Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Selling Community Solar vs. Traditional Solar - Adam Kremer
2 Plays2 minutes ago
This episode is a throwback to our episode with Adam Kremer, as he maintains community solar over glass on the roof. He tackles the strategies he uses to sell this solar, and the ways he has optimized his processes as a from-the-ground-up sales rep.
CLICK HERE: https://apply.solarpreneurs.com/
- https://zendirect.com/
- https://crmx.app/
- https://zapier.com/
- https://www.solarscout.app/taylor
- TOP 10 MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODES OF ALL TIME
- https://www.youtube.com/@solarpreneurs
- goals.solarpreneurs.com
- oneliners.solarpreneurs.com
- https://solciety.co/ - JOIN SOLCIETY NOW!
- SIRO APP - LEARN MORE
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Taylor Armstrong's Journey
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you 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? A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one. Okay,
Guest Introduction: Adam Kramer
00:00:42
Speaker
what's going on? I'm excited for today's podcast. We have someone that is doing things a little bit differently. I don't think we've ever had anyone come on the show talking about this specifically, so I'm excited to welcome Adam Kramer on the show. Adam, thanks for joining us today on the podcast.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you having me. Yeah, it's going to be fun. And um we're talking just before we hit record, just you're doing some stuff with community solar, which I didn't really know that much. And then you're crushing it with really just systems, automations, things like that. A lot of lot of us door knocking guys aren't as familiar with. So I'm excited to bring on you know, an expert like yourself and talk about some of that stuff. So, yeah. Do you want to just fill us in kind of on your background, how you got in solar and how I guess, how you got to where you're at now? Yeah, absolutely.
Adam Kramer's Background and Transition to Solar
00:01:29
Speaker
Absolutely. So i used to i used to be an electrician. I was actually building these solar fields.
00:01:34
Speaker
So we'd we'd be putting together the solar fields, just putting thousands and thousands of panels out there. I had no idea what they were what they were there for. One day, i was just kind of poking around on jobs because I was always shopping indeed. In the trades, it was kind of just whatever's going to pay highest. So always shopped around, and finally saw something that was forced solar install, but they also had sales positions available. So I went through like the interview process with it.
00:01:55
Speaker
i was kind of a huge fan of sales and actually like going in and and trying it out. So I was like whatever, I might as well shop around and eat a little bit more. And found found a company that actually sold the energy from the solar fields.
00:02:05
Speaker
i was like well, that can't be a better fit than I already was building them. already have the knowledge with them. i well might as well start selling. And then it turns out it was knocking doors. So i was like, well, well'll we'll try it out. I've never knocked doors before. I can't knock it until you try it.
00:02:19
Speaker
Literally, I guess. So I went out and it was just a fly-by-night company. So one to two days of door training. And after that, it was dirty to the wolves and and hopefully don't sink. So from there, it was kind of figuring out my own pitch, my own voice and and my own systems while I went out there and kind of just struggle bust through it, which ended up being being a blessing for sure. Yeah, that's awesome. And so you're doing
What is Community Solar?
00:02:42
Speaker
community solar. And I think a lot I didn't really know myself. And I'm guessing a lot of listeners of the podcast maybe don't know really what that is. And a lot of people are probably like, wait, you're just selling the energy from it. I thought people just go sell solar panels. So can you explain for maybe the listeners that have never really heard about this model? Like, what is it? And what's kind of the difference, I guess, just between your traditional solar guy that's out selling solar panels? Yeah, a lot a lot confusing with like the deregulated energy. We're not we're not deregulated. All that we do, if if your audience is mainly solar, they're familiar with net metering. Well, community solar is technically just virtual net metering.
00:03:18
Speaker
So the solar field would produce energy for the home. And in turn, anything the solar field produces is just knocked off the utility bill. So if we produce $100 worth of electricity, you no longer have to pay your utility 100 and you pay the solar field directly a discounted cost, anywhere between like 5% and 20% discount.
00:03:38
Speaker
So it's a guaranteed savings for your customers. They're not actually investing in the solar field. It's as simple as them just opting in. So if they opt in, receive the energy on their their electric bill each month and then get a guaranteed savings with optional cancellation at any point. So it's a pretty basic, pretty much just a baby step to help people go with renewable energy.
00:03:57
Speaker
Even if you're a renter, person with too much tree cover, bad, rough pitch, whatever whatever the case is, you still have an option to actually support renewable and the saves. No, that's
Community Solar vs Traditional Solar
00:04:05
Speaker
awesome. And yeah, it seems like a be no brainer. I mean, especially if they can cancel at any point. It's like, why wouldn't you at least try that? And if you're getting it for less, it's green. That reminds me, I have a buddy that did ah like the trash sales. know if you've heard about that, but he went door to door just selling people on like trash services. And all it was is just a trash service that was cheaper, like 30% cheaper than the main one that the city had. He's like, yeah, it's easy. We just go sell people on new trash and I'm the trash guy. So... It's like pretty simple. That's awesome. Just a walk-in coupon is all you are. Yeah, I know. So yeah, it seems like it'd be no-brainer. But yeah, do you do you typically get like a lot of objections? What are like objections you get from people if you're outdoor knocking?
00:04:46
Speaker
It seems like it'd be almost no-brainer. Yeah.
Overcoming Objections in Community Solar Sales
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, the the number one thing is, is that it sounds too good to be true. So when you're somebody coming to the doors, they've never met you, they've never heard of the product, they've never heard of the company.
00:04:57
Speaker
So it's really, I've never heard of this, I don't know what it is. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. So that's going to be the number one thing. But as soon as you can get past that, there generally isn't isn't a huge objection, unless you're out in like farm country, where where they're a huge fan of of the land out there. And they they kind of get a little worried of sometimes the solar field coming in and taking taking the land that they have but yeah overall the the main one is just get past too good to be true or or talk to the wife yeah okay sounds cool and yeah well like what about commissions so you guys i mean i know you're not selling 30 000 systems like a lot of us in solar so what does a guy typically make doing this and
Commission Structures in Community Solar
00:05:35
Speaker
i don't know compared to like just the regular solar energy do you think this is like
00:05:39
Speaker
Higher potential, lower potential, or similar? What would you say? Yeah. So it really depends. i mean with With Community Solar, the nice thing compared but to Rooftop is you're not waiting for that month install time to get paid.
00:05:52
Speaker
So it's it's happening within 2 weeks. The average commission for reps is going to be right around that two to three hundred dollars per sale. So with it, we're knocking a lot of times we do like condos, apartments, that sort of stuff. So we can knock four or five times the doors than than most people that are in the neighborhoods because you're not walking door to door. but door You take two steps and you're knocking another door.
00:06:13
Speaker
That helps quite a bit. It really depends on the rep on how much they're getting out there and and how well that they're selling it. But overall, it's very comparable to to rooftop on on the potential for it. But of course, you're not going to run into those sales that you're getting $15,000 commissions for. yeah
Combining Rooftop and Community Solar
00:06:29
Speaker
Makes sense. What about, well, say someone has solar on their house already. Can you go sell someone with solar? And because they're still paying the utility typically for like, you know, connection and all that and probably not producing all their energy. So can you knock someone that has solar and put them on this plan too? Yeah, so the crazy thing and in Colorado, haven't seen it in other states, but in Colorado, they we don't have like the meter fee, everything that can get discounted with community solar. And on top of that, we've signed up people that have a group installation and the net metering or the virtual net metering that happens from community solar is actually knocking off their gas bill as well.
00:07:03
Speaker
It's kind of beyond me on why Xcel Energy so fine with it, but their gas is getting discounted. And on top of that, their solar installation is covering their electric. So we've actually had
Choosing Sales Territories and Mapping Systems
00:07:13
Speaker
kind of a double whammy with it where the solar companies, they sell them community solar and then also rooftop solar as well. Wow.
00:07:18
Speaker
yeah that's awesome that's fire so really yeah i like that you can just see you can knock like basically anywhere where with solar it's like we have to be i don't know running around especially in california you know it is there's so many homes with solar so sometimes you go to a neighborhood and you're only knocking two houses on that street because everyone else has solar um unless you know you're doing atom systems so i like that that is unique for sure then you just walk up to condos apartments and Really so everybody, but how do you know if someone is on this plan? Do you guys have like a customer map or something that shows, okay, this person's already on the plan, so i'm not going to hit this house or how do you keep track of that?
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, so we do use
Handling Cancellations and Customer Engagement
00:07:57
Speaker
we use a pin drop. um So you can see all the sales within the area. You can also see anybody that that um has come in with a lead. So we have we have a good mapping system on on making sure that we're we're not knocking customers twice. But oftentimes, we do try and knock our customers again.
00:08:11
Speaker
Because if they've they've been on the program, number one the thing is it's too good to be true. um So as soon as you go there, kind of get past that again and let them know, hey, you saw this isn't too good to be true. Let's get some referrals going or at least send me over to the neighbors. So we we do mark the the sold pins, but we try to hit those again after we come back through. Okay.
00:08:28
Speaker
I'm sure you get a lot of people on this, like in neighborhoods. um do you guys do any, is just any territory? Do you have to be pretty strategic with which territories you go to? Or are you just, I know you said you're kind of doing blitzes and all that. How do you decide which territories you're going to and things like that?
00:08:43
Speaker
Yes. So there's... I mean, we really don't have to be too picky. um It's whatever demographic the rep is is a fan of. I mean, the we can hit the entire service territory of Xcel Energy, which is massive.
00:08:56
Speaker
And in pretty much every state, we have a grand majority the state. So if you like talking to the richer neighborhoods, the more upbeat side of things, that's where you're going to have success. We send people there. If you're a fan of the more of the hood style, you're more than welcome to go there. It's up to the rep on what they choose for sure. When you said they
Competition in Community Solar Market as a Brokerage
00:09:13
Speaker
can cancel at any time. So I'm curious how to how do you guys prevent people from hurt me? I'm sure that's not like a huge deal if they're getting a less because I don't see why someone would cancel after. But do you run into that a lot of times where people cancel and like, I don't know, say someone sells an account and they cancel in like two months. Do you still get paid the commission or how does that work if they end up cancel? We do. That's a good question. Super good question. So we actually have... There's a 2-month chargeback period. So if the customer cancels within 2 months, generally, it's because the rep didn't do his job.
00:09:43
Speaker
But the only real reasons we have people cancel... Because i mean either way you buy electricity, if now it's discounted, there's truly no reason to cancel. It's if they end up like moving out of the service territory. So like if they move out of state, they can't bring it with them other than that that's really the only the only real reason people would cancel Or if someone else knocks on their door and maybe has a higher savings, which generally isn't the case.
00:10:04
Speaker
So yeah, that's another good point. Is there is there competing community solar companies that will come in and say, oh, we can give you like 10 bucks less than this other company gave her? Is that a thing? Or do you guys have the monopoly on this? Yeah. is a thing. But overall, what we do is we actually are a brokerage. So we're like an and energy brokerage for these companies. So we go out, we get multiple contracts within the state. We have all but the two we don't have don't actually provide savings. We pretty much just weigh out the options, see which ones are going to save the customer the most and then help them get it connected to that. So we're usually the ones that get people off and put them on a higher savings okay um' compared to compared to vice versa. But yes, it does happen for sure. Because like in solar, for example,
Complementary Sales Strategies: Community and Rooftop Solar
00:10:43
Speaker
in San Diego, where I'm at, there's a lot of people that are like the energy brokers. But you know it is. Everyone's, I mean, you're going to sell the thing they also a good amount too. you know like People sell a lot of these power purchase agreements in California. Not because they're usually the best thing for the customer. They're usually not. But the commissions are usually really good on them.
00:11:01
Speaker
So is there is there anything that compares that? Is there like one thing that people will say, oh, I'm going to make a ton off of this. Maybe it's not saving the customer quite as much. Is that a thing? Or is it pretty much where you're going to give the customer the best deal and you you get paid the same regardless? Yeah. Overall, we have... i mean, it's a fairly... similar commission structure for for every program. So we try to keep the the customers... At least they keep their benefit as as our best interest. So that's generally the route that we go. But I mean, there is some that just have a speedier enrollment. We do lot of events. So when we go to like a home show or something where we're sitting at a booth and it's just insane traffic to get people through, we'll go to what one's going to enroll people the fastest. Just at least we can kind of get through everyone. Well, yeah, that's cool. You mentioned home shows. um How much of your Legion is door knocking versus yeah maybe these home shows or other methods? What do you guys do as far as Legion? Is mostly door knocking or what else do you guys do besides that? Yeah, so we I would say door knocking.
00:11:58
Speaker
Knocking is the grand majority, but but that's because we do that year round. For for like the home shows and that sort of stuff, there's kind of a season with it. Once we're just getting into that season now, so it's like the beginning of the year, the spring home shows as people are kind of, let's get some stuff onto our house.
00:12:12
Speaker
So once we get into that time, I would say it's maybe 50% of the leads are actually coming from these shows. But Colorado is huge on those. So I mean, i have they have quite a bit of activity when it comes to the shows on the weekends.
00:12:23
Speaker
But yeah, once we get into the actual summer months, it's just hunker down, let's go knock some doors. then it pretty much turns into to solely no rocking. Okay, gotcha. And something you mentioned before, Adam, before we started the podcast, you said that I think you guys have partnered with um some a few solar companies to actually get them solar if they're interested in doing solar themselves. So how does that work? Do you guys have like a second cell where as they're signing up, you're kind of saying, hey, Wolf, you're also interested in panels, here's this, or tell me about that. What do you guys do to... like introduce them to um some of the partnerships you have with actual solar companies?
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah. so so the partnerships
Motivating Sales Teams and Flexible Workstyles
00:13:00
Speaker
that we have, we actually have gone to, to like people that are doing rooftop solar and they, they sell our programs as well. So they'll go to the doors just because the the sheer number of utility bills and the amount of sales that you can get with community solar is significantly higher.
00:13:13
Speaker
So they'll go to the doors and actually pitch community solar. And once they get into the door and kind of frame themselves as the expert, they start going through the electric bill and making sure that rooftop solar, of course, will be a good fit. And I mean, I'm sure you know, if since you've been in the solar industry, you kind of look at the bill and somewhat calculate what the savings would be or what the system size would be. So just by just by looking at it, just at least popping the question, I know that, of course, you can see how much savings is going to be with a free program.
00:13:39
Speaker
Would you be open-minded at least kind of going through the numbers on what it'd be like if you made the investment? Because of course, if we can do this for free, just imagine what you're able to get if if you're putting the money forward. So they just roll into it and then set up that second touch for that meeting, but at least sign them up for Community Solar in the meantime so you have that guaranteed commission. And then you come back and and they're doing that second meeting to actually go through the numbers on what rooftop would look like, which here we pair the two together.
00:14:02
Speaker
um They're selling Community Solar and then also putting it on the rooftop installation. So either way, they're they're going to put them on Community. And then that second touch is where they just go to close it. Yeah, that's super interesting.
00:14:12
Speaker
And then as far as like your teams and all, i good is it pretty traditional door-to-door? You guys just have a big team of people going out and how do you do like daily meetings? What does your team structure look like in your company?
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, super good question. So we generally do we generally do two meetings a week, just doing it over Zoom. And then we have some if we have a group that we knock with every single day, but it's required that you come to it.
00:14:35
Speaker
So if do you want to go knock on your own, kind of be a lone wolf, go for it. That's kind of how you get motivated. If you like to be in a group, um you're more than welcome to come out and we can just kind of take over an entire neighborhood with people. So it's really open. We like to keep it open because when I first started, I liked being the lone wolf. But I understand that people like that company culture. They like actually being connected and consistently having a group that that they see every day.
00:14:56
Speaker
So whatever whatever helps you get get the most sales. and whatever
Ease of Community Solar Sales
00:15:00
Speaker
helps you be comfortable with the job, I'm good with. That's cool. Well, yeah, as you as you can tell, I've never really heard anything about this. So I'm super curious to know how it works, how traditional it was compared to you know regular door knocking all that. But yeah, tell me about... do you guys get a lot of competition from like... Do you get your reps poached by like solar companies? Or do you get guys from solar companies that maybe sucked at selling solar that come... So with you guys, or is that what's like your, i don't know, correlation with regular solar? And what do you think of just like traditional solar guys?
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, so far, we haven't had anybody that's been that's been taken over to the rooftop side of things. It has been vice versa, though. There have been guys that that were selling rooftop and they kind of transitioned over into this just because... i don't know if they they were just a fan of it being an easier sell um or or what the huge deal was, but they've been they've been crushing it compared to compared like people that that just kind of started brand new. So it's kind of it's kind of a mix, but mainly mainly we we've been taking people from from rooftop companies for sure.
00:16:00
Speaker
Okay. Well, yeah, I can imagine, especially maybe someone that's because that's the one knew recruits asked me sometimes like, hey, was there any downside to this? Like, because I'm telling them all this money you can make.
00:16:11
Speaker
And so when they asked me to tell them, I usually just say, well, hey, the one downside is it can take a little while to get paid out. You got to take some in to get things rolling. And there is a steeper learning curve with solar, I'd say, than other door-to-door industries, other things you'd sell, um especially if you're just coming in trying to close. i think it's gotten easier now where people can just come up and set up leads and get paid that way. But um yeah, there's so many guys, unfortunately, and that's um hopefully you don't see as much, but just the turnover in solar, if guys are trying to transition from setting to closing, It can be brutal. And it's one of the headaches of solar just seeing so many guys start and stop just because they're not seeing the success that they want, unfortunately. But yeah, how is that for you guys? Do you see much turnover in this? Or do you find that it's easier sell, guys are getting paid quicker, so it's typically easier to kind of retain guys and everything? Yeah, I think, i mean, the door-to-door industry as a whole has a high high turnover rate for sure. i mean, I think on average, just door-to-door is just as an industry has 15% retention rate.
00:17:14
Speaker
Because people come in, i mean they have they have high hopes. and of course, a lot of the recruiters are selling selling the selling everything really hard for them just to get them on board with it. And then they get on and rejection is tough for a lot of people.
00:17:24
Speaker
So getting rejected that many times in a day, just it's really tough. So it ends up having low retention rates. But ours ours isn't terrible. And with with it, I think ours is <unk> is just over 15%. I think we're at like 17% retention. so not...
00:17:39
Speaker
Not too bad. But yeah, we still have that high turnover. But a lot of it is just they they can't really handle the the rejection within the first 2 weeks. I mean, if they last after the first 2 weeks, we're pretty being brand new to door-to-door, which most people are when we when we recruit. it's It's pretty tough
Importance of CRM Systems and Automation
00:17:54
Speaker
for people that way. But the rooftop companies we've plugged into, they've seen an increase in retention just because the reps are able to get paid a lot sooner now. They're not waiting for that big payout at the end. um They aren't doing the setter-closer models, though. So I know with the setter models, you at least need to pay just as a setter.
00:18:09
Speaker
um But this helps this myself significantly on that side of things too. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, cool, man. Well, I want to transition before we're out of time. i want to segue into just some of the stuff you're doing with, um you know, systems you organize, um CRMs and automation, stuff like that. Because I know you're really well known and have helped a lot of guys in that area. So tell me about how did you get ah into this whole like, um you know, automations? How did you get in that whole side of thing? And um and into the stuff you're doing with that?
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, when when I first started, I mean, it was with the fly-by-night company, two days of door knocking. So, I mean, it was literally the first day I'm out there with like a notebook writing down names so I can send out email information, all this sort of stuff. had no idea what was going on with it.
00:18:55
Speaker
And it's just slowly developed into, oh there's such thing as a CRM. That's crazy. And then it's like, oh, you can actually automate this instead of me sending the exact same email, click, click, click, click. click So from there, it kind of snowballed into um hopping onto a system. We actually just have our GoHigh level. We white-labeled one and setting up the automations and just streamlining literally every single process. Because they say they say don't make the same money twice.
00:19:22
Speaker
But I'm also a firm believer on on don't do the same work twice. if If you have to do it twice, it more than likely you're able to automate it. So why not? That's awesome. And yeah, like I said in the beginning, a lot of door knocking guys aren't taking advantage of this. And I know for my first 3-4 years in solar, didn't like care if I got a lead, if I didn't close them. They were just written on a pad of paper somewhere and thrown in the trash after like a month or two. And that was it. And so lost so many leads just by not keeping track of them, where if I would have put them in a CRM like this, organize them.
00:19:54
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure you can talk to this, but there's so many ah opportunities for you know repeat customers. In Solor, you got add-on systems you can do. You got referrals you can get from your past customers. like And I don't even really know. My first two years in Solor, I don't even remember who my customers were because I didn't even like...
00:20:11
Speaker
said My company kept track of them, but then I switched companies. And then i I didn't even bother to like get those customers. So now knowing what I know and hearing from guys like yourself, it's like, yeah, I'm kind of kicking myself that I didn't keep track of all that. But yeah, so what do you tell me? What do you guys use high level for? And so yeah, what are some... i don't know. What would you say are just some advantages of keeping track of stuff like that? And how has it helped you guys in your business? Yeah. So i mean to to touch on your point of of following up with with people, i mean we're doing the same pretty much the same pitch every time you're going to the door.
00:20:43
Speaker
So if you're going to keep the pitch the same, i mean the big reason is just to dial it in. So if you're going to keep the pitch the same, you might as well keep the follow-up the same. With it, it's helped us significantly because right now, I think we follow up with 800 customers weekly.
00:20:54
Speaker
um So we're we're touching base with them without even having to lift a finger. By doing that, nobody's falling through the cracks. Even if they if they said, maybe if they said, potentially send us some information, I mean, for the next 180 days, we have we have proof of opt-in.
00:21:08
Speaker
So we're going to consistently be touching base with them. It's been right about 25% of our sales have been coming from our automation. all that All that the knockers have to do is worry about closing deals. that's I mean, that's what they're paid to do and that's where they get paid. So instead of having them to worry about follow-up,
00:21:23
Speaker
They come in, do their thing, get the leads. And then after that, it's pretty much the system is going to take care of it up until we actually spark that conversation, they can get on a call, have that scheduled, or just hop on a call them real quick and get that closed up. So for for us, i mean to to add... i mean If we weren't doing automation, to actually add 25% more sales, at least, that's that's incredible. It's insane. So it's been it's been a huge help for us.
00:21:46
Speaker
And not having to have our guys be sitting there doing their own thing if they even do. Because I'm sure you know in door-to-door, just sales, In general, people are not they're not generally doing follow-up. So at least make sure that it gets done and done the same way that's it's been a huge help. 100%. Well, and how important... Because like you said,
Integrating Automation Without Affecting Commissions
00:22:04
Speaker
a lot of door-to-door guys aren't doing any of this.
00:22:06
Speaker
And sounds like you're kind of just the guy at your company running it. So would you say it's important for just like your typical sales rep to get into this stuff or to know the basics around it? Or do you think, speaking to maybe like solar company owners or guys that run there, that manage teams or whatever, um have you found it better to just like get a guy like yourself that kind of puts the system in the place, runs it and stuff, and then like guys just go out and sell? Or what's your opinion on that?
00:22:32
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it's it's definitely a lot better to have the the owner, the actual entire company hop onto to it. The reason for that is you're able to look at the numbers at scale. So i mean as as your messages are going out, you can read the metrics on what's getting you replies, you can see what's not getting replies, what's getting people to schedule, and you can kind of dial it in. So a lot of it's just like marketing. i mean You have to split test. You constantly have to be changing up the messages just to be seeing what's actually working.
00:22:58
Speaker
um But the more messages you get sent out, the better metrics are going to be. It's going to be a lot easier for you to dial it in. So if you do it as an entire company, it becomes a lot easier to figure out what's going to be hitting your customers, especially if everybody's using the same pitch or similar. Okay. And then say it's someone you're following up with, um a rep has a lead that they...
00:23:16
Speaker
got, I don't know, three months ago, and now you convert this lead into a customer. How does that do you guys just pay out like a percentage to the rep that got their lead in the first place? Or do you give it to them when they say they're interested? Or how does that work? If it's their lead?
00:23:31
Speaker
Yeah. So how... Yeah, good question. So our our system and how it's set up is it's following up as... So you go to the door and one when you actually put them in as a lead and the automation is running, it's consistently saying that, Hey, this is Taylor.
00:23:44
Speaker
This is Taylor just checking in with you guys. Of course, not actually just checking and in, but... um Just kind of building the value, it's putting your name behind it. And it's consistently seeming as if it's if it's you texting them or you that's actually sending out the emails. And when the replies come in or when they look to schedule, it's always going to be your calendar link or it's always going to be your phone that those messages are going to.
00:24:04
Speaker
So when a customer says, Hey, yeah, give me a call tomorrow at 11. Your only responsibility is put them on your calendar tomorrow at 11. The messages get sent out as you and then of course the replies are coming as you as well. Oh, okay.
00:24:15
Speaker
Gotcha. That's cool. And then did they get like the full... um If it's from your system, would you give them like the full commission after that, even though you're following up or... Yeah, absolutely. we don't We don't cut down commission for for the automation. They're in place so that they don't have to do the follow-up. if we i My mentality with it is if we start taking more of a commission for our system closing them, they're going to take it into their own hands. And I don't feel it as though it would be as effective considering we've dialed it in as much as we have.
00:24:41
Speaker
Cool. And
Mastering CRM Systems and Support
00:24:43
Speaker
we'll just speaking from my experience and a lot of guys that I know have tried and failed to set up these systems and go because yeah, I had a high level account too. I've got it better now. But the first year I had my high level account, um I just got a login. i didn't really know what I was doing. um and I just saw all these, you know, shiny buttons and all that. And I didn't know how to set automations. So like guys that are trying to set it up, how did you like learn all this? And was it just like tests after tests to figure out what worked? Because a lot of guys are going to get this. They're like, oh, cool. High level Let's go try it out.
00:25:16
Speaker
They'll go get a log in. Then they'll have no idea what to do with it. And they're going go, this sucks. It doesn't work. And then that's the end of it. like what would you say to those those guys? How did you actually like figure out all these systems and and know what to do to set all this up correctly?
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So i actually have my YouTube degree and getting YouTube degrees. So so that's that's how significantly I have hours and hours into and into learning the systems and and kind of just diving into it.
00:25:43
Speaker
There's insane amount of forums out online for for this sort of stuff. And if like with hours, if you get someone that's actually white labeled, if you don't plan on taking the system, building it, flipping it, and doing like software as a service, which ends up being quite a bit.
00:25:59
Speaker
If that's not your main goal with it, I generally recommend just going with somebody who already has that software that can um already give you the systems that are in place. Because there's quite a few of them out there, including ours, that you come in and they already give you the automations, they give you the pipeline management.
00:26:13
Speaker
And on top of that, we do a full like video course that goes through step-by-step every single section that's on high level. Because I'm sure you know once you open it up, up there's so many options on what you can do. Yeah. I mean, there's it's endless. You can be in there for for weeks and not not get through everything. So we do just full video, of course, to make sure that you kind of understand what what every single tab is.
00:26:35
Speaker
So if you get a white label, just try and get one that actually has a course that goes along with it so that you can kind of understand what's going on with it. Okay. Yeah, that's what I would recommend 100%. Because for me, i didn't need I didn't know what I was doing until I got a white labeled one and had the support there. i would say that's important too. If you're going get a white label one, make sure there's um some decent support around it. Because I had one that I tried.
00:26:58
Speaker
Didn't have much support. And then now I'm currently using um CRMX, which I know a lot of solar guys have heard Brent Attaway. He set up his probably something similar to yours. But yeah, do you offer yours as a white label then for guys who are interested or maybe want more help with this? you have yours as a white label if people want to get in on it?
00:27:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. we hope we have We have it set up for the rooftop systems. And then also once we have once we actually have the community solar depending on the state, we open that as an option as well for people to kind of have that plug in play, um which also comes with automations too. So yeah, yeah we do we do have both.
00:27:32
Speaker
but Okay. Cool. Well, we'll post a link and at the end, we'll tell guys how they learn more about that if they're interested. But um just speaking on more of a basic level, because I know maybe some people listening to this are like, okay, whatever, I don't care. We have a marketing guy to go set this up.
00:27:48
Speaker
So if we're speaking on just more like a basic level, maybe it's a rep who's at a company who doesn't have this, but they just want to start like some basic follow-up and... ah Maybe start on a small scale. What would you say? what are like some important, i don't know, touch points or follow up secrets that you would say that have worked to get someone who is just like, oh, we're interested, but we don't want to like actually sit down, set an appointment.
00:28:09
Speaker
What do you guys do from there? And what are what are some effective things that you would tell to like a guy that's new with this stuff? Yeah, I would say someone someone who's new with it is is if you at least have some automation behind a calendar is going to be the biggest thing. If if you're just a rep and you're not actually going out to like buy a full system.
00:28:26
Speaker
Because just as a rep, it's going to be fairly expensive if you're just running it yourself. But at least having a calendar that's going to have some automation and put them into a full database for you. So you're always keeping track of any leads that you have. And then also you're having the the calendar automation.
00:28:40
Speaker
So at least it's going to follow up with them and give them those text reminders so you can at least up your appointment show rate, which is going to be huge for you. Yeah. Okay.
Managing No-Show Appointments and Persistent Follow-Up
00:28:49
Speaker
What about... Because some people... um are hardcore against like, you know, texting guys and stuff its but in solar because especially in saturated areas, sometimes you text people and they're like, ah you know what? No, just forget about it. And so like, um do you guys always text your appointments or I don't even know, do you guys set appointments or just pretty much just get to the door and close them for yeah for the community solar stuff?
00:29:12
Speaker
Yeah, we do. We do set appointments. um our Our model model is it's it's either we close them at the door or if you want information, you have to set an appointment. So that no matter what, i mean we we kind to just fill our calendars with the times that we're not knocking and then we just keep the door door door knocking open.
00:29:28
Speaker
um For the text reminders, we leave those as optional. So we do ask the customer, hey, do you want text reminders on this? If they say yes, well, of course, then they're interested. They're going to want those sent out. If they say no, they don't even want the text.
00:29:40
Speaker
So it's helped significantly going that route because then you leave it to the customer. If they get a text, they're not going to tell you no because they asked for it. Yeah. Okay. And then if someone just like no shows their appointment, like, hey, we're busy, come back, we're interested, but come back and then they're not there, which happens all the time in, um you know, residential solar. Then I've forgotten about a ton of those leads myself, then I'll go back in that same neighborhood. Three months later, they'll have solar on their house, which drives me nuts. i Like fan should have followed up. But yeah, what do you guys do with those cases where it's like, they no showed you or they just kind of ghosted you for a minute.
00:30:16
Speaker
what What type of like i don't know follow up or sequence do you do with those people? it's something like that. Yeah. So, I mean, we have a full nurture that we've had set up. So it's going to continuously touch base with them every single week. just to I mean, it's just kind of a an evergreen thing that regardless of messages, whether it's today or a year from now, messages are still going to still go to be true.
00:30:35
Speaker
um So we have that just consistently touch base. We've pulled people from... actually just last week had somebody that we we talked to in July um that it just kind of revived that conversation. We got those ones those ones closed up. So we we just have something set up so that no matter what, every single week, they're going be getting a text message. It could be as simple as, hey, how's your schedule looking this week? Or what will pique your interest? Was it the renewable side, the taken taken away from the monopolies or we're saving money.
00:31:04
Speaker
And just kind of having that that text nu in place to consistently remind them that, Hey, I'm still here. Still happy to talk with you. And then kind of bring bring a little value to the table at the same time. So that's been that's been a huge help on those ones that are no-shows. But i mean if you're in the neighborhood and you knock on the door, you're saying in where you knock, then like, Hey, come back at 6. Is that what it was? Yeah. Well, just like you set up an appointment and then they're... Yeah, they no-show you.
00:31:28
Speaker
um And then just like, I don't know, I struggle with just knowing what to do after that. Like if I should text them to follow, I text them twice and they didn't respond. So um i don't know if you guys text them personally or just like every evergreen sequence you put them in. If it's stuff like that where they no show you.
00:31:43
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Generally, generally it's a we do upfront, it's going to be a little little more aggressive follow-up. So I mean, it's going to be like once every two days and once every three days after that appointment, we do that for roughly 20 days. And then after that, then they go on to the evergreen nurture.
00:31:58
Speaker
So we just and make sure that we're Right when they're interested, we're hammering them with that follow-up if they didn't show just to kind of get that appointment sparked back up again. i'm Always providing value first. It's going to be huge within it.
00:32:09
Speaker
So making sure that you're not, Hey, I'm just checking in or just wanting to bump this email up for you. It's always giving them more information, giving them another video to watch, giving them something else that's actually going to build that value to get them sparked into, Hey, yeah, let's get this appointment rolling again.
00:32:23
Speaker
And then after that, yeah, it's still no... no contact after 20 days or 21 days, then yeah, we'll bump them right into that nurture and just continuously have that on repeat for them. So that even when that next guy knocks on the door that probably got them solar use out three months later, when he knocks on the door, they still remember, Hey, I have this other option. We should probably double check to make sure we get another quote.
00:32:44
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. That's awesome. Well, yeah, and there's a lot of stuff to this. So if if people are listening right now being like, wow, this is overwhelming. This is way too much. um Number one, just start small. I always recommend guys that are new to a little like follow up stuff and, you know, CRM. I think the best way to start is rep card. i don't know if you've used that, Adam, but I think it's good for just door to door guys looking for simple kind of, you know, mass texts they can send out and um helps you organize stuff. And then step two, if you want to get more into this stuff, like Adam's talking about, yeah, get like a white labeled, you know, high level accountant. You can start setting this up because really it's just overwhelming. If you try to keep track of all this on pen and paper and think, okay, I'm going to set a reminder my phone to follow up with ah Steve, Jason, and, uh,
00:33:29
Speaker
And Adam, like three months down the road, like you just forget. And it's really, you shouldn't be spending time doing it. Like I would be way too overwhelming to send out all these yourself. So i think it's important to have a system in place and get some of this going. Would you agree with that, Adam?
00:33:44
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, cool, man.
Effective Referral Techniques
00:33:46
Speaker
Then last question or two I wanted to ask you before we wrap up here. um What's your, I don't know how important referrals are for you guys, but do you have any systems around referrals or what do you guys do to get more referrals and increase business that way?
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah. um On the doors, we we have a a great method that I snagged from Cutco. We actually bring a sheet of paper with us. It has about 20 to 30 names that's on it.
00:34:11
Speaker
When we go to the doors after we sign them up, it's like, awesome, you've seen the value in this. I'm sure you know other people that are interested in saving or other people that are interested in in the renewable aspect of things. would you be open to at least sharing some friends and family? And if they say, yeah, we just pull out that sheet. Because if you have 20 to 30 names on a sheet, no one's going to put down one. Because I mean, of course, you have you have a massive list that's there. So we put that in front of them.
00:34:33
Speaker
Say, hey, we have this sheet. If you just want to put down some some friends and family on it, the most that I've ever had is 18. And then you at least kind of spark you spark that kind competition within them that, Hey, can you beat 18? Is that something that you can do? And then we also do a ah referral bonus on each one. So letting them know that this is not only beneficial for the people that that you put down, but also for you because you're going to get the bonus on top of its nice we we run it. we run it that way. And then after our customers start saving, the the solar fields actually produce electricity. They're saving money.
00:35:03
Speaker
um We do run some automated referral campaigns just at least to kind of spark up a conversation to get some more. Yeah, that's
Managing Systems for Streamlined Operations
00:35:09
Speaker
awesome. Yeah, I love that Cutco method. Those Cutco guys are good at that. But almost all the top end rows, just that sheet of paper. It's just like when they see all of those names, like, oh, well, okay, this isn't a big deal. Everyone's doing it. And it's almost like the bandwagon effect for referrals. Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker
I love it. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. You see, you see it a ton on there. It's, it just blows people's mind. They're like, well, yeah, I guess I have to put down at least six. Like, yeah, i know that works well. It works well.
00:35:38
Speaker
Well, awesome, Adam. Well, um yeah, it's been awesome having you on today and share about some of these things that we haven't really talked about on the show. So appreciate you coming on. And before we wrap up here, if guys do want to get in your, um you know, get access to your high level stuff or just, you know, learn more, connect with you, what's the best way to do that and ah reach out to you.
00:35:59
Speaker
Yeah. Facebook or Instagram are phenomenal ways. I have quite a bit of information on on both of those as well. Pretty active on there. So Facebook is just Adam Kramer and then it's K-R-E-M-E-R. And then same with with Instagram, it's just Adam underscore Kramer. So more than welcome to connect there. Okay. Awesome. Well, thanks again for coming on. And then ah any ah last words of advice or any ah anything you wish you knew starting out in this industry that you would you know pass on to other reps before we yeah say goodbye here, Adam?
00:36:27
Speaker
i mean Overall, of it coming into the actual business side of things where i actually started and started running it, it was it was more so learn to to manage your systems rather than your salesman. So if if you can kind of transition into that and manage a system rather rather than the salesman, it's it's been a lot more beneficial for us. So that's that's my main takeaway.
00:36:45
Speaker
Love that. so yeah, always much easier and I think much more effective to manage systems than just running around with your head cut off trying to manage all these things. So master systems, it'll make business much easier. And Adam, thanks
Conclusion and Resources
00:36:59
Speaker
again for coming on the show and hopefully we'll have you on in the future someday and hearing more. But I appreciate coming on, brother.
00:37:05
Speaker
Heck yeah, I appreciate it. Okay, I'll talk soon. So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego. And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout.
00:37:26
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. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:37:42
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:37:57
Speaker
So go to solar scout dot app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solar scout dot app forward slash Taylor.
00:38:10
Speaker
Okay, back to the show. What's up, solarpreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet.
00:38:21
Speaker
We created it specifically for you in mind. One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook by our listeners is Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:38:34
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes. So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and i would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solrepreneur.
00:38:52
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:39:14
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.