Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solarpreneur, you might ask?
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.
Speaker: What's going on, solarpreneurs?
Speaker: We are here live, actually, at SolarCon, cranking out some podcasts.
Speaker: And we've got someone that I'd say is probably top three hardest working people I know in solar here.
Speaker: So we've got Brandon Forrester.
Speaker: Thanks for coming on the show with us today, Brandon.
Speaker: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker: SolarCon's been awesome.
Speaker: It's been a journey.
Speaker: So excited to be here.
Speaker: Excited to be on the podcast today.
Speaker: Yeah, it's going to be fun.
Speaker: And we did this kind of spur of the moment, but I was just talking, hearing about Brandon's journey.
Speaker: And I'm just like, dude, we got to get you on a podcast.
Speaker: Some of the crazy stuff this guy's done.
Speaker: So we're in for a treat hearing about it.
Speaker: so brandon you've been uh... scania juicy i guess a little bit you've been in store how long
Speaker: So I started about 11 months ago.
Speaker: I've been setting this whole time, and I just now am transitioning to closing.
Speaker: So I started out in like Corpus Christi during that crazy freeze, knocking in insane weather, like black ice on the roads.
Speaker: That was a really fun time.
Speaker: And then moved up to Dallas, sold in Dallas for a few months, did a summer there, and then moved to St.
Speaker: George around September.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Right on.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So he's knocking in Utah right now, and we're actually in the Knox Star United program together.
Speaker: So I've been learning a lot from Brandon and a lot of the other guys in there.
Speaker: And what's crazy is he took second place in the entire country, nationwide, guys that have years and years of experience.
Speaker: He kicked my butt.
Speaker: So I didn't even get to the round against him.
Speaker: So you crushed it in it.
Speaker: And then, I mean, the last week, what was it you had?
Speaker: How many deals was it?
Speaker: I had 10 deals in the last week.
Speaker: Four of them were self-gen, and I just started self-genning.
Speaker: But yeah, four of them self-gen, six of them were set that closed last week.
Speaker: Incredible.
Speaker: And so we're going to hear how he did it.
Speaker: But what's even crazier is this guy was out in Utah Easter Sunday knocking doors, trying to crush this competition.
Speaker: And I'm like, man, if you have the balls to be out there knocking on a Sunday in Utah.
Speaker: In Utah, all places.
Speaker: Yeah, this guy can do anything.
Speaker: So as you probably know, Utah is a religious state.
Speaker: People typically don't like to be bothered on Sunday.
Speaker: So we're going to hear how that went for him.
Speaker: But yeah, do you want to hear us, do you want to tell us kind of how you like transit?
Speaker: So you were in pest control before you got into solar, right Brandon?
Speaker: Yep, I did pest control.
Speaker: I did an extended summer about seven, roughly seven to eight months or so.
Speaker: I started in Salt Lake.
Speaker: Had a lot of insane life events take place where it just ended up dragging out my summer a little bit longer.
Speaker: and finished up that summer in North Carolina actually.
Speaker: So I had a bit of a transition there, but I did not like pest control.
Speaker: I mean, I was pretty good.
Speaker: I did about 300 accounts during the course of that time.
Speaker: I did most of it in Salt Lake areas where I did the majority of it.
Speaker: And then I finished up in North Carolina in Raleigh area.
Speaker: So pest control wasn't my favorite.
Speaker: Respect to all the guys who are doing pest control.
Speaker: Like it can be a grind.
Speaker: I know you guys do a lot of hard hours.
Speaker: For me though, ever since I made the transition to solar, it's just something I can get behind.
Speaker: I've been a lot more passionate about it, and I feel like that's contributed to a lot of the success I've had.
Speaker: Because if you're passionate about something, if you can really get behind it, then it's easy to go out and to perform and to get excited about it.
Speaker: Yeah, no question.
Speaker: And yeah, it's cool to see, like we were talking off the camera, a lot of guys are switching from pest control into solar now and just absolutely crushing it.
Speaker: And what I see more than anything is these guys, you know, pest control guys, I don't know if you'd agree, but they come in, they can just set appointments up the wazoo because it seems like it's kind of similar, you know, a pest cell to set appointments.
Speaker: And obviously pest control, you guys are used to knocking long hours.
Speaker: You know, I did pest control for two summers.
Speaker: We were out there eight to 10 hours a day typically.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And solar, you know, a lot of, you can have success without knocking crazy hours.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And the commissions are insanely high.
Speaker: So we like to say that's the curse of solar, right, is commissions are high.
Speaker: So you can go out and get away with only knocking, you know, half as much in pest control.
Speaker: But, yeah, do you think, I don't know, that kind of mindset, would you say that pest control helped you a lot transitioning into solar and with, like, setting appointments?
Speaker: Do you think that's...
Speaker: Yeah, it's very similar.
Speaker: Like my trucks are going to be out here, like we're going to be in the neighborhood anyway, like would this time or this time be better?
Speaker: It's a very similar way that you're presenting it and it's just a slight tweak in how, like what exactly the information that you're sharing with them.
Speaker: But yeah, I'd say like a set is very similar to like a close with a pest control, very similar.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And as far as work ethic go, do you think that's been helping your work ethic?
Speaker: Because you've probably seen some lazy guys in solar.
Speaker: Do you think that helps your work ethic coming from pest control?
Speaker: Yeah, coming from pest control, I'd say absolutely.
Speaker: I was with a smaller team out in the Sandy area.
Speaker: We'd go to Harriman, Eagle Mountain area.
Speaker: But yeah, you do work a lot.
Speaker: I'd say having a manager, someone that can help you to be very structured with your schedule and be accountable to, that helps a ton.
Speaker: And if you don't have that accountability, you need to find that, especially if you struggle.
Speaker: absolutely find someone to be accountable to working more hours.
Speaker: Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker: So yeah, maybe if you feel yourself getting lazy in a solar go-to summer pest control, that'll show you.
Speaker: That'll kick you in gear for sure.
Speaker: That'll show you we got a pretty lucky compared to those guys.
Speaker: But yeah, so you went through some pretty crazy challenges too, I know, Brandon, because we were talking just before this.
Speaker: So do you mind kind of speaking to that and just telling, I don't know exactly when it was in the timeline, but maybe tell us about some of the challenges you went through and all that.
Speaker: Yeah, so growing up, I mean, it was all right.
Speaker: I had a really...
Speaker: different type of family dynamic.
Speaker: Both my parents were divorced.
Speaker: I grew up LDS and I still would say I'm still LDS as like yes.
Speaker: But growing up I just had a lot of struggles like internal struggles with my family.
Speaker: Like my brother had a huge falling out from my parents and that just created a lot of family drama.
Speaker: My dad has been a super hard worker all his life.
Speaker: He's a mechanic and
Speaker: When you're in that type of field, if anyone has been doing blue-collar type work, it's hard stuff.
Speaker: He's been a huge example to me in terms of work ethic.
Speaker: Then I did a mission for two years after I graduated high school from 15 to 17.
Speaker: I was in Idaho.
Speaker: It was a really good time.
Speaker: I was kind of disappointed when I found out I'd be going there, but I really loved it.
Speaker: Got back, went straight into phone sales.
Speaker: They did credit repair for about a year.
Speaker: Just sold people who struggled to get either a loan or they were trying to get a house, but their credit was holding them back.
Speaker: So I'd help them to fix, basically sell a credit repair service, like a monthly credit repair service to help them fix their credit.
Speaker: I was one of the top reps in that industry.
Speaker: There was like 5,000 or so people that worked for the company.
Speaker: I was consistently like top 10 every single day.
Speaker: And what I kind of like what helped me and I was listening to I think it was Zane earlier, like in the Solarcon.
Speaker: And he talks about like finding someone that has been able to perform at a really high level, learning what they're doing and then kind of adjusting it to make it your own.
Speaker: And I feel like that's what's given me a lot of success with that.
Speaker: Same thing with pest control.
Speaker: So soon after I transitioned from phone sales, I actually got married.
Speaker: I got engaged and got married soon afterwards.
Speaker: And my ex had a lot of health issues, a lot of mental problems that kind of came from the health issues.
Speaker: And I actually got let go.
Speaker: from the company I was with.
Speaker: It was good timing though.
Speaker: It was good timing.
Speaker: We just had a coach that came in.
Speaker: It was a law firm and the coach had us do a couple things that wasn't up to protocol with the rest of the company.
Speaker: So we all got let go, including our coach.
Speaker: And then I transitioned into pest control.
Speaker: It was about a year and a half or so.
Speaker: So I got married in like May of 2019.
Speaker: And then basically like before I was married though,
Speaker: I spent a while just taking care of my ex-wife.
Speaker: She had a lot of health conditions.
Speaker: She was very bedridden.
Speaker: It was really tough.
Speaker: But yeah, it was about 12 months.
Speaker: I basically lived in a repair warehouse for a while, just taking care of her like a CNA-type work.
Speaker: It was really intense.
Speaker: I learned a lot.
Speaker: But my issue, though, is I basically gave up all these different avenues and things I was working on in my life to just take care of one person.
Speaker: And you can't do that.
Speaker: You can't fill up a cup if yours isn't already full.
Speaker: Learned that the hard way.
Speaker: So she ended up leaving January of 2020, right when the pandemic hit, like around the same time.
Speaker: I did six months of pest control about in Utah, like in Salt Lake area.
Speaker: Finished up like two months in North Carolina.
Speaker: And then when I was in North Carolina, that's when she decided to just head out.
Speaker: Found out that there was a lot more deep things that I couldn't really control.
Speaker: And I spent all of 2020 just in an insane depression.
Speaker: Like I literally, I lost like 35 pounds.
Speaker: I couldn't get out of bed.
Speaker: I was like borderline suicidal.
Speaker: It was really a dark period of my life because for me, like I gave everything, literally everything I had to like taking care of her and making, you can't make someone your everything.
Speaker: Obviously learn about the hard way.
Speaker: And then as a result of that, I just fell into a really deep depression because of abandonment problems.
Speaker: And then I ended up going to St.
Speaker: George after about eight months just being miserable.
Speaker: I spent a long time in North Carolina just doing nothing, just sleeping all day.
Speaker: And then I ended up going to St.
Speaker: George, and I maybe worked two weeks out of the whole year because I mentally couldn't do it.
Speaker: I would just break down and cry on the doors with people.
Speaker: because I was just in such a bad negative state of mind because of that depression I fell into.
Speaker: And I knocked on this guy's door.
Speaker: He sold for Aptiv.
Speaker: He was like a regional and Aptiv.
Speaker: And at that time, I was trying to sell locally in southern Utah for the company I started with.
Speaker: And then I ran into him.
Speaker: And his name is Talon, super awesome guy.
Speaker: He's a stud.
Speaker: He basically, one of those guys that would give you the shirt off of his back, he knew that I was struggling.
Speaker: He's someone that I emulated and I wanted to be a lot like him and kind of be where he was at in his life.
Speaker: Really, really great guy.
Speaker: He ended up leaving Aptiv to come do solar.
Speaker: A lot of the other top reps would leave.
Speaker: Basically, we're all seeing this right now.
Speaker: There's just a huge influx of people coming into the solar industry because there's a lot of money to be had.
Speaker: It's a huge growing industry, probably one of the fastest ones.
Speaker: Then he told me about solar and he's like, yeah, it sounds awesome.
Speaker: It's very solar to pass control.
Speaker: You can set appointments.
Speaker: And I was like, yeah, I'd like to look into it.
Speaker: And he's like, well, we're actually going to be leaving to Dallas tomorrow.
Speaker: I'm like, all right, let's go.
Speaker: So packed my bags, literally 24-hour notice, followed him to Dallas.
Speaker: Well, I guess we started in Corpus Christi.
Speaker: And I was still always with a different company.
Speaker: Didn't have the best experience.
Speaker: Was only there for like two weeks.
Speaker: And then I spent like three months in limbo trying to figure out what the next play was.
Speaker: And then ended up moving to Legacy, which is where I did the summer out in Dallas area.
Speaker: Good experience.
Speaker: And then I ended up finding a local company in southern Utah where I live back here where I've been with Ionix since September.
Speaker: And it's been good.
Speaker: It's been a really good journey.
Speaker: I love solar.
Speaker: I'm really passionate about it.
Speaker: And I feel like just being passionate about it has been a game changer for me.
Speaker: But yeah, so a lot of struggles.
Speaker: Obviously, I saw a lot of people that had really good work ethic, a lot of people that didn't.
Speaker: And I've always wanted to emulate the people that did.
Speaker: But when you're coming from a place of depression and somewhere that's a really dark place,
Speaker: and trying to like get out of that.
Speaker: I feel like what helped me to get through that was just surrounding yourself around people that can help you level up and like be accountable to and getting a life coach, getting a mentor.
Speaker: I feel like that's been a huge game changer for me.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: That's good to hear because yeah, as we were talking just before this too, like you know, there's so many people in solar and just door to door in general.
Speaker: who, uh, you know, struggle with addiction.
Speaker: I've seen it with, uh, you know, work ethic, a lot of people with divorced parents with, uh, you know, rough childhoods, things like that.
Speaker: So I think it's something that needs to be, uh, spoken to for sure.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: You know, I appreciate guys like you sharing the story and stuff that has helped because as you know, it's like, you know, I've had days on top of that knocking doors where people are, you know, jerks out there.
Speaker: People are slamming doors in your face.
Speaker: You got, you know, just you're seeing the worst sometimes, seeing the worst in people out there in the doors.
Speaker: So you'd put that on top of like struggles with depression or any mental issues.
Speaker: It's like,
Speaker: just stacks makes it really difficult yeah yeah and so i don't yeah i i don't think i've ever been depressed but i've had super rough days out there and i'm like man i can't even imagine how rough that would be if i was like feeling super depressed on top of all this stuff yeah going in the doors so i know it's super cool to see you um you know kind of overcome it and
Speaker: see the success you're having now and uh no I respect guys like you that have gone through that but yeah so you talked about like a life coach and um surrounding yourself with people is there any like specific things that's I don't know working with a coach or like specific things that like really helped you that you were coached through or
Speaker: I don't know, anything that you would add to that?
Speaker: I mean, so like the one that I was talking about, so Talon, the guy that kind of like recruited me into the solar industry, like he's been a huge backbone for like as a support system, I'd say.
Speaker: And then obviously like finding another life coach on top of that.
Speaker: investing in yourself.
Speaker: So like for me, like having someone you can be accountable to is huge.
Speaker: So like I, I'm on the phone all the time right now.
Speaker: I've like, I've been doing decently well.
Speaker: Like I've been a top performer in my company as a setter for a while.
Speaker: But I feel like what really helped me make the jump from like
Speaker: a pretty above average setter to like pretty phenomenal would be the Knox star of course, like the United program specifically working with Taylor McCarthy and Danny Pesci and like really soaking up all the things that they have to share.
Speaker: And then like, if you don't have a lot of people around you that are at the level that you want to be at, you need to find those people and surround yourself around them and learn from those people.
Speaker: And more than just your inside organization, even if you have killers and really good talent inside your current organization, it's good to kind of expand outwards because there's so much more knowledge that's on the table that can help push you.
Speaker: But yeah, having someone to be accountable to, like a weekly coaching call that we do every week to make sure that we're all producing.
Speaker: And then not just that, but having some sort of competition or something to work for or someone to compete against has been a game changer.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: I know you've taken advantage of it.
Speaker: And so I think especially if you're at maybe a company that doesn't have super high producers or maybe a smaller company, I think it's even more valuable.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We've seen some pretty insane performances, pretty insane, you know, deals closed and all that by guys in the program.
Speaker: So yeah, definitely recommended by both of us, I think.
Speaker: But yeah, and
Speaker: Like I mentioned at the beginning, your work ethic, how many hours would you say you put in this competition?
Speaker: A crazy amount.
Speaker: It was nuts.
Speaker: It was so crazy.
Speaker: It was basically about a month and a half long, right around there.
Speaker: We started with 30-something people.
Speaker: got down to the final two.
Speaker: Throughout the competition, I'd say on average, I'd probably get on the doors around 12 and then knock till 9.30.
Speaker: I would not stop till 9.30.
Speaker: I was very strict to those hours.
Speaker: Obviously, sometimes I would get there a little bit later.
Speaker: I could get there at 1.30,
Speaker: But to accommodate, I'd go at 10.30 the next day.
Speaker: I always made sure I was spending at least about nine and a half hours every single day.
Speaker: There was one day, actually, because we were doing a blitz in Colorado.
Speaker: And I did pretty well in Colorado.
Speaker: And we ended up driving because our Airbnb was ending and we were going to go back to St.
Speaker: George.
Speaker: So I literally, we left at like 11 PM.
Speaker: We did a full knocking day, left at 11 PM, got to St.
Speaker: George at like nine in the morning.
Speaker: I took a three hour nap and then hit the doors again, like, and worked till 930 because it's a competition.
Speaker: You got to be bought in.
Speaker: You have to be like, like, I just, I saw that leaderboard.
Speaker: I saw that bracket at the very beginning.
Speaker: And I was like,
Speaker: okay, there are some really heavy hitters in here.
Speaker: There's Ty Sieglin, there's Melissa, there's some really... Christian Maroney, the absolute legend.
Speaker: I was like, I'm going up against these guys?
Speaker: There's no way.
Speaker: These guys have so much experience on me.
Speaker: They are just closing left and right.
Speaker: And then somehow...
Speaker: By some miracle, I made it to the final round against Derek Moore.
Speaker: And at that last week, especially the last week, I really amped it up.
Speaker: And I told Christian, I texted him, like, dude, I'm going to kill myself over this competition.
Speaker: I am going so hard during this last week.
Speaker: I need to win this.
Speaker: And I ended up, that's the week that I got 10 deals closed on the week.
Speaker: And then Derek came out with like eight self-gens and another set that he closed.
Speaker: So he ended up taking the W. But like you can't compare yourself to someone who's at another level who's been doing it for years.
Speaker: It's like at the gym.
Speaker: Like you can't compare yourself to the guy that's like jacked out of his mind.
Speaker: He's been doing it for 18 years and you're brand new at it.
Speaker: You know, you got to compare yourself to yourself and then just focus on steady improvements and trying to be better than you were the day before.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It was a battle.
Speaker: You had a lot of experience.
Speaker: You gave them all you could handle.
Speaker: I ended up scoring, I think I was about the second highest scorer
Speaker: like matched with Melissa and Christian.
Speaker: And then Derek just came out of nowhere and just blew it out of the water.
Speaker: I ended that, I think it ended on Monday and I had four deals closed on Monday.
Speaker: One of them was a self-gen, three of them were sets that closed.
Speaker: And I thought he was at nine points because he's still messaging me.
Speaker: He's like, yeah, dude, I'm not feeling that good.
Speaker: I might take the day off.
Speaker: And then I see, like, I wake up in the morning and he just posts three self-gens and he closed.
Speaker: I'm like, what?
Speaker: I was all calling my dad.
Speaker: I'm like, I won.
Speaker: Like, it's over.
Speaker: Like, I got it.
Speaker: And then I look in the morning and I just see that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He was holding out.
Speaker: But no, that was awesome.
Speaker: Competitions.
Speaker: Competitions are, they're a lot of fun.
Speaker: They make the job a lot more enjoyable.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, that one.
Speaker: You bought in too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's cool to see.
Speaker: That's how you, you know, make a ton of money in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And when is you fully buy in?
Speaker: But yeah, so I want to hear, like, I don't know, do you have any, have you always had this insane work ethic?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Like, how did you develop this?
Speaker: I've always worked a little bit, like, I mean, I've always been a hard worker.
Speaker: But I've never been that, like, I've never cracked to this type of, like,
Speaker: high production or this high work ethic.
Speaker: And I think, I don't remember who talks about it, but there's like three main things that you want to have in your life if you're in sales to get better at what you do.
Speaker: One is like having someone you can teach, like someone you're training that you're going to have to be there for and like make sure that they're being accountable to you.
Speaker: And then find someone you can compete with on a similar skill level or slightly, preferably slightly better than you.
Speaker: And for me, I was working with some new people in St.
Speaker: George that I was training, which helps to be accountable to them.
Speaker: And then the second one is having someone to compete with.
Speaker: And obviously, you guys have probably seen me post a lot of my stories on Instagram.
Speaker: I'm always competing with Christian.
Speaker: I always see him posting.
Speaker: That whole week, we were head-to-head.
Speaker: I'd be on Instagram, and I'd just look at his story.
Speaker: I'd pull out my phone.
Speaker: I'm like, did he get a deal yet?
Speaker: I'm like trying to make sure you didn't get a deal yet.
Speaker: Just going super hard.
Speaker: Find someone to compete with that you can be accountable to and accountable with your hours.
Speaker: And then find someone who's like ahead, like where you want to be, someone that you want to emulate.
Speaker: And for me, obviously Taylor McCarthy, that's someone that I want to be, I want to emulate, I want to get to that level of high production and of conviction.
Speaker: But yeah, having those three types of
Speaker: people in your life.
Speaker: If you don't have one of those, make sure you're able to find someone you can be accountable to that you can compete with.
Speaker: Find someone you can train and then someone you can look up to and emulate and to learn from like a coach.
Speaker: Okay, that's awesome advice.
Speaker: Yeah, so if you're listening to this, write those things down because I think that's going to be a game changer.
Speaker: Yeah, especially the ones training guys.
Speaker: You don't have to be a manager to train guys, but I notice when I've been managing teams, I've always produced better.
Speaker: just because of that simple thing, just because people are looking up to you.
Speaker: And then, like, I don't know, especially if you're taking guys out, if you're training guys.
Speaker: Like, if you're struggling to even get out on the doors, I think one of the best guys just takes, best advice, just take someone out and train them, right?
Speaker: Yeah, and I think that's a big thing for me because, like, I've always been pretty good at what I'm doing.
Speaker: Like, I picked it up pretty fast.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think there was only one day where I didn't get a set appointment.
Speaker: I posted about it and I was like, I worked all day today.
Speaker: I think it was like a seven-hour day that I did.
Speaker: I got zero.
Speaker: It was the only day in my career where I never set an appointment.
Speaker: I was like, I just ran into nonstop renters, like everyone moving, no one qualified, bad credit.
Speaker: They didn't use enough power for it to make sense for them.
Speaker: I got that like every single door.
Speaker: So I think it was an outlier day.
Speaker: But for me, I guess coming out of that dark place that I was in,
Speaker: The big thing that helped me through that is having all three of those boxes, a person for every category, especially like just someone that can be accountable to push you and like be in your corner.
Speaker: And then I spend a lot of time training.
Speaker: I spend a lot of time like learning from people that are a lot better than me.
Speaker: And then just learning from them, picking their brain, finding out what works, and then having that support system because
Speaker: If you're asking someone, what can I do to get better, always having that student mentality.
Speaker: And I'm still in people's Instagrams asking them, dude, I see you crashing it.
Speaker: You're out here killing it.
Speaker: What's working for you?
Speaker: What's not working?
Speaker: And just always being a student of the game.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: And even in our Knox Star chat, I saw you super active in there.
Speaker: No wonder he's crushing it.
Speaker: He's new, but he's just wanting to get as much wisdom as he can.
Speaker: So no, I think that's huge having that student mentality and just...
Speaker: Yeah, and then the more you learn, I think you get excited to go out and apply it out there on the doors, you know, as you're learning this stuff.
Speaker: So, yeah, crazy to see you, yeah, just, you know, put in that crazy amount of hours that you did.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But what's, yeah, like we mentioned at the beginning of the show, I think some of the most, well, probably the most impressive day I saw from you is out there on Easter Sunday.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Out there knocking in Utah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I couldn't believe it.
Speaker: I'm like, man, I'm not willing to do what this is.
Speaker: No wonder he's kicking my butt in the competition.
Speaker: Were you always planning to go out and work?
Speaker: No, that was the last thing I wanted to do.
Speaker: I was having an internal conflict because I'd never worked a Sunday in my life.
Speaker: I am Christian and I'm like...
Speaker: It's not, you're not supposed to work on Sunday if you don't absolutely have to, but I'm like, I've given everything to this competition.
Speaker: Like, I've bought in.
Speaker: I have put in so much time and so much work into this, like,
Speaker: And we were tied going into Sunday.
Speaker: It was 9-9 on the scoreboard.
Speaker: And I'm like, this guy's got a lot of experience on me.
Speaker: I think he's not working today.
Speaker: I'm going to go.
Speaker: Today's going to be the day that if I don't show up, then he's going to take the win.
Speaker: I've got to go today.
Speaker: So I ended up going, and everyone was like,
Speaker: You think people are really friendly in Utah?
Speaker: They're just super accommodating.
Speaker: Like, oh, here, have some water.
Speaker: Here's some Jell-O.
Speaker: And then literally every single person, do you know what day it is?
Speaker: It's Easter Sunday.
Speaker: Go home.
Speaker: Go be with your family.
Speaker: I had one person.
Speaker: We installed their neighbor, and the guy answered the door and setting his appointment with him.
Speaker: Someone that I followed up with already.
Speaker: And he's like, oh yeah, the neighbor just got slower.
Speaker: And everyone in Solor knows those are lay downs, like 100% lay downs.
Speaker: So I'm like, awesome.
Speaker: I was getting this set.
Speaker: His wife peeks her head around the corner of the door.
Speaker: And she's all like, do you know what day it is?
Speaker: I'm like, oh no.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: She's like, I was going to work with your company, but now I'm not because you're out here on Easter.
Speaker: So it was tough.
Speaker: I was messaging Taylor McCarthy.
Speaker: I was like, dude, I'm just getting smashed today.
Speaker: I went like five hours without a single set.
Speaker: I was just getting destroyed.
Speaker: And he's like, you just got to change your approach.
Speaker: You just got to change a couple words when you're very first talking to them, build a little bit more curiosity.
Speaker: You want to be a little bit more blunt with people.
Speaker: And I was just like,
Speaker: look, I know it's Easter.
Speaker: I'd rather be home.
Speaker: Obviously, there's a reason why I'm here.
Speaker: And they kind of just eight-mile the objection, bring it up before they do, and then kind of build the curiosity with that.
Speaker: But yeah, that was intense.
Speaker: Probably the worst day I've ever knocked.
Speaker: in my history, in my whole career.
Speaker: Worse than the zero day.
Speaker: Worse than the zero day.
Speaker: That was miserable.
Speaker: I did not want to be there.
Speaker: I wanted to be home.
Speaker: I was like, this sucks.
Speaker: Like it goes against everything I believe in and stand for.
Speaker: And I was just like, oh my gosh, these people, like I was so frustrated, but like I just had to, had to like,
Speaker: take some time and just re-center myself and then try to change the way that I was talking to people a little bit, especially like with the first couple words.
Speaker: And yeah, I feel like just having that dedication to just go out there
Speaker: I gave it all I had.
Speaker: I literally gave everything I had that day.
Speaker: And I ended up walking away with six appointments on Easter in Utah.
Speaker: And one of them actually closed.
Speaker: It was like a 12 kilowatt.
Speaker: Oh, my gosh.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So it paid off.
Speaker: Yeah, it paid off.
Speaker: So God still understood.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker: Worked on the Sabbath day.
Speaker: Don't tell anyone.
Speaker: I won't tell you Bishop, but no, that's wild man.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean, I was just telling you before we started recording.
Speaker: I mean, obviously you're single and all that now.
Speaker: And so, um,
Speaker: We were just talking, do those crazy things while you don't have a family.
Speaker: I got two kids now, I can't be it.
Speaker: My wife would have killed me if I was out there skipping our kids Easter egg, knocking doors.
Speaker: You obviously still got results.
Speaker: You said five hours you didn't get a single appointment, right?
Speaker: Yeah, it was around five hours.
Speaker: The six appointments all came after.
Speaker: And that's the thing is, like, I said, like, during the competition, like, I would not stop till 9.30 at least.
Speaker: Like, I'd go till 10 or even after 10 sometimes.
Speaker: I did post one, like, one Instagram story where I was out there till, like, 10 o'clock and the lady got her bill for me and, like, set the appointment with her.
Speaker: Like, you just got to have a different approach to it.
Speaker: Like, when you're working on a day like that or when you're working on, like, super late at night, like,
Speaker: I only go to homes that have lights on, of course.
Speaker: I'm not waking people up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'm just like, I just take a different approach.
Speaker: I'm like, look, I know it's dark.
Speaker: I know it's freezing cold outside.
Speaker: I almost make them feel bad that I'm knocking on their door.
Speaker: Like, I make them feel bad for me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, look, I know it's freezing out here.
Speaker: Like, you're the last place I'm going to tonight.
Speaker: Like, it's obviously important why I'm here.
Speaker: Let me just, like, you obviously, you have an issue going on and just bring it up, bring up whatever is common.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If they're doing the grid hardening, if they're going to time of use billing, like bring up whatever the personalized situation is for the area, and just kind of make it a big deal.
Speaker: Like it's obviously important why I'm here knocking on your door so late.
Speaker: So then just build some curiosity.
Speaker: Yeah, there's so many.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So many nuggets in that.
Speaker: And what's crazy?
Speaker: Well, yeah, I mean, you go five hours without getting anything, and then it all comes after that.
Speaker: That happens so many times.
Speaker: So many times.
Speaker: I probably made more of my money because it's prime time.
Speaker: Everyone's home.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, like after five, everyone's home.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's just a matter of your mindset and telling yourself that there are deals to be had even after dark.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, on Easter Sunday, I mean, everyone was home, right?
Speaker: That was tough.
Speaker: We weren't hearing you out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I think that's great because for those listening, it's like how many times are you just getting shut down after shut down after shut down?
Speaker: And maybe you're thinking about quitting.
Speaker: I did not.
Speaker: I was literally about to drive home.
Speaker: I was like, this is the worst thing I've ever done in my life.
Speaker: I think I would have for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You kept going and then the results came after that.
Speaker: So how many did you knock?
Speaker: Eight hours that day?
Speaker: Yeah, I think I started at like, it must have been around 12.30 or so when I first got out there.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Then, yeah, 9.30 is when I stopped.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Let's start this camera again.
Speaker: That's the 30-minute mark.
Speaker: Yeah, so out there in Easter, were people giving you like Easter potatoes and stuff?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Not at all.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Just like get out of here.
Speaker: Yeah, basically.
Speaker: You're like get lost, go back to your family.
Speaker: I'm like, okay, all right, let me go to your neighbor and try to set an appointment with them.
Speaker: Well, incredible, man.
Speaker: No, that's some insane work ethic right there.
Speaker: So Brandon, just to kind of
Speaker: start wrapping up here.
Speaker: You're obviously one of the best, well, that I know of.
Speaker: I think you're one of the best appointment setters I've seen for sure in solar.
Speaker: And well, how many appointments did you like set in this week?
Speaker: I'm not talking about closes, but how many actual appointments would you say you set in that last week at the competition?
Speaker: So on Monday, I think it was towards the end of it.
Speaker: I think I had
Speaker: Yeah, I think Sunday night, I was looking at the schedule for Monday, and I was telling everyone, we need all hands on deck Monday.
Speaker: It's going to be a huge day.
Speaker: I think I had about 25 personal appointments that I set for Monday between everyone.
Speaker: And the thing that, like my power struggle the whole time, like I was blowing up everyone's phones because I'm new to closing and we were short staffed.
Speaker: A lot of people were out for like Easter.
Speaker: A lot of the people only do blitzes.
Speaker: So like a lot of our top talent, they were just unavailable just to be, they were just unavailable.
Speaker: So we're dealing with a lot of like newer closers, people that are like, like they're great.
Speaker: Like they're very, very talented, but they're just kind of newer.
Speaker: Like don't have as much experience.
Speaker: And obviously with experience comes,
Speaker: more production.
Speaker: So I was basically short staffed and I was like calling everyone.
Speaker: I was calling all of the top talent in the company, blowing up their phones like every single day of that last week of the competition.
Speaker: I'm like giving them like five calls a day to every single person like we need you out here.
Speaker: Like I need help.
Speaker: Like we need to get this going.
Speaker: I've got all these appointments lined up.
Speaker: But yeah, it was intense.
Speaker: I set a ton of appointments.
Speaker: I couldn't tell you how many.
Speaker: I just focus on input.
Speaker: If they cancel, that just tells me I've got to go set three more and just focus on getting the next one.
Speaker: I don't focus on cancellations.
Speaker: I just focus on the controllables, just maximizing your input.
Speaker: Having an abundance mindset is huge.
Speaker: Just telling yourself that there are so many people that want this and that need this.
Speaker: They just need you to take the time to find them and meet with them, set the appointment.
Speaker: I think a big thing that I do a little bit differently is I start, I have a little bit of a cycle I go through.
Speaker: Like I bring up the concern, like the pain, I guess, like your power bill's going up, you're renting your power.
Speaker: And then I bring up the, I bring up like the solution.
Speaker: Like I'm sure you've seen a lot of the people who have been doing this in the neighborhood.
Speaker: Like there's a reason why so many people are going solar.
Speaker: It's because the rates are just going to keep going through the roof.
Speaker: So this is a way to throw out the bill and replace it with something that would be fixed and it won't go up ever again.
Speaker: And then I just tell them like,
Speaker: So what I'll do is I'll put a proposal together, either myself or a consultant of mine can pop back by later and just share it with you, you and your spouse home.
Speaker: I keep it super simple.
Speaker: I don't really overcomplicate it.
Speaker: I keep it very simple.
Speaker: And then throughout the presentation, if there's any awkward breaks, like if the dog comes out or if their kids come home, talk about
Speaker: actual things with them, like build rapport.
Speaker: I think that's a huge thing that's been helping my appointments actually sit is building rapport.
Speaker: Because if you don't do that, you're literally just a salesman to them.
Speaker: Like you're just a guy at the door and you're not differentiating yourself.
Speaker: But just genuinely building rapport with people has been huge in terms of like getting appointments to stick.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: For those that are struggling setting your appointments, yeah, I hope you're taking notes on that, but bringing up the concern before they can bring it up.
Speaker: you know uh knowing how to like divert when kids come home dogs are barking recognize it build some rapport around it um you know but yeah i think more than anything just putting in the hours you know yeah that's the big thing is just putting in the time like working harder being the hardest worker in your office like setting the pace setting the standard and then like once you do that and once you do it consistently then it's like
Speaker: you're setting yourself at a much higher level.
Speaker: And if you don't do that, then you're letting yourself down, you're letting other people down that look up to you.
Speaker: So just do what it takes, put in the time.
Speaker: That's all it is.
Speaker: It's literally just time.
Speaker: I've just put in more time than other people.
Speaker: I'm not special.
Speaker: I'm not amazing at what, I am good at what I do, but I'm not something that you're not capable of becoming.
Speaker: It's just time on the doors, just putting in more time, just showing up, being consistent.
Speaker: having an abundance mindset and just putting in the time really.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, because I think you've probably seen it, but so many people are like, oh, Brandon, what can I do?
Speaker: What can I do?
Speaker: And at the same time, they're only up and knocking two hours a day.
Speaker: It's like, dude.
Speaker: well yeah, I can teach you this stuff, but none of that matters if you're not putting, you know, if you're fishing, you're lying in the water.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: You're catching up fish, you know what I mean?
Speaker: So yeah, I think that's the first question that people should be asking yourself is how much time are you actually inputting in it, but then obviously combine it with some of these things you were talking about, you know, overcoming objections, bringing up objections before they can, and all these, creating the problem.
Speaker: Both things are huge.
Speaker: That's going to take it to the next level.
Speaker: And then, yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker: You work so much that even those at your company are like, Brandon, stop working.
Speaker: We don't have to work on Easter.
Speaker: We can just work more.
Speaker: That's when you know you've got a good work ethic.
Speaker: Even the guys at your company, they can't keep up with breaking the system there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: And so, no, you've done some awesome things.
Speaker: I can't wait to see what's next for you, Brandon.
Speaker: You're crushing it.
Speaker: But, yeah, anything else that you would before we wrap up here, any other advice you give for just, I don't know, maybe guys struggling to set appointments?
Speaker: I know we kind of covered some, probably the big things there, but anything else you would say that's really helped you just, like, start to crush it in solar and set appointments and, I don't know, any other advice you'd have with it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Other than just being like putting in the time, like being the hardest worker, like work harder than everyone else and like pride yourself for that.
Speaker: Like take pride in that, that you have that type of work ethic.
Speaker: Like that's a very rare thing, especially in the solar industry.
Speaker: Finding someone to be accountable to, getting a coach.
Speaker: Those are all like hacks.
Speaker: Like if I would have,
Speaker: If I could have gone back, like instead of, because I have a little bit of a history with like cryptocurrency, like anyone that knows me, I started, I put a lot of money into cryptocurrency.
Speaker: The war in Ukraine ended up like crashing my entire like portfolio balance, like lost like 85% of the value because of the war.
Speaker: Everyone pulled out of their assets in that regard.
Speaker: I basically,
Speaker: made a lot of money and then started over from scratch twice already.
Speaker: Like I lost a lot through the divorce and then I lost a lot through that war.
Speaker: But I've been able to recreate that wealth that took me like five, six months in solar.
Speaker: I've been able to do that in less than a month because of the skills that you develop.
Speaker: But for newer reps, just don't compare yourself to other people.
Speaker: Find someone that you can help accelerate your growth.
Speaker: A better place for me to put that money would be back into myself.
Speaker: Investing that into myself sooner, I would have gotten... It's kind of crazy to think about how much further along I could have gotten if I would have invested in myself first and then had those support systems to help me get to where I was, where I am now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, because you probably wouldn't have worked this hard if you weren't in the Noxstar competition.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: So before that, my best month was 13 Dills before I started with Noxstar.
Speaker: And then that was 13 Dills that closed by other people.
Speaker: And then this month, on the 18th, I hit 20 Dills in 18 days.
Speaker: And seven of those were self-generated.
Speaker: And it's been wild.
Speaker: It's been a really good journey.
Speaker: Yeah, just focusing on input, having an abundance mindset, having a really strong work ethic, and finding people to spread the value with and to spread your knowledge with the things that you learn.
Speaker: And never be too proud to accept help or to accept knowledge from new people.
Speaker: Always be reaching out to people that are performing much better than you because that's what's going to help level you up faster.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fire, dude.
Speaker: Well, Brandon, thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker: And guys, just don't overcomplicate it.
Speaker: Like Brandon just gave us basically, you know, his entire, his entire roadmap to success right here.
Speaker: So if you follow what he's done, and I think that's all you've done is just follow successful people, right?
Speaker: You're always looking for people to model.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: There's a,
Speaker: If other people didn't do it, all you gotta do is model what's working for them and you're probably gonna get the same similar results.
Speaker: You gotta do what's worked for other people.
Speaker: Make it your own.
Speaker: Take what works and then make it your own.
Speaker: Find what works for you and keep your own personality involved in it.
Speaker: And then twist it.
Speaker: Use your own words.
Speaker: Like if your company gives you a presentation or some sort of script to follow,
Speaker: use that as a base and then make it your own.
Speaker: And then you start to find out what works and then be authentic, be real with people.
Speaker: Like people, people love it when you're real with them.
Speaker: They can tell if you're being fake.
Speaker: So never do that.
Speaker: Just try to be, try to find your own genuine self and find your own thing that works for you specifically in whatever industry, you know, whichever,
Speaker: area of life that you're working on right now for sure yep and so yeah simple as that guys and that's why we're doing the podcast is so you can surround yourself with guys like brandon with guys that are dominating and guys that give you the road map to success so brandon before we let you go here where can guys connect with you i know you're up posting a lot on instagram it's cool to see your success there and i know you're posting advice and all that too where can guys follow you and be able to connect with you more
Speaker: Yeah, so my Instagram is Brandon, the number four, and then E-S-T-E-R.
Speaker: So Brandon for Esther.
Speaker: Created that when I was like 16, never used it until a couple years ago.
Speaker: Okay, let's go.
Speaker: So let's get him to a million followers, guys.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: Go shoot him a follow.
Speaker: And yeah, you'll get to see what he's doing.
Speaker: Pretty crazy knocking out there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: late at night and stuff too.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a good time.
Speaker: So Brandon, thanks again for coming on the show.
Speaker: And guys, go shoot him a follow, shoot him a message, let him know you appreciated him coming on the show today.
Speaker: Show him some love and follow his roadmap, simple as that.
Speaker: We can't wait to see what's next for you, Brandon.
Speaker: Thanks again for coming on the show with us today.
Speaker: Yeah, awesome to be here.
Speaker: You guys are, you're all studs.
Speaker: You're going to crush it this year and hit me up anytime.
Speaker: I'd love to provide more value and give back where I can.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: Appreciate it, Brandon.
Speaker: Okay, I'll talk soon, guys.
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