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Do This Before You Discount Price!
79 Plays3 years ago
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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 the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Overcoming Financial Struggles in Solar
00:00:19
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I teach you 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
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What is a solopreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
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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.
Should Solar Businesses Drop Their Prices?
00:00:42
Speaker
What's up solopreneurs?
00:00:43
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Taylor Armstrong back with another episode.
00:00:46
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Today we're going to talk about why you should not drop your price.
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Don't do it.
00:00:53
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Okay, I'm going to tell you what you need to do instead.
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If you are new to the podcast, we are here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully have a much better time in the solar industry.
00:01:05
Speaker
And we are free and available on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, wherever you can find them.
00:01:12
Speaker
Thanks for making the podcast, the Solarpreneur Podcast, the first listen of every Tuesday and Friday.
00:01:19
Speaker
Greatly appreciated.
Guest Features and Real-World Inspiration
00:01:21
Speaker
And if you didn't hear the previous episode, we had Lindsay Erickson on.
00:01:27
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She offered to do a free account audit.
00:01:31
Speaker
I know she's pretty much out of space for those account audits.
00:01:34
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So if you want to get that done and see where you're at as far as progressing your accounts,
00:01:40
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and see if you could possibly have her help or just get some advice on how you could do it more smoothly and efficiently.
00:01:48
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Definitely go book a call with her.
00:01:49
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We will do the link in the show notes here one last time.
00:01:54
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And so today, the reason we're talking about this is
00:01:58
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as the reason for a lot of episodes is because of real world, real happenings, things that I'm seeing as I'm out here closing deals, as I'm out here knocking doors, as we're out here in the solar world in San Diego.
00:02:13
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A lot of these things just happen as I'm in deals.
00:02:15
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And I think, okay, this is a great lesson, great takeaway.
00:02:20
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I got to share this.
00:02:22
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So this podcast is no different.
00:02:24
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A couple of things that have happened.
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So I'm going to go into a couple of stories and then just tell you the things that we can apply from what happened with these real life customers.
Negotiation Challenges with Kosro
00:02:36
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And so the first one, his name is Kosro.
00:02:40
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This guy, I closed him up.
00:02:42
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It was about a month ago, going on about a month now.
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And Koshro, from the sound of the name, as you can imagine, he is, I think, Iranian.
00:02:53
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Could be wrong, but somewhere out in, you know, Middle East out there.
00:02:58
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And as you probably know, those cultures are very much like a bartering culture.
00:03:05
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They want the best deals.
00:03:06
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They want to feel they're getting the best price.
00:03:09
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They want the best service.
00:03:11
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And so naturally, that's what this was.
00:03:13
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It was more of a negotiation.
00:03:15
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He wanted to do it.
00:03:16
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He wanted solar.
00:03:17
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I just had to negotiate with him and make him feel he was getting the best deal, the best service, the best price.
00:03:24
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And it was going well.
00:03:25
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I went there, closed him up the first time.
00:03:29
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But after I close him up, sure enough, in comes my arch nemesis, Sunrun.
00:03:34
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Dun, dun, dun.
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Just kidding.
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Sunrun's good.
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Got lots of friends over there.
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But he was competing.
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He was shopping our price out with Sunrun.
00:03:45
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And this was just, and he went to a Costco, got a Sunrun quote.
00:03:50
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And luckily we were actually, we came in a little bit better pricing and all that.
00:03:56
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But then sure enough, he goes and talks to Sunrun and says, Hey, what kind of deal can you give me?
00:04:02
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Sunrun comes back with a deal that's like $2,000 cheaper than ours.
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And he gets like these, you know, Costco gift cards, Costco cards, make him feel all special.
00:04:14
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But even with all the, you know, cards and all that, it's like a couple grand cheaper than ours.
00:04:19
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And so this is where you really got to negotiate.
00:04:22
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This is where I had to put on my thinking cap, really show him why he should go with us instead of Sunrun.
00:04:29
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And so here's what happens.
00:04:32
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Well, first of all, another lesson that I got from this is people love to feel like they're getting great incentives and offers with their deal.
Creating Exclusive Offers
00:04:41
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This guy was so happy that he's getting like a little Costco gift card for like a thousand bucks that he pretty much all through other aspects of the deal out the window.
00:04:51
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He's like, oh, well, they're giving me a Costco gift card.
00:04:53
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Can you give me that?
00:04:55
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I'm like, yeah, dude, I'll give you that along with lesser equipment, lesser warranties.
00:05:01
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And so that is something you got to be aware of.
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People are a sucker for a good deal.
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So as you're out there, I mean, I learned something from Sunrun.
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I got to be the one to make people feel like they're getting a good deal.
00:05:13
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I ran into another person that was all about this company because they were giving them a military special, military discount.
00:05:21
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And so lesson learned from this, create your own offers.
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If they're military, create a military discount.
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They got electric vehicle, create the electric vehicle discount.
00:05:34
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People love feeling like they're getting something exclusive specific to their situation.
00:05:39
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But anyways, that's besides the point.
00:05:41
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So what happened was this.
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We start comparing.
00:05:45
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Sunrun's giving them the string inverter.
00:05:47
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They're giving them the Chinese panels.
00:05:49
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This is a purchase.
00:05:52
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And we didn't compare too much initially, but once we started comparing, I said, Kosro, this is what you're getting.
00:05:58
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You're getting microinverters.
00:06:00
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You're getting an American made panel that has a better warranty on it.
00:06:04
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It's going to degrade less over time and you're getting a higher efficient panel.
00:06:11
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And went through all this.
00:06:13
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And this did work for a minute.
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Okay.
00:06:16
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Not the end of the story.
00:06:17
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But what I did, I made a T-chart.
00:06:19
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Hopefully you've heard that podcast episode.
00:06:21
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I've not been linked to it.
00:06:23
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But super powerful to use the T-chart in the close when you're comparing your solar to the utility.
00:06:28
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Just show them apples to apples comparison.
00:06:31
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Well, I did the same thing.
00:06:32
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I made a T-chart.
00:06:33
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And I gave him an exact breakdown as far as what he's getting.
00:06:37
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Us versus Sunrun.
00:06:38
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compared the panel, compared the inverter, compared the warranty, compared the workmanship warranty, compared the roof warranty.
00:06:45
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Cause these people, they don't know the difference, right?
00:06:47
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Most of the time they just look at price things.
00:06:49
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They're getting the exact same thing.
00:06:53
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So I went through this, he understood it.
00:06:55
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He said, okay, Taylor, it makes sense.
Price Matching Dilemmas and Strategies
00:06:59
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And I thought he was good to go, but then I get a text from him the next day and he just hard balls me.
00:07:07
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He says, Taylor, um, I like what you show me, but I'm only going to choose you if you match the sun run at the 41,000.
00:07:16
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And so I text him back.
00:07:18
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Okay.
00:07:18
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Do you, is, is okay.
00:07:19
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Do you want cheaper equipment and lesser warranties?
00:07:23
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And he says, no, I want the exact same thing.
00:07:25
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I'll only do this if you can give me the 41,000.
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End of story.
00:07:31
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It's essentially what he says.
00:07:33
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And so I'm like, okay, great.
00:07:35
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What am I going to do?
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And at the end of the day, I could have matched this.
00:07:39
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Okay.
00:07:40
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I had room in my commissions.
00:07:42
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I can drop the price to 41,000.
00:07:45
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I'll still make okay money on it.
00:07:46
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It's just cutting out a lot of the commission, right?
00:07:49
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So my first thought was, okay, deal's a deal, whatever.
00:07:53
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If he's going to throw a fit about this, we're already a couple of weeks into this.
00:07:58
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I'll just match it and be done with it.
00:07:59
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And I'll have to waste any more time.
00:08:02
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But then I got a reminder.
00:08:04
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Hopefully a lot of you have read it's Sam Taggart's ABCs of Closing.
00:08:09
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Great closing book.
00:08:11
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Great book that everyone should have on their bookshelf.
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Refer back to often.
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And so I referred to this is on page 60.
00:08:18
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If you have the book, it's a discount or deal close.
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And Sam Taggart, he says, naturally, people don't like to be sold.
00:08:28
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Deals such as buy one, get one free or Memorial Day special are used to relieve buying pressure or help people make buying decisions.
00:08:36
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He's talking about the discount close right now.
00:08:40
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And then what applies to this situation, he says, if you get in the habit of give, give, give, you won't ever be an effective closer.
00:08:47
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Top reps always practice the give and take method.
00:08:50
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If a customer is asking for a lower price, a free month, and you're willing to do it, you need to ask for something in return.
00:08:57
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This can be as simple as a banana for the road or a glass of water.
00:09:01
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My go-to is always ask for referrals.
00:09:05
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And then he says later, be extremely careful of getting into the habit of giving away the farm.
00:09:10
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This is the lazy way of closing.
00:09:12
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Forming this habit actually makes you weak as a closer and in the long term you will sell less.
00:09:18
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Okay.
00:09:18
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So great section on it.
00:09:19
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He says more.
00:09:21
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And so I read this and I'm like, okay, you know what?
00:09:24
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I'm not going to let, I'm not going to let kosher beat me down.
00:09:27
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I'm giving them a great deal.
00:09:30
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Hey, I deserve, I spent a good amount of time on this.
00:09:34
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I'm not going to just drop my prices.
00:09:35
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Okay.
00:09:37
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And so I knew I was at risk of just losing the deal completely.
00:09:41
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But here's what I said.
00:09:43
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And here's what happened.
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The text went like this.
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I said, all right, I just talked to our installers.
00:09:48
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They want to work with you.
00:09:49
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However, they are not a company that cuts corners by shortening warranties and product just to compete with Sunrun's price.
00:09:57
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We did find some Chinese panels that
00:10:00
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that we can use that can cut down the price a little bit.
00:10:05
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And the other issue is your electric panel needs a D-rate, which is an added expense.
00:10:14
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We are willing to match the price on two conditions.
00:10:17
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Number one, you provide us with two potential referrals that are open to hear about solar and see if it's a fit for their home.
00:10:24
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This allows them to take from their budget that would otherwise be used for marketing and cut out
00:10:30
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Cut the cost of your system by a little bit.
00:10:33
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And number two, you pay for the panel D-rate.
00:10:37
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That brings your total to $41,600.
00:10:42
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you will still be getting the longer warranties and newer string inverters.
00:10:46
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If you can agree to those conditions, let me know and I'll send over the new documents.
00:10:51
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So I sent them that.
00:10:52
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And when I sent them it, yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, I was nervous.
00:10:56
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I'm like, am I just creating a hassle?
00:10:59
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I told them I dropped the price, but I gave them these conditions.
00:11:03
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But I'm like, all right, I'm going to do what ABC's a closing says.
00:11:08
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And I wait.
00:11:10
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A day goes by.
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I wait.
00:11:12
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Two days go by.
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Nothing happens.
00:11:15
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I'm like, huh, okay.
00:11:17
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Didn't get a cancellation call.
00:11:18
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Didn't get a cancellation text.
00:11:22
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Since that text, it's been two weeks now.
00:11:26
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He's been communicating with the installers.
00:11:29
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He's been going through the process.
00:11:31
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He's about ready to be installed now.
00:11:34
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So what happened is I gave him, I told him we'd match the price.
00:11:40
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I gave him the conditions.
00:11:42
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But at the end of the day, he realized that he was getting lesser panels.
00:11:49
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We're going to cut out a few things.
00:11:50
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And so he was willing to pay the higher price and didn't bug me about it anymore.
00:11:57
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So I was like, wow, this stuff is like magic.
00:12:01
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So the lesson is that is you need to not be afraid to stick to your guns.
00:12:05
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And if you're going to drop pricing, always ask for something in return.
Maintaining Profitable Practices
00:12:11
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use that discount close, but get those referrals from it.
00:12:14
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Hey, we can take from the marketing budget that would otherwise be used for marketing.
00:12:21
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But if we're going to do that, then you need a market for us.
00:12:24
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So if I do this, can you commit to three names, to three appointments?
00:12:29
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Give them conditions.
00:12:30
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Don't just ask for names.
00:12:32
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Can you commit to three people that actually sit down?
00:12:36
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And in this situation, I did that.
00:12:39
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He didn't want to commit, and so he stuck with the higher one.
00:12:41
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Obviously, he knew he was getting worse, you know, lower quality panels too.
00:12:48
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And so that's the takeaway from it.
00:12:49
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Make sure you're not out there just dropping price like crazy.
00:12:53
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I've talked to reps.
00:12:55
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So many newer reps just want to drop price, drop price, drop price.
00:12:59
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Almost everyone I see doing this, yeah, they'll close some deals here and there, but they're closing less deals than most people, and they're making way less on their commissions.
00:13:09
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And all of them that I see burn out, fizzle out, dropping price is not the answer.
00:13:15
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Build value, build trust, show them that they're getting a deal.
00:13:20
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Don't price gouge them, right?
00:13:22
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Give them something fair, but especially as we're out here in higher priced utility markets, you need to make what you're worth.
00:13:31
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So don't get into that habit of just dropping and giving the farm as Sam Taggart says it in his book.
00:13:39
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So that's the lesson for today.
00:13:40
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Make sure you're not just dropping price mindlessly.
00:13:44
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Give them those conditions.
00:13:46
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Hopefully that's a good reminder.
00:13:47
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Send this to someone that is dropping price like crazy.
00:13:51
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It's not good for the entire industry.
00:13:53
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We don't need a drop.
00:13:55
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We don't need a race to the bottom.
00:13:57
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We want to keep those profits.
00:14:00
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That's how we all make less.
00:14:03
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Because money equals happiness, right?
00:14:05
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Come on.
00:14:07
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Just kidding.
00:14:08
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But money is part of that.
00:14:09
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So let's all be happy.
00:14:10
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Let's all make great commissions.
00:14:13
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And let's all be great closers.
00:14:15
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That's how we're going to dominate this industry.
00:14:18
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Hope that helps.
00:14:20
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Send this to someone, spread it, share it, like it.
00:14:22
Speaker
Appreciate you guys.
00:14:24
Speaker
And we'll see you on the next episode.
Resources and Top Episodes
00:14:27
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs?
00:14:28
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:14:30
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:14:40
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:14:48
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:14:50
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:14:55
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.
00:15:08
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet.
00:15:11
Speaker
So you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet.
00:15:17
Speaker
So go download it right now.
00:15:19
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:15:23
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:15:28
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:15:30
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
00:15:32
Speaker
Go download it right now.
00:15:34
Speaker
And
00:15:35
Speaker
especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
00:15:39
Speaker
That's going to show you how.
00:15:41
Speaker
So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.