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 fail.
Speaker: I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Hey what's going on solopreneurs?
Speaker: We are back with another episode.
Speaker: We're going to be talking about what is in my opinion the most important part of the sale.
Speaker: If you are not mastering this part of your clothes
Speaker: you're probably not closing a ton of deals.
Speaker: So I'm going to be talking about it, that and a lot more.
Speaker: Welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
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.
Speaker: Hope you're doing awesome.
Speaker: Hope you are having a great finish to the summer or whenever you're listening to this.
Speaker: Here in California, where I'm at, we just had Hurricane Hillary
Speaker: It was the weakest hurricane I've ever seen.
Speaker: Rained for like four hours.
Speaker: That was about it.
Speaker: Barely any wind, nothing.
Speaker: But if you... I know there were parts that got affected more.
Speaker: So if you were affected more, then...
Speaker: I hope you're recovering, but in San Diego, it wasn't too bad at all.
Speaker: But we're coming at you at rain or shine.
Speaker: We're going to be doing the podcast.
Speaker: We are releasing episodes right now, Tuesday through Friday, and I'm always looking for better content.
Speaker: So hit me up or shoot me a DM or an email, taylorsolarpreneur.com, if you have guest suggestions or topics that you would like covered on the show.
Speaker: Hey, and we are having some exciting episodes coming out.
Speaker: We had...
Speaker: Travis Hartman, he came on the podcast most recently.
Speaker: You should have heard him by now, but just drop some absolute gems.
Speaker: And we have another couple of guys that work with Travis all doing, you know, 300 plus deals a year.
Speaker: Absolutely bonkers.
Speaker: And just blew my mind learning from these guys.
Speaker: I'm seeing what's possible.
Speaker: So I'm super excited to have those episodes come out.
Speaker: And yeah, just for upcoming guests we got coming on.
Speaker: Hey, but let's jump into the topic of the day.
Speaker: And that is the most important part of the cell, which in my opinion is the pre-frame.
Speaker: Hey, or some people call it the fact finding.
Speaker: Pre-frame is part of the fact finding technically, right?
Speaker: For me.
Speaker: But this is what you do before you get into actually presenting to them.
Speaker: OK, you're building rapport.
Speaker: Then you're going into the fact finding the discovery.
Speaker: OK, but it's what sets the tone of the deal, introduces what you're going to be talking about.
Speaker: And most importantly, pre frames the close.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Tells them what what your intention is, what you're there to do.
Speaker: in the presentation.
Speaker: And I think it's very important because if you don't master this, number one, you don't know what's important to the customer.
Speaker: It's part of the fact finding, like what's important to them.
Speaker: Why do they want to go solar?
Speaker: Why did they even let you in the house to have the presentation?
Speaker: And number two, it helps you know if people are going to close, well, like what they need to close, right?
Speaker: Is their credit decent?
Speaker: Are they a good candidate for solar?
Speaker: and then sets the frame of you actually signing them up so they know you're not just there giving them details.
Speaker: You're not just there dumping them information.
Speaker: You're not just a walking business card.
Speaker: You're there for a reason, and that is to get them enrolled in the solar program.
Speaker: That is why I think it's the most important step of the cell, and if you don't master it,
Speaker: you're not going to have the results that you should have in solar.
Speaker: Okay, so I'm going to walk you through exactly what I say, some of the best lines that I've used, and also I'm going to be sharing some of our recent guests that are closing upwards of 300 deals a year.
Speaker: I'm going to share some other lines.
Speaker: You'll hear them, you know, sprinkled throughout their podcast as well.
Speaker: But I'm going to combine it, share some of the things they say, tell you what I've been saying in my presentations,
Speaker: That's been working and I hope it helps.
Speaker: And we've gotten great feedback from people that they like the actual lines that are used.
Speaker: Some of our best converting episodes are most downloaded, most listened to podcasts are the ones where people give the exact lines of what they're saying.
Speaker: So that is an indicator that you all like it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I'm going to share some lines that I've been using.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So first of all, let's just break this down step by step by step.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So you get in the house and I guess even before getting in the house, before going to this appointment, if you are setting the deal, maybe you're a setter listening to this, maybe your company has a setters, you do the setter closer model.
Speaker: Okay, two things.
Speaker: If you're setting the deal for yourself, you should be teeing it up to close.
Speaker: So you should be pre-framing before you even get back to the appointment.
Speaker: Or if you maybe are closing or if you're going to an appointment that was set for you, maybe your company is doing more set or closer.
Speaker: You need to coach your reps on how to set up these deals, how to team up to give you the best possible chance to close.
Speaker: And this is something that's Travis Hartman, Ricardo Ritchie over at Momentus Solar that we just did podcasts with.
Speaker: closing 300 plus deals a year, they do this, right?
Speaker: They confirm all their appointments and their setters know, hey, I need to set up the deal.
Speaker: So they know exactly why we're coming back.
Speaker: And the way they do that is they have their setters say, hey, so if we could get you guys the panels, well, they go through, you know, what the program entails, they go through what solar is going to get them.
Speaker: And once they've kind of built up those benefits, okay, this isn't a setter training, but just the short version here.
Speaker: Once they built up the benefits of solar, they say, hey, so if we can get you this, if it's not going to cost you anything, if it's going to lower your cost on energy, do you see any reason why this wouldn't make sense for you guys after they go through it?
Speaker: No?
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Okay, well, they'll go through it with you.
Speaker: And then if everything makes sense, they'll help you guys see if you can get qualified.
Speaker: Okay, that's basically what they're saying is they're setting it up.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And they probably have lines that they're using.
Speaker: That's might not be their exact line.
Speaker: I don't think I asked in the podcast, but that's what I've used with my setters.
Speaker: That's what I do on my personal deals to tee up the set.
Speaker: So it makes it a lot easier in the close.
Speaker: So that's, I guess you could say step zero is set up a pre-frame before you even get back with appointments.
Speaker: So now let's talk about what do you do when you actually get back in that appointment?
Speaker: Hey, so you're walking to the door and
Speaker: Ring the doorbell.
Speaker: Introduce yourselves.
Speaker: Do you want me to take my shoes on or off?
Speaker: Fine.
Speaker: On.
Speaker: Okay, great.
Speaker: You sit down at the table.
Speaker: Preferably you're at the head of the table or you're at like an angle with them, right?
Speaker: You don't want to be seated across from each other.
Speaker: Ideally, you want to be seated next to them so you can be side by side looking at solar together.
Speaker: Okay, you build some rapport.
Speaker: Five, ten minutes.
Speaker: What's your... How many people you got in your family?
Speaker: What are your kids like?
Speaker: Whatever.
Speaker: Show them pictures of your kids, your dogs.
Speaker: Classic stuff, right?
Speaker: And after you've done that, here's what you do.
Speaker: Okay, you're going to start.
Speaker: We'll transition into solar.
Speaker: And what I like to do is I ask for permission to go into the fact finding.
Speaker: And what does this do?
Speaker: It's basically saying, hey, I'm taking control now.
Speaker: Are you guys, do you give me permission to take control and let me be the authoritative figure in this?
Speaker: That's essentially what you're asking them.
Speaker: That's not the exact question.
Speaker: But what I ask is say, hey, so just to be sure we can benefit you guys.
Speaker: And this does make sense for the home.
Speaker: We have just a couple, a few questions we go through just to make sure of that.
Speaker: Is that okay if I go through those with you?
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: You're getting them permission.
Speaker: Because remember, the person that asked the question is in control.
Speaker: You want to be in control.
Speaker: So you've just asked them to essentially give you that control.
Speaker: So that's what I ask.
Speaker: And then from there, you're going into the questions.
Speaker: So I'm going to give you some of the questions I use.
Speaker: I'm going to give you some that I've heard just in from other people that are crushing it in other podcasts.
Speaker: So this is something that I've heard a few people do is just right away before they even ask these fact finding questions is do like a mini preframe before.
Speaker: OK, so say, hey, so I'm going to go through these questions just so you guys know.
Speaker: Goal for today is just to see if you qualify, if it makes sense.
Speaker: And you can see that it helps you out a lot.
Speaker: I'll show you how to get enrolled.
Speaker: But if you don't want to do it, you don't have to take the pressure off from them.
Speaker: Okay, a question like that.
Speaker: Another thing I heard, I think I heard this in a podcast the other day, but I loved it.
Speaker: The line that I heard was like, we do a lot of these every day and I don't really have time to go back and forth.
Speaker: And then at this point, you pull up a calendar of all your appointments.
Speaker: How cool is that?
Speaker: You show them a calendar that you're just slammed meeting with tons of their neighbors.
Speaker: And then you say at the end of this, if it makes sense, we'll submit an application.
Speaker: But if you think it makes more sense to stay with the utility, then we won't do anything.
Speaker: Is that fair?
Speaker: So I like the idea of doing a pre-frame, like a mini pre-frame and then getting in the questions and then doing a bigger pre-frame after.
Speaker: OK, but either way you can do that.
Speaker: What I've done most of the time is just go straight into these questions.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So biggest question that I always ask first is like, hey, have you guys looked into solar before?
Speaker: Figure out if they have.
Speaker: If they haven't and be like, well, what stopped you guys from looking at it in the past?
Speaker: Maybe they've heard horror stories.
Speaker: Maybe their bill hasn't been high.
Speaker: Maybe you're in a market where people just really haven't looked into solar.
Speaker: OK, whatever it is.
Speaker: And keep in mind, you should have a yellow notepad.
Speaker: You're writing all this down.
Speaker: something to write on, you're writing all this down.
Speaker: It shows you're engaged, it shows you're attentive, and it kind of reminds you what their questions or concerns are.
Speaker: So you can go back and literally check off their concerns and questions as you've gone through them.
Speaker: And what does this do?
Speaker: Subconsciously, it tells them that you've answered all their questions, you've overcome every concern, objection, and they should do it.
Speaker: That's why you should always be writing it down.
Speaker: Also, Grant Cardone, Closer Survival Guide.
Speaker: always have something to write on.
Speaker: So and then you're asking them, have they looked into it in the past?
Speaker: If they have asked them, why didn't you do it before?
Speaker: What stopped you from doing it?
Speaker: Okay, maybe it's they didn't like the way it looked.
Speaker: Maybe it's it didn't really save them that much, whatever.
Speaker: Hey, and then something that I'm learning more and more what these top guys are doing that I don't do as good as I need to.
Speaker: is they ask the hypothetical questions.
Speaker: Okay, they wrote all this down.
Speaker: Now it's like, great.
Speaker: Well, hypothetically, and no promises, I don't know for sure if we can do this, but hypothetically, if it does save you more money than before, if it looks better than before, whatever they said, maybe some of it's ridiculous, whatever it said, hypothetically, if that wasn't a problem, then you guys would do this.
Speaker: You guys wouldn't have any problem adding the panels up.
Speaker: Figure out what they say.
Speaker: You want to check to make sure you're not missing any concerns.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: And then if they say something like savings, another thing, ask them how much they expect to save.
Speaker: Like, last thing you want to do is get to the numbers part of your presentation.
Speaker: And they're like, oh, this is exactly what they showed me before.
Speaker: I don't really feel like Phil this is saving me anything.
Speaker: OK, so ask them, hey, how much would you guys expect to save 30 percent, 40 percent?
Speaker: Would that be a win?
Speaker: I know th is is California.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So here in other markets here in this adjust, right?
Speaker: Maybe it's only 10%.
Speaker: Maybe it's breaking even.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But figure out what it is that they expect.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So discovery, ask them what they have looked at before, ask them hypotheticals.
Speaker: And then from there, you're going to go into your qualifying questions.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I like what Taylor McCarthy does.
Speaker: I guess this is before qualifying questions, but he goes into his five main questions.
Speaker: And typically, what do people want to know about solar?
Speaker: They want to know the cost.
Speaker: They want to know about the roof.
Speaker: What happens with the roof?
Speaker: They want to know what type of guarantees are there.
Speaker: They want to know what happens if you move.
Speaker: And I think Taylor's fifth question is, when do I start saving money?
Speaker: I don't ask that one all the time, but for me, it's mostly the four main questions.
Speaker: I adjust it a little bit.
Speaker: Roof, cost, warranty, moving.
Speaker: And I love this because he brings up their concerns.
Speaker: These are basically all the questions that people are going to have about solar.
Speaker: unless you get super technical people.
Speaker: But almost all the questions are going to come down to these.
Speaker: And by bringing them up beforehand, you just, you brought up their concerns before they could.
Speaker: You just eight miles, if you know the movie Eight Mile, the rap battle, right?
Speaker: You're bringing up the problems they have with solar before they can, before they can even ask it.
Speaker: So I think it's a really powerful way to do it.
Speaker: Same thing you would do when you're knocking on doors.
Speaker: If you can bring up concerns, objections before they can, it's going to be extremely powerful.
Speaker: Hey, but you ask them, you say, hey, these are the questions that most of your neighbors have been asking.
Speaker: And I'll go through those.
Speaker: Outside of that, would you guys have any other questions or concerns about going solar?
Speaker: No?
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: And then you just go, you go through the questions pretty quick.
Speaker: Say, okay, so with this, the reason we're a little more selective than most other companies or other people have come by is because we actually guarantee the roof for, we guarantee the roof up there where the panels are.
Speaker: Hey, and hopefully your company does have good guarantees, good warranties, all that.
Speaker: But just tell them why it's different.
Speaker: Tell them why you're more selective because, hey, we give you the best warranties on everything.
Speaker: We have to make sure roof is in good condition.
Speaker: We don't want to cave in or us having to come take off panels.
Speaker: But we're on the hook for the next 25 years for the system up there as long as we approve it.
Speaker: Then as far as cost goes, you wouldn't pay anything if they approve the home.
Speaker: And then another thing I like that Taylor McCarthy does is he makes himself the prize.
Speaker: What I mean by that is he talks about how he's there picking model homes, right?
Speaker: And they work through word of mouth marketing.
Speaker: So we're going to cover the cost for you.
Speaker: It does come with some conditions.
Speaker: We practice what's called word of mouth marketing.
Speaker: Are you guys familiar with that?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's just if you're happy with a product or service that you tell others about it.
Speaker: So are you guys the type of people who generally talk about your experiences?
Speaker: If you have a good experience with a company or product?
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, we just asked that as long as the experience good, that you guys would be willing to spread the word about it.
Speaker: And they may ask to put like a sign in the yard and just spread the word about it with neighbors.
Speaker: You guys open to doing that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: OK, great.
Speaker: It's making you the prize, making it more selective.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: Hey, and then after you've gone through these questions, you ask them, OK, besides that, what other questions or concerns would you have?
Speaker: They're going to tell you, you're going to write them down.
Speaker: If they're smaller questions, you can go through them right then.
Speaker: If they're questions that require more of an explanation, you're going to save them.
Speaker: Yeah, you just write them down.
Speaker: You say, cool, we'll make sure we get to that.
Speaker: Then you move on.
Speaker: Hey, and then lastly, last but not least, I guess second to last is you're going through the discovery.
Speaker: How long have you lived in the home?
Speaker: When do you use your power?
Speaker: How many people live here?
Speaker: What time do you go to bed?
Speaker: uh, anyone else that would be involved in this decision.
Speaker: Obviously if there's more decision makers involved, I'd recommend just canceling the appointment and then rescheduling when you're in front of all the decision makers in most cases.
Speaker: Um, then you're going into the qualifications.
Speaker: Hey, um, how old is your roof?
Speaker: What's the condition of it?
Speaker: Uh, your electric panel, how many amps is it?
Speaker: Maybe you go take a picture of their electric panel.
Speaker: And by doing a deep dive on the qualifications and specifically some of these more technical things like the roof, the electric panel, guess what this does?
Speaker: It's going to set you apart from all just the newbie cells reps that come to the home.
Speaker: Guarantee you most cells reps are not asking how many amps the electric panel is.
Speaker: They're not going and taking pictures.
Speaker: So if someone's looked at solar before and you say, hey, most people don't ask this because they don't know.
Speaker: That's one of the reasons why the families I help out love this is because the problem you've maybe heard with solar is people go solar and they still have these big bills to the utility.
Speaker: It's because their system isn't designed correctly.
Speaker: And the other thing is sometimes there's surprise costs that come up with like electric panel, extra work.
Speaker: So the reason why all the families love us is because we actually figured out beforehand, make sure there are no surprises and make sure we can guarantee a roof and everything.
Speaker: So do you know how many apps your electric panel is?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: OK, let me go grab a photo of that.
Speaker: Go take them out.
Speaker: you're being perceived as expert and make sure you understand this stuff.
Speaker: That's the topic for another podcast.
Speaker: But generally, we've done some podcasts on this, but just a brief electrical knowledge that you want to have is if it's 100 amp and lower, unless it's a really small system, you're generally going to need a panel upgrade.
Speaker: So make sure you know these things.
Speaker: It's not exactly that, but there's all the calculations that you can get into.
Speaker: But if it's 100 amp, just know that unless it's under like a four kilowatt system, good chance you're going to need a panel upgrade without getting too technical.
Speaker: And remember, fake it till you make it.
Speaker: Maybe you don't know all this stuff, but you can still act like you're the expert and know all these things and set yourself apart from other people.
Speaker: So make sure you do that.
Speaker: Hey, so go through that discovery.
Speaker: Ask them if they're going to use more power.
Speaker: Very important.
Speaker: Make sure you're sizing the system correctly.
Speaker: Hey, we got your bill.
Speaker: Is this accurate for what you guys are using?
Speaker: Do you guys plan to use more power on this?
Speaker: Do you plan on getting an electric vehicle, pool, hot tub?
Speaker: No?
Speaker: Okay, great.
Speaker: So we're going to give you a little bit extra.
Speaker: Just make sure you understand that if you use more power, you buy it from the utility.
Speaker: Again, setting yourself apart.
Speaker: And then specifically for California, we got a net metering three.
Speaker: So that's why you want to ask them about their when they're using their power, because we have batteries out here.
Speaker: You want to make sure you're giving them the correct battery.
Speaker: If they are heavy nighttime users, maybe you need a bigger battery.
Speaker: So another thing to consider specifically for California.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then credits.
Speaker: What's their credits?
Speaker: You guys above 650 if you had to guess.
Speaker: Is your wife paying the bills on time?
Speaker: Make them laugh, whatever.
Speaker: If their credit is anything less than great or they're not sure on that, I would consider just running credit right off the bat.
Speaker: Okay, this is something that I coach my guys on.
Speaker: If you're unsure, always run credit right away.
Speaker: It's going to save you time.
Speaker: If they fell, you can get out of there.
Speaker: You can put them in a credit repair program.
Speaker: If it's good, then you're good to go.
Speaker: Okay, you know that this is worth sitting down and taking the next hour or two.
Speaker: doing a presentation for him.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then once you've gone through all that, you've done your fact finding.
Speaker: Now you're making sure you're getting in a powerful pre-frame.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And here's what I say when I am pre-framing.
Speaker: Hey, you set the agenda.
Speaker: You say, great.
Speaker: I have everything.
Speaker: I think I have good understanding where you guys are at.
Speaker: So what we'll do now, we'll pull up your design.
Speaker: We'll go through the numbers.
Speaker: We're going to give you like a side-by-side comparison.
Speaker: If everything makes sense,
Speaker: then what we'll do is we'll submit an application and see if we can approve the home
Speaker: And we keep in mind, we do have to come check the roof.
Speaker: We have to check your electric panel.
Speaker: Utility has to approve it.
Speaker: So no promises.
Speaker: But if everything makes sense, we'll submit that.
Speaker: See if we can get an approval.
Speaker: But if it doesn't look good or something is unanswered, then we won't do anything.
Speaker: Does that sound fair?
Speaker: Then you are getting a yes.
Speaker: You're waiting for them to say yes.
Speaker: If they don't say anything, I usually will ask them again because I want to make sure it's clear that they know exactly what we're doing.
Speaker: And if they have any objections,
Speaker: you're going to tackle that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Um, or you're going to know you got to build a lot of your urgency, but they don't have objections.
Speaker: Then great.
Speaker: They just agreed that they're going to sign up if everything makes sense.
Speaker: Hey, another thing I've tried to start implementing after hearing a lot of these top producers,
Speaker: close, what I'm hearing is that these guys, they will build urgency in their fact finding.
Speaker: They will bake it into that pre-frame.
Speaker: So part of the fact finding is, hey, the reason why so many people are trying to get in on this is you probably heard funding is always changing, expiring on these programs.
Speaker: There's tax incentives.
Speaker: There's depending on what you're selling, right?
Speaker: But building some type of urgency, okay, maybe it's funding is expiring.
Speaker: Maybe there's, you only have a limited number of
Speaker: permits, don't lie, but like something legit that you can build urgency on and give that as a reason that you're going to submit the application.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So because of that, everyone's trying to get in.
Speaker: So if all this makes sense, then we'll submit the application so we can make sure we lock in that funding.
Speaker: lock in the net metering, whatever the urgency is.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But again, it's like, it's not a big deal.
Speaker: If it doesn't make sense, then we won't do anything.
Speaker: But if it does, we just want to make sure we can get you in before these deadlines, before these changes happen.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So there you have it.
Speaker: That is the most important part of the cell.
Speaker: That is the fact finding.
Speaker: Make sure you have a powerful pre-frame.
Speaker: Hopefully there were a few lines you could use, a few questions you can take from that.
Speaker: These are what the top guys are mastering.
Speaker: Every single person I have on the podcast that's closing two, three, 400 deals in a year, they are masters at this.
Speaker: So become a master at fact finding, become a master at pre-framing.
Speaker: And you're going to become a great closer as well.
Speaker: Hope that helps.
Speaker: Send this to someone who's struggling closing deals.
Speaker: Maybe it's going to help them this week.
Speaker: And I can't wait to drop some more buyer content from some of these studs coming up.
Speaker: We'll see you guys on the next one.
Speaker: Keep crushing it.
Speaker: I love you.
Speaker: We'll see you next time.
Speaker: What's up, solarpreneurs?
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed the episode.
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.
Speaker: One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
Speaker: What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
Speaker: You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
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 Solarpreneur.
Speaker: We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet.
Speaker: So go download it right now.
Speaker: It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes.
Speaker: Go download it right now.
Speaker: And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
Speaker: That's going to show you how.
Speaker: So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.
