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Don't Do This If You Are Working With Multiple Installers...
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Transcript
Introduction and Taylor's Solarpreneur Journey
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 Solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Managing Relationships with Installers
00:00:42
Speaker
What's going on, Solrepreneurs?
00:00:43
Speaker
Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:44
Speaker
Today we're going to be talking about something super crucial you should be doing if you are working with multiple installers.
00:00:51
Speaker
Even if you aren't, probably still could be very applicable, so listen up.
00:00:57
Speaker
We're going to be jumping into it and welcome back to the podcast, or if you are new, welcome to the podcast for the first time.
00:01:04
Speaker
We are here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals,
00:01:08
Speaker
and have hopefully a much better time in the solar industry.
Sales Activity During Holidays
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Speaker
We're coming up on the Christmas season.
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Speaker
Don't worry if you're not listening to this during Christmas, still will be very applicable.
00:01:19
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But if you are listening to this during the holiday season, I hope you're decking the halls with lots of solar deals.
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I hope you are not slowing down.
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Speaker
Because this is a time when a lot of people slow down.
00:01:30
Speaker
But guess what?
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Speaker
For solopreneurs, we speed up.
00:01:34
Speaker
We close more deals during this month.
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Speaker
And we have more success during this month.
00:01:39
Speaker
So that's what we're here to help you do.
00:01:42
Speaker
So before we jump into the topic, I want to invite you to leave a review.
00:01:49
Speaker
Send the podcast.
00:01:50
Speaker
Would be much appreciated.
00:01:51
Speaker
We're hitting...
00:01:53
Speaker
Super high numbers, so very much appreciated if you would share the podcast, if you would leave a review.
Book a Sales Audit Call
00:02:01
Speaker
And then the second thing is we are doing still our sales audit calls, which been able to help a lot of people on these calls.
00:02:11
Speaker
There's really identified holes in your solar business.
00:02:15
Speaker
or things that possibly aren't working that need to be improved.
00:02:19
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So if you would like to hop on one of these calls before we book out, go ahead and shoot me an email, taylorisolarpreneurs.com.
00:02:29
Speaker
So let's jump
Assumptions About Installers' Processes
00:02:30
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into this.
00:02:30
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The very important reminder that I got recently was don't assume the process is the same for all the installers you're using this, or for all the installers you're using.
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Jumble my words here.
00:02:47
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And the reason we're talking about this is because I recently have been using a few different installers.
00:02:54
Speaker
Over the past year or so, I primarily used one installer for most of my accounts.
00:03:01
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and was able to get a feel for how things were going, was able to get a feel for when to communicate with the customer, the way they did their process.
00:03:10
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So I knew how it was.
00:03:11
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But lately, I have been using a lot of different installers that I don't typically use.
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And it's reminded me that when you switch to a different installer, when you use different installers, you need to be very careful about your communication,
00:03:30
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about the process you need to figure out exactly what's going on because if you assume that the process is going to be the same as all the other installers you're using or in my case as the one installer you've been typically using for the past year you're going to get in some trouble and you're probably going to have some accounts cancel which is what happened to me okay
00:03:51
Speaker
So today I'm going to be talking about really what you should do as you're working with multiple installers, the way you should approach it, and just some important things that you need to remember so you don't have accounts cancel.
Communication Differences Among Installers
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Because in my case,
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I thought all installers, well, I knew this to a degree, but I was reminded that not all installers are created equal.
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They do not all communicate the same with your customers.
00:04:21
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They don't all have the same processes.
00:04:23
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So you need to assume that all their processes are going to be completely different.
00:04:28
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and take things into your own hands sometimes.
00:04:31
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And this is applicable whether you're a company owner, where you own a dealer, even if you're just a rep, maybe you're a rep, your company does all its own installs.
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Still some important things to consider here.
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Because even if your installer does their own installs, how effective is their communication?
00:04:48
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Do you have deals canceled because they weren't kept in the loop because they didn't like something in the process?
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You need to identify those things.
00:04:57
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Hey, and so what happened with me, just some stories around this.
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Most of you know, I did a blitz a couple weeks back in Texas.
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We were working with Pure Energy was our installer out there.
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And just some examples.
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When we went out there, we were closing a few accounts, and you can go listen to this podcast, and it was two or three episodes back now, where I talk about this experience.
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But something that happened...
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is one of my buddies out there.
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He closed an account.
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It was with an older lady.
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And as he's going to close it, Pure, they have like a welcome call they do with all the customers that sign up.
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But as he was going to do this welcome call, he gets a text back on the welcome call line of them saying, hey, this lady, she's a senior, so you can't actually do a welcome call with her.
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You need to wait 24 hours.
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He's like, what are you talking about?
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And come to find out, Pure implemented this policy where every senior that you cannot complete their deal until 24 hours have passed.
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And they have the reasons for it.
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In some ways, that's actually a good idea because, yeah, what seniors they tend to cancel, they tend to overthink things.
00:06:21
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So I guess from their point of view, it's just like, okay, give them an extra 24 hours just to make sure they really thought it through and then complete the welcome call.
00:06:29
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Yeah.
00:06:31
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But this was an example of something we did not know, we did not plan for, it surprised us.
00:06:37
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And in the end, it was just a surprise for us, something that came up where we did not know their entire process.
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And then another thing that happened...
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Another installer I recently, maybe I should get away from saying names of installers.
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And don't get me wrong, Pure is a good installer.
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Not for all the Pure people, isn't it?
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Pure is an awesome installer.
00:07:02
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Maybe I should not name all the installers I'm talking about here because some are more positive than others.
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Another thing that happened to me recently, I went to use a different installer out here in California.
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And submitted a deal through them.
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I'm working in this
Unexpected Challenges with Installers
00:07:19
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community.
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They're kind of like townhome type things.
00:07:22
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So they have a pretty strict HOA just because, yeah, they share fences with everybody.
00:07:29
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And I guess they have a lot of common space, I should say, a lot of common areas.
00:07:35
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So HOA is a lot more strict about where you place things.
00:07:39
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So with these guys, I go and close up the deal just like I've done about 10 or 15 times in the same neighborhood now.
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Got a lot of closes in the neighborhood.
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And I log on to the CRM a few days later.
00:07:54
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The deal it shows on hold.
00:07:57
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Like what?
00:07:57
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What's on hold with this?
00:08:00
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I do some digging and turns out they put the deal on hold because it doesn't have HOA approval.
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So I call the office.
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I'm like, hey, what's going on?
00:08:08
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Why is this deal on hold?
00:08:10
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They say, yeah, you need to handle the HOA stuff.
00:08:13
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Let us know when you have approval.
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And that's it.
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And so something that I've been used to with my other installer is they would generally take care of HOA stuff.
00:08:23
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I would get the documents help out with that.
00:08:26
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But they would attach the designs.
00:08:27
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They would submit it to the HOA for approval.
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They would communicate with the customer on that.
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This new installer, they said, hey, Taylor, that's up to you.
00:08:35
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The deal is on hold until you figure all that out.
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I'm like, oh, okay.
00:08:39
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All of a sudden, I got a lot more work to do here than I normally do.
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So another thing caught me by surprise.
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This deal was on hold for, and actually I think it was around a week until I actually figured out what was going on with it.
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And so that's a week of time that went by where nothing happened on the account because I didn't even know why it
Importance of Communication and Updates
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was on hold.
00:09:01
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I didn't know what was going on.
00:09:04
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So another example, and then the third thing that happens, I could probably go on all day with examples like this, okay?
00:09:12
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So learn from my mistakes, but I think you're getting the picture.
00:09:17
Speaker
But another installer I recently used, this account was in the pipeline for like two and a half months.
00:09:24
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It was progressing.
00:09:25
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Everything was good.
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The installer got the permits.
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Everything seemed like smooth selling.
00:09:32
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And then all of a sudden, they call the customer to schedule the install.
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The customer cancels and was like, oh, yeah, I kind of forgot I signed up for solar.
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You know what?
00:09:42
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I'm going to cancel it.
00:09:44
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And when I heard this, I'm like, okay, have you guys not been communicating?
00:09:50
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They're like, no, we just did our thing.
00:09:51
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We got the permit and we were progressing in the account.
00:09:55
Speaker
But it seems like they kind of forgot about the solar.
00:09:59
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So the mistake with this one is they weren't getting communicated with by the installer.
00:10:04
Speaker
And again, my previous installer, they would give kind of weekly updates, keep the customer in the loop.
00:10:10
Speaker
This specific one didn't.
00:10:13
Speaker
and paid the price for it right so let's go through some lessons learned from these things if you can't tell there's already multiple things that i did not do right here and multiple lessons from this but let's jump into a few of them and let's see what i could have done better okay so something that i've tried to do more and more learn this from uh our good friend taylor mccarthy
00:10:41
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over at Noxstar, but a line that he uses with a lot of his accounts, he tells them, hey, we're going to be working on this, but something to remember, a lot of things are outside of our control.
00:10:52
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We have to wait for permissions from the city, permissions from utility.
00:10:56
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There is sometimes a lot of waiting.
00:10:58
Speaker
So just keep in mind with this, generally no news is good news.
00:11:02
Speaker
So if you don't hear from that from us, generally that is a good thing.
00:11:05
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But obviously, let us know anytime you want an update.
00:11:09
Speaker
So something that I think is very important, set the expectations with your customers.
00:11:16
Speaker
How often will they be getting an update?
00:11:18
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And who is in charge of doing the updating?
00:11:21
Speaker
Obviously, I did not know who was in charge of doing the updating with some of these accounts.
00:11:28
Speaker
And the result most likely would have been different if I would have been updating my customer that canceled out the install.
00:11:35
Speaker
If I would have been updating them, if I would have been keeping them in the loop,
00:11:39
Speaker
maybe they wouldn't have canceled or if they were having doubts they were having concerns I would have caught it way early in the process before we already paid for a permit before we already did all this work and now I'm trying to backtrack and save them haven't done it yet it's much harder okay and so number two have some of your own responses have your own updates I guess at the end of the day
00:12:05
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Probably a good thing to do is just assume that your customers are not getting updated as much as they need to.
Strategies for Customer Updates and Referrals
00:12:12
Speaker
So ask your customers as you're closing up your deals.
00:12:16
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Hey, how often do you guys like to be updated in this process?
00:12:20
Speaker
Do you guys like weekly updates?
00:12:22
Speaker
Generally, this is what we do.
00:12:23
Speaker
Is that okay with you?
00:12:25
Speaker
Okay, weekly updates, cool.
00:12:27
Speaker
Some people, maybe they're going to want daily updates.
00:12:30
Speaker
But make sure the customers have what they want or make sure you get their expectations.
00:12:37
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Because I've had so many accounts that have canceled because of stupid things like this, where they felt in the dark, where they felt like they weren't getting updated.
00:12:45
Speaker
So good thing to do.
00:12:47
Speaker
I heard this from someone I think on a Facebook group.
00:12:51
Speaker
Great, great resource.
00:12:52
Speaker
Go join some of those solar Facebook groups.
00:12:55
Speaker
But they set aside every single Friday to give their customer updates.
00:13:00
Speaker
Their installer was probably doing it.
00:13:02
Speaker
Hey, but they, every Friday, they just called every single family, every single customer in their pipeline, gave them an update.
00:13:11
Speaker
And then, um, I think this person posted that they got a lot of referrals from doing it because they're in direct communication with their customer.
00:13:19
Speaker
They're letting them know what stage that and the pipeline.
00:13:21
Speaker
And then it's another opportunity to ask for referrals.
00:13:25
Speaker
So this is a great idea.
00:13:26
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This is something that I'm going to try to implement myself.
00:13:30
Speaker
But maybe set aside a day like that.
00:13:32
Speaker
Take the morning on Friday or whatever day and call your customers.
00:13:37
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Give them a quick update.
00:13:39
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Leave them a message.
00:13:42
Speaker
Hey, and then the other mistakes I made when you're with a new installer, do they have their own project managers?
00:13:48
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How often do they communicate?
00:13:49
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If you don't know these things, then you're going to be hit with cancellations just like I was.
00:13:57
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So if you're starting at new company, if you're starting with a new installer, even if you're just a rep, ask your manager, ask the people that manage, you know, the communication with Instance Store.
00:14:10
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Hey, do you guys send my customer weekly updates?
00:14:13
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Is that up to me?
00:14:15
Speaker
If you guys are doing it, can I get tagged in the updates you're sending in emails, figure out how they're sending updates?
00:14:21
Speaker
Are they texting?
00:14:22
Speaker
Are they emailed?
00:14:23
Speaker
If it is email, get them to CC you in that or include you in it, right?
00:14:29
Speaker
Because at the end, guess what?
00:14:33
Speaker
Most of these project managers,
00:14:35
Speaker
You probably know this, but they are not paid on commission, right?
00:14:39
Speaker
Hopefully you all knew that.
00:14:41
Speaker
These guys are paid on salary.
00:14:43
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They're paid hourly.
00:14:45
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So they do not care about your customers as much as you do.
00:14:49
Speaker
Newsflash.
00:14:50
Speaker
No one cares about your customers as much as you do.
00:14:53
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Your manager doesn't.
00:14:55
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The owner doesn't.
00:14:56
Speaker
No one cares as much as you do.
Taking Ownership of Customer Communication
00:14:58
Speaker
Because who's getting paid the most from the solar customers?
00:15:03
Speaker
You are.
00:15:04
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At least you should be.
00:15:05
Speaker
If you're not getting paid the most, then let me know.
00:15:08
Speaker
Hook you up with a better opportunity.
00:15:10
Speaker
But because of that, unfortunately...
00:15:14
Speaker
Most people don't really like project managers.
00:15:17
Speaker
They drop the ball on things.
00:15:19
Speaker
Even if they say they're going to communicate with your customers weekly, a lot of times it's being forgotten or it's not to the degree that you think it is.
00:15:30
Speaker
Okay, so remember that.
00:15:33
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Just take ownership of it and don't be like, don't make some of those mistakes I made.
00:15:39
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If you take the ownership, if you put yourself in charge of this, then it'll just make things way easier, way smoother, and you can blame yourself.
00:15:50
Speaker
And I'm not saying necessarily spend way more time on updating your customers because there are tools you can use.
00:15:57
Speaker
Right now I am in my high level CRM.
00:16:01
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Brent Attaway, great guy with this.
00:16:04
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He does the follow up.
00:16:06
Speaker
Fortunes can help set up CRM.
00:16:08
Speaker
Hit me up if you want help with these things.
00:16:10
Speaker
But there's a lot of different automations you can put in place.
00:16:14
Speaker
where you don't actually have to send the customers updates.
00:16:17
Speaker
So right now I have it set up to all I do is when I see that a customer is in a different stage of the install process, for example, when I see that they got their permits pulled or my assistant, when she sees this, she goes, she drags that customer into the permit received pipeline or into the permit received stage of that pipeline, right?
00:16:42
Speaker
And then when she does that, customer automatically gets sent an email and a text.
00:16:47
Speaker
I think it's maybe it's just an email, but one or the other.
00:16:51
Speaker
They get sent in updates on what just happened.
00:16:55
Speaker
So this takes yourself out of the equation because we're here to help you spend more time on the things that are making you money directly.
00:17:02
Speaker
So I'm not saying add five more hours a week into updating customers into like constantly checking the stages.
00:17:10
Speaker
I don't think anyone's want to do that.
00:17:12
Speaker
But what I am saying is have a process in place, have a framework, have something that you set up where your customers are going to get those updates.
00:17:23
Speaker
And when you start with a new installer, first thing you should do, go figure out how often are my customers getting the updates?
00:17:30
Speaker
What is your guys' process?
00:17:32
Speaker
What are the timelines?
00:17:33
Speaker
What should I expect?
00:17:35
Speaker
Because if you don't know the questions to ask, then you're probably going to pay the price with canceled accounts, just like I did.
00:17:42
Speaker
So I hope this was helpful to someone out there.
00:17:46
Speaker
Even if you are not working with multiple installers, it's still something to consider.
00:17:52
Speaker
Maybe you already have great project managers.
00:17:54
Speaker
Maybe your customers receive great communication.
00:17:57
Speaker
But I would just go understand it.
00:17:59
Speaker
What is the communication they're receiving?
00:18:00
Speaker
Because the first two or three years I was in Solr,
00:18:03
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I had no idea what type of communication my customers were getting.
00:18:07
Speaker
So something you should do, go talk with your project managers, go talk with the people, give them those updates, figure out really what they're doing.
00:18:15
Speaker
And it's only going to help you understand your timelines, your processes and the families you serve better because we're all about serving.
Free Sales Diagnostic Offer
00:18:24
Speaker
So go crush it this week, push hard, go deck the halls with deals of solar.
00:18:29
Speaker
And we'll see you on the next episode.
00:18:33
Speaker
Hey Solarpreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
00:18:39
Speaker
Well so was I and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
00:18:45
Speaker
So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
00:18:51
Speaker
We'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
00:18:58
Speaker
So at now we have six bucks for this month.
00:19:01
Speaker
So book a call now.
00:19:02
Speaker
Don't miss out.
00:19:04
Speaker
What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
00:19:09
Speaker
That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an s dot com.
00:19:13
Speaker
I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
00:19:17
Speaker
So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.