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Winter Blitz Recap and Lessons
151 Plays1 year ago
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The SOLARPRENEUR podcast is here to help you close more deals in the solar industry, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully, have a much better time and situation.
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Transcript
Introduction to 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 fail.
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.
What is a Solarpreneur?
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.
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs.
00:00:42
Speaker
Today, we're going to be wrapping up a blitz, or rather talking about a blitz that just wrapped up.
00:00:47
Speaker
I'm going to tell you some lessons we learned, some successes, a little bit of just a recap of our blitz.
00:00:53
Speaker
So just kind of a story about what's going on.
00:00:56
Speaker
So I think you can take a lot from it.
00:00:58
Speaker
We'll jump right into it.
00:01:00
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:01:01
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast.
00:01:02
Speaker
We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Timing Competitions for Success
00:01:08
Speaker
We're recording this right before Thanksgiving.
00:01:11
Speaker
Black Friday coming up, deals galore.
00:01:13
Speaker
Make sure you utilize these days of deals, create some offers with your solar program around it.
00:01:21
Speaker
We just finished up a competition in a blitz and something I think I mentioned a few times, but I would definitely recommend structuring your competition seasons around times where other people tend to step on the brakes, right?
00:01:36
Speaker
You look at the holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving,
00:01:39
Speaker
A lot of people just burn out and they're like, you know what?
00:01:42
Speaker
I'm going to take the rest of the year off.
00:01:44
Speaker
We'll just pick it back up in the new year.
00:01:47
Speaker
But I think it's a mistake.
00:01:49
Speaker
You should be putting your foot on the gas.
00:01:51
Speaker
That's what separates the pretenders from the contenders.
00:01:54
Speaker
So it separates the golden door winners from people that don't do as many deals.
00:01:59
Speaker
So if you are in charge of maybe structuring competitions at your company, not a bad idea to throw a competition right before Thanksgiving, right before Christmas.
00:02:08
Speaker
Give your guys a reason to grind a little bit harder and get out there.
Lessons from a Three-Week Blitz
00:02:12
Speaker
For us, we got three weeks before Thanksgiving.
00:02:15
Speaker
Now we're coasting until Thanksgiving, but we went full force for the last three weeks.
00:02:21
Speaker
So definitely consider that.
00:02:22
Speaker
Hey, but a few lessons I learned from this latest blitz we had.
00:02:27
Speaker
We did it for a, it was a three week competition.
00:02:30
Speaker
We had two weeks where it was just kind of like a in market blitz.
00:02:34
Speaker
Everyone just working the blitz schedule, but in our regular market.
00:02:38
Speaker
And then the last week we went and did
00:02:40
Speaker
a out of town blitz where we booked the whole Airbnb, did the typical thing, got the team together, great camaraderie and grinded it out for the last week.
00:02:49
Speaker
So we got some good results.
00:02:52
Speaker
I think there's some things we could have done better, but I'm going to speak to the good things first, share some things that we could have improved on.
00:02:59
Speaker
And I think hopefully you'll be able to use this as lessons for your team, whether you're blitzing or whether you're maybe structuring competitions in the future or whether you're just trying to
00:03:10
Speaker
get a better team camaraderie, team environment, things you can do.
00:03:14
Speaker
Okay, so I think the best thing, I was just reminded of how important it is to just have that team bonding experience and how being in a blitz
00:03:25
Speaker
You got to rely on each other.
00:03:26
Speaker
You're all in the same place.
00:03:27
Speaker
You got to overcome conflicts.
00:03:29
Speaker
You've got to work together.
00:03:31
Speaker
And it just reminded me you can't really replicate these things when you're just working normal.
00:03:37
Speaker
You can't really replicate these things when you're not on a blitz.
00:03:39
Speaker
Like when are you going to be in the same house with your entire team, breaking bread together, sharing most of the meals together?
00:03:47
Speaker
being out on the doors together in similar areas.
00:03:50
Speaker
So definitely created that just team camaraderie, good environments, helped us trust each other more.
00:03:57
Speaker
So especially if you have a team that maybe, I don't know, you feel like you're not as well connected, or maybe you're far apart, I would recommend doing
00:04:06
Speaker
maybe that once a quarter blitz or whatever, just figure out a way to get people together.
00:04:10
Speaker
Because, you know, if you don't have that connection, I think results will suffer.
00:04:16
Speaker
Results aren't as good if you're disconnected as a team.
00:04:19
Speaker
So that's the biggest thing.
00:04:20
Speaker
We ran a couple of cool incentives.
00:04:22
Speaker
We, you know, we get up together, we go to the gym, we did a team basketball day.
00:04:26
Speaker
It's a good time.
00:04:28
Speaker
We all went to the LA Fitness down here.
00:04:30
Speaker
And, you know, everyone gets the guest passes.
00:04:32
Speaker
These people are probably looking at us like, how wise are you?
00:04:36
Speaker
15 people coming in and getting a guest pass at the same time.
00:04:39
Speaker
I had my own pass and get a few people in, but that was a good time.
00:04:43
Speaker
We did some team bowling.
00:04:45
Speaker
We did the place we're staying at had the pool and the hot tub.
00:04:49
Speaker
It's colder outside.
00:04:50
Speaker
So we use the pool as a cold plunge and then nice just warming up in the hot tub.
00:04:56
Speaker
So that was a good time.
00:04:58
Speaker
We did, I think, incentive worked out pretty well.
00:05:01
Speaker
We went and saw the new Gladiator 2, and we did that for anyone that booked three appointments plus on the day with a bill and everything, a solid appointments.
00:05:11
Speaker
Did that, got our guys bought into that.
00:05:13
Speaker
Gladiator 2 I think is better than the first one so I would recommend it go see Gladiator 2 if you have not yet but yeah all these all those things it's like multiple incentives you can run and multiple things you can do to bond with the team a lot of things like there doesn't necessarily cost you money right we ran incentives for going to see Gladiator but I think everything besides that is
00:05:35
Speaker
It's like we were just bonding as a team, going to the gym, didn't cost anything.
00:05:39
Speaker
Playing the team basketball didn't cost anything.
00:05:41
Speaker
So a lot of things you can do to bond and strengthen your team without needing to necessarily spend a bunch of money.
00:05:47
Speaker
So those were the good things.
00:05:48
Speaker
And of course, we did produce at a higher level too.
00:05:51
Speaker
We had guys, I think our team of...
00:05:54
Speaker
We got like 13 guys on our squad right now.
00:05:57
Speaker
We threw down 35 deals plus or minus about 35 deals in the three weeks of the competition.
00:06:04
Speaker
So proud of our guys, you know, always in room for improvement.
00:06:07
Speaker
But I think that was one of our better three week stretches combining all our numbers.
00:06:13
Speaker
So proud of the results we got.
00:06:16
Speaker
I fell short of my personal goals.
00:06:17
Speaker
I was trying to get 15 deals in the three weeks.
00:06:21
Speaker
Ended up getting eight.
00:06:22
Speaker
So crashed and burned a little bit.
00:06:24
Speaker
But hey, some bigger deals that I sold and still should be definitely a profitable three weeks for me and just taking the lessons I learned, trying to improve.
00:06:33
Speaker
So I'm going to tell you some of the mistakes I personally made too.
00:06:36
Speaker
But on the blitz, a few things that I think we could have done better that hopefully can apply to your teams or if you are running your own blitzes.
00:06:43
Speaker
make sure you get your guys bought in on the schedule.
00:06:46
Speaker
When are you going to be out working?
00:06:47
Speaker
When are you going to be getting back?
00:06:50
Speaker
It shouldn't just be a free for all.
00:06:52
Speaker
And I did see that a little bit, you know, and I need to do a better job as a leader addressing that and set that setting the expectations beforehand.
00:06:59
Speaker
But we had some guys that were getting out a little bit later.
00:07:02
Speaker
We had some guys that were maybe coming back a little earlier.
00:07:05
Speaker
And so it should be like, hey, what's the schedule we're going to commit to as a team, guys?
00:07:09
Speaker
Let's pick the schedule.
00:07:10
Speaker
Let's commit to it.
00:07:12
Speaker
And let's get max results, max effort for these for this week while we're out here on the Blitz.
00:07:17
Speaker
And part of it was we had guys cooking their food.
00:07:22
Speaker
You know, the cleaning up stuff.
00:07:24
Speaker
And so I know some guys were waiting on like showers too.
00:07:27
Speaker
So between that, we had some, you know, a little bit of chaos going around.
00:07:32
Speaker
So learn that we need to organize that part of it a little bit more.
00:07:36
Speaker
So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego.
00:07:40
Speaker
And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:07:47
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
Introducing Solar Scout
00:07:51
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called SolarScout.
00:07:54
Speaker
But it's not a door-knocking app.
00:07:56
Speaker
It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:08:00
Speaker
It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:08:10
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
00:08:15
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use Solar Scout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up.
00:08:19
Speaker
But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about Solar Scout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal.
00:08:24
Speaker
And they did.
00:08:25
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them, and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up.
00:08:34
Speaker
That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:08:38
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
Optimizing Blitzes with a Chef
00:08:40
Speaker
And I actually heard, you're going to be hearing this podcast, should be coming up the next one actually, but did a podcast with Sean Holmander and he, this guy, he started Rise Solar.
00:08:52
Speaker
They do a purely Blitz model for his company.
00:08:55
Speaker
And something he was telling me is they actually hire a chef to cook all their meals during their Blitzes and clean up the dishes, stuff like that.
00:09:03
Speaker
So I've got my gears spinning.
00:09:04
Speaker
I'm like, man, probably something we should consider.
00:09:06
Speaker
Not a bad idea.
00:09:08
Speaker
Hey, but things like that, we probably spent too much time cooking, cleaning, doing little things.
00:09:13
Speaker
We need to optimize that a little bit more.
00:09:16
Speaker
And then another thing, we just had so many appointments fall through.
00:09:19
Speaker
So I think leading up to a blitz, probably more trainings on things we can do to set stickier appointments.
00:09:25
Speaker
And then also just trying to push for more same days.
00:09:29
Speaker
walk in same days, which is another thing you'll hear on the next podcast coming up with Sean.
00:09:33
Speaker
But those things help because if you can get in the same day, they're not really canceling.
00:09:37
Speaker
So I think we could have had a more concerted effort.
00:09:39
Speaker
Let's see what everyone do to set same days as much as possible and get in those same days
Addressing Inefficiencies and Backup Plans
00:09:45
Speaker
appointments.
00:09:45
Speaker
Personally, myself, I think some of the bigger mistakes I made personally that's affected not hitting my goals is
00:09:53
Speaker
is when I, days when I did have appointments lined up, whether it was my own personal self-generated appointments or from setters, I noticed that the ones that were falling through, which on some days it was the majority, I, those days I was driving all over the place.
00:10:11
Speaker
And then when the appointment fell through, I was just kind of letting myself hang out for like 20 minutes and just be like, uh, what should I do now?
00:10:20
Speaker
How much time do I have till the next appointment?
00:10:22
Speaker
Should I get out and knock a little bit?
00:10:24
Speaker
Should I see if I need to go motivate another one of our setters, get out with them?
00:10:30
Speaker
And I didn't really have a plan of what I was going to do.
00:10:33
Speaker
And so between just like, I don't know, feeling sorry for 10, 15 minutes because appointments canceled or ghosted or whatever.
00:10:41
Speaker
I let it affect me for probably like 20, 30 minutes just between figuring out what to do, not having a solid plan.
00:10:50
Speaker
And I think if I added up all the time driving appointments and falling through and then not having like a backup plan or not knowing exactly what I'm going to do because the appointment fell through, probably added up to hours and hours of wasted time or ineffective time.
00:11:05
Speaker
So for you, if you are, whether you're blitzing or whether you are just knocking a regular schedule with appointments that you set or set or set, just what's the backup plan if you don't get in your appointments, right?
00:11:19
Speaker
Don't let it affect you mentally.
00:11:20
Speaker
Don't get all down.
00:11:22
Speaker
But are you going to go hit the homes around it?
00:11:24
Speaker
Do you have an area that's close by that you can just go straight to?
00:11:28
Speaker
You shouldn't be getting in your head and just having it affect the whole rest of the day and wasting tons of time because of it.
00:11:34
Speaker
And for me, that was the difference probably between hitting my goals and only doing eight deals because I was not as efficient with my time as I could have been.
00:11:44
Speaker
And then I had some wasted time.
00:11:45
Speaker
You know, a few times I would get on social media, distract myself.
00:11:50
Speaker
Worst thing you can do, right?
00:11:51
Speaker
Don't just get on social media when your appointment falls through.
00:11:55
Speaker
Have a solid plan.
00:11:56
Speaker
What are you going to do?
00:11:58
Speaker
So that was probably the major lesson that I learned for myself.
00:12:02
Speaker
And I think the biggest thing that held me back from hitting my
Setting Goals and Check-ins
00:12:05
Speaker
goals.
00:12:05
Speaker
And then just as a team, I think we could have done a better job of setting like daily goals on the Blitz.
00:12:13
Speaker
We didn't do really like correlations during the Blitz.
00:12:16
Speaker
It's kind of just like everyone gets out there, which might have been good to do a few.
00:12:21
Speaker
But I think the very least we should have had just a little, I don't know, 10 minute like, hey, what's the goals for the day?
00:12:26
Speaker
What are some objections that you guys have been struggling with?
00:12:29
Speaker
How can we overcome these?
00:12:32
Speaker
What held us back from yesterday?
00:12:33
Speaker
Just kind of like a recap of the previous day.
00:12:36
Speaker
So if I could go back, I wish I would have added that in.
00:12:38
Speaker
Just have like a little recap and little troubleshooting and then set the goals.
00:12:43
Speaker
How many appointments, how many closes, how many door knock, whatever metrics you're tracking and then get out there.
00:12:50
Speaker
Little word chant and get out there.
00:12:52
Speaker
I think that would help to stay a little more focused, get a little more dialed in and motivated.
00:12:58
Speaker
And I think we had probably better results for it.
00:13:01
Speaker
So that's my recap.
00:13:04
Speaker
Hey, and I think if you're listening to this, it is helpful whether you finished a blitz or whether you finished a competition or even just the week.
00:13:12
Speaker
It's helpful to go reflect back on your results and your team results.
00:13:17
Speaker
Like what went well?
00:13:18
Speaker
What can be improved?
00:13:20
Speaker
What am I going to continue doing?
00:13:21
Speaker
What am I going to stop doing?
Reflecting on Performance
00:13:23
Speaker
These are all things you should be asking yourself to continuously improve.
00:13:28
Speaker
Because if you're not improving, you're probably getting worse.
00:13:31
Speaker
So make sure you reflect on these times after competitions and blitzes.
00:13:37
Speaker
Do a little recap, do a little highlight.
00:13:39
Speaker
And I hope whenever you're listening to this that you are making forward progress because if you're not improving, you're getting worse, most likely.
Upcoming Podcast with Sean Holmander
00:13:48
Speaker
Okay, so happy Thanksgiving or whenever you're listening to this, happy whatever holiday is coming up and make sure you tune in to next episode because again, we're going to have the one, the only Sean Holmander come on.
00:14:00
Speaker
This guy is, he's got a golden door.
00:14:04
Speaker
He's got a team that's cranking on their blitz schedule.
00:14:07
Speaker
So he's doing some unique things, including getting personal chefs.
00:14:10
Speaker
So make sure you tune in that podcast and we'll see you guys on the next one.
00:14:14
Speaker
Peace out.
Introducing Solcite Learning Community
00:14:16
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question.
00:14:18
Speaker
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Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals
00:14:46
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00:14:50
Speaker
And it's called Solcite.
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00:15:11
Speaker
Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
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So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
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Speaker
We'll see you on the inside.