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Solar CSO Breaks His Back Then Loses Half His Sales Reps The Next Day - Luke Toone
90 Plays2 years 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
Taylor's Journey in Solar Industry
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
Speaker
I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
00:00:33
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.
00:00:40
Speaker
What up, everybody?
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm stoked today.
00:00:42
Speaker
We got the shoes in the background.
00:00:44
Speaker
We're here at the Legacy headquarters.
Introduction to Luke Toon
00:00:46
Speaker
We got the one and only Luke Toon in the house.
00:00:48
Speaker
Thanks for joining us, Luke.
00:00:49
Speaker
What's up, Taylor?
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:51
Speaker
I'm excited.
00:00:52
Speaker
I know.
00:00:52
Speaker
I'm super excited.
00:00:54
Speaker
It's been a long time coming, man, but glad you took time out of your workouts, your busy schedule.
00:01:00
Speaker
You know what?
00:01:01
Speaker
We were due.
00:01:02
Speaker
We were due.
00:01:03
Speaker
So you've had some people on there, and you've guilted me, and I'm stoked to be on.
00:01:09
Speaker
I appreciate it.
00:01:09
Speaker
It'll be fun.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yep.
00:01:11
Speaker
Every time I come to Utah, you know, for all these events, SolarCon, Door-to-DoorCon, and every time I hit Luke up, I'm like, hey, man, when are we doing a podcast?
00:01:19
Speaker
So finally this time, I'm like, all right, I'm in Utah again.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeehaw tied me down.
00:01:24
Speaker
And we're ready to rock.
00:01:26
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:01:27
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, Luke's got an incredible story.
Luke Toon's Early Life
00:01:30
Speaker
He is CSO here at Legacy Power.
00:01:33
Speaker
Chief shoe officer.
00:01:34
Speaker
That's right.
00:01:35
Speaker
Doug's going to make me change it to CRO because he doesn't like it.
00:01:40
Speaker
Too many shoes.
00:01:40
Speaker
Too many shoes.
00:01:42
Speaker
Need a bigger office.
00:01:44
Speaker
We'll talk about it.
00:01:44
Speaker
It's good.
00:01:46
Speaker
So yeah, we're going to talk about shoes.
00:01:47
Speaker
If you like shoes, this podcast is for you.
00:01:50
Speaker
I don't think anyone has as many shoes as this guy in solar that I know of.
00:01:54
Speaker
So yeah, we're going to talk about shoes.
00:01:56
Speaker
We're going to talk about some of the obstacles Luke has had to overcome.
00:01:59
Speaker
Got some awesome stories that he can share that I think just applies to anyone in solar.
00:02:04
Speaker
We all know that's why they call it the solar coaster.
00:02:06
Speaker
It's up and down.
00:02:07
Speaker
And I mean, you guys have experienced that here at Legacy probably more than most people in solar.
00:02:13
Speaker
So yeah.
00:02:14
Speaker
um it'll be good but yeah do you want to give us just maybe reader's digest version like you know why you guys started legacy power how you got into solar your background and door and all that 100 and and i'm just a guy a dude from cache valley i'm the last of seven came from really humble
00:02:31
Speaker
circumstances and like a lot of us did like a lot of us go do door to door because we're different and we're trying to go and be be you know uh make something we're like we're built different this job isn't easy and it's why people make what they make because it's it's uh it's it's hard not many people can make it in this industry and
00:02:52
Speaker
I was just a guy in door to door started.
00:02:55
Speaker
But before that, I grew up with seven.
00:02:57
Speaker
I'm the last of seven kids.
00:02:59
Speaker
My parents only wanted four.
00:03:02
Speaker
And then they had a whammy.
00:03:03
Speaker
And then they kept going and had a double whammy.
00:03:06
Speaker
Like Mark and I, like I'm a twin.
00:03:09
Speaker
Mark got me into the industry.
00:03:11
Speaker
And so we kind of
00:03:12
Speaker
dad was a school teacher my mom stayed at home um didn't have shoes growing up like this is kind of like a uh you know a flex on my childhood of like wanting it so bad i remember getting some sketcher shoes yeah and they had la raiders on it or oakland raiders on it and uh logo and i was so stoked for them i cherished them and i got them wet and so i'm like man i wanted like coveted him i was so mad i got them wet and then i put them on
00:03:41
Speaker
trying to heat them up, like get them on wet.
00:03:44
Speaker
I put it on a light bulb.
00:03:47
Speaker
I don't know because it's hot light bulb.
00:03:49
Speaker
I burned my shoes.
00:03:50
Speaker
I burned the whole logo.
00:03:52
Speaker
I was crying my
00:03:55
Speaker
Bless my mom that she'd like, you know, kind of like ironed on a patch and everyone made fun of me.
00:04:01
Speaker
Like, you know, my patch shoes, they weren't very cool anymore.
00:04:04
Speaker
But so, you know, it's like I came and overcame a lot growing up.
00:04:11
Speaker
School was difficult.
00:04:13
Speaker
I had to put in twice the work to get the same amount of results, sometimes less.
00:04:19
Speaker
I was in my fourth grade teacher told me I wouldn't amount to anything.
00:04:23
Speaker
even better.
00:04:25
Speaker
It was my special ed teacher.
00:04:26
Speaker
I'm like, that was brutal.
00:04:28
Speaker
It was mean.
00:04:29
Speaker
And so she's like, and maybe I deserved it.
00:04:31
Speaker
I don't remember.
Sales Success and Competitive Spirit
00:04:32
Speaker
Um, and, uh, and I just, I had to, you know, put in the work and work hard.
00:04:39
Speaker
And, um, I ended up graduating high school.
00:04:43
Speaker
I got a job at Staples and I had some mentorship growing up in, in, um, one of my
00:04:52
Speaker
Sunday school teachers.
00:04:54
Speaker
He was awesome.
00:04:55
Speaker
He's like every day, every Sunday school lesson he started, this is the best lesson you'll ever have.
00:05:01
Speaker
And it was like, he just, and then he talked about, you know, he, you know, a few scriptures and we talked about life.
00:05:08
Speaker
He talked about if you want to be, you know, if you want to succeed,
00:05:14
Speaker
find what you love to do and then do it better than anyone else.
00:05:18
Speaker
Like something that's like really resonated with me and he loved yogurt, loved yogurt.
00:05:24
Speaker
And so he made yogurt and he was like, I loved yogurt.
00:05:27
Speaker
I made it better than anyone else.
00:05:29
Speaker
He distributed it to your play and he ended up getting sold the open.
00:05:32
Speaker
I'm like, he, somebody loved him.
00:05:34
Speaker
Like he loves yogurt enough to go build yogurt and sell yogurt.
00:05:37
Speaker
Um,
00:05:38
Speaker
but i'm like for me it's like i've i fell in love with talking to people i fell in love with just connecting and i worked at staples selling electronics and they measured performance by um warranty sales so i'm like i started selling electronics and warranties and then i saw like a a leader report for the region and i was like in the middle like that's dope and so they printed off in like these little roll tab you know
00:06:06
Speaker
printers and and and then and then the next week came out and I was a little bit better.
00:06:12
Speaker
I got competitive.
00:06:14
Speaker
And then they put out division numbers and then they put out company
Entering Door-to-Door Sales
00:06:17
Speaker
numbers.
00:06:17
Speaker
And out of like 2,800 Staples stores, 60,000 employees, I was ranked in the top 50.
00:06:23
Speaker
Wow, that's awesome.
00:06:25
Speaker
And then I saw that and I'm like, man, I started selling warranties on everything.
00:06:29
Speaker
I sold a warranty on a stapler.
00:06:32
Speaker
We returned it.
00:06:33
Speaker
It was a $6 stapler and a $6 warranty, but it had a lifetime warranty on it.
00:06:38
Speaker
We refunded them just for fun, but we pushed so hard.
00:06:40
Speaker
I ended up being...
00:06:42
Speaker
you know number two uh in the whole country and in this little town in cache valley which probably did the least amount of revenue i lost to a guy by one warranty to a guy that worked um this you know the staples next to the staples center in los angeles i'm like come on come on uh and uh so i'm like it just drove me and i i loved it i loved the competition i love the recognition i love to go work
00:07:08
Speaker
improve myself from, you know, or right.
00:07:11
Speaker
You know, like, Hey, I can go do big things and got married and was getting into middle management, going to school at summer school planned out.
00:07:26
Speaker
My wife is like graduating from early education and had some like internship stuff.
00:07:32
Speaker
And my twin brother started bugging me.
00:07:34
Speaker
It's like, Hey,
00:07:36
Speaker
we should go do door to door.
00:07:38
Speaker
Like no soliciting going out like it's like wasn't cool back then.
00:07:45
Speaker
He's like Casey boss going like I don't care.
00:07:47
Speaker
It's like he's like he's going Doug Robinson.
00:07:52
Speaker
I I loved Doug growing up.
00:07:54
Speaker
He's just grow up together.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:56
Speaker
So he was a year older than I was.
00:07:58
Speaker
Casey went to school with us.
00:07:59
Speaker
He was a neighbor and you know and Doug used to take my money at two card poker in middle school.
00:08:05
Speaker
He was
00:08:06
Speaker
It was actually my parents' money.
00:08:07
Speaker
But he's like, Casey's going, just name dropping.
00:08:12
Speaker
I'm like, I don't care.
00:08:13
Speaker
I'm going into middle management.
00:08:15
Speaker
I would have made 40 grand a year doing that.
00:08:17
Speaker
I got summer school.
00:08:18
Speaker
My wife's teaching, and we're good.
00:08:20
Speaker
Like, I'm set.
00:08:21
Speaker
And he's like, he asked me not once, twice, four, or five.
00:08:25
Speaker
He finally said, hey,
00:08:26
Speaker
there's some AirPods that, or whatever, some like MP3 player at the time.
00:08:30
Speaker
He's like, if we're recruiting, I'll give it to you if you just sit down and talk to Doug.
00:08:35
Speaker
And I talked to Doug, he sold me on it.
00:08:36
Speaker
I'm like, you got to sell it to my wife.
00:08:38
Speaker
And then finally he said, hey, we can do it.
00:08:43
Speaker
My wife said, hey, you've,
00:08:46
Speaker
you've got to go sell this many before my teaching's done.
00:08:51
Speaker
Otherwise, you have to come back.
00:08:52
Speaker
Okay, cool.
00:08:53
Speaker
I went alarm or satellite selling dish network in 2005.
Transitioning to Solar and Founding Legacy Power
00:09:00
Speaker
And I came out a month late.
00:09:02
Speaker
And I knocked my first door, I dropped my binder, I was so nervous, I fumbled.
00:09:09
Speaker
And then I ended up getting one that night.
00:09:12
Speaker
I was off to the races and
00:09:15
Speaker
uh i learned after two days i'm like this is an impossible goal like you have to sell this many by this time period i'd have to be the top rep in the company to go do that and i did it and i just worked hard my you know dragged her out and we finished the summer um i finished you know this is my token this is my token i finished number one first year rep wow ashton buswell the goat finished number two wow and then casey ba a few accounts behind was number three
00:09:43
Speaker
And then Mark Toon, number four, first year reps.
00:09:45
Speaker
And so we had a wonderful time and like, I was super blessed and fortunate because there's good leadership and then there's like, you know, situations where there's not as good leadership.
00:09:54
Speaker
I just wasn't placed in a really good situation from the start.
00:09:58
Speaker
Dave Forrest from the industry owns Radix.
00:10:01
Speaker
He was my alarm tech manager at the time.
00:10:04
Speaker
He wasn't even in sales back then.
00:10:08
Speaker
Just loved it.
00:10:09
Speaker
And I fell in love with knocking doors.
00:10:10
Speaker
I fell in love with talking to people.
00:10:12
Speaker
I realized, hey, I can go and do one-to-one.
00:10:16
Speaker
It was a one-to-one.
00:10:16
Speaker
I can work as hard as anyone else and get the same results.
00:10:19
Speaker
I'm not more talented.
00:10:20
Speaker
I'm not someone that's going to go in like wordsmith or anything else.
00:10:23
Speaker
But if I put in the same amount of work as someone,
00:10:25
Speaker
I can get the same results.
00:10:27
Speaker
I'm like, man, I can work twice as hard as someone to get twice as much results.
00:10:32
Speaker
So I just, I was out early.
00:10:34
Speaker
I was the last one out or last one in or last one out.
00:10:39
Speaker
First one out, last one in and, and it was off to the races.
00:10:43
Speaker
And then my second year I managed and, um, broke industry records back then and selling this network running door to door.
00:10:51
Speaker
I start the summer about 180 pounds.
00:10:53
Speaker
I finished the summer 160 pounds.
00:10:55
Speaker
Like I worked relentlessly hard.
00:10:58
Speaker
So I'm like, I can go do it.
00:11:00
Speaker
And third year I travel trained and then we switched to alarms.
00:11:05
Speaker
Crazy story.
00:11:06
Speaker
Like company went out of business.
00:11:09
Speaker
Casey, Jeff, and a few went to Apex back in the day and Doug and I and Dave Forrest and my brother went to Pinnacle and we built out a division.
00:11:18
Speaker
We did 70,000 accounts in five years.
00:11:21
Speaker
Awesome experience.
00:11:22
Speaker
Casey, you know, his story and Jeff, they've been
00:11:25
Speaker
remarkably impressive and done well in the industry and then I jumped into solar I fell in love with solar like first day first interaction I just didn't fall in love with my current situation with the current employer at the time I felt like I was a little bit suppressed a little bit limited in growth opportunities
00:11:51
Speaker
Doug was in alarms.
00:11:52
Speaker
I was in solar.
00:11:53
Speaker
We weren't working together.
00:11:54
Speaker
We wanted to work together.
00:12:00
Speaker
started just talking hypotheticals and, and, and we started engaging and Doug sent an email to Sunrun, um, opportunities or some email and it ended up getting to Lynn, uh, Jurek and, uh, Ed Fenster, the owners of Sunrun.
00:12:17
Speaker
And we ended up on the 34th floor of in Market Street and, and talking to them, uh, to, to, to start a alarm company or solar company.
00:12:26
Speaker
And it's just, and they're like, why should you choose us?
00:12:28
Speaker
And we just,
00:12:29
Speaker
Eric, why should we choose you?
00:12:31
Speaker
Because kind of flipped it on.
00:12:32
Speaker
I'm like, you're right.
00:12:32
Speaker
So it was a huge trust relationship.
00:12:35
Speaker
We did sales only.
00:12:37
Speaker
We, you know, we started off not knowing anything about solar necessarily and running a company.
00:12:43
Speaker
We just had a handful of good dudes like a guy named Dan Siemens, Cole Farmer, myself, Doug, and Ashton Buswell, Brent Hollingsworth.
00:12:54
Speaker
some amazing individuals to start Legacy.
00:12:57
Speaker
That was it.
00:12:58
Speaker
We didn't have an army.
00:12:59
Speaker
We didn't have capital.
00:13:00
Speaker
We mortgaged our homes.
00:13:02
Speaker
Doug capitalized the business with it.
00:13:05
Speaker
Doug didn't pay me for 14 months.
00:13:06
Speaker
I'm like, we bled it and we went all in.
00:13:12
Speaker
And I didn't take a paycheck because we couldn't.
00:13:15
Speaker
I just wanted the principal, like our people eat first.
00:13:19
Speaker
And it's just been an amazing journey.
00:13:21
Speaker
And there's like,
00:13:23
Speaker
the obstacles and the situations that you run into.
00:13:27
Speaker
And I've seen the best in the industry and I've seen some of the worst things in the industry.
00:13:31
Speaker
So it's a little bit of my, like the start inception to, you know, where legacy is.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:38
Speaker
Wow.
00:13:39
Speaker
No, that's incredible.
00:13:40
Speaker
And yeah, I think we could spend like an hour or two just like unpacking all those things.
00:13:44
Speaker
I can go.
00:13:45
Speaker
I can go crazy.
00:13:46
Speaker
That's a lot of stuff.
00:13:48
Speaker
But no, well, a couple of questions I have there.
00:13:51
Speaker
I think it's cool that like you're saying your teachers.
00:13:55
Speaker
I mean, I think either you said this before we started the podcast or explanation is just barely.
00:14:01
Speaker
But I know a lot of people like didn't believe in you.
00:14:04
Speaker
You struggle in school and all that.
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:06
Speaker
Sounds like you have a lot growing up and everything.
00:14:08
Speaker
So I think there's people that come into this to think, OK, I don't deserve success.
00:14:13
Speaker
Like, I don't deserve to make all this money and everything.
00:14:15
Speaker
And even me, like I grew up pretty good.
00:14:18
Speaker
You know, my dad's a dentist and everything.
00:14:20
Speaker
But sometimes I'm like, I think I get in my head.
00:14:22
Speaker
I'm like, oh,
00:14:23
Speaker
Like my dad went to school for 10 years to be a dentist.
00:14:26
Speaker
There's no way I could like, you know, make more than doctors, dentists.
00:14:29
Speaker
And like I do, but I think that was something that I had to kind of like maybe trick my mind into.
00:14:34
Speaker
So was that ever like a struggle for you?
00:14:36
Speaker
Like, oh, I got it.
00:14:37
Speaker
Or maybe were you like, oh, I'm proving all these people wrong.
00:14:40
Speaker
That's why I'm working so hard.
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:42
Speaker
What like drove you and maybe like helped you overcome some limiting beliefs that could come up.
00:14:46
Speaker
Everyone has their battles.
00:14:48
Speaker
Everyone has insecurities, the from the highest of the high to the lowest, the lows, everyone deals with their own problems.
00:14:55
Speaker
And you just have to relate to people with that.
00:14:58
Speaker
And you have to accept what you have is is is a limited belief set in yourself.
00:15:05
Speaker
And I've been able to go and overcome a lot of obstacles.
00:15:08
Speaker
And I've been like.
00:15:12
Speaker
passionately optimistic.
00:15:14
Speaker
I've always been a dreamer.
00:15:15
Speaker
I've always been a thinker of like, you know, think big and go work hard.
00:15:21
Speaker
And I've had to go and overcome a lot.
00:15:24
Speaker
I've had a lot of like challenges with a lot of things.
00:15:29
Speaker
One is like, I've always had neck fatigue.
00:15:31
Speaker
I went and served an LDS mission and I went home early on an LDS mission because I couldn't control my emotions on how to deal with like neck fatigue.
00:15:43
Speaker
I was like tracking and going out and canvassing door to door for my faith.
00:15:49
Speaker
And I remember holding my scriptures and I'd have to rotate them every four or five minutes because I had neck fatigue on my right side.
00:15:58
Speaker
Oh, really?
00:15:58
Speaker
And it got to a point where I went home and I felt devastated.
00:16:03
Speaker
And I'm like, you know what?
00:16:05
Speaker
Like we all go through hard things and how we react to them is everything.
00:16:11
Speaker
And I and I told myself, I'm like, I'm never going to let that be a limiting factor.
00:16:17
Speaker
um in where i go in life and i think me going home early was um largely like why i've been so successful because i've been able to go and knock a lot of doors with a lot of fatigue but it's but it's actually helped me on like overcoming mental fatigue like i have more i deal with more than
00:16:40
Speaker
physical fatigue than mental fatigue and so like my mental fatigue is numb like i don't have that like i don't get bothered by the rejection as much as maybe some people do because i'm like you know i had to go and work relentlessly hard and deal with neck pain and i don't sleep well and i get sinus infections because of it and i used to have two or three sinus infections a summer
00:17:03
Speaker
because I was just so exhausted, but I just overcame them.
00:17:07
Speaker
I told myself I would never let that be a failure of mine.
00:17:10
Speaker
And I've been able to overcome it.
00:17:11
Speaker
And it's actually been a blessing because I've been able to overcome a lot because of that.
00:17:16
Speaker
So whatever your challenge is, you can go and overcome it by just, you know, numbing yourself to other things of like, I don't
00:17:27
Speaker
And then I don't care about the rejection.
00:17:29
Speaker
I don't care about what, you know, a stranger would think of me by knocking doors.
00:17:34
Speaker
I've learned not to care about people knowing that my profession is door to door.
00:17:39
Speaker
Like, I think it's cool.
00:17:40
Speaker
Like, I think it's awesome.
00:17:41
Speaker
And, you know, I grew up.
00:17:44
Speaker
wanting to be normal because I I'd have to be taken out of normal class and to go to a different class and I hated it.
00:17:53
Speaker
And I'm like, I'm like, at the end of the day, I'm like, it's OK to be different because and I had a, you know, someone that didn't believe me in fourth grade was my special ed teacher.
00:18:04
Speaker
The person that did was the normal class, Mr. Henderson.
00:18:07
Speaker
I like think the world of him.
00:18:09
Speaker
He's like, you don't need to be there.
00:18:12
Speaker
you've got this and I believe in you.
00:18:14
Speaker
And like, it was like so cool to have that support and actually got me to convince myself that I didn't need to be there.
00:18:20
Speaker
And so I had to put in more work, but because of that person and the support.
00:18:24
Speaker
So, um, I still, like, I lost connection with them, you know, a couple of years ago, I started figuring out how do I get connected with them?
00:18:33
Speaker
I, I, I said his name wrong for so long.
00:18:35
Speaker
Henderson is, you know,
00:18:37
Speaker
So, um, and I ended up, you know, messaging, you know, his daughter and his daughter got me in contact.
00:18:44
Speaker
It's like so cool.
00:18:45
Speaker
But I'm like, that was one of the most important beliefs that someone believed in me that I could go do better.
00:18:52
Speaker
But, um, so I'm like, that's, you know, it's, it's, I've dealt with a lot of pain and challenges and I've been able to overcome them and, and, and just realizing we all, we all go through stuff.
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:05
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:19:07
Speaker
Well, I want to, I wish I could have gone to that school.
00:19:09
Speaker
I mean, you got you, you got Doug, Casey.
00:19:11
Speaker
Sounds like an all-star lineup.
00:19:13
Speaker
There's a lot.
00:19:13
Speaker
There's a lot.
00:19:15
Speaker
So, no, that's incredible, though.
00:19:17
Speaker
Well, what I want to know, too, is you're talking about you guys lined up a meeting, like, met with Sunran right off the bat.
00:19:24
Speaker
So I'm just curious, were they like, did they just know that you guys were like, you know, the big dogs in door to door or something and like serious about it?
00:19:31
Speaker
We were nobodies.
00:19:31
Speaker
Doug was a nobody.
00:19:32
Speaker
I was a nobody.
00:19:33
Speaker
And we were actually being, we thought like, hey,
00:19:38
Speaker
you know, they were interviewing us.
00:19:40
Speaker
We thought we were interviewing them.
00:19:42
Speaker
They were looking for a nationwide sales organization to go and like run their, you know, direct sales group.
00:19:51
Speaker
And we learned afterwards, but Doug was just,
00:19:54
Speaker
Think big, do big.
00:19:56
Speaker
Hey, we've ran organizations door to door.
00:19:58
Speaker
We can go do this nationwide bigger and better than anyone.
00:20:02
Speaker
And he was dead set on it.
00:20:03
Speaker
And then they they bid on it.
00:20:05
Speaker
But they took a belief in us and a trust in us and they gamble on us and
00:20:11
Speaker
We went and did an exclusive arrangement.
00:20:12
Speaker
We were exclusive with them.
00:20:14
Speaker
We actually gave them ownership and legacy and they gave us vested interest in their company and some shares and stuff like that.
00:20:20
Speaker
So it was like a unified, you had a five year term with them and it was an amazing relationship.
00:20:25
Speaker
And we, you know, we still have good relationships with them.
00:20:31
Speaker
And we but yeah, so it's like they chose us over a handful of other groups that actually were solar companies.
00:20:38
Speaker
We didn't do solar at all, really.
00:20:39
Speaker
And so it's like it was really cool how we got that and ended up being an amazing journey with them.
00:20:44
Speaker
And it started our career and in door to door.
00:20:48
Speaker
And we're grateful for Sunrun.
00:20:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:51
Speaker
it's awesome well i know um and like we'll talk about this too but we don't have all day for the podcast but i definitely want to hear about you know this yeah sure we do six sections this is like part one you know it's like lord of the rings at least three there's some battles there's some drama you want to talk about drama battle for gondor coming up here it's got we got this yeah
00:21:15
Speaker
But yeah, like I know part of the Sunrun story too was, you know, led to sort of the mass exodus.
00:21:22
Speaker
Some people heard about how, you know, part of the down part of Legacy was a bunch of people left at once.
00:21:29
Speaker
And, you know, you broke your back during all this.
00:21:32
Speaker
And so I definitely want to have our people hear about this.
00:21:34
Speaker
This is one of the craziest stories I've heard.
00:21:37
Speaker
It's crazy and I should be numb and I should not trust anyone basically.
00:21:41
Speaker
So, but I do choose to trust and I love my people and I work with them and I work for them.
00:21:47
Speaker
But yeah, it's a crazy scenario, a turn of
Crisis and Resilience at Legacy Power
00:21:50
Speaker
events.
00:21:50
Speaker
We started this wild ride with Sunrun.
00:21:53
Speaker
It was an amazing relationship.
00:21:55
Speaker
We somewhat outgrew the relationship when we were somewhat disadvantaged.
00:21:58
Speaker
We were waiting till a sunset provision
00:22:01
Speaker
with the end of our agreement.
00:22:03
Speaker
And during that time for six months, we were trying to renegotiate with them to get better market rate fees.
00:22:09
Speaker
We were underpaid and versus what freedoms or Titans or bright planets or regional installers could pay their people.
00:22:16
Speaker
We were highly disadvantaged and our people felt the pain.
00:22:19
Speaker
I don't blame people for leaving at that time or anytime.
00:22:23
Speaker
I just care how they do it.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:25
Speaker
It's just be better in that situation and have like more of a backbone.
00:22:31
Speaker
So, so many of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego.
00:22:36
Speaker
And as we were gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:22:42
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different than get an advantage.
00:22:46
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called SolarScout.
00:22:49
Speaker
But it's not a door knocking app, it's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:22:55
Speaker
It shows who has previously applied for solar but later cancelled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:23:06
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too.
00:23:10
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first two solar scout in San Diego.
00:23:13
Speaker
So I decided to partner up.
00:23:14
Speaker
I told them, Hey, I'm going to talk about solar scout on my show.
00:23:17
Speaker
You need to give my listeners a great deal.
00:23:20
Speaker
And they did.
00:23:21
Speaker
So go to solar scout.
00:23:23
Speaker
App forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them.
00:23:26
Speaker
And you'll get 30% off your first month when you sign up at solar scout.
00:23:31
Speaker
App forward slash Taylor.
00:23:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:23:33
Speaker
Back to the show.
00:23:35
Speaker
And so for my situation, I didn't have a good backbone.
00:23:38
Speaker
I was playing pickleball.
00:23:40
Speaker
I woke up, my back was sore.
00:23:42
Speaker
I'd had some issues with it.
00:23:44
Speaker
I had some sciatic pain and I just, it was kind of flaring up.
00:23:47
Speaker
I'm like, I don't want to.
00:23:49
Speaker
But my best friend was coming up to play pickleball with me.
00:23:52
Speaker
He worked with me.
00:23:52
Speaker
He was a regional coach.
00:23:54
Speaker
I still like the guy, but we went and played pickleball against two people.
00:23:58
Speaker
We were playing rotate and it was in Woods Cross and we were playing rotate in the morning club.
00:24:03
Speaker
And we jumped on with a group and one was 70 and the other was 66.
00:24:10
Speaker
One had, the 66-year-old had not one prostate leg, but two.
00:24:16
Speaker
And they were whooping us, put me all around the court.
00:24:20
Speaker
And so I was flared up.
00:24:21
Speaker
And then I was running for a shot.
00:24:23
Speaker
And I remember it.
00:24:24
Speaker
Instead of running through it, hitting and running through it, I braced on impact.
00:24:31
Speaker
And I felt top.
00:24:33
Speaker
And both my legs went numb.
00:24:36
Speaker
And I kind of reached down.
00:24:37
Speaker
I go, oh, no.
00:24:39
Speaker
And the old guys over there on the other side were like making fun of me.
00:24:42
Speaker
So I'm like, I'm like this, you know, moderately should be put to get well together.
00:24:48
Speaker
And the guy was like clinking his metal prosthetic aluminum leg.
00:24:51
Speaker
He's like, are you done?
00:24:53
Speaker
I'm like, no, I'm not done.
00:24:55
Speaker
I'm like, so I played through it and I shouldn't have.
00:24:58
Speaker
And it got a little bit worse, a little bit worse, a little bit worse.
00:25:00
Speaker
We lost, by the way.
00:25:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker
And so then we went to Black Bear for breakfast afterwards, me and this individual.
00:25:07
Speaker
And I'm like, I got to go to the hospital.
00:25:10
Speaker
And he was being a little bit cryptic, a little bit weird.
00:25:12
Speaker
And then he admitted me to the hospital.
00:25:17
Speaker
And later that day, him and several other high leaders of the business resigned.
00:25:23
Speaker
dropped group me, blocked numbers, hostile takeover.
00:25:29
Speaker
And I felt like completely lost.
00:25:33
Speaker
It was the worst I felt physically.
00:25:35
Speaker
I was bawling.
00:25:36
Speaker
Emotionally and spiritually, I was a mess.
00:25:40
Speaker
And I remember being in the hospital bed and Doug Robinson was holding my hand.
00:25:46
Speaker
And we were tearing up and whatever else.
00:25:49
Speaker
And I'm like...
00:25:51
Speaker
um and i'm going to the hospital spending eight days there and i was like recklessly trying to go get out of the hospital to see what i can do but i remember looking at my screen time after surgery and trying to like put the pieces together what's going on i had 18 hours of screen time on my cell phone texting calls emails facetime like bawling my face was so puffy from like how
00:26:14
Speaker
hurt and distraught I was from the physical pain.
00:26:18
Speaker
They said I couldn't leave unless I could walk.
00:26:21
Speaker
And the doctors were saying I was responding so poorly, probably from the stress.
00:26:25
Speaker
They recommended six months of inpatient care.
00:26:29
Speaker
They wanted me there for six months.
00:26:30
Speaker
I'm like, I can't do that.
00:26:31
Speaker
I'm dying right now.
00:26:32
Speaker
It's like, you got to walk and do a bowel movement.
00:26:34
Speaker
I was on so much like pain medicine.
00:26:37
Speaker
I could not
00:26:39
Speaker
do a bowel movement i was like going crazy and i i finally got those and i got home and we were just like i was like i i was somewhat bedridden but like somewhat functional i can call and text and email and everything else but for like a few months but i remember i was like um and the group was thunder we all know that and if you if you know thunder if you look it up it's it it means the definition means breakup so i'm like it just is what it is
00:27:07
Speaker
But because of that situation, we banded together and we got a few like humble soldiers and like willing to go grind it out with us.
00:27:15
Speaker
John Soriano being one and he took a vulnerable situation.
00:27:19
Speaker
His dear wife, Josie, said, you owe it to Doug and Luke just to hear him out.
00:27:24
Speaker
So they heard me out and we talked to people individually, Dylan and George.
00:27:29
Speaker
who work with us, are amazing people.
00:27:31
Speaker
John Soriano and a few others, Brent Hollingsworth, Dan Siemens, a few other people.
00:27:37
Speaker
And we rallied together and I look at John now, I'm like, he's running a 600 person organization.
00:27:43
Speaker
Maybe he did it for opportunistic, but he did it because he still like owed it to us to hear it out and and, you know, planted his flag and, you know, he's bearing a lot of fruit from that.
00:27:54
Speaker
And so it's like awesome to see us go and rebuild and go and grow.
00:27:59
Speaker
But I'm like in those vulnerable moments, some people go and get so like crazy.
00:28:06
Speaker
dull, numb, you know, like vindictive of like, poor me.
00:28:14
Speaker
Doug was in that for just a brief second.
00:28:17
Speaker
And I said, Doug, quit being a baby.
00:28:19
Speaker
I maybe said other words, but I'm like, quit being a baby.
00:28:23
Speaker
When your back is up against the wall, that's when you punch the hardest.
00:28:27
Speaker
And all of a sudden, a light switch clicked.
00:28:31
Speaker
And we've never talked about being a victim of circumstances again.
00:28:36
Speaker
And we've just gone and like...
00:28:38
Speaker
barrel rolled through it so i'm like cool before that we lost a big group um uh in chicago so like this that year was the worst so like we we got suspended by illinois um for
00:28:59
Speaker
violating some of their, um, they just violations.
00:29:03
Speaker
And we purchased a unverified, uh, third party lead that reference the utility company that reference back to us as legacy power.
00:29:14
Speaker
And for whatever reason, they use this as an example, shut us down for 90 days.
00:29:18
Speaker
We tried to go and like work some maneuver and try to like, could be cute.
00:29:21
Speaker
We have kids suspended for six months and we had Leo Sage been in a large part of our East coast.
00:29:27
Speaker
there and we had to go and hand them off to a competitor hoping they'd come back and it never happened the way we did.
00:29:33
Speaker
So we probably lost 25% of our volume easily there.
00:29:36
Speaker
And then, you know, a couple months later, we lost 65%.
00:29:39
Speaker
So if you do the math, we started over essentially.
00:29:44
Speaker
I'm like, that would put anyone out, but I'm like, it logistically should have put us out.
00:29:49
Speaker
And we,
00:29:50
Speaker
You know, we grinded, we worked through obstacles.
00:29:53
Speaker
We weren't victims.
00:29:54
Speaker
We pushed through and persevered.
00:29:56
Speaker
And I'm like, it made us bigger, better, stronger.
00:29:59
Speaker
And then COVID happened.
00:30:01
Speaker
It's like, this is a rolling of bad things.
00:30:03
Speaker
And like, well, we built some software, we converted everything to rehash our leads and we provided leads to our sales force.
00:30:09
Speaker
And we grew in a, in an unfortunate situation.
00:30:12
Speaker
And we were,
00:30:13
Speaker
going through that and like we just gone through challenges and and then this year like last year being an installer was hard but i'm like i look around the industry and there's solar graveyards of like this company and that company and that company and whatever else and i'm like i look and i'm like guys we've been through worse so i'm like we can do hard things that's why i tell my kids tunes are tough yeah we're really not but i'm like tunes are tough
00:30:40
Speaker
My 15 year old, when he was 13, got a black belt and it's a full participation award.
00:30:45
Speaker
But I'm like, tunes are tough and they're dead set on it.
00:30:48
Speaker
Like dead set, the tunes are tough.
00:30:50
Speaker
We can do hard things.
00:30:51
Speaker
And I'm like, we can do hard things.
00:30:52
Speaker
And I'm like, legacy's been through harder things.
00:30:55
Speaker
So I'm like, we had to pivot last year.
00:30:57
Speaker
We had to go and shift volume to markets that maybe made more sense.
00:31:01
Speaker
We had to go cut some costs and we were meaningful sponsors of the jazz and I love the jazz.
00:31:08
Speaker
You love the jazz.
00:31:09
Speaker
They're dope, but not this year.
00:31:10
Speaker
So I tell people like, yeah, we're not sponsors because they're not very good.
00:31:14
Speaker
It really was.
00:31:14
Speaker
We just, it was a nice to have, not need to have.
00:31:16
Speaker
And we had a few years with them.
00:31:18
Speaker
It was awesome.
00:31:19
Speaker
We opted not to renew.
00:31:21
Speaker
And we cut meaning I love that people are willing to pay for me to sit courtside.
00:31:27
Speaker
I'm like, but I'd rather pass that through and being more sustainable and a responsible business.
00:31:32
Speaker
But we're one of the only companies I know that have audited financials by a big four firm in the last several years.
00:31:38
Speaker
We just finished our fourth iteration of that.
00:31:41
Speaker
And we have four CPAs that worked at big four firms.
00:31:44
Speaker
And
00:31:44
Speaker
We just saw the writing on the wall and been able to navigate through.
00:31:48
Speaker
And, and I see this as like the most opportunistic year in the industry we'll ever see.
00:31:54
Speaker
And so I'm like, we're, we're, we're stoked with it, but we've had to make challenges and changes and,
00:31:59
Speaker
or changes from challenges challenging situations and yeah but it stems from us having like vulnerable moments and being like going through hard things yeah that's incredible man i will say one of the benefits of the jazz being terrible this year is i spent more time selling than watching because other years i would kind of be you know knocking doors 100% having the jazz games up like you know while i'm knocking the door in between i'm like yeah you know you're leaving i'm like well
00:32:29
Speaker
You lost 14 out of 15 last games.
00:32:31
Speaker
I'm like, great.
00:32:32
Speaker
We're down 30 right now.
00:32:33
Speaker
I can probably focus on knocking.
00:32:35
Speaker
Hopefully you get a lottery pick.
00:32:39
Speaker
But no, that's an incredible story though.
00:32:41
Speaker
I think it's really cool if anyone listens to this podcast, it's like
00:32:44
Speaker
especially new reps, you got to understand there's a lot of things, obstacles you have to go through.
00:32:48
Speaker
And I think any successful, whether you're like a rep owner, whatever, you're going to go through a lot of obstacles in this industry.
00:32:56
Speaker
I mean, it's nothing compared to you guys, but like I've been through installers not paying me.
00:33:01
Speaker
I'm owed tens of thousands by companies that never paid out.
00:33:04
Speaker
Some people millions, like it's crazy.
00:33:06
Speaker
I know.
00:33:06
Speaker
And so like when I compare my problems to some of the stuff you guys have gone through, I'm like, all right, it's not that bad, but it's like,
00:33:13
Speaker
So we got to understand, I think that's who is the most successful in solar, the people that will go through those challenges that will just like keep pushing forward and not like be victims like you're talking about and just use it as like a learning experience and, you know, push forward.
00:33:29
Speaker
So it's really cool.
00:33:30
Speaker
And there's a ton of growth right now.
00:33:32
Speaker
And that's part of what attracted me to Legacy, too.
00:33:34
Speaker
Just like especially we had NEM3 in California.
00:33:38
Speaker
You see so many of these dealers, companies going
Overcoming Challenges and Building Relationships
00:33:40
Speaker
on a business.
00:33:40
Speaker
And I looked at Legacy and I'm like, man, these guys are still selling lights out.
00:33:44
Speaker
I want to be part of that.
00:33:46
Speaker
And that's what attracted me.
00:33:48
Speaker
And also beneficial that it's like a big company that shouldn't go out of business tomorrow and not be able to pay.
00:33:55
Speaker
We're trying.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:58
Speaker
But no, so I think for reps listening, like you're, I know you are over all the sales here at Legacy and I see you go out, you can just like turn it on on a dime, go sell.
00:34:10
Speaker
I mean, you were, weren't you out a couple of weeks ago, just like selling accounts, selling some solar deals?
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:15
Speaker
So I'm like, I, I worked really hard, broke industry records selling door to door.
00:34:20
Speaker
And I went out a couple of weeks ago and
00:34:26
Speaker
over Easter weekend.
00:34:27
Speaker
And I'm like, you know what?
00:34:28
Speaker
I didn't have to go.
00:34:29
Speaker
I don't need to go.
00:34:30
Speaker
But I'm like, there's just with the business being at the top and not like I wanted to go see what the rep level was feeling in some of the like inefficiencies and this and that.
00:34:39
Speaker
And it sold a few accounts.
00:34:42
Speaker
And it was awesome.
00:34:44
Speaker
I forgot how much I loved it.
00:34:45
Speaker
I forgot how simpler life was.
00:34:47
Speaker
And I'm like, if you're knocking doors and you want to be somewhere that you're not
00:34:53
Speaker
Enjoy the journey.
00:34:54
Speaker
Don't skip steps and embrace what you do and love what you do.
00:34:59
Speaker
Because there's even in your situation, knocking door to door is a setter or a closer.
00:35:04
Speaker
If you do it right, there's generational opportunities.
00:35:09
Speaker
Some people are like, I want to be a CEO after six months of knocking.
00:35:11
Speaker
I want to go be a business owner.
00:35:13
Speaker
I'm like, Doug and I worked relentlessly hard, not skipping steps for 10 years.
00:35:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:20
Speaker
I'm like, I was a rep.
00:35:22
Speaker
I was a manager.
00:35:23
Speaker
I was a trainer.
00:35:24
Speaker
I was, went back to a manager.
00:35:25
Speaker
I went to a regional.
00:35:27
Speaker
I went to, you know, or, you know, mults, you know, uh, you know, another V like, kind of like a VP regional role.
00:35:35
Speaker
And then I went back to a manager role.
00:35:37
Speaker
And then like, I've kind of gone through the journey.
00:35:40
Speaker
I'm like, don't skip steps.
00:35:41
Speaker
It's there's, there's like, yeah,
00:35:44
Speaker
be okay with being a closer for an ample amount of time because you can make so much money and then and then be a leader of leaders by you know what you're doing and inspiring people and like the the number one thing i think a leadership should be is like reed hastings the owner of netflix talks about this he says to be a great leader you need to be a great person
00:36:09
Speaker
What does that mean?
00:36:09
Speaker
And I'm like, it kind of resembles our mission statement of like, we want to provide an extraordinary customer experience.
00:36:15
Speaker
And my customers, a lot of times are our reps.
00:36:17
Speaker
So provide that while becoming the best versions of ourself and helping others do the same.
00:36:22
Speaker
It's like an amazing way to live life.
00:36:24
Speaker
Like just...
00:36:25
Speaker
if you if you don't have a mission statement that's your mission statement doesn't matter where you got it from provide good experiences be better and help others like that's that's like the like our motto we try to live it each and every day with that said um reed hastings just like to just if you want to be a better leader try being a better person so i'm like
00:36:48
Speaker
And he went from like being a content provider to a content creator.
00:36:53
Speaker
It resonates with me because legacy was a sales origination.
00:36:56
Speaker
We didn't skip steps.
00:36:58
Speaker
We did it for several years.
00:36:59
Speaker
We finished out a long-term agreement with Sunrun when we probably should bat out before with
00:37:04
Speaker
There's so many war stories I can tell you that like legacy will be a book someday, I feel like.
00:37:09
Speaker
And Doug's been doing little chapters and like he's making notes and stuff like that.
00:37:14
Speaker
But, um, and you know, he, now we're, we're, you know, we're creating the content where the installer, we're curing, we're working with the relationship with financing, you know, who knows what the future looks like, but yeah,
00:37:30
Speaker
Um, and I tell my kids, like, if I called my kid right now, miles, I go miles.
00:37:35
Speaker
I've done this a few times.
00:37:36
Speaker
I had a few things.
00:37:36
Speaker
I'm like miles, like bigger.
00:37:38
Speaker
The problem.
00:37:40
Speaker
He goes, bigger, the pay.
00:37:41
Speaker
Like he's a fifth.
00:37:42
Speaker
I'm, I'm a late bloomer.
00:37:44
Speaker
I'm like my 15 year old, like a baritone, like bigger, the pay.
00:37:48
Speaker
I'm like, I'm like, if you want to go make the most amount of money in this world, go, go solve the world's biggest problems.
00:37:56
Speaker
Like the U S produces the most amount of carbon in the world and does the least amount about it.
00:38:02
Speaker
It's a trillion dollar industry.
00:38:04
Speaker
I'm grateful for that is 4% market penetrated.
00:38:08
Speaker
I'm not greedy, but I just want to, I just want to sliver.
00:38:11
Speaker
Give me a couple of points for that.
00:38:13
Speaker
So I'm like, it's good.
00:38:14
Speaker
Um, but if you work, we're this industry solving some of the world's biggest problems.
00:38:19
Speaker
I'm like, we deserve some of the world's biggest pay.
00:38:21
Speaker
So I'm like,
00:38:23
Speaker
you know, who are you watching on to go participate in that?
00:38:26
Speaker
Like, so, yeah, that's awesome.
00:38:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:29
Speaker
Well, and like something that's cool.
00:38:31
Speaker
I mean, you like you went out over Easter weekend, just turn it on, putting accounts down and all that.
00:38:35
Speaker
And like, I don't know, for me is I'm out selling every day and all that.
00:38:38
Speaker
But for example, whereas I'm going to be going to SolarCon right after this,
00:38:42
Speaker
Like I'm not going to be selling really at all this week.
00:38:45
Speaker
I feel like sometimes I leave, go back to sell and it like takes me a little bit to roll into it and, you know, brush off the cobwebs.
00:38:52
Speaker
Even if I'm gone for like a week or two.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:55
Speaker
Takes a minute.
00:38:55
Speaker
So that's what I'm impressed is like you like sell superstar.
00:39:00
Speaker
You just go out there and like just turn it on, throw it on accounts and everything.
00:39:04
Speaker
I went out with my twin brother.
00:39:06
Speaker
He's an amazing setter.
00:39:08
Speaker
We kind of set both.
00:39:08
Speaker
We both worked.
00:39:09
Speaker
We tandem it.
00:39:10
Speaker
So I have to give Mark some credit.
00:39:12
Speaker
But we went out in five days till 16.
00:39:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:15
Speaker
I'm like, we did that.
00:39:16
Speaker
And I'm like, I'm like, dang it.
00:39:19
Speaker
All of them has sales rep rep action needed.
00:39:22
Speaker
Like I didn't get utility bills down.
00:39:24
Speaker
Right.
00:39:24
Speaker
Like, I'm like, you know what?
00:39:26
Speaker
That was so good for me to know some of the inefficiencies of myself and what I can do better, but also like putting accounts into the system and say, what could legacy do better?
00:39:36
Speaker
But I didn't get like the meter number on the bill.
00:39:38
Speaker
So I have to go back like the front and back of the bill.
00:39:41
Speaker
And I just got the front like anyway.
00:39:43
Speaker
So I'm like,
00:39:44
Speaker
But I loved and we threw down.
00:39:46
Speaker
I'm like, this is so fun.
00:39:48
Speaker
I love my industry.
00:39:49
Speaker
I love, and I say my industry because I'm like really partial to it.
00:39:52
Speaker
It's like my industry is awesome.
00:39:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:55
Speaker
It's good.
00:39:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:56
Speaker
Well, how do you just like turn it on?
00:39:58
Speaker
Did you feel like rusty getting back into it for a second?
00:40:00
Speaker
Definitely.
00:40:01
Speaker
Definitely.
00:40:01
Speaker
But I'm like, you know, it's like riding a bike.
00:40:04
Speaker
It's like going and reading or maybe you can read a little bit.
00:40:07
Speaker
I'm not a great reader, but I'm like, so I read about the same either way.
00:40:10
Speaker
But like you were like, don't read a book for a
00:40:13
Speaker
you know, a few weeks, a month or a year or whatever, and you open it up, you're still reading.
00:40:18
Speaker
It's just then by the time you're halfway through the book, you're just like flying through it.
00:40:21
Speaker
I'm like, it took me a like...
00:40:23
Speaker
an afternoon a day but i'm like it's just it's it's making it over complicated is always going to be the worst thing and just relating with people talking to people being genuine genuine with them making them laugh and those are all the things that come pretty natural for me it's just like
00:40:45
Speaker
And the rest is history.
00:40:45
Speaker
I'm like, you want to save money.
00:40:47
Speaker
This is electrifying the home.
00:40:50
Speaker
You've seen the installers in the area.
00:40:52
Speaker
Like we're doing like probably 38 installs a day in Illinois.
00:40:56
Speaker
So I'm like, we have some reputability, but I'm like, but still doesn't mean it's a pain.
00:41:01
Speaker
And like, we've got stuff like I learned so much from just being out there for the few days.
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:41:08
Speaker
Well, I got two more questions before I wrap up.
00:41:11
Speaker
I didn't I didn't remember this, but I knew you guys got to hang out with Biden and yeah, you know, ask him some questions.
00:41:18
Speaker
So that's pretty cool too.
00:41:19
Speaker
But before I ask you that, just for maybe like a new rep that's starting in the industry or maybe someone that hasn't broken through to have a ton of success yet.
00:41:28
Speaker
Do you have any advice?
00:41:29
Speaker
I know, like, sounds like for you, you pretty much always, sales have been, like, did you ever struggle?
00:41:34
Speaker
Pretty much, sales have always just been like, man, I'm the number one guy.
00:41:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think I struggled in my own ways.
00:41:41
Speaker
Like, I went and started off pretty well, and then I went through a funk, and I'm like, I was doing the exact same thing, doing the exact same hours, getting no results.
00:41:51
Speaker
And I was like, I came, like, just...
00:41:53
Speaker
sold really well.
00:41:55
Speaker
And then I just gradually got really bad for a few weeks.
00:41:57
Speaker
And I'm like, that was my first engagement selling in a summer program back in 2005.
00:42:02
Speaker
I remember I'm like, what is going on?
00:42:04
Speaker
I was in the same area, same neighborhood, same.
00:42:06
Speaker
I'm like, then I just realized, you know what?
00:42:09
Speaker
It's just a numbers game.
00:42:11
Speaker
Like I had a good run.
00:42:12
Speaker
If you, if you play blackjack or you play craps or you play life, like you just had a good run.
00:42:18
Speaker
And then you have to realize you have to, you got to appreciate it.
00:42:21
Speaker
the good and grind through the bad like it's just you're you start off slow damien peterson he's my he's my chief of command like he's my ride or die he makes me look good he does so much for the legacy um you know i almost sent him home his first year like he was terrible like he went out and like quit his job he was so confident he sold one his first day and then he went like weeks without getting a cell
00:42:45
Speaker
and then a competition hit and that's why like our competitions are better than anyone else because he went and almost won a jeep his first year after zeroing for so long in alarms um and i'm like so his journey started slow and he ended up being my top first year rep and one of the top first year reps in the company and then i was a hero to start and then it was a zero throughout and i'm like you just gotta grind through the bat if it's a start grind through the bat if it's in the middle
00:43:16
Speaker
And there's levels of motivator.
00:43:18
Speaker
Like you gotta realize that money only goes so far.
00:43:21
Speaker
It's the lowest grade of like motivation.
00:43:27
Speaker
because sometimes the money doesn't matter.
00:43:29
Speaker
Like if you're going to work and you hate your job, like you're collecting a paycheck or you're knocking doors, you have a bad day, you can go, that next door could be a sale and it makes this much money.
00:43:40
Speaker
I'm like, sometimes that doesn't matter.
00:43:42
Speaker
And then there's recognition.
00:43:44
Speaker
And then there's like, you know, I remember when Kobe died.
00:43:47
Speaker
He's like in our Jersey right there.
00:43:49
Speaker
I'm like, I think the earth, the world stopped for a second.
00:43:52
Speaker
Like my heart stopped for a second.
00:43:54
Speaker
I'm like, I don't even know this dude, but the dude left a legacy.
00:43:58
Speaker
Like, that's why we wear legacy on our shirts.
00:44:00
Speaker
Like I want legacy to leave a legacy.
00:44:02
Speaker
I want, you know, Taylor to leave a legacy, Doug to leave a legacy.
00:44:06
Speaker
I'm like, I want the world to stop.
00:44:09
Speaker
And it did for a minute.
00:44:10
Speaker
And it's like, that's like the true level of leader, like of like, you know, motivation and everything else.
00:44:16
Speaker
I'm like, go, go leave a legacy in, in, in everything you do, whether you work for legacy or not, go, go leave your legacy.
Recognizing Potential and Fostering Growth
00:44:25
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:44:26
Speaker
And I, I think, you know, to kind of expound on that, like we talk about like struggling reps, John Suriano,
00:44:35
Speaker
no idea his background and when i met him seven plus years ago um i just remember he was a ball of joy yeah i'm like he was just he was like pumped up he's like a little bunny rabbit like he's just bouncing up and down uh he he's just living off caffeine i felt like and i just like i love the dude yeah but he's like dude he talks about this later he's like luke tune the first engagement i had with him like he made me feel like a million bucks
00:45:04
Speaker
I'm like, cool.
00:45:06
Speaker
Like, you know, and so he's like, I was living on a couch.
00:45:10
Speaker
I was broke.
00:45:11
Speaker
I had 10 bucks to my name, all these things like, um, almost homeless.
00:45:16
Speaker
And he made me feel like a million bucks.
00:45:18
Speaker
I'm like, that's really, really cool because I'm like, I just saw him.
00:45:21
Speaker
I'm like, I saw his energy and what he could become.
00:45:24
Speaker
And that's the thing that I like relationships matter if like, whether you're a leader or not.
00:45:29
Speaker
And I talk about this a little bit, you've probably heard if you follow me or whatever, but like,
00:45:35
Speaker
regardless of who you are, regardless of where you're at in life, regardless if you're a leader or not, I don't look at you for who you are today.
00:45:43
Speaker
I look at what you can become.
00:45:46
Speaker
And I also saw John of what he can become through my leadership.
00:45:51
Speaker
And I poured into him.
00:45:52
Speaker
I loved him.
00:45:52
Speaker
I connected with him.
00:45:54
Speaker
And I've seen him outgrow me in a lot of situations.
00:45:58
Speaker
And that's like,
00:45:59
Speaker
I love the fact that he is better at me than at podcasts.
00:46:02
Speaker
He does podcasts.
00:46:03
Speaker
He's better at me than speeching.
00:46:05
Speaker
He does engagements for his faith and work.
00:46:07
Speaker
And I love that he's thriving.
00:46:09
Speaker
He has a, you know, beautiful family.
00:46:11
Speaker
He's got a beautiful home.
00:46:14
Speaker
He's, you know, he's got, you know, people that adore him.
00:46:19
Speaker
And what I love about him is that every conversation, if not
00:46:24
Speaker
many conversations, if not all conversations, he finishes like, what can I help you with?
00:46:29
Speaker
We had this like really cool call yesterday with our leadership that was like, you know, closed door meeting.
00:46:37
Speaker
And he's like, what could what could we do for legacy is like the first, you know, it's like, what are we needing to do?
00:46:44
Speaker
And Doug and I gave some explicit tasks of like what we need to do to go get to the next level and everything.
00:46:49
Speaker
But that's John Soriano and how he leads is
00:46:52
Speaker
He's a servant leader.
00:46:53
Speaker
And for me, it's like I look at people differently.
00:46:56
Speaker
I look at someone like myself that I my fourth grade teacher, my actual fourth grade teacher believed in me and saw I could go do great things.
00:47:06
Speaker
My dad says I can go do great things.
00:47:08
Speaker
And like I honor him.
00:47:10
Speaker
And like I see people of like not like.
00:47:13
Speaker
we're we're god-given whether your faith or not like we're all destined for far greater than we thought all imagine like we can imagine i think legacy is bigger than all of us and i think we're all bigger than what we thought possible and like that's how you should look at people's like because there's there's so many people are struggling right now like and you could never know it or not but i'm like
00:47:36
Speaker
that's not who they are when they're struggling.
00:47:38
Speaker
That's like, that's, that's a, that's a very short period of like, we got to get people together to rally to get to the next level.
00:47:46
Speaker
And I'm like, just, we need to look at people differently.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:49
Speaker
I love that.
00:47:50
Speaker
And I'll say that's part of what attracted me to legacy too.
00:47:53
Speaker
You talk about John a lot too.
00:47:54
Speaker
And, um, I remember like, I was always resistant to join in bigger companies and all that.
00:47:59
Speaker
So I'm like, oh, I'm the man I've ran dealers.
00:48:02
Speaker
I've ran my own teams.
00:48:04
Speaker
But then I met with, you know, Mike Brand, John and stuff as I was like figuring out what to do next.
00:48:10
Speaker
And that's their whole thing.
00:48:11
Speaker
They're like, OK, well, here's what you can become.
00:48:13
Speaker
Like, here's the next step you could take.
00:48:16
Speaker
And I'm just like, OK, the most I've grown is an office of like 20, 30 dudes, whatever.
00:48:22
Speaker
And they're like, OK, well,
00:48:23
Speaker
Like, how can you level up?
00:48:25
Speaker
Like, here's what you could become potentially working with us.
00:48:29
Speaker
And that was a big thing they talked about.
00:48:30
Speaker
And I think any good leader, yeah, is a master at, like, helping people see those things.
00:48:35
Speaker
And I can definitely see you guys have done that.
00:48:37
Speaker
So that's a good, I think, leadership tip just in general.
00:48:40
Speaker
Anyone listening to this podcast is...
00:48:42
Speaker
I'm just inspired your guys help them see things they can't.
00:48:46
Speaker
And that's what gives them a vision.
00:48:48
Speaker
And I think that's what keeps guys from leaving to if they can like see things.
00:48:52
Speaker
Probably that's what helped john stays like, I'm sure you were helping them see, hey, here's what you can become at legacy.
00:48:58
Speaker
And there's the next steps and everything.
00:48:59
Speaker
I think when what blew john through the roof and his progression is he would always come and talk to me about what other people are doing.
00:49:10
Speaker
I'm like, and I looked at the situation.
00:49:13
Speaker
I'm like, John, you need to go be you.
00:49:16
Speaker
Like you need to go like define who you are.
00:49:20
Speaker
and don't care what other people are doing go be different and like he started building systems and processes and like he's like doing it his way and like in like versus what other people are doing and so like go be you in in your in your path to life like i i i like envy a lot of people but i'm like i want to be me and my journey and the best version i'm like
00:49:47
Speaker
I wouldn't be where I'm at today if I went and focused on being good at everything.
Building Strong Relationships through Kindness
00:49:54
Speaker
I would be far less.
00:49:55
Speaker
I might be more versed, but I'm like, I work with Damien and Doug, like an all-star cast of people that are all talented in their own ways.
00:50:04
Speaker
And I try to be the best at what my abilities are to be the best in that category of like,
00:50:11
Speaker
relationships matter be relevant make people feel like a million bucks like you know I talk about shoes I'm like I what are you know I try to go and connect with people through shoes I love shoes I like how it like is a talking piece for people yeah I remember my twin brother giving me shoes
00:50:31
Speaker
It's a funny story.
00:50:35
Speaker
He forgot, but we have the same birthdays.
00:50:40
Speaker
And I got him a really thoughtful gift.
00:50:43
Speaker
I'm a gift giver.
00:50:44
Speaker
That's why I've given out like 1100 shoes, I think.
00:50:47
Speaker
So I'm like just in my career because I love giving them and like how it makes people feel.
00:50:51
Speaker
But I remember giving Mark a Daryl Strawberry autograph, hand painted picture that I got through auction.
00:50:59
Speaker
uh at a charity event and i got a four mark and i way overpaid for it because i really wanted it for mark because i knew he loved daryl strawberry growing up and so i wrapped it up and gave it to him and he's like he was shocked
00:51:14
Speaker
that he forgot he didn't have anything for me.
00:51:16
Speaker
So I'm like, he looked around, he grabbed his shoes and gave them to me.
00:51:20
Speaker
I'm like, some used shoes, bro, come on.
00:51:24
Speaker
So I didn't wear them for a couple months.
00:51:26
Speaker
I didn't really know what shoes were several years ago.
00:51:28
Speaker
And then I wore them to a correlation in Vegas and everyone lost it.
00:51:32
Speaker
They had a funny looking tag on them.
00:51:35
Speaker
They were a collector shoe and people were like, where'd you get the shoes?
00:51:38
Speaker
I'm like, well, my dumb brother forgot my birthday and gave them to me.
00:51:41
Speaker
Um, and it like, I remember how it made me feel.
00:51:44
Speaker
And every time someone complimented me on those shoes, I thought of Mark.
00:51:48
Speaker
So I'm like, so what are we doing to connect with people?
00:51:51
Speaker
You don't have to go buy bougie shoes, but what are you doing?
00:51:54
Speaker
Ashton gives out $2 bills to, uh, to customers and to, you know, it's like different, like rights of hand.
00:52:01
Speaker
No, like, what are you doing to be like different in a, in a very like,
00:52:09
Speaker
brutally competitive, not industry, but world to be standout.
00:52:13
Speaker
Like, what are people, what are you doing?
00:52:15
Speaker
Like, I make breakfast from our kids and they're, I'm chef dad.
00:52:18
Speaker
And like, I give shoes and handwritten notes sometimes to reps.
00:52:23
Speaker
And I try to make people feel like a million bucks.
00:52:26
Speaker
Go think of ways that you can connect with people that
00:52:29
Speaker
because it makes lasting imprints on their lives that they'll remember forever.
00:52:34
Speaker
It's like Luke Toon did this or Taylor did this or you did this.
00:52:39
Speaker
And you don't know the impact you have on people.
00:52:43
Speaker
I think I've done far more than I could ever imagine.
00:52:47
Speaker
And I could always do more, but just imagine meaning like I just it almost goes unrecognized, you know, like we have like 78,000 customers installed and we have a couple hundred bad reviews on on the BBB.
00:53:02
Speaker
But like we have probably 70.
00:53:06
Speaker
8000 customers are happy and like whatever, but like you look at you only you only know the bad.
00:53:10
Speaker
You don't know the good that you've done in the world.
00:53:12
Speaker
And so just realize that what you do, you it will make an impact.
00:53:17
Speaker
And like, how are you connecting with people and find that connection with people and so good in leadership.
00:53:24
Speaker
Yeah, and it's fun.
00:53:25
Speaker
We just did a referral boot camp yesterday.
00:53:27
Speaker
Ashton actually spoke at it.
00:53:28
Speaker
And yeah, he did say that.
00:53:30
Speaker
And that's part of how he gets so many referrals is he just makes those connections with people and just stands out.
00:53:35
Speaker
And like he still stays in touch with his customers from I'm going to do $2 bills.
00:53:39
Speaker
That's a lot cheaper.
00:53:40
Speaker
People remember, right?
00:53:41
Speaker
So like people remember Ashton give him a ton of referrals.
00:53:44
Speaker
I'm like,
00:53:45
Speaker
right cool so sketchers i'm gonna do sketches yeah the balances are in yeah exactly that's good yeah well you might not see a payoff like right off the bat too but like i'm sure you've seen as over time this is kind of like a long-term thing that happens i like you brought that up because this industry is really competitive and people come and go it's a revolving door in the industry and like how
00:54:07
Speaker
you know, I said people leave, I care more about how people leave, but I try not to burn relationships.
00:54:12
Speaker
And like through that, like a guy named Pete Gutierrez that actually was one of the first guys that came out and started Legacy with us with Dane Vikander, both of them left and now they work for us.
00:54:24
Speaker
And Dane runs a large organization with
00:54:27
Speaker
legacy in a very short period of time and now from like being a long time in the industry running one team with several teams but I'm like if I didn't keep a really good relationship with him and not be like so many people put a dollar price on people and like they're only self-interested in them if it's monetary and
00:54:46
Speaker
I've always gone out to like and I've tried recruiting back for five years just keeping relationships and meet with them and talking with them but eventually people come back you know and so it's and I am if you're out here watching you work for legacy.
00:55:00
Speaker
I'd love to talk to them because like I'd love to rekindle the relationship whether you work for me or not because I care more about.
00:55:08
Speaker
the people business than the actual business business.
00:55:11
Speaker
Like it's, I want to have a lasting relationship with people, but a lot of people are coming back to an organization because of how, you know, we've tried to be amicable in the situation and just kind of keep an open door policy.
00:55:26
Speaker
Yeah.
Invitation to Connect with Legacy Power
00:55:27
Speaker
So good.
00:55:27
Speaker
So don't burn bridges.
00:55:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:29
Speaker
Try not to.
00:55:30
Speaker
100%.
00:55:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:31
Speaker
I've had some people that unfortunately burn bridges like right when I left.
00:55:35
Speaker
And like, man, if that if that's how you're going to treat me right when I leave, then like it could have been something possibly where we stayed in touch.
00:55:42
Speaker
Go back.
00:55:42
Speaker
For sure.
00:55:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:44
Speaker
So I'm like, yeah, I don't want to be like that guy treating me that way when I left.
00:55:48
Speaker
So before we wrap up here, Luke, if people want to like, you know, start that connection with Legacy with you or, you know, maybe find out about what we're doing over here.
00:55:59
Speaker
What's the best way to get in touch with you?
00:56:01
Speaker
Possibly you look into Legacy.
00:56:02
Speaker
You can Snapchat me.
00:56:04
Speaker
I don't use Snapchat.
00:56:05
Speaker
MySpace.
00:56:06
Speaker
MySpace.
00:56:06
Speaker
Snapchat.
00:56:08
Speaker
Just reach out.
00:56:10
Speaker
I'm on Instagram, Luke Tuna, and or Legacy or people you used to work with.
00:56:15
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We've got...
00:56:16
Speaker
Love you to engage with our local leaderships with Soriano's and Taylor's and Lee Barber and Misty Barber out in Vegas and East Coast with Paul Rundle and and Mark Toon and Chris Underwood like we have amazing people that are making
00:56:34
Speaker
a really meaningful impact on people.
00:56:36
Speaker
And so don't hesitate, reach out, follow, date us, watch us, see us on Instagram, Legacy Nation.
00:56:45
Speaker
We'll be at SolarCon.
00:56:46
Speaker
We're, you know, we're giving out a Cybertruck this year.
00:56:49
Speaker
We'll have a Cybertruck at SolarCon.
00:56:51
Speaker
It'll be kind of fun and, you know, challenge...
00:56:55
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you know, you to be an open mind.
00:56:58
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And we've had a lot of people, whether you're a leader or an individual, but it's been pretty fun.
00:57:04
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We've had a lot of like really meaningful size organizations come to be a part of legacy going from their own company to being direct.
00:57:11
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Rob Harris ran a company for 20 years.
00:57:13
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Northstar was super successful.
00:57:16
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It was running a large organization with Legacy.
00:57:19
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A guy named Tyson, Len, and Chris Garza.
00:57:20
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Chris Garza used to work with me in Vegas.
00:57:23
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They were running a large organization in Vegas, came direct with us, owning their own company and call center, done really well in life.
00:57:30
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They've loved their experience here.
00:57:32
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And then, you know, go be a John Soriano, like go be a setter to running a large organization, go be, go be you.
00:57:39
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And, and whether you work for us or not, if you want to reach out to me and just ask for like some best practices or like, I'd love to, you know, have that relationship as well.
00:57:49
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Yeah.
00:57:50
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100% well we appreciate you coming on and we'll definitely have to do a part two part three I've got more if you want drama let's do let's do part we didn't even get into half the stuff we were talking about it's oh yeah there's so let's talk about Biden next time and all that oh yeah yeah yeah we can talk about Biden um but uh yeah we'll uh we'll leave people anticipating we'll leave them on their toes they can look forward to a part two 2.0 if you like it subscribe to Taylor he's the guy so uh
00:58:18
Speaker
you did a you did your first uh uh you know workshop yep did our first event went well go do workshops with him it's uh taylor's one of the best dudes i know yeah thanks brother appreciate it well uh guys go uh go give luke a follow he is on instagram wherever you can find them let them know you appreciated the podcast and uh go make those connections
00:58:39
Speaker
Make sure you treat solar as a long-term play because as you can see, there's lots of ups and downs.
00:58:43
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Hopefully you don't have to go through breaking your back like Luke did, but there's going to be obstacles.
00:58:47
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So make sure you're hanging in there.
00:58:49
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Ride it out.
00:58:49
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That's where you'll see the fruits for sure.
00:58:51
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For sure.
00:58:52
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So thanks again for coming on the podcast.
00:58:53
Speaker
Thanks, brother.
00:58:57
Speaker
Hey, solar pruners, quick question.
00:58:58
Speaker
What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:59:07
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and
00:59:14
Speaker
and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:59:20
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
00:59:31
Speaker
And it's called Solcite.
00:59:33
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
00:59:52
Speaker
Currently, Soul Society is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
00:59:58
Speaker
So go to soulciety.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
01:00:06
Speaker
This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to soulciety.co and join.
01:00:13
Speaker
We'll see you on the inside.