anything, that's fine too.
00:04:44
Speaker
I'm

Strategy for Closing Nine Deals in One Day

00:04:45
Speaker
used to some people with low rates, but if they just have a higher rate, then great.
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:04:51
Speaker
So yeah, I'm sure we'll talk more about that.
00:04:52
Speaker
But yeah, what I really wanted to hear is so River, you won the boot camp.
00:04:57
Speaker
They were doing the Noxstar boot camp, right?
00:04:59
Speaker
You were the winner for your group.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:01
Speaker
And so for our solopreneurs that don't know, Noxstar, if you guys haven't checked them out, they do great trainings.
00:05:07
Speaker
We're at the conference right now.
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:09
Speaker
And they have a boot camp that they do, I think three, four times a year or something like that.
00:05:15
Speaker
And then they have a tournament that goes on.
00:05:17
Speaker
They do just kind of head-to-head.
00:05:19
Speaker
They put you in teams, and they pick a winner that sells the most during the six-week competition.
00:05:25
Speaker
So, River, he won his competition.
00:05:27
Speaker
How many deals did you do in those six weeks, River?
00:05:31
Speaker
Honestly, it wasn't like that crazy amount.
00:05:33
Speaker
I think it was like 13 or 14 deals in that amount of time.
00:05:38
Speaker
But during that, I sold all of those 14 or whatever, nine of them were in one day.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy.
00:05:44
Speaker
And so that was cool.
00:05:46
Speaker
I just didn't work as hard as I could.
00:05:48
Speaker
You saved all your work for that weekend.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:52
Speaker
So yeah, I think 13, 14 deals.
00:05:54
Speaker
It was kind of in this time period where the net metering just changed in Utah.
00:05:58
Speaker
And I was like, I don't, you know, I just kind of put my
00:06:01
Speaker
I put my feet up, you know.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:03
Speaker
Well, that's incredible.
00:06:04
Speaker
Nine deals in a day.
00:06:05
Speaker
And I remember when that happens, that's actually when I first hit River Up to do a podcast.
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:10
Speaker
Because everyone was posting about it.
00:06:12
Speaker
You know, super crazy number, nine deals in a day.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:16
Speaker
My record was four in a day.
00:06:17
Speaker
So I'm like, wow, this kid did more than double what I did in a single day.
00:06:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:22
Speaker
He's got to be on some sort of sales, steroids or something like that.
00:06:25
Speaker
No, there's nothing to do with scale.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:29
Speaker
I was thinking in my brain the way I think I'm like what I see people doing when people do something amazing, it gets people really attracted to them, right?
00:06:37
Speaker
And it's really good for recruiting because you establish yourself as an expert.
00:06:40
Speaker
So I started to ask myself what could I do that would people start giving me more credibility that
00:06:45
Speaker
So people would trust me to come and work with me.
00:06:47
Speaker
It was for recruiting and I was like, I could do, you know, try to do 50 deals in a month.
00:06:53
Speaker
I could try to do this or that.
00:06:54
Speaker
And honestly, I messaged Sam Taggart and I was like, hey, what's the record for like the most in a day?
00:07:01
Speaker
And he's like seven.
00:07:02
Speaker
I'm like,
00:07:03
Speaker
Sweet, I'm going to do double-digit solar one day.
00:07:06
Speaker
No one's ever done it, and I know someone has.
00:07:08
Speaker
We'll get into it.
00:07:08
Speaker
But I was like, sweet.
00:07:10
Speaker
He said seven.
00:07:10
Speaker
I'm going to do ten, and that's my goal.
00:07:12
Speaker
And so I started realizing, like, cool, how am I going to do this?
00:07:16
Speaker
And so I started asking myself that question.
00:07:19
Speaker
And so I'm like, easy.
00:07:20
Speaker
I'm just going to set up one Saturday just as much as I can.
00:07:24
Speaker
And so I started just asking people, like, hey, would you mind doing a 7 a.m.
00:07:27
Speaker
appointment?
00:07:28
Speaker
And in my mind prior to that, I would never have asked that.
00:07:32
Speaker
I'm like, cool, 7 a.m., boom, 7, 10, 11.
00:07:34
Speaker
So I had an appointment every hour on the hour from 7 a.m.
00:07:38
Speaker
to 10 p.m.
00:07:40
Speaker
And that's the real trick to solar, in my opinion.
00:07:43
Speaker
Closing solar is easy, right?
00:07:45
Speaker
As long as you follow the process, you connect with the homeowner, they trust you, you answer questions, you know how to rebuttal to the basic objections.
00:07:54
Speaker
What if I move?
00:07:54
Speaker
What happens to my roof, et cetera?
00:07:57
Speaker
It really all just comes down to opportunities, right?
00:07:59
Speaker
So the real challenge of closing nine deals in a day wasn't the closing part.
00:08:04
Speaker
It was getting in front of the homeowners.
00:08:07
Speaker
And if you get in front of enough homeowners, then you'll close a high volume.
00:08:12
Speaker
That, in my opinion, is the real trick to solar.
00:08:16
Speaker
It's just getting in front of homeowners that are interested in the product.
00:08:18
Speaker
And so that's what I went out and did.
00:08:21
Speaker
It was really crazy for me.
00:08:23
Speaker
I closed like โ€“ it was like 7, 8, 9, 10 โ€“ no, 7 no-showed.
00:08:26
Speaker
It closed by 8 a.m.
00:08:27
Speaker
It closed by 9 a.m.
00:08:28
Speaker
It closed by 10 a.m.
00:08:29
Speaker
It closed by like 11 a.m.
00:08:32
Speaker
And I started back.
00:08:33
Speaker
I wasn't keeping up with the appointments.
00:08:35
Speaker
So I started picking and choosing which appointments were the best.
00:08:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:39
Speaker
Anyway, so I had like 7 by like 2 p.m.
00:08:42
Speaker
Wow.
00:08:43
Speaker
And then I got caught up with a few customers.
00:08:45
Speaker
But long story short, I was at 8 and I had one other opportunity left.
00:08:52
Speaker
And I went to her house.
00:08:54
Speaker
She wasn't there.
00:08:56
Speaker
And so I called her and she was like, hey, she texted me.
00:08:59
Speaker
She's like, hey, I'm at a party.
00:09:01
Speaker
I'm like, how long is the party?
00:09:02
Speaker
She'll be back at midnight.
00:09:03
Speaker
I'm like, cool, I'll be at your house at midnight.
00:09:05
Speaker
She's like, perfect.
00:09:06
Speaker
So I went to my last appointment at midnight, ended up talking to her and her husband and closed the last one at 1 a.m.
00:09:13
Speaker
is when we finished up documents.
00:09:15
Speaker
Five of the nine got installed.
00:09:17
Speaker
I've heard some people talking crap, like all of them canceled.
00:09:19
Speaker
Only four out of the nine.
00:09:20
Speaker
So a lot of them did cancel.
00:09:22
Speaker
That's still crazy.
00:09:24
Speaker
For me, I went back and I just realized, wow, you can really do a lot in one day if you put your mind to it.
00:09:31
Speaker
I later found out there's people that closed 17, 18, and that boggles my mind because literally there's no more time in a day in my opinion.
00:09:39
Speaker
But it was cool.
00:09:40
Speaker
It was really cool.
00:09:41
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:09:42
Speaker
And no, it's kind of like you hear the guy who broke the four-minute mile or whatever.
00:09:47
Speaker
Everyone thinks these things can't be done.
00:09:49
Speaker
But then when you hear someone do it, it's like, yeah, like, all right, it is possible.
00:09:54
Speaker
And someone's going to go and do

Networking Over Hard Selling in Solar Sales

00:09:55
Speaker
the next thing.
00:09:55
Speaker
Right.
00:09:56
Speaker
So I'm sure you got a lot of people gunning for you.
00:09:58
Speaker
And yeah, I've heard people, you know, close them more.
00:10:00
Speaker
We got Ashton Buswell.
00:10:02
Speaker
I don't know if you heard of him.
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, I listened to his podcast.
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:10:06
Speaker
He closed, I guess, I think it was 22.
00:10:07
Speaker
22.
00:10:09
Speaker
So we claim that's probably true, but yeah, he had everyone lined up, I guess, just like documents.
00:10:14
Speaker
Obviously, you can't be in that many appointments in a day, but I think you just set up something similar where it's like, okay, everyone's signed the documents at 12 o'clock on a Saturday.
00:10:23
Speaker
Right, right.
00:10:24
Speaker
So yeah, but still, it's like crazy the amount of preparation it takes for that and commitments.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:30
Speaker
And 7 a.m.
00:10:30
Speaker
to 1 a.m.
00:10:31
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:32
Speaker
Pretty exhausting, huh?
00:10:33
Speaker
And the thing that I realized from that and the thing that I actually got a lot from Noxstar was...
00:10:39
Speaker
You can get a lot more deals than you think and you can get a lot more than you think by asking certain questions.
00:10:45
Speaker
I think we stop, I think I stop coming up with solutions a lot of times when I'm not committed enough to getting the results.
00:10:51
Speaker
So like my first customer, what was the last name?
00:10:56
Speaker
The Bradfords.
00:10:57
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:10:59
Speaker
Bradfords, they messaged me and said, hey, don't come over.
00:11:01
Speaker
We're not interested.
00:11:03
Speaker
Well, I already talked to them and I said, hey, I want coffee.
00:11:05
Speaker
It was at 8 a.m.
00:11:07
Speaker
And I said, hey, when I come back, I want some coffee.
00:11:09
Speaker
So I have some coffee ready for me.
00:11:11
Speaker
And she texted me and said, hey, I'm not interested anymore.
00:11:13
Speaker
I said, OK, that's fine.
00:11:14
Speaker
But I still want my coffee.
00:11:16
Speaker
And she's like, oh, I'm not ready.
00:11:18
Speaker
I'm like, well, I'm at your door.
00:11:19
Speaker
And I was just texting her.
00:11:20
Speaker
And then she came and opened up the door and then I got into the home and closed it.
00:11:24
Speaker
Whereas prior, I would have just been like, whatever, canceled appointment, just wrote it up as not closed.
00:11:31
Speaker
Same thing with another appointment, that one at, you know, I was supposed to be there at 10 p.m.
00:11:36
Speaker
I went there, she wasn't there.
00:11:38
Speaker
I asked to come back at midnight.
00:11:39
Speaker
People will do a lot more than you think if you just ask.
00:11:43
Speaker
And I think a lot of times we give up too early and close this.
00:11:46
Speaker
Although this wasn't a great story, I would have had 10.
00:11:50
Speaker
But I sat in this guy's home for three hours.
00:11:53
Speaker
I literally tried probably 20 different clothes on this guy.
00:11:57
Speaker
And he never told me no.
00:11:58
Speaker
He just was like, he just kept on saying, I don't know, you know, that sort of language.
00:12:03
Speaker
I just kept on going and going and going and going.
00:12:05
Speaker
Keep going.
00:12:06
Speaker
And...
00:12:08
Speaker
But I didn't end up closing him.
00:12:10
Speaker
But what I did learn was like you can get a lot more people than you think you can if you just continue to go and continue to move forward instead of just being like, oh, there's an objection.
00:12:20
Speaker
Okay, no worries.
00:12:20
Speaker
And then you head out.
00:12:21
Speaker
I think that's what I do sometimes.
00:12:22
Speaker
I give up too early.
00:12:24
Speaker
I think some people give up too early as well.
00:12:26
Speaker
When really when they meet resistance, it's an opportunity to move forward.
00:12:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
And I love that you set it up all on a date, too.
00:12:32
Speaker
I'm sure just having it all set up, you already decided, okay, I'm going to hit the nine.
00:12:37
Speaker
I said ten.
00:12:38
Speaker
I didn't hit it.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, okay.
00:12:41
Speaker
I failed credit, and I had that, dude.
00:12:42
Speaker
I was pulling my hair out frustrated.
00:12:45
Speaker
I'm like, dude, just do it.
00:12:46
Speaker
That was my last closes.
00:12:48
Speaker
I'm like, let's just do it.
00:12:50
Speaker
Just the do it anyway clothes.
00:12:51
Speaker
I raised my hand.
00:12:53
Speaker
I know you don't know, but let's do it anyway.
00:12:56
Speaker
I don't know what else to say.
00:12:58
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, you're trying to break the record.
00:13:02
Speaker
So I imagine you probably had a few closes where it's like, look, I'm in a competition.
00:13:07
Speaker
Will you help me like close it?
00:13:08
Speaker
Did you pull out that one too?
00:13:09
Speaker
Pull out the competition one?
00:13:10
Speaker
I did it as a pre-frame.
00:13:12
Speaker
I just said, hey, you know, I have a goal.
00:13:14
Speaker
I've never done more than three in a day.
00:13:16
Speaker
Today, what we're going to do is we're helping 10 homeowners move forward today.
00:13:20
Speaker
In order to do that, I have some extra incentives for you guys to make it worthwhile to help you move forward today, to help you guys out, for you guys helping me out.
00:13:28
Speaker
So at the end of this, we're going to get everything moving forward.
00:13:30
Speaker
Does that sound fair enough to you?
00:13:32
Speaker
And it gave a logical reason.
00:13:33
Speaker
Although I really didn't offer them anything additional, in their mind, they're thinking, well, I'm getting a better deal than I normally would have for X reason.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, because it's crazy.
00:13:45
Speaker
I've started using that.
00:13:46
Speaker
And I mean, obviously, we're not always in a competition.
00:13:49
Speaker
But if you bring that up with homeowners, say, look, we're trying to help as many people as possible.
00:13:54
Speaker
I'm going to win.
00:13:54
Speaker
You're not lying to him.
00:13:55
Speaker
But, you know, I'm trying to beat my record, trying to help this many homeowners have a personal goal.
00:14:01
Speaker
If you can get that emotion involved, then I'm sure you saw on that day, it really helps a lot.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yeah, it helps a ton.
00:14:07
Speaker
You're more motivated than people see.
00:14:09
Speaker
It's like, oh, this kid's really trying to help a lot of people.
00:14:12
Speaker
Trying to win the trip to Hawaii.
00:14:13
Speaker
I remember when I won my first big competition, that was every close.
00:14:17
Speaker
It's like, hey, will you help me win a trip to Hawaii?
00:14:20
Speaker
I'll send you a picture when I'm there.
00:14:21
Speaker
Will you please help me?
00:14:23
Speaker
Boom, boom, boom.
00:14:24
Speaker
People love when they're on your side of the team.
00:14:26
Speaker
And Grant Cardone has that close.
00:14:29
Speaker
It's like, come on, be my superstar.
00:14:30
Speaker
You're going to be my superstar today?
00:14:32
Speaker
All right, sign here.
00:14:34
Speaker
I love that.
00:14:35
Speaker
I love that.
00:14:36
Speaker
But no, a ton of respect for what you did.
00:14:38
Speaker
Obviously, you know, top 1%, top probably.001 that have done what you've done.
00:14:48
Speaker
Well, thank you.
00:14:48
Speaker
Super impressive.
00:14:49
Speaker
Thank you.
00:14:51
Speaker
And so, River, you gave an awesome...
00:14:53
Speaker
kind of talked the other day here at Door to Door Fest about recruiting.
00:14:57
Speaker
And I like what you're saying, how you did something big to kind of boost your recruiting.
00:15:01
Speaker
So tell me about your results.
00:15:03
Speaker
Did you have, I don't know, an influx or recruits come in after you did this big feat?
00:15:09
Speaker
I can't tell you how many people
00:15:11
Speaker
recruits I got, but I can tell you, I literally, my DMs was like 60 people.
00:15:15
Speaker
Just people, people cheer, like people are genuinely good.
00:15:19
Speaker
Like I didn't break an industry record like I thought I did, but people still were like, wow, that was impressive.
00:15:23
Speaker
And they wanted to cheer me on.
00:15:25
Speaker
People want to cheer you on too.
00:15:26
Speaker
So when you do something like that, people are like, wow, that's awesome.
00:15:30
Speaker
And so I, I just connect with a lot of people and you know, my, I, I kind of track how many people are looking at my stories and
00:15:37
Speaker
And that day, usually it's like 700, 800 people a day.
00:15:40
Speaker
That day it was like 2,000 people.
00:15:42
Speaker
2,000 people every single story were just watching.
00:15:46
Speaker
And so that was really, really cool.
00:15:47
Speaker
But the thing that I believe about recruiting is it's not about...
00:15:52
Speaker
It's not about saying the perfect thing.
00:15:53
Speaker
I used to think it was always about like what's the perfect line to say?
00:15:57
Speaker
What's the perfect this or that?
00:15:58
Speaker
Really what I found with recruiting is it's more of a networking than poaching.
00:16:03
Speaker
Like people look at it as like I'm going to get this person, I'm going to get this person.
00:16:06
Speaker
Instead what I look at it as is like how can I connect with that person and how can I become their friend?
00:16:11
Speaker
How can I build a relationship with that person?
00:16:14
Speaker
And my goal isn't to recruit you.
00:16:16
Speaker
My goal is I have an abundance mindset.
00:16:18
Speaker
I think that's the best way to live.
00:16:20
Speaker
There's so many people out there that want to come work for me.
00:16:23
Speaker
There's so many people out there that want to have solar on the roof from me.
00:16:27
Speaker
So I don't need to get caught up on one person, one customer, whatever.
00:16:30
Speaker
Like they cancel if they don't go through.
00:16:32
Speaker
If this recruit doesn't want to come on, no big deal.
00:16:34
Speaker
There's tons of other people that want to come on.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:38
Speaker
I just want to connect with those recruits and I want them to win.
00:16:41
Speaker
And so if at some point me becoming their friend means that they're open to coming working here, great.
00:16:48
Speaker
But either way, what I want to do is I want to establish myself as an authority and I want
00:16:54
Speaker
them to feel comfortable going to me for help and I can go out there to assist them.
00:16:59
Speaker
So I have four or five people I can think of right now that are messaging me through Facebook or Instagram that are out there selling pest control or different products or solar and they're like, hey, how would you overcome this?
00:17:11
Speaker
How would you do this?
00:17:12
Speaker
I'm struggling with this.
00:17:13
Speaker
And I just give them free advice
00:17:15
Speaker
And maybe we're going to work together someday, but more I'm just trying to build my network and build myself as somebody that truly wants to give value because money follows value.
00:17:24
Speaker
And I know if I continue

Personal Growth and Confidence in Sales

00:17:25
Speaker
to push value out that eventually the money will return and the recruits will come because I'm building my โ€“ what's the word?
00:17:34
Speaker
Reputation.
00:17:34
Speaker
Hopefully a good reputation is what I like to think.
00:17:37
Speaker
For sure.
00:17:38
Speaker
And I love that.
00:17:39
Speaker
And you just talked about be the person that you would want to have people look up to basically.
00:17:48
Speaker
I can't remember how you phrased it, but basically become that person that people would look at first before you try to recruit.
00:17:54
Speaker
Because if you're not producing at a high level, if you're just, you know, if you're barely working yourself, then why would people want to come work with you?
00:18:01
Speaker
Right.
00:18:03
Speaker
It's like you, right?
00:18:04
Speaker
Like you just told me 150 deals in a year.
00:18:05
Speaker
Like that's insane.
00:18:05
Speaker
So like...
00:18:11
Speaker
people will want to work with you because they know that you can lead them to where you've gotten, right?
00:18:16
Speaker
It's not some secret that you sold 150.
00:18:19
Speaker
You're amazing, but what you could do is you could teach somebody the same way to be amazing just the way that you are.
00:18:25
Speaker
And so now you have credibility.
00:18:27
Speaker
And so what I believe is when the leader's ready, the recruits will come.
00:18:30
Speaker
So now it's like, cool, the leader's now ready.
00:18:33
Speaker
Like,
00:18:34
Speaker
You now know how to teach somebody to get where you're at because you've gone where they want to go.
00:18:39
Speaker
And so the first step is always developing yourself to be a person that other people want to follow.
00:18:44
Speaker
And then you'll start to see.
00:18:45
Speaker
You'll naturally start to find more opportunities to recruit when you're a better leader.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, I love that.
00:18:52
Speaker
So do you have like, was there a time when it like shifted for you?
00:18:54
Speaker
Like in the beginning?
00:18:56
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure you weren't always like this, but...
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah, I mean.
00:18:59
Speaker
Did you have a big shift where you started seeing tons more recruits come in or any, like, I don't know, changes you made?
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah, and you may not like this because of your podcast, so forgive me, but I went to Thailand, and I was in 2016, and I was kind of depressed.
00:19:17
Speaker
I kind of was like, I was thinking about getting out of sales, like maybe I can't do this.
00:19:21
Speaker
And I actually took mushrooms for the first time, and this is why you might not like it.
00:19:25
Speaker
I don't care.
00:19:26
Speaker
I took those and what that did was it gave me a perspective.
00:19:29
Speaker
And the perspective was I looked at myself and I said, why do I look at myself in such a...
00:19:37
Speaker
a small way.
00:19:38
Speaker
Why do I look at myself and think I'm not good?
00:19:41
Speaker
Why do I look at myself and think I'm sad?
00:19:44
Speaker
Why do I have this perspective of the world and of myself?
00:19:49
Speaker
And when I, and I was like, that's really not serving me.
00:19:52
Speaker
And it really flipped my perspective to be like, the only reason why I am insecure, the only reason why I am depressed or sad is because I'm choosing to look at life that way.
00:20:06
Speaker
And so when I got done with that experience, which I look at mushrooms as more like a medicine than a drug, when I got done with that medicine,
00:20:16
Speaker
I felt healed and my perspective switched and that's when I got home from Thailand.
00:20:22
Speaker
I moved to Boise, Idaho which I believe that people have these, we're talking about it at the panel, people have these growth spurts and it's usually over a three month period and that was when I truly came back to Boise and all of a sudden it was like boom.
00:20:37
Speaker
I started getting recruits.
00:20:38
Speaker
I started selling more than I ever had.
00:20:40
Speaker
The teams were doing better than I ever had and it was just crazy.
00:20:46
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:20:46
Speaker
That was a big shift.
00:20:48
Speaker
So moral of the podcast, do yourself a favor, get some shrooms in.
00:20:52
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, if you feel called to do it, do it.
00:20:56
Speaker
It makes you see outside yourself and the effect that it gives you.
00:21:01
Speaker
That was the experience that I had.
00:21:02
Speaker
But more than anything, it's not like you need something

Team Growth: Recruitment and Networking

00:21:05
Speaker
external to do that.
00:21:06
Speaker
But more it was, that was the way for me to start believing in myself.
00:21:11
Speaker
And when I started believing in myself, that's when better things started to happen.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:21:17
Speaker
Yeah, he almost had me convinced I needed trash rooms, but I'm sure there's other ways.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely, man.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, but no, that's awesome.
00:21:25
Speaker
And so, yeah, what are, as far as like recruits, how many people would you say you've like personally recruited or contributed to?
00:21:33
Speaker
Do you have a stat on that?
00:21:34
Speaker
I don't have stats.
00:21:35
Speaker
I'd say a couple hundred.
00:21:38
Speaker
I'd say personally.
00:21:41
Speaker
I worked with some great people like Jess Regan.
00:21:44
Speaker
He recruited a lot of people for our organization over the past year.
00:21:49
Speaker
But my team that's recruited a lot of people over the past year probably
00:21:56
Speaker
450 people have been recruited to our organization.
00:21:58
Speaker
But that's not just me.
00:22:01
Speaker
That's just from our whole team's effort.
00:22:02
Speaker
But personally, I've personal recruits over the past couple years, a couple hundred.
00:22:08
Speaker
Some still work for me.
00:22:09
Speaker
Some don't.
00:22:10
Speaker
But I've recruited a few people.
00:22:12
Speaker
Yeah, a person or two.
00:22:14
Speaker
But that's what I love about recruiting is, like I said, I don't care if you work for me or not.
00:22:19
Speaker
I just hope that in some way...
00:22:22
Speaker
in some way that if I did get to work with somebody that when they leave my organization or if we no longer work together that they can say I had a positive impact on them.
00:22:32
Speaker
You know, there's people that I can think of that have gone off to do awesome things or in great spots of life and I like to think that hopefully I had some sort of positive impact on their life and that's why I like to recruit is because
00:22:47
Speaker
I believe if they come work for me that they'll be put in a better position than they were before.
00:22:52
Speaker
If that's not true, then I don't want to recruit them.
00:22:54
Speaker
And that's why I love recruiting is because it's an opportunity to help change people's lives.
00:22:59
Speaker
And I don't know exact stats on my recruiting.
00:23:02
Speaker
I have no idea.
00:23:03
Speaker
It could be 150 people.
00:23:03
Speaker
It could be 300.
00:23:08
Speaker
I have no idea.
00:23:09
Speaker
Yeah, tough to say.
00:23:10
Speaker
I mean, social media, you probably, lots of people, maybe you brought in indirectly and stuff like that.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, and I actually, you know, kind of going back to it, I don't think I'm the best recruiter.
00:23:19
Speaker
I do think I'm a great networker, though.
00:23:21
Speaker
I do think I'm a great networker, but I don't think I'm the best recruiter.
00:23:24
Speaker
But I do know that networking over time is what's going to pay off.
00:23:27
Speaker
It's more of a long-term thing than a short-term thing.
00:23:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I think the abundance mindset you have, that's one of the things that I admire the most about what you're saying is because there's so many reps.
00:23:38
Speaker
I'm sure you've been approached by people like, hey, bro, what's your red line?
00:23:41
Speaker
How much you making per deal?
00:23:44
Speaker
In fact, I was in an area just like a month ago, and this punk kid comes up.
00:23:48
Speaker
He's like, hey, what are you doing on my turf?
00:23:50
Speaker
He's like knocking.
00:23:51
Speaker
I'm like, I've been here for a couple of weeks, just getting some customers.
00:23:56
Speaker
He's like, get the heck out of here.
00:23:59
Speaker
You make trash and starts thinking he's trying to recruit me by saying anything.
00:24:04
Speaker
I'm like, dude, do you think that that's going to make me want to come work with you?
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:11
Speaker
I think with recruiting, that's just a scarcity mindset, right?
00:24:15
Speaker
There's a limited amount of people in this neighborhood.
00:24:17
Speaker
Dude, how many times have you been through a neighborhood after another solo rep and have you closed deals on that?
00:24:22
Speaker
Neighborhood.
00:24:22
Speaker
Yeah, all the time, yeah.
00:24:23
Speaker
I've been to neighborhoods where people have come behind me and they've closed deals that I couldn't have.
00:24:27
Speaker
Like, there's always going to be more homeowners.
00:24:29
Speaker
There's always going to be enough roofs.
00:24:31
Speaker
But when it comes to recruiting...
00:24:34
Speaker
timing is everything and you never know when the timing is right so if he would approach you said hey man how's it going for you good that's awesome I've been in here just barely got in here have you been in here for a while sweet I'm stepping on your toes I can go find another turf yeah okay cool you know this is what I've noticed in this neighborhood you might like some of this let me follow you on Instagram you seem like a cool dude and then you start talking to each other and you start communicating for the next three or four months

Social Media Networking Strategies

00:24:59
Speaker
let's say you're in a bad position with where you're at which I'm not I'm sure you're not but
00:25:03
Speaker
Maybe you are and then he helped you out in some way.
00:25:06
Speaker
He was cool to you.
00:25:07
Speaker
You're way more likely to go to him to talk about the opportunity he may have offered you than being like, you know.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, being a dick.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, being a dick.
00:25:17
Speaker
Like no.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's you.
00:25:19
Speaker
And you never know.
00:25:20
Speaker
It's like you said, maybe they have a pay issue.
00:25:22
Speaker
Maybe their company doesn't pay them like a year down the road.
00:25:26
Speaker
or something happened, maybe their company goes out of business and then who are they going to go to?
00:25:30
Speaker
They're going to go to the people who like cheer them on, who hit them up on social media, which I know you're talking about too, just, you know, connecting with guys and networking like you're saying.
00:25:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:40
Speaker
Which has been huge for you.
00:25:41
Speaker
But yeah, I want to hear a little bit about like the social media.
00:25:45
Speaker
Speaking of that, can you talk about just kind of what you're, how you connect with people on social media and how you, I don't know, maybe strategies for guys who want to get better at the networking part on social media?
00:25:56
Speaker
Because I'm not good at that.
00:25:58
Speaker
Yeah, I think one, just being real and being vulnerable, right?
00:26:01
Speaker
Like sharing your things that you're struggling with, right?
00:26:05
Speaker
Like you don't have to throw up on people, but just sharing your story, you know?
00:26:09
Speaker
Hey, I, I, I,
00:26:11
Speaker
I had depression growing up.
00:26:13
Speaker
One thing for me, I grew up and I was on Zoloft.
00:26:15
Speaker
I was on antidepressants growing up.
00:26:17
Speaker
So I struggle with that.
00:26:19
Speaker
I struggle with being insecure.
00:26:21
Speaker
And when I share that part of me, there's other people out there that have dealt with the same thing and it makes me connect with them.
00:26:28
Speaker
And so by actually sharing your story, it doesn't always have to be sad.
00:26:31
Speaker
It can just be like documenting the journey.
00:26:34
Speaker
People connect with you more and sharing the good and the bad.
00:26:39
Speaker
And the next thing is spending time networking.
00:26:42
Speaker
And so what I do every day is I spend, actually let me rephrase that, I used to do a lot more, I can be better at it.
00:26:49
Speaker
I do a hundred touches on social media a day, meaning that I talk to or communicate with a hundred people a day, whether that's just sliding up in their DMs and just congratulating them.
00:26:59
Speaker
If it's a quick response of like, I see someone sell a deal, I'll just slide up and say, nice job brother.
00:27:06
Speaker
If I see somebody that, whatever, I'll just find a way to connect, just little comments.
00:27:10
Speaker
Little comments, I'll just talk to them and just communicate with them.
00:27:14
Speaker
Then what I'll do is I'll just go find people that I'm interested in networking with and I'll follow them and I'll just start cheering them on.
00:27:21
Speaker
Over time, I'll just start to get to know them, start to ask them questions.
00:27:26
Speaker
Maybe take a video of myself, send them a video of me telling them what I'm grateful for about them, what I see in them, what's powerful about them.
00:27:35
Speaker
Just spending time investing in other people.
00:27:37
Speaker
Just constantly be outpouring love, gratitude, appreciation, value and give out all of that for free.
00:27:45
Speaker
Give out all your tips and secrets.
00:27:46
Speaker
If anybody wants to

Daily Practices for Personal Development

00:27:48
Speaker
know anything I do that has got me to be somewhat successful, at least I feel like I'm in a decent position.
00:27:56
Speaker
and I have a long ways to go, I'm an open book and I want to give that to everybody because I believe the more I give out, the law of reciprocation is going to give me back that tenfold.
00:28:05
Speaker
And so that's kind of my goal with social is how can I just give more out to the marketplace?
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's sweet.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, we just had the Mr. Thank You.
00:28:15
Speaker
We spoke here at Door to Door Fest.
00:28:17
Speaker
I want to get him on too, but writes down five thank you cards a day for a year.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:21
Speaker
And it's like you don't have to be that extreme, but I mean you did kind of your version of that on social media.
00:28:26
Speaker
I think that's what you've been doing.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, one of my, what I call them DMOs, daily method of operations.
00:28:33
Speaker
You know, I believe in routines.
00:28:34
Speaker
I believe in a morning routine very strongly, you know, workout every day, drink a gallon of water every day, read a book every day, meditate every day.
00:28:44
Speaker
gratitude journal every day.
00:28:46
Speaker
But one thing that I've been working on is sending three people a text message or a message every day of why I love them and why I'm grateful for them.
00:28:52
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:28:53
Speaker
And it could be anybody.
00:28:55
Speaker
Like I mentioned Will Smith the other day.
00:28:57
Speaker
Will Smith, is he going to respond to me?
00:28:59
Speaker
Maybe not.
00:29:00
Speaker
But if I send three texts a day,
00:29:03
Speaker
I got this from Jesse Itzler.
00:29:04
Speaker
If I send three text messages a day, that's almost 1,000 a year.
00:29:06
Speaker
Over the next 10 years, that's 10,000 messages.
00:29:07
Speaker
If I send 10,000 messages out over the next 10 years, do you think that one person
00:29:18
Speaker
one person like Will Smith would respond to me?
00:29:21
Speaker
Maybe, right?
00:29:22
Speaker
And I made a connection with somebody I normally wouldn't have.
00:29:25
Speaker
Or you message somebody.
00:29:26
Speaker
Jesse talks about three things.
00:29:28
Speaker
You consult, you congratulate, or what was the third one?
00:29:31
Speaker
You consult, meaning if somebody has something that,

Leadership Challenges and Lessons in Utah

00:29:36
Speaker
or compliment.
00:29:37
Speaker
That was the third one.
00:29:38
Speaker
So consult like somebody lost
00:29:40
Speaker
somebody in their family, something happened.
00:29:43
Speaker
You send them a message of consoling them.
00:29:45
Speaker
Hey, I know you're going through a hard time.
00:29:47
Speaker
I just want to let you know I love you and I appreciate you.
00:29:50
Speaker
And I'm here for you if you need anything.
00:29:52
Speaker
I'm thinking about you.
00:29:53
Speaker
Consoling.
00:29:55
Speaker
Complimenting.
00:29:56
Speaker
hey, I was thinking about you, one thing that I think you're really good at is I think, specifically you, I think you're very, very sincere and you're very genuine, but more than that, you're a really good listener and you're very, very attentive, which I love that about you, right?
00:30:10
Speaker
So if you can compliment somebody every day,
00:30:13
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:30:14
Speaker
Or you can congratulate somebody.
00:30:16
Speaker
Hey, I just saw that you closed 10 deals this week.
00:30:21
Speaker
Congratulations, man.
00:30:22
Speaker
That shows a lot about you.
00:30:24
Speaker
I just want to let you know I'm watching you, I'm seeing you, and I'm rooting for you.
00:30:27
Speaker
Or whatever, right?
00:30:28
Speaker
But console, congratulate, or compliment.
00:30:31
Speaker
And you do that three times to three people.
00:30:34
Speaker
You can just open up your phone, go to your contacts list, and just start scrolling through people until you feel someone that's on your heart.
00:30:40
Speaker
Boom.
00:30:41
Speaker
And then you can just record a video, type out a message, whatever.
00:30:43
Speaker
But it takes what?
00:30:46
Speaker
Five minutes a day?
00:30:47
Speaker
It's super easy to do, super easy not to do.
00:30:50
Speaker
But once again, I'm a networker, not a recruiter.
00:30:53
Speaker
And then boom.
00:30:54
Speaker
Or you'll just go through your messages on Instagram or on your phone.
00:30:58
Speaker
Just scroll to the bottom.
00:30:59
Speaker
Who I haven't talked to in two years.
00:31:01
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:02
Speaker
Boom.
00:31:02
Speaker
You still love them.
00:31:03
Speaker
You still like them.
00:31:05
Speaker
I just haven't talked to you in two years.
00:31:06
Speaker
So boom.
00:31:07
Speaker
Hey, buddy.
00:31:08
Speaker
I haven't talked in a while.
00:31:09
Speaker
I know we're not super close friends, but I do want you to know I'm thinking about you and blah, blah, blah.
00:31:15
Speaker
Just making touches every day.
00:31:16
Speaker
I love that.
00:31:17
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:31:18
Speaker
And yeah, I think if every solar person did that, if every solopreneur did that,
00:31:22
Speaker
Yeah, it'd be crazy.
00:31:23
Speaker
I mean, we'd be getting more deals for sure.
00:31:26
Speaker
I mean, think of even just from a sales perspective, if you're doing that, I bet you get at least a few people a year being like, hey, what do you do, by the way?
00:31:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:35
Speaker
Can you get me some solar panels?
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:31:37
Speaker
I mean, that's a side effect.
00:31:38
Speaker
But even besides that, it's like you're not trying to recruit every person.
00:31:42
Speaker
But how many recruits have you gotten by doing stuff like that?
00:31:44
Speaker
Probably dozens.
00:31:46
Speaker
Same thing with sales.
00:31:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a huge key in anything we're doing, just having that mindset and not looking for their award, but just doing it anyways.
00:31:55
Speaker
And then, you know, karma results are going to follow and have success.
00:31:59
Speaker
So, yeah, that's super cool you're doing that.
00:32:01
Speaker
Yeah, so you got trained by Parker Winder, right?
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, so Parker, he had a conversation with me like four years ago, a long time ago, and he taught me something, you know, be highly intentional but lowly attached.
00:32:12
Speaker
Oh, nice.
00:32:12
Speaker
That always touched.
00:32:13
Speaker
Did he teach you that?
00:32:14
Speaker
I think he did.
00:32:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a while.
00:32:15
Speaker
He's talking about my quadrant?
00:32:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:17
Speaker
So anyway, you know, I think that's how it is in life, like,
00:32:20
Speaker
You know, just expect everything you want in your life as long as you're putting in the work and you're being that person that will come.
00:32:26
Speaker
You just don't know when.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:28
Speaker
But, so I'm highly intentional but I'm lowly attached.
00:32:32
Speaker
Nice.
00:32:32
Speaker
And you don't know if that's going to be the customer that's going to buy.
00:32:36
Speaker
You don't care either way.
00:32:37
Speaker
You're not controlled if they choose to buy or choose not to buy but you are highly intentional going into it.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:43
Speaker
and just live in a space of like you trust God, you trust the universe, whatever you believe in that will come eventually as long as you're doing the right things.
00:32:52
Speaker
Nice.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's money.
00:32:54
Speaker
Boom.
00:32:55
Speaker
So yeah, take note of that.
00:32:56
Speaker
It's a money tip right there.

Balancing Social Media Use and Goals

00:32:59
Speaker
But I wanted to ask you too, River, do you have like, when you're reaching out to people, something that is tough for me on the social media thing is just, I get distracted super easy, start wasting time on the social media and, you know, end up
00:33:15
Speaker
Just watching cat videos.
00:33:17
Speaker
Watching cat videos, yeah, all that kind of stuff.
00:33:20
Speaker
So for you, when you're doing all that, obviously we know social media is good for all these things, reaching out to guys.
00:33:25
Speaker
Did you have like a set schedule or are you doing it?
00:33:27
Speaker
I know you're probably doing it intentional, but what's your kind of process as you go on social media and not get like distracted and actually have attention when you're on social media?
00:33:35
Speaker
I spend so much time on my phone, it's not good.
00:33:38
Speaker
So a lot of it is I'm just scrolling and I'm just watching people's stuff, like not being intentional and I just naturally, I'll just naturally at the end of the video, I'll just type something on the, mainly it's stories.
00:33:50
Speaker
But no, like when I do it intentionally, it would be, I do my morning routine and then after my morning routine, I'll send, and then I'll get my phone after I've done my stuff and then I'll get my phone, open it up, then I'll send the text messages, then I'll do the hundred reaches, like reaching out.
00:34:05
Speaker
Nice.
00:34:06
Speaker
When I'm doing it optimally, but I'm not as consistent as I could be.
00:34:09
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm glad you struggle with it too, not just me.
00:34:13
Speaker
It literally knows exactly what you want to see.
00:34:16
Speaker
It knows I want to watch golf videos, fighting videos, and motocross videos, and success videos.
00:34:22
Speaker
Those are like the four things.
00:34:23
Speaker
That's like all it is.
00:34:24
Speaker
I'm just like, oh, this is so entertaining.
00:34:26
Speaker
I know.
00:34:26
Speaker
Just stroll for hours.
00:34:27
Speaker
I know.
00:34:28
Speaker
I hate it.
00:34:30
Speaker
Yeah, so no, I think that's key though is trying to be intentional.
00:34:32
Speaker
Obviously, easier said than done.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:35
Speaker
But yeah, the other thing you talked about too in your presentation is just, I know you had the Topgolf story recruiting guys at Topgolf the other day.
00:34:43
Speaker
How much of what you do, are you like constantly as you're out just doing, I don't know, bowling

Everyday Recruiting Opportunities

00:34:49
Speaker
activities?
00:34:49
Speaker
Are you always looking for guys to recruit or do you have kind of like a set thing you try to do when you see how these guys could be good?
00:34:56
Speaker
Yeah, I could be better at it.
00:34:58
Speaker
Taylor McCarthy says you don't go anywhere to recruit, you recruit everywhere you go.
00:35:03
Speaker
And for me, it's more of, I'm not like, that's not what I'm searching out.
00:35:08
Speaker
You know people that do MLMs?
00:35:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:10
Speaker
My dad, that's what he does for, he has a produce stand and he does MLMs.
00:35:14
Speaker
So I have a lot of respect for that.
00:35:16
Speaker
But I also get the NFL, the No Friends League, with MLM where it's like constantly, hey, how you doing?
00:35:22
Speaker
Cool.
00:35:22
Speaker
Cool.
00:35:22
Speaker
Well, guess what?
00:35:23
Speaker
You can make $7 million tomorrow if you get three friends, I get eight friends, but you have to be one of my friends that I sign up.
00:35:29
Speaker
And it's just like you're always looking for the pitch.
00:35:33
Speaker
I just more, as I go throughout my day, if I see someone, I'll just open up the opportunity.
00:35:37
Speaker
Hey, it seems like this is a really good line for recruiting that I learned from Taylor.
00:35:43
Speaker
Hey, especially like, let's say it's a waiter.
00:35:45
Speaker
Let's say it's someone that's not really in a high level position.
00:35:49
Speaker
hey, you seem to be really good at your job.
00:35:52
Speaker
I was at Four Seasons and the person that was cleaning my clubs, I said, hey, you seem to be really good at this.
00:36:00
Speaker
Is this a career for you?
00:36:02
Speaker
And obviously, no.
00:36:03
Speaker
And they're like, no, it's not my, oh, okay, because you would do really, really well at what I do.
00:36:07
Speaker
And then you kind of pause.
00:36:09
Speaker
Really, what do you do?
00:36:10
Speaker
Well, I basically do the same thing that you do.
00:36:12
Speaker
I just serve people and I talk to people, but I just get paid a ton of money for it.
00:36:16
Speaker
You know, I
00:36:17
Speaker
Our company actually just got off a hiring freeze.
00:36:20
Speaker
I couldn't promise you a job, but I could get you an interview.
00:36:26
Speaker
I could promise you an interview.
00:36:27
Speaker
If I got you an interview, would you show up?
00:36:29
Speaker
That's a great word track that Taylor taught me.
00:36:32
Speaker
Love that.
00:36:32
Speaker
That I've used quite a few times.
00:36:33
Speaker
Nice.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:34
Speaker
Copy and paste that.
00:36:35
Speaker
I love that.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:36
Speaker
Literally.
00:36:37
Speaker
You just use that word for word.
00:36:38
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:36:39
Speaker
It's a money line.
00:36:40
Speaker
And I didn't create that.
00:36:41
Speaker
I just, I just, I just learned from everybody and try to take what works for the people and apply it.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:48
Speaker
Well, it's a money line.
00:36:50
Speaker
And yeah, I don't know if we mentioned it, but you won, um, was the best recruiter at door to door con.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:55
Speaker
Voted by the people, the people spoken.
00:36:58
Speaker
Once again, you know, I don't think I'm the best recruiter.
00:37:00
Speaker
I just think I have influence on social media.
00:37:02
Speaker
So I got voted the most.
00:37:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:04
Speaker
Well, and that just shows the influence you have.
00:37:06
Speaker
Like, even if you're not, people still recognize you and you have the amount of influence that people are seeing the results.
00:37:12
Speaker
Yeah, it was cool.
00:37:12
Speaker
It was cool.
00:37:13
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah, you know your stuff and obviously you've had a ton of success.
00:37:18
Speaker
So, yeah, we appreciate all the stuff you've shared, River.
00:37:24
Speaker
And then last thing I wanted to ask you, just like in Texas, you know,
00:37:31
Speaker
Or yeah, you had the story about the guys at Topgolf that you recruited the other day.
00:37:36
Speaker
How big have you grown your...

Resilience After Market Changes

00:37:40
Speaker
you told a really cool kind of story about your transition from Utah to Texas, just kind of the struggles you went through.
00:37:47
Speaker
And I know there's a whole thing that changed in Utah with the net metering.
00:37:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:52
Speaker
So for our solopreneurs, can you kind of tell that story just we like to hear about, you know, the failures, the struggles, and obviously that sounded super tough.
00:38:00
Speaker
So the net metering changed in Utah.
00:38:03
Speaker
And long story short, we went on a blitz while we were trying to figure out a solution.
00:38:09
Speaker
we wound up Blitzen Boise, came back, thought we had a solution.
00:38:13
Speaker
Last minute we found out we didn't.
00:38:15
Speaker
And there was a meeting and I basically didn't do a good job in that meeting leading those people, which led to a few of our main leaders in Utah leaving, which led to about 75 people leaving the company over the past.
00:38:32
Speaker
That was pretty much starting in December.
00:38:35
Speaker
So from December to April,
00:38:37
Speaker
We went from like 160 reps to like 75 reps.
00:38:42
Speaker
And keep in mind, we were recruiting people through that time period.
00:38:45
Speaker
So we lost a lot more than just the 160 to 75.
00:38:48
Speaker
It was like we probably lost like 80, 90 people.
00:38:51
Speaker
And then we were still recruiting people.
00:38:52
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:38:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:38:55
Speaker
And so we just lost a ton of people.
00:38:57
Speaker
And, you know, it literally brought me to like a place of like, man, I โ€“
00:39:03
Speaker
I should not be in leadership.
00:39:05
Speaker
This sucks.
00:39:07
Speaker
And a lot of people that are very close to me left.
00:39:09
Speaker
And it was very emotional.
00:39:12
Speaker
And so the thing that I learned...
00:39:15
Speaker
from that was one to be upfront and honest when you don't have a solution because I pretended like I didn't.
00:39:21
Speaker
I felt like we were fine.
00:39:22
Speaker
The second thing is when we pretend like we had a solution, I told everybody else to go and sell.
00:39:27
Speaker
It's going to be fine.
00:39:28
Speaker
You're going to love it.
00:39:29
Speaker
And I was, during that time, I was kicking my feet up.
00:39:32
Speaker
It was during that competition.
00:39:33
Speaker
I was excited.
00:39:34
Speaker
worry about it.
00:39:34
Speaker
I don't want to have to deal with the new net metering.
00:39:36
Speaker
I don't want to have to learn it.
00:39:37
Speaker
So I just put my feet up.
00:39:39
Speaker
So the second thing I learned is I need to do โ€“ if I'm going to ask someone else to do something hard, I need to be right there beside them and doing it with them.
00:39:47
Speaker
And there's many more lessons I've learned.
00:39:50
Speaker
But what I'm grateful for is where we're going, we want to have a thousand reps
00:39:56
Speaker
and where we're at today and the lessons that I've learned from that is gonna help me become the leader that can lead a thousand reps that I may not have learned without that lesson.
00:40:06
Speaker
And so it's given me a huge gift.

Self-Improvement in Leadership

00:40:09
Speaker
The thing that I learned, John Frampton,
00:40:13
Speaker
I listened to that talk.
00:40:15
Speaker
He said, go look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, would you follow you?
00:40:20
Speaker
And I did that.
00:40:20
Speaker
I went into the mirror.
00:40:22
Speaker
I was in my truck.
00:40:24
Speaker
I opened up my little sun visor, popped it open.
00:40:27
Speaker
I looked at myself.
00:40:28
Speaker
So would I follow me?
00:40:28
Speaker
And I had a notebook.
00:40:34
Speaker
For some people, I would.
00:40:35
Speaker
In these situations, I would follow me.
00:40:37
Speaker
I'm doing this well.
00:40:39
Speaker
But there's a lot of situations where I was like, hell no, I wouldn't follow you.
00:40:43
Speaker
And it led me to see my weaknesses.
00:40:46
Speaker
It led me to see some of my downfalls.
00:40:48
Speaker
And now it's time to improve, right?
00:40:51
Speaker
It's now time for me to work on myself, to forge myself more into the leader that people need to have to be successful.
00:40:58
Speaker
And so it's been a gift, but a lot of those gifts were amazing.
00:41:03
Speaker
crying a lot of those gifts were some some dark nights were of self-doubt and insecurities and frustrations and heartache and um but going through the dark is where you get to the light so i finally feel like i'm through the dark um little has a couple weeks ago so
00:41:20
Speaker
Well, I feel for you.
00:41:21
Speaker
Yeah, I was just glad when all those net metering changes happened in Utah.
00:41:25
Speaker
I'm like, dang, I'm glad I already sold my parents' solar.
00:41:29
Speaker
Grandpa did your five.
00:41:30
Speaker
I'm glad I'm in San Diego and not Utah.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:34
Speaker
So, yeah, I feel for you, man.
00:41:35
Speaker
It seemed like, you know, super tough, all that changing overnight.
00:41:38
Speaker
And, I mean, kudos to you.
00:41:40
Speaker
But no, really respect you, dude, for being super honest, super raw with all the people that follow you because there's a lot of like, as I'm sure you've seen a lot of people I know that's just flash their, you know, cars, flash their money.
00:41:52
Speaker
But that's all we know about them.
00:41:55
Speaker
And people really respect the things you're talking about.
00:41:58
Speaker
Cool.
00:41:58
Speaker
And not just seeing the money, the Lamborghinis and all that.
00:42:02
Speaker
One day, one day I'll get a Lamborghini.
00:42:04
Speaker
Same.
00:42:05
Speaker
So yeah, so River, before we wrap up here, do

Connecting with River Skinner Online

00:42:08
Speaker
you want to tell people a little bit about your podcast, your brand, your Valor gear and all that, where they can find all those things?
00:42:14
Speaker
Yeah, so the Valor Morning Podcast, you can find it on all social media platforms or on all podcast platforms.
00:42:20
Speaker
I upload one.
00:42:22
Speaker
I try to do it five days a week, but I haven't been consistent lately.
00:42:26
Speaker
But there's almost over 200 episodes on there.
00:42:29
Speaker
Awesome.
00:42:30
Speaker
So tons of content for you to sift through and to kind of hear what's going on inside of my head and my perspective.
00:42:35
Speaker
So go to the Valor Morning Podcast and listen to that.
00:42:38
Speaker
River James Skinner on Facebook and then River J Skinner on Instagram.
00:42:41
Speaker
Just shoot me a follow and DM me if you heard this from the solopreneur.com.
00:42:47
Speaker
DM me and let's just chat and I'd love to connect with you and help and serve, give in any way.
00:42:54
Speaker
Awesome.
00:42:55
Speaker
We appreciate you coming on.
00:42:56
Speaker
So guys, go out, hit River up.
00:42:58
Speaker
Tell him you appreciate him for being raw, for sharing his story on the podcast.
00:43:03
Speaker
And we'll have guys in touch with you, River.
00:43:05
Speaker
And any last, I don't know, words of wisdom you want to share with our solopreneurs before we say goodbye here?
00:43:11
Speaker
No, just be grateful.
00:43:12
Speaker
Be grateful.
00:43:12
Speaker
Your situation's better than you think it is.
00:43:14
Speaker
So just be grateful.
00:43:15
Speaker
Awesome.
00:43:16
Speaker
Be great, guys.
00:43:17
Speaker
Go out and share this with someone who can value from it.
00:43:20
Speaker
And tell River you appreciate them again.
00:43:23
Speaker
And we'll see you guys on the next show.
00:43:25
Speaker
Thanks again, River.
00:43:26
Speaker
Thanks.

Introduction to Sol Society

00:43:28
Speaker
Hey, solar printers.
00:43:29
Speaker
Quick question.
00:43:30
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?
00:43:39
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals and
00:43:45
Speaker
and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:43:51
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry.
00:44:02
Speaker
And it's called Sol Society.
00:44:04
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?
00:44:19
Speaker
Less than $3.45 a day.
00:44:22
Speaker
Currently Sol Society is closed to the public and membership is by invitation only, but solopreneurs can go to solciety.co to learn more and have the option to join a waitlist when a membership becomes available in your area.
00:44:36
Speaker
Again, this is exclusively for Solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now.
00:44:49
Speaker
Thanks again for listening.
00:44:50
Speaker
We'll catch you again in the next episode.