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How To Use Social Media To 10X Your Solar Business - Mike Winter
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Transcript
Taylor Armstrong'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.
Defining Solopreneurship
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 one.
Re-recording and Introduction to Solar Mike
00:00:41
Speaker
All right, what's going on?
00:00:42
Speaker
We are here with another episode, and this is actually the second take of this particular episode.
00:00:49
Speaker
We ran it yesterday, and then we looked back at the recording, and I guess we had a software issue or didn't know how to work it correctly.
00:00:57
Speaker
I'll take that one.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, but no, it's all good.
00:01:00
Speaker
So this is going to be even better.
00:01:02
Speaker
We're welcoming back now for the second time.
00:01:05
Speaker
Mr. Solar Mike, Mike Winters, thanks for coming on the podcast with us today.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, happy to be here again.
00:01:12
Speaker
So this will be good.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, we we got the rough edges out.
00:01:16
Speaker
This is going to be the best podcast now ever because we practiced kind of.
00:01:22
Speaker
That's right.
00:01:22
Speaker
It's either going to be way better or it's going to be boring because we're going to be repeating the same stuff we were talking about yesterday.
00:01:29
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:01:30
Speaker
No, it'll be good.
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:33
Speaker
But
Solar Mike's Impactful Social Media Presence
00:01:34
Speaker
yeah, no.
00:01:34
Speaker
So we're excited to have Solar Mike on because if you've not been following this guy on social media, he's absolutely crushing it.
00:01:42
Speaker
He, in my opinion, is one of the guys that is like must follow over on Instagram is dropping.
00:01:49
Speaker
Super entertaining, super informative content.
00:01:53
Speaker
And not only for homeowners that, you know, watch this stuff, but I've myself that I've been in the industry seven years, I've learned a ton from just watching his content and his journey.
00:02:03
Speaker
So definitely go give them a follow.
00:02:04
Speaker
But yeah, we're going to be jamming on
Mike's Start in Solar During the Pandemic
00:02:06
Speaker
social media.
00:02:06
Speaker
We're going to be jamming on referral partners and a whole lot more.
00:02:10
Speaker
So yeah, before that, Mike, do you want to, I know you gave it yesterday, but for the second time, do you want to give your background, maybe for people that don't know you and just how you got it?
00:02:22
Speaker
Well, thanks for saying that about the content.
00:02:24
Speaker
It started, and I'll talk about how it started, but yeah,
00:02:28
Speaker
It has kind of gone into... It initially started as homeowner content and now it talks to a broader audience a lot in the industry.
00:02:37
Speaker
I'm trying to comment on really what I'm going through during a day.
00:02:42
Speaker
A lot of the things that
00:02:44
Speaker
I post or something I learned that day or something that's just happening.
00:02:47
Speaker
I mean, that's what social media is.
00:02:48
Speaker
It's like, hey, this is my life and this is what's going on with it.
00:02:52
Speaker
But I started in solar three years ago.
Leveraging Social Media for Credibility
00:02:55
Speaker
So December of 2020, right?
00:02:59
Speaker
Like middle of COVID, mask, mask.
00:03:02
Speaker
Full mask, knocking doors, can't go in the house.
00:03:06
Speaker
That's how I started in this industry, which was kind of crazy.
00:03:11
Speaker
But anyway, so that's where I started.
00:03:12
Speaker
Didn't have any social media experience.
00:03:15
Speaker
And knocking was great.
00:03:17
Speaker
That worked really well.
00:03:18
Speaker
But I definitely could sense...
00:03:21
Speaker
a lack of trust with just that approach.
00:03:25
Speaker
So I thought, well, how do I establish some credibility?
00:03:29
Speaker
And I had a friend.
00:03:31
Speaker
She's a genius.
00:03:32
Speaker
She knows social media.
00:03:34
Speaker
And I asked her to give me some strategy on
00:03:37
Speaker
if I were to turn the camera on and start recording myself, like what, what would that look like?
00:03:43
Speaker
And so we kind of came up with a plan, like let's make an account that's shows that you're credible, shows you're an expert and, and shows your personality.
00:03:50
Speaker
And I think that was sort of the foundation of where I started it.
00:03:54
Speaker
I did that six months into knocking really just kind of,
00:03:58
Speaker
Started turning the camera on.
Transition from Door Knocking to Online Leads
00:04:00
Speaker
I think one of my first posts was a, I put a bunny in a backpack that's like clear.
00:04:07
Speaker
You wouldn't have seen this unless you went like way down the rabbit hole of my account.
00:04:10
Speaker
Like this is old.
00:04:11
Speaker
I should repost it.
00:04:13
Speaker
But I actually like put a bunny rabbit in a backpack and knocked doors with it.
00:04:18
Speaker
Like it was my pet.
00:04:20
Speaker
So I was just having fun with it.
00:04:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:23
Speaker
And, uh, yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
And it was good.
00:04:26
Speaker
And then it kind of turned into, you know, a way for me to really connect to the industry and I met a lot of people and a lot of – made a lot of relationships through it.
00:04:35
Speaker
So –
00:04:36
Speaker
Initially, I just did it to have fun and connect with homeowners, give myself maybe a few more leads here and there.
00:04:43
Speaker
But it's turned into a whole different thing for sure.
00:04:45
Speaker
So something I thought of as you're saying this, because I know there's reps that they hate knocking doors.
00:04:53
Speaker
They're looking for any way to not have to knock doors.
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:56
Speaker
you know, just go referral based and all that, which I know you do now.
00:04:59
Speaker
So at the time when you were first starting your social media page, was, was it a way for you?
00:05:04
Speaker
Like, Oh, I just want to get off the doors or was it just kind of like something you're thinking, I'm going to supplement what I'm doing?
00:05:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:13
Speaker
Good question.
00:05:14
Speaker
I definitely, so knocking doors works well and I, and I was okay at it like enough to, I'm still here.
00:05:20
Speaker
Right.
00:05:21
Speaker
So I, I built it enough to where like,
00:05:25
Speaker
I made a career out of this through knocking doors.
00:05:28
Speaker
When I started social media, in my mind, I thought in a year, I'm not going to be knocking doors.
00:05:34
Speaker
That was kind of like just a general goal.
00:05:38
Speaker
And it's not because knocking doors is like horrible.
00:05:42
Speaker
Every job sucks.
00:05:43
Speaker
Every job has parts of it that sucks.
00:05:46
Speaker
Like what I do now, the fact that I'm not endorsed, there's a lot of things that I don't like doing just like any other job.
00:05:51
Speaker
Right.
00:05:52
Speaker
So it's, it's just a trade off.
00:05:55
Speaker
I miss the simplicity of the doors, but really that transition was more like scalability.
00:06:02
Speaker
I feel like,
00:06:04
Speaker
The percentage of people that would listen to me knocking doors was small.
00:06:11
Speaker
And then my access, right?
00:06:12
Speaker
I can only talk to people on this street when I've got 90 million homes in the country that need this product.
00:06:19
Speaker
So it was really a long-term look at how do I take what I'm learning now on the doors and prepare myself to be able to do this everywhere.
Selling Virtually: Expanding Beyond Local Sales
00:06:31
Speaker
And I didn't really have that fully planned out, but I knew...
00:06:34
Speaker
that I really loved what I was doing.
00:06:37
Speaker
I love this product.
00:06:39
Speaker
I love talking about it.
00:06:39
Speaker
And I thought, how do I really like take this to more people?
00:06:46
Speaker
And that, that was kind of the goal.
00:06:47
Speaker
And then honestly, weirdly, like a year later after I started is when, um, I stopped knocking doors.
00:06:55
Speaker
It was about a year after that, that, uh,
00:06:58
Speaker
It just kind of happened that way.
00:07:00
Speaker
I met some people and started to get referrals and thought, well, this is maybe a better method to do this.
00:07:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:07
Speaker
No, that's awesome.
00:07:08
Speaker
Well, before I forget, I know we said this in the podcast yesterday, but it's funny how we even did this podcast.
00:07:17
Speaker
Or Meet Cute.
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:19
Speaker
Let's talk about it.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:23
Speaker
I got to say this is too funny before I forget.
00:07:25
Speaker
But we were both just in San Diego.
00:07:28
Speaker
I think it was Friday night or something.
00:07:30
Speaker
We were, you know, taking our wives out on date nights, whatever.
00:07:34
Speaker
And we're at this taco shop and I see this guy just jumping around.
00:07:40
Speaker
I'm like, I feel like I've seen this guy somewhere on social media or something.
00:07:44
Speaker
I'm pretty sure he's that solar mic guy.
00:07:47
Speaker
And so I didn't talk to you yet, but I start, you know, pulling up Instagram.
00:07:52
Speaker
I'm like, okay, I better make sure it's actually him before I go and look like an idiot or something.
00:07:56
Speaker
I was like, this dude's getting creepy.
00:07:59
Speaker
Just staring at me.
00:08:00
Speaker
No, I was thinking the same thing when I saw you.
00:08:04
Speaker
I thought I've seen, cause I had seen your content before.
00:08:06
Speaker
And so once we finally like locked eyes and we're like, okay, like, yeah.
00:08:14
Speaker
We're probably we're in solar, right?
00:08:15
Speaker
Like we're in San Diego.
00:08:18
Speaker
You're tall and you have huge muscles.
00:08:20
Speaker
I was like, for sure we got this right.
00:08:23
Speaker
Yeah, you can spot solar, guys.
00:08:25
Speaker
But yeah, luckily I spotted you.
00:08:27
Speaker
And I think that's the first time we'd like officially met and, you know, talk to each other.
00:08:32
Speaker
And I'm like, man, I've been following you for a while.
00:08:35
Speaker
Started a fanboy on you and wife's like, whatever.
00:08:38
Speaker
It's like, oh, yeah, this happens all the time.
00:08:40
Speaker
This guy's famous.
00:08:41
Speaker
I didn't say that.
00:08:44
Speaker
No.
00:08:45
Speaker
But yeah, San Diego, there's a lot of us.
00:08:47
Speaker
There's just so much solar here.
00:08:48
Speaker
But yeah, we had some tacos, had a meal.
00:08:50
Speaker
It was fun.
00:08:51
Speaker
Here we are.
00:08:52
Speaker
So yeah, it's so funny.
00:08:53
Speaker
But yeah, you are officially the first podcast guest that I've just like ran into in the public and hadn't talked to you before, hadn't been introduced.
00:09:02
Speaker
So it's definitely fate that we're on the podcast today.
00:09:06
Speaker
We're eating tacos together.
00:09:08
Speaker
But no, so jumping back into
Evolving Sales Tactics and Digital Strategies
00:09:10
Speaker
the social media stuff, Mike, so your goal in the beginning sounded like you're trying to just build more trust, start getting more leads.
00:09:20
Speaker
So did it go better or worse than you're expecting?
00:09:23
Speaker
Like, what was it?
00:09:24
Speaker
Was it frustrating initially?
00:09:27
Speaker
It's definitely so.
00:09:30
Speaker
Well, there's this idea that like, you know, is it about going viral and getting followers or like, how do I use this thing now that I have a thousand followers?
00:09:38
Speaker
And when I'm when I'm telling people that want to start because people ask me like, OK, I want to be on your team.
00:09:45
Speaker
Let's let's do social media like you do.
00:09:47
Speaker
And I'm like, well.
00:09:49
Speaker
It doesn't necessarily have to be like that.
00:09:51
Speaker
My beginning was, I remember I was like, I need nine posts, right?
00:09:56
Speaker
So there's a grid.
00:09:57
Speaker
So if you go to my account, you can't really scroll, but it looks like there's a bunch of posts, right?
00:10:04
Speaker
I just clearly remember this.
00:10:06
Speaker
I got to get to nine posts really quick.
00:10:08
Speaker
And then I'll start doing what I want to do, which was a DM strategy.
00:10:14
Speaker
So all it simply started out as is like, I'm going to make a video.
00:10:17
Speaker
I'm going to show my face, say I'm in solar.
00:10:21
Speaker
And then I'm going to start door knocking these people in DMS.
00:10:24
Speaker
Right.
00:10:25
Speaker
Which we all get like a lot of spammy DMS.
00:10:29
Speaker
And that's how I started using it.
00:10:31
Speaker
And I remember I got about two or three installs from that.
00:10:34
Speaker
And I would say I did that for six months.
00:10:38
Speaker
Like I would just go to the coffee shop and just like spend a
00:10:43
Speaker
20 to 30 minutes sending out these DMs before I went out and knocked.
00:10:48
Speaker
And it wasn't a ton of business that I got from it, but it kind of started this... Got my mind rolling on like, well, there's some value in this.
00:11:00
Speaker
I remember one of those clients is in a gated community, somewhere I couldn't knock.
00:11:06
Speaker
Stuff like that.
00:11:06
Speaker
So it was like, oh, I can see I'm already accessing people that I wouldn't have been able to access knocking doors.
00:11:12
Speaker
And that got me excited.
00:11:14
Speaker
And then I just kept going from there.
00:11:19
Speaker
That's all it was at first.
00:11:20
Speaker
Nine posts and I was going to start spamming.
00:11:22
Speaker
Like that was as simple as it was.
00:11:24
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:11:25
Speaker
And I know before you're talking about when we did our first podcast, it's like there's so many people that when you think about it, aren't getting solar from door to door guys.
00:11:37
Speaker
Right.
00:11:37
Speaker
And even.
00:11:38
Speaker
Mostly.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
It's a small percentage that do.
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:11:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
And even as I'm knocking doors, like maybe even two days ago, for example, I had an incident where we have our knocking app we use and people, you know, keep record of who's knocked there, who's been there.
00:11:55
Speaker
So I see this home that's been knocked on like 10 times and no one's come to the door.
00:12:00
Speaker
So like those people are pretty tough probably to get a hold of.
00:12:04
Speaker
So I'm like, okay, maybe the 10th time I'll be the lucky one where he actually opens the door.
00:12:08
Speaker
So I go there, I'm banging on the door, nothing.
00:12:12
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, no luck.
00:12:14
Speaker
But then as I'm walking away, I hear from like a side window that there's someone coughing in there.
00:12:21
Speaker
And so I just, I'm trying not to be a creep about it, but I just kind of go a little bit close to that window.
00:12:26
Speaker
And I'm like, hello, hello.
00:12:28
Speaker
Hey, how's it going?
00:12:29
Speaker
Just kind of shouting.
00:12:30
Speaker
I always yell.
00:12:31
Speaker
I always just like yelling is like just as good as knocking.
00:12:35
Speaker
Like, Hey, anyway, go on.
00:12:37
Speaker
Sorry.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker
Well, and so this guy, he comes to that window, but he's just like instantly starts, you know, what are you doing?
00:12:46
Speaker
You're creeping through my window.
00:12:47
Speaker
Get the F out of here.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:50
Speaker
And I'm like, I'm like, Whoa, man, I'm just, I just, it just sounded like someone is in there.
00:12:54
Speaker
You don't have to come, but Hey, it's just about what's going on in the neighborhood.
00:12:58
Speaker
Did you hear?
00:12:59
Speaker
And I sort of trying to, you know, go through my presentation, but he's on edge.
00:13:03
Speaker
So he kind of half listens.
00:13:05
Speaker
But then at the end, he just kind of gets angrier, angrier, eventually just like snaps.
00:13:12
Speaker
And he's like, what if my kids were in there?
00:13:15
Speaker
You're looking through my window.
00:13:17
Speaker
Like, tell me what company you're at.
00:13:19
Speaker
And, you know, I got a video of it posted on my social media and pretty funny that he like flips out like that.
00:13:24
Speaker
Oh, you do?
00:13:25
Speaker
Oh, I want to go see that.
00:13:27
Speaker
I'll just send it to you later.
00:13:30
Speaker
But yeah, like the point is these people that just never come to the door, that just get pissed off with anyone knocking their door.
00:13:37
Speaker
It's like, how are they going to get solar?
00:13:39
Speaker
Probably not from someone knocking their door if they're
00:13:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:42
Speaker
Back like that.
00:13:43
Speaker
Right.
00:13:44
Speaker
But, you know, when you roll out something like what Mike has done, when you get the social media going, when you work out deals with referral partners, that's how you're getting a lot of people that, you know, maybe would never go.
00:13:55
Speaker
So because I think all of us that knock doors, we've all heard a lot of times, hey, I don't do business with people that come to my door.
00:14:02
Speaker
which to us, it sounds ridiculous, but it's like, you know, we live in a world where there's lots of scams.
00:14:07
Speaker
People are skeptical.
00:14:09
Speaker
And at the end of the day, there's just a lot of people that for whatever reason, they don't want to associate with someone that come to their door.
00:14:15
Speaker
Right.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker
So I get that.
00:14:18
Speaker
I mean, I'm, I'm the same way.
00:14:20
Speaker
Um, I think we all have some of that, but it is wild to be, to, to know what you have.
00:14:28
Speaker
So you're, you're knocking doors in California.
00:14:30
Speaker
You've got,
00:14:32
Speaker
you've got a way to cut their bill in half and they won't listen to you.
00:14:36
Speaker
It's, it's wildly infuriating.
00:14:39
Speaker
It's really frustrating to be like, no, no, no, no.
00:14:43
Speaker
I'm right.
00:14:45
Speaker
You actually will pay less.
00:14:47
Speaker
And it's like, nah, I don't, I don't think so.
00:14:49
Speaker
And you're like, man, this is really wild to be rejected.
00:14:54
Speaker
I mean, it's like math, how good it is.
00:14:57
Speaker
It's just straight up math.
00:14:59
Speaker
And anyway, yeah, that's one of the things that's really hard.
00:15:03
Speaker
That's probably my favorite part about the sales portion of my job now.
00:15:09
Speaker
Because I like being virtual.
00:15:11
Speaker
I like having all the tools.
00:15:13
Speaker
But I like meeting with people that
00:15:16
Speaker
that trust me because they can see I've been, I've been doing this.
00:15:22
Speaker
So whether they come from a referral partner or, or my social media, that was the other thing I wanted to do with it is,
00:15:31
Speaker
Even when I was knocking doors, I would say like, here's my social media so you can see how I do my business.
00:15:39
Speaker
You know, there's customer videos on there and stuff like that.
00:15:42
Speaker
Because I want them to just see, okay, he's putting himself out there.
00:15:46
Speaker
He can be trusted, which is what, you know, what we think if someone's putting their business out for the world to see, that's someone that has a little bit more credibility and can be trusted.
00:15:58
Speaker
So even knocking doors and having social media and putting time into it, it has value just in that.
00:16:05
Speaker
Just to say like, hey, this person you're about to work with,
00:16:10
Speaker
Or they're going to refer someone to you to just have a place to say, this is who I'm talking about.
00:16:15
Speaker
This is the guy we're going to work with.
00:16:16
Speaker
Oh, it looks like he does help people.
00:16:17
Speaker
He's been doing this for a while.
00:16:19
Speaker
So even if you're not going to do anything crazy with it, it has value and just credibility.
00:16:25
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:16:27
Speaker
So do you find that now sounds like you're kind of like encouraging people to go check out your social media?
00:16:33
Speaker
Is that something you like say, hey, check out my Instagram before our appointment?
00:16:38
Speaker
I don't know if that's been something that you've been doing for a while.
00:16:42
Speaker
I did that when I was knocking.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:44
Speaker
I, I just say, and hopefully they don't look at something like, there's a lot of dumb videos that I've done.
00:16:51
Speaker
Like, but I also think it's good for them to see that.
00:16:54
Speaker
Like, Oh, this guy's, you know, he's creative.
00:16:57
Speaker
He's, he's having fun with his job.
00:16:59
Speaker
That's a good thing.
00:17:00
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I, I try to encourage, you know, let's say I get a referral.
00:17:08
Speaker
I'm not going to say like, Hey, before we meet, go to my Instagram.
00:17:12
Speaker
But you know, it's on, you know, I might be in an email or I might send them a video like, Hey, this is a house that has the same roof as you look at, look at how this one turned out.
00:17:22
Speaker
And it's, you know, a video from my page.
00:17:24
Speaker
So there's ways to sort of say,
00:17:26
Speaker
Hey, come look at me without saying, you know, Hey, come look at me.
Incorporating Social Media in Virtual Presentations
00:17:32
Speaker
So I've done some of that.
00:17:34
Speaker
You know, what's really cool is when I'm in a virtual presentation, right.
00:17:38
Speaker
And they say anything.
00:17:41
Speaker
So I'll have like, there's several of my videos that help answer a question that a homeowner might have.
00:17:48
Speaker
So it's really powerful when someone has a question about like, Hey, what's the,
00:17:54
Speaker
how do they do a cement?
00:17:55
Speaker
I have cement tile.
00:17:56
Speaker
Like, how are they installing that?
00:17:57
Speaker
Are they taking my tile off?
00:17:58
Speaker
And I say like, Oh no, check these mounts out.
00:18:01
Speaker
And I have a video of like one of the installers explaining how we mount us on a cement tile roof and how the mount works.
00:18:09
Speaker
And so it's like in the presentation, we go to my page and we're viewing the video that I'm in with this guy.
00:18:16
Speaker
And it just like completely gives a ton of credibility.
00:18:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:23
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:25
Speaker
And yeah, I'm sure it helps a ton.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, I know I've a previous company I worked for.
00:18:32
Speaker
We actually had a YouTube channel and the easiest deal probably I've closed in my career was someone that actually had gone.
00:18:41
Speaker
It was targeted like San Diego solar.
00:18:44
Speaker
Right.
00:18:44
Speaker
And someone had searched that on YouTube and watched our video.
00:18:48
Speaker
And when I went home, it was like, they're just like, all right, how can I sign up?
00:18:52
Speaker
I already watched your video on YouTube.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:54
Speaker
You're the guy, the guy's here.
00:18:56
Speaker
The guy in the videos here.
00:18:57
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:18:59
Speaker
I had one of those from TikTok.
00:19:02
Speaker
Like the wife came down the hallway.
00:19:04
Speaker
She's like the guy from TikTok.
00:19:06
Speaker
And I was like, sign here.
00:19:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's me.
00:19:11
Speaker
Sign here.
00:19:12
Speaker
No, but, um,
00:19:15
Speaker
Honestly, yeah, it helps so much to have that sort of exposure.
00:19:22
Speaker
It can help in certain situations.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:19:25
Speaker
But yeah, so like a lot of people that listen to podcasts, and I'm sure you know, a lot of what I still do is door to door.
Balancing Door-to-Door and Digital Strategies
00:19:34
Speaker
I know a lot of guys that listen to podcasts are still going door to door.
00:19:37
Speaker
But for you, as you're transitioning, just to like out of door to door, working with your referral partners, doing this social media stuff.
00:19:46
Speaker
I don't know.
00:19:47
Speaker
How did you know you were ready?
00:19:49
Speaker
Was there any fear just being like, okay, I'm not going to knock doors anymore.
00:19:53
Speaker
I'm going to go all in on the social media, on the referral partners.
00:19:58
Speaker
Was it kind of like you slowly transitioned into it or what did that look like for you?
00:20:03
Speaker
The latter.
00:20:05
Speaker
Slowly transition.
00:20:08
Speaker
I found a few referral partners.
00:20:09
Speaker
I joined a networking group.
00:20:12
Speaker
If you can get into a
00:20:14
Speaker
some sort of BNI networking group where like there's one of everything, right?
00:20:18
Speaker
20 different industries in one networking group.
00:20:20
Speaker
And I got into this group and then really, and got a few referrals from them.
00:20:25
Speaker
I was like, this is a, I like this, this style of, of doing business.
00:20:30
Speaker
But I, but I had knocking doors.
00:20:32
Speaker
I never thought I would stop knocking doors because I,
00:20:36
Speaker
It works.
00:20:37
Speaker
If I have free time, why wouldn't I go do that?
00:20:41
Speaker
And if I live somewhere else, I feel like San Diego is pretty hard right now, a little difficult.
00:20:47
Speaker
And we've had a weird year, so I haven't done much of it.
00:20:51
Speaker
But I still might knock doors.
00:20:55
Speaker
To me, this is how I see it.
00:20:57
Speaker
This job is a marketing job.
00:20:59
Speaker
It's not a sales job.
00:21:00
Speaker
It's a marketing job.
00:21:01
Speaker
If you're going to build a career in it and be successful long term.
00:21:06
Speaker
It's about marketing.
00:21:07
Speaker
Knocking doors is, if you think of a pie chart, is like maybe 10% of what I do or something.
00:21:14
Speaker
But it's all lead gen.
00:21:17
Speaker
Knocking doors is just one form of lead gen that's super free and super easy to like
00:21:24
Speaker
go do.
00:21:24
Speaker
There's not much thinking.
00:21:25
Speaker
Look at a map, pick a street and like do it.
00:21:30
Speaker
So if that was my most effective way to get leads, that's all I would do.
Marketing vs. Sales: Exploring Lead Generation
00:21:37
Speaker
And I'm just in this constant open mind about a new lead source, whether that's
00:21:48
Speaker
a referral partner or knocking doors or messaging people on next door.
00:21:54
Speaker
There's just a billion different ways.
00:21:56
Speaker
And I found now that I've left door knocking and I'm zoomed out a little bit and I can see all the different ways.
00:22:08
Speaker
Yeah, there's just no need to keep yourself in that small window of opportunity.
00:22:16
Speaker
However, it takes so much grind to make that successful.
00:22:20
Speaker
That's what you're doing.
00:22:22
Speaker
That's what you're doing.
00:22:22
Speaker
You don't want to knock doors two hours a week.
00:22:25
Speaker
You need to really commit to it if you're going to make money out of it.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:22:31
Speaker
So yeah, different way.
00:22:33
Speaker
I'm constantly looking for more new lead gen sources.
00:22:37
Speaker
So to answer your question, it was a transition.
00:22:40
Speaker
The referrals started coming in.
00:22:43
Speaker
And I started talking to like social media lead gen companies.
00:22:47
Speaker
Like there's a billion of those.
00:22:48
Speaker
I get like four messages a day.
00:22:51
Speaker
Hey Mike, a hundred bucks an appointment.
00:22:54
Speaker
You know, we're all offered these like, um, Facebook lead type campaigns.
00:23:01
Speaker
Right.
00:23:02
Speaker
So I've explored all that.
00:23:03
Speaker
Like I understand the value proposition there and what they're doing.
00:23:09
Speaker
So it's a constant flux of different forms of lead generation.
00:23:14
Speaker
That's what I think this job is.
00:23:16
Speaker
It's like we should always all be looking for better ways to access homeowners and talk to them about what we got.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:23:25
Speaker
And it's like, you know, being in door to door for so long, I've seen guys over the years that, you know, there seems like they're not working anymore.
00:23:36
Speaker
And they're like, oh, Taylor, we've just been trying to do like online leads, working on referrals.
00:23:42
Speaker
And you know they're not really doing anything.
00:23:44
Speaker
Because there's guys like that too.
00:23:46
Speaker
Just let go.
00:23:48
Speaker
I've spent all day just reaching out to old leads, doing follow-up.
00:23:56
Speaker
It's hard work, man.
00:23:59
Speaker
It's just everything's a grind.
00:24:01
Speaker
So like...
00:24:06
Speaker
Everyone in solar should spend four to five hours a day prospecting.
00:24:13
Speaker
So if you meet someone that doesn't door knock and they're in the business and they're successful, they're spending the same amount of time that you're on the doors prospecting whatever it is they do.
00:24:26
Speaker
It's that part I mentioned that there's parts of the job that aren't fun.
00:24:30
Speaker
That's how sales is.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:33
Speaker
There's no way you can just get fed leads and just close deals because you have no value.
00:24:39
Speaker
The value and what we get actually paid for in this industry is creating interest.
00:24:46
Speaker
Like we have to, we have to create interest from a homeowner.
00:24:53
Speaker
Once they have interest, closing the deal is easy.
00:24:55
Speaker
That's not really what we make our money for.
00:24:58
Speaker
So every, every, no matter how you're doing it, if you're cold calling people and,
00:25:04
Speaker
you know, Florida and Texas.
00:25:06
Speaker
I tried out a call center thing in, in some, in Texas.
00:25:11
Speaker
And it was like, it didn't, it didn't go well.
00:25:15
Speaker
It was, but it's like everything, right?
00:25:19
Speaker
You have to just put in so many hours to, to make one, you know, deal close.
00:25:23
Speaker
And then,
00:25:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:26
Speaker
You know, hopefully, hopefully you can turn something into it.
00:25:28
Speaker
But so, yeah, I've tried a lot of different things.
00:25:30
Speaker
They all take a lot of work, no matter how you look at it.
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:34
Speaker
Well, I like what you're saying with, you know, transitioning into it, because I hope I'm sure some people are listening to this podcast and they're like, oh, Mike is just on social media.
00:25:44
Speaker
I'm going to stop knocking doors today and just...
00:25:48
Speaker
Just spend five hours a day setting up my social media.
00:25:53
Speaker
What people listening to this podcast need to understand is Mike's been doing this for years.
00:25:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:00
Speaker
And like these things, yeah, like I'm sure you'd agree.
00:26:03
Speaker
It's longer to, it's slower to set up now that you've got, you know, your system in place and working referral partners, social media over time, they're producing tons of results.
00:26:14
Speaker
But I think that's one difference between the door to door versus some of this stuff you're doing, Mike.
00:26:20
Speaker
It's like,
00:26:21
Speaker
It's going to take longer to set up.
00:26:22
Speaker
It's not going to produce like instant results right away.
00:26:26
Speaker
You have to keep your pipeline full, right?
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:31
Speaker
So it's like to say like, I'm going to go, I'm going to not knock doors anymore.
00:26:37
Speaker
I'm going to do this other thing.
00:26:39
Speaker
Well, is that other thing going to fill your pipeline the same way?
00:26:42
Speaker
Probably not in the beginning.
00:26:44
Speaker
So it's like, I was talking about that sliver of door knocking as like one piece of marketing strategy.
00:26:53
Speaker
Well, add another piece, but don't, you know, expand.
00:26:57
Speaker
Don't necessarily cut one off and go for the other.
00:27:00
Speaker
That's not what I did.
00:27:02
Speaker
I always tried to make sure that like I have a pipeline.
00:27:06
Speaker
So you're not at risk.
00:27:08
Speaker
And the nice thing is if you have the door knocking skill,
00:27:12
Speaker
You can use it anytime.
00:27:14
Speaker
You can just go start talking to people.
00:27:17
Speaker
If you're not getting in conversations with homeowners through these other methods, then you need to go back to knocking doors.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:27:27
Speaker
So I wasn't able to just go from one to the other overnight.
00:27:32
Speaker
In fact, I feel like I'm just coming into my form now a year, a year after since I like stopped knocking.
00:27:42
Speaker
That was right.
00:27:43
Speaker
Like, you know, the industry was different than it is now.
00:27:48
Speaker
Like now it's, now it's harder.
00:27:50
Speaker
So like, I feel fortunate that I am in the spot I'm in and then I'm able to sell like in different parts of the country.
00:27:58
Speaker
California is still the best market for me, by the way.
00:28:00
Speaker
It's not like, we all kind of got scared, but.
00:28:05
Speaker
But then I'll get a bill from Florida and it's 17 cents a kilowatt.
00:28:09
Speaker
I'm like, I wish this was a California.
00:28:13
Speaker
I'll put, I can afford four batteries and still save them more money than people somewhere else.
00:28:18
Speaker
So.
00:28:19
Speaker
I know exactly.
00:28:21
Speaker
But yeah, well, I know you started at Sunrun down here in San Diego and, you know, obviously they're huge in the door knocking out here.
00:28:30
Speaker
So I'm curious, did you get any like, as you were kind of like doing more of the social media stuff, getting leads other ways, were they ever like, Mike, what are you doing?
00:28:40
Speaker
Get back on the doors or like, was there any?
00:28:46
Speaker
So that's a good question.
00:28:49
Speaker
It's not like it was.
00:28:55
Speaker
it's not like there was any negativity.
00:28:57
Speaker
In fact, they, they were great.
00:28:59
Speaker
There's so much about that, like culture.
00:29:00
Speaker
I liked and a lot of, I mean, that's where I started.
00:29:03
Speaker
Like I love, I love their clothes.
00:29:06
Speaker
I have so many sun run jackets and shirts.
00:29:08
Speaker
Like it's so good.
00:29:10
Speaker
I still have all of them.
00:29:12
Speaker
If you see me out and about, I'll probably be wearing one of their shirts because they have like the best clothes.
00:29:16
Speaker
But anyway, yeah.
00:29:19
Speaker
I understand they definitely weren't like, Hey, go do what Mike's doing because a door knocking company is built and like structured to kind of teach on a loop.
00:29:39
Speaker
Right.
00:29:39
Speaker
So there's so much, um,
00:29:43
Speaker
There's so many people going in and out the door, right?
00:29:45
Speaker
It's like 10 new people every week that are being recruited and 10 people leaving and quitting because it's just a very difficult job, right?
00:29:56
Speaker
And so you have to keep sort of that.
00:30:00
Speaker
Remember I said it's one marketing strategy.
00:30:04
Speaker
It's the one marketing strategy that you can teach a brand new person.
00:30:08
Speaker
And have them go do it like same day.
00:30:11
Speaker
And so you just loop that over and over.
00:30:14
Speaker
And it's like incredibly teachable, incredibly repeatable.
00:30:19
Speaker
So that's why there's a lot of solar people out there.
00:30:22
Speaker
And I feel like I'm talking to a lot of people in my social media because I know what it's like being in this sort of elementary school level loop of this profession where...
Advanced Marketing Strategies for Growth
00:30:37
Speaker
those trainings and that structure isn't designed for someone that is sort of trying to find other ways to market.
00:30:46
Speaker
It's locked into that way that you can teach someone that's brand new how to do it same day.
00:30:51
Speaker
So I see, I see a lot of people that talk to me and they're kind of ready to like, maybe not stop knocking doors, but they don't need to hear that, that loop anymore.
00:31:02
Speaker
But yeah,
00:31:03
Speaker
I, it's not that I, I get why that happens.
00:31:06
Speaker
Like if I was running a door knocking company, I would do it exactly like that.
00:31:11
Speaker
Like it's, it's, it's how you do it and it works and they do, they do really well.
00:31:17
Speaker
And, um, I learned a ton.
00:31:19
Speaker
Like I, I loved my time there, but, um,
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah, as you become more seasoned and you want to make a career out of this that maybe isn't necessarily door knocking, that's when social media can help and you start talking to referral partners and stuff like that.
00:31:37
Speaker
But yeah, no, they didn't discourage it.
00:31:40
Speaker
In fact, it was great.
00:31:41
Speaker
They worked with me on a lot of the posts and had a good time with it.
00:31:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:31:48
Speaker
But yeah, like, do you, do you feel like, like, cause I don't know, some people are like, oh, I don't want to be out.
00:31:53
Speaker
Just having to leave, drive an hour away to these random neighborhoods.
00:31:58
Speaker
Do you feel like that's been a pro for you too, is just being all the, I don't know, I know you got kids and all that.
00:32:02
Speaker
Do you feel like it's a better, uh, lifestyle with that?
00:32:06
Speaker
Just closing virtual?
00:32:07
Speaker
Or was that not like a huge motivating thing for you?
00:32:11
Speaker
That was scary too.
00:32:12
Speaker
Like you mentioned,
00:32:14
Speaker
the other scary thing was closing not in home.
00:32:20
Speaker
Um, because you do enough of those, you realize like, this is really, you get really good at doing it.
00:32:28
Speaker
And that's what they reward you for at these, at these door knocking companies is like, I mean, we used to get clapping, right?
00:32:35
Speaker
You get, you get lots of claps and lots of prizes and like shoes for like closing these deals.
00:32:40
Speaker
And yeah,
00:32:41
Speaker
Which you don't make money until it installs, but that's another thing.
00:32:46
Speaker
So like you get really good at getting these documents signed in home.
00:32:50
Speaker
And I was so nervous.
00:32:51
Speaker
Like, am I going to be able to do this on Zoom?
00:32:55
Speaker
The funny thing is my very, cause I was in COVID, right?
00:32:59
Speaker
My very first, my very first attempted close by myself was, was over Zoom.
00:33:07
Speaker
And this is true.
00:33:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:33:08
Speaker
So I get on with this guy.
00:33:11
Speaker
And he says, let's look at the contract.
00:33:14
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, I'm so nervous, right?
00:33:16
Speaker
I've never done this on my own.
00:33:17
Speaker
I think I watched my mentor do like three of these and I was like, okay, I got this.
00:33:22
Speaker
And he's like, this document looks like a scam I used to investigate.
00:33:30
Speaker
And then he goes on to tell me he's a private investigator that like investigates companies for... I was just like, what is happening?
00:33:41
Speaker
I ended the call and I was like, I'm out.
00:33:42
Speaker
I'm never doing Zoom again.
00:33:44
Speaker
That was horrific.
00:33:45
Speaker
Like, I don't even know what that was.
00:33:48
Speaker
So the funny thing is, I tried virtual my very first time and I was like, that did not work.
00:33:55
Speaker
And now, you know, that was...
00:33:58
Speaker
I did a lot in home and now I'm back to doing only virtual.
00:34:01
Speaker
But to talk about what I think the advantage is, that was a transition where I think everybody in solar should learn that skill.
00:34:13
Speaker
It is something that when people join my team, I wish they had that skill because...
00:34:22
Speaker
it really matters when you want to, let's say, build something in another state or something.
00:34:29
Speaker
It's pretty easy for me the way I'm set up to like set up door knockers and help them close their deals in Texas, which I'm doing right now.
00:34:38
Speaker
And because I have the skill to close on Zoom, it allows me to... I was telling you yesterday, I went to like Indio and Coachella over there and I was talking to HVAC companies.
00:34:50
Speaker
Well, then I can just come back home.
00:34:51
Speaker
They got the referral.
00:34:54
Speaker
We closed the deal.
00:34:56
Speaker
And off we go.
00:34:57
Speaker
So it gives you so much freedom to be able to efficiently meet with people at the pace that's right, too.
00:35:07
Speaker
I feel like in-home appointments...
00:35:09
Speaker
definitely rushes the purchase of a $50,000 piece of equipment.
00:35:14
Speaker
Right.
00:35:14
Speaker
It's like to the point where like I was taught a man home appointments, you would never give the sense that this thing costs 50 grand or that they're about to spend
00:35:25
Speaker
100 grand over 25 years.
00:35:26
Speaker
You kind of just like avoid that because who would do that after meeting someone 10 minutes ago?
00:35:33
Speaker
Very few people.
00:35:34
Speaker
But so with Zoom, it's like with virtual, I can like, I can zoom out with them, give them the whole picture and say like, look, this is how solar works.
00:35:43
Speaker
This is how it's typically paid for.
00:35:47
Speaker
What are you, what do you guys think?
00:35:49
Speaker
And the fear was they're going to think about it.
00:35:51
Speaker
They're going to have me email them.
00:35:52
Speaker
But, and they do do that.
00:35:54
Speaker
But what happens is I've developed trust in that because I took my time.
00:36:00
Speaker
I didn't rush them to do anything.
00:36:02
Speaker
We might take two or three or four calls to get it closed, but then they're sticky, right?
00:36:09
Speaker
Then we've got it and we're moving forward and it's going to go.
00:36:14
Speaker
So definitely now like really happy and happy.
00:36:19
Speaker
Grateful that I have that skill because I think it works better.
00:36:23
Speaker
But man, I was nervous in the beginning because I just thought maybe I'm not going to close any of these.
00:36:28
Speaker
Like I might just fail.
00:36:31
Speaker
You know, I was really worried about it.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:35
Speaker
So try it, try it on your next 10 and see what happens.
00:36:37
Speaker
You close the rate.
00:36:38
Speaker
It's going to be like one out of 10.
00:36:39
Speaker
Yeah, it will.
00:36:42
Speaker
Well, we're, I know.
00:36:45
Speaker
And, and yesterday, like we were talking about as you're, you know, working more with referrals with, um, leads from social media and all that.
00:36:54
Speaker
Like, I think sometimes in door to door, we get so caught up with, Oh, um,
00:37:00
Speaker
I go out, I get three leads.
00:37:01
Speaker
Like I told you this yesterday, I know I can go out to a neighborhood and probably get at least two to three appointments if I'm out there, like, say, four hours, right?
00:37:14
Speaker
Where if I'm just doing the digital thing, I don't know, like I haven't done that.
00:37:18
Speaker
But at the same time, you're like, well, hey, I might only get one, maybe a couple referrals during the whole week.
00:37:26
Speaker
But these are people that are actually sitting down and you're closing almost all of them.
00:37:32
Speaker
Where it's like, for example, last week I got, it was granted as one of my worst weeks for like no shows and cancellations, but I got like 11 appointments and only sat down with two of them.
00:37:44
Speaker
So I think that's one of the things that people need to think about.
00:37:49
Speaker
It's like, we need to focus more on the install and not just on going out and getting a couple of leads.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:55
Speaker
And that's the power of their referrals and what you're doing, right?
00:37:59
Speaker
Yeah, I found that... And I have made... I mean, it's like anything... I've made increasingly and done better as the years go by because I'm meeting more people and I have more reach.
00:38:14
Speaker
But it's... Now I can see that... I remember the numbers knocking door because I'm kind of numbery, right?
00:38:22
Speaker
I like numbers.
00:38:22
Speaker
And I loved...
00:38:24
Speaker
I loved the way they presented it at Sunrun.
00:38:27
Speaker
Like, hey, look, get this many bills.
00:38:30
Speaker
That turns into this.
00:38:31
Speaker
This turns into that.
00:38:32
Speaker
These are the percentages here.
00:38:34
Speaker
And I could sort of math out success.
00:38:37
Speaker
And it was cool.
00:38:39
Speaker
I loved that.
00:38:40
Speaker
It was so simple.
00:38:40
Speaker
It was like, oh, this many hours, this many bills, that many appointments.
00:38:45
Speaker
It was just like an equation for me.
00:38:47
Speaker
And I was like super into it.
00:38:50
Speaker
But I think the big difference was...
00:38:54
Speaker
I mean, I've never told anybody this.
00:38:55
Speaker
I'll tell you the story of like when I left.
00:38:58
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:59
Speaker
And it has nothing to do.
00:39:00
Speaker
It's nothing against like anyone or anything.
00:39:03
Speaker
It was circumstantial.
00:39:05
Speaker
But I was knocking doors and I ran into this neighborhood here in San Diego.
00:39:09
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:10
Speaker
Like in the Kensington area.
00:39:11
Speaker
I love that area.
00:39:12
Speaker
Like it was great.
00:39:13
Speaker
And I was connecting with all these people and I had six like deals I signed in this one little area in a couple of weeks.
00:39:22
Speaker
And I was like, this is so cool.
00:39:24
Speaker
These people are awesome.
00:39:25
Speaker
Like everybody is into it.
00:39:27
Speaker
So they all started talking and they were like, no, we're out.
00:39:32
Speaker
Like they all canceled all six of these people.
00:39:38
Speaker
And it had to do with what I was selling.
00:39:40
Speaker
And I just realized like those people know more about solar than I do.
00:39:49
Speaker
And I had this sense that like, remember how I talked, like there's that loop that's taught for, for like new people in solar.
00:39:57
Speaker
Well, if you're a homeowner and you go get three quotes, you know more than that loop, that loop that they're teaching brand new door knockers.
00:40:07
Speaker
is less than a homeowner knows if they get three quotes from three different companies.
00:40:11
Speaker
That's what I realized is like, I'm meeting with people that know more about this than I do, which is like wild.
00:40:20
Speaker
And it's in not just like, maybe there's not, they don't know all the details I do, but the different ways, if you're just looking at like, let's say you're just selling PPAs, which is what I was doing.
00:40:34
Speaker
I didn't realize all these other methods and ways that people were getting into solar.
00:40:40
Speaker
And so that's really what killed it.
00:40:44
Speaker
These people literally, I felt, had more education than I did about what I was doing.
Quality Over Quantity in Appointments
00:40:48
Speaker
And I was like, I've got to go take this myself to the next level.
00:40:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:58
Speaker
No, that's, yeah.
00:40:59
Speaker
I don't think I've ever had a deal, you know, stick or even clothes.
00:41:04
Speaker
I've had a few where they think they know more than me and they're just kind of being idiots and they still don't sign up because they think they know more than me.
00:41:13
Speaker
Those ones are frustrating, but, uh,
00:41:16
Speaker
But yeah, I know what you mean.
00:41:18
Speaker
The reason I went off on that, you were saying like, I was talking about the math of like so many appointments.
00:41:25
Speaker
You were talking about you had 11 appointments and two sits.
00:41:29
Speaker
Is that like...
00:41:31
Speaker
I've realized that I will make more money if I have more quality appointments.
00:41:39
Speaker
Then just... It's really hard to get rejected and not trusted to that level.
00:41:45
Speaker
And it's really nice to be trusted, even if it's not as often.
00:41:49
Speaker
And then it turns into an install.
00:41:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:56
Speaker
Well, and I'm sure it's nice that you can go into these appointments knowing that it's not going to be an uphill battle trying to fight for the trust because sometimes on the doors, it's like, you know, I got to hype myself up so much that I'm going to go in there and get those doc signs, going to figure out a way to make them trust me and, you know, not taking over an answer.
00:42:17
Speaker
It's like stuff like that.
00:42:18
Speaker
There is some pressure.
00:42:20
Speaker
There's some pressure.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:21
Speaker
And like, yeah, I don't feel any pressure to like close a deal because now I can just look at them and say like, it's super obvious when it's time to sign documents.
00:42:35
Speaker
It's like, is everybody in the room on the same page?
00:42:39
Speaker
Cool.
00:42:40
Speaker
Have we got the right way to pay for this?
00:42:42
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:42:43
Speaker
This is the next thing.
00:42:45
Speaker
So there's no like, there's no weird moment anymore where I'm trying to like push or pull because if there's any hesitancy, I just say, cool, like let's, let's meet again.
00:42:57
Speaker
And I click end meeting.
00:42:58
Speaker
Like it, there's no pressure to, um, to, to like close a deal or sign paperwork for something that's not really, really solid.
00:43:09
Speaker
I remember what that was like.
00:43:10
Speaker
Like you, you're trying to hit that equation.
00:43:13
Speaker
Like you're, you're thinking about that equation.
00:43:16
Speaker
Like, Oh, I've only collected this many bills this week.
00:43:18
Speaker
Oh, I've only closed this many deals this week.
00:43:22
Speaker
Like, and you went to the meeting and it's like, so I just remember those numbers just rolling in my head.
00:43:28
Speaker
Like, like I was just programmed to like hit these things.
00:43:33
Speaker
And so you sit in the meeting and you're willing to be a little pushy because you just kind of feel that pressure.
00:43:40
Speaker
And homeowners know that because I'm now on the other end of that.
00:43:44
Speaker
I have a lot of appointments with...
00:43:51
Speaker
I think I've canceled a few of your deals, actually.
00:43:54
Speaker
I've seen your name on a few contracts.
00:43:55
Speaker
Just kidding.
00:43:56
Speaker
No, I'm just kidding.
00:43:58
Speaker
No, I'm totally kidding.
00:44:02
Speaker
But I have recognized some names I know.
00:44:05
Speaker
So what happens is, Doorknocker comes in.
00:44:10
Speaker
This is sort of like, to all of us Doorknockers, when you have a cancel and you never hear why, this is what happened on the other side.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:19
Speaker
So like a door knocker comes in, closes the deal, right?
00:44:22
Speaker
Sign documents and you're doing the site survey.
00:44:26
Speaker
Everything's going well.
00:44:27
Speaker
Well, that person is going to turn around and a lot of times ask around if like they should get another quote or they start doing research.
00:44:37
Speaker
I always felt like knocking doors.
00:44:38
Speaker
I was...
00:44:40
Speaker
I was getting so many people interested in solar, right?
00:44:43
Speaker
Like you would get them talking about it.
00:44:45
Speaker
They'd be like, oh, cool.
00:44:46
Speaker
And then they'd go get a bunch of quotes and never call you back.
00:44:48
Speaker
And I was like, wait, I'm the one that like got you excited.
00:44:52
Speaker
Like where I don't get anything.
00:44:55
Speaker
So a lot of times I'll get in with, you know, a meeting with someone that's already signed documents with another company.
00:45:04
Speaker
And if it was a door knocker, like they'll then talk to me about what was weird.
00:45:09
Speaker
This comes up a lot.
00:45:10
Speaker
Like they'll say like, yeah, it was just kind of weird.
00:45:14
Speaker
We haven't.
00:45:15
Speaker
And then I said, I've heard this multiple times.
00:45:17
Speaker
We haven't signed docs yet, but we thought we'd just talk to a few more people when the reality is they have signed docs.
00:45:26
Speaker
Right.
00:45:26
Speaker
And that's,
00:45:28
Speaker
So you always sense that when you're knocking doors and you're using that type of sales strategy.
00:45:33
Speaker
Like, do these people turn around and get a sense that I just sold like that?
00:45:39
Speaker
And they do.
00:45:40
Speaker
It happens a lot because I hear them tell me about it.
00:45:43
Speaker
Like, yeah, we did feel kind of weird about that.
00:45:47
Speaker
And so, yeah, then they end up canceling and...
00:45:52
Speaker
And going with Solar Mike?
00:45:53
Speaker
No, just kidding.
00:45:54
Speaker
It doesn't happen that much.
00:45:56
Speaker
But I have heard a lot of that other side.
00:45:58
Speaker
And it's kind of what I suspected when I was door knocking.
00:46:01
Speaker
But that's part of it.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:05
Speaker
Well, maybe what I'll do from now on, anyone that wants to shop me out, I'm just be like, okay, I've got a friend that, uh, that has, that has really good prices.
00:46:13
Speaker
So I'm going to have you, I'm going to have you reach out to him.
00:46:15
Speaker
He'll get you a quote and then, uh, just send them your way.
00:46:18
Speaker
Maybe that's the solution.
00:46:20
Speaker
No, I'm just kidding.
00:46:25
Speaker
But yeah, it's funny.
00:46:27
Speaker
I've, I've actually had, um, I had someone reach out to me not long ago and said like, Hey,
00:46:34
Speaker
can you send this client a quote above mine so I can get this deal?
00:46:41
Speaker
I was like, no, no way, man.
00:46:45
Speaker
Like there's no way I'm not putting.
00:46:48
Speaker
I'm not going to say like much about it, but I've never priced anything that high.
00:46:53
Speaker
So no thanks.
00:46:57
Speaker
That's funny.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:59
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:47:01
Speaker
So before we run out of time, Mike, I wanted to ask you about, we talked a little bit about this the first time we did yesterday when we did the podcast, but just setting up these referral partners.
00:47:14
Speaker
I know that's a huge part of what you're doing in addition to the social media.
00:47:18
Speaker
So maybe someone's listening to this.
00:47:19
Speaker
They're like, okay, I'm not going to
00:47:21
Speaker
spend all the time, the years to set up the social media like Mike's doing.
00:47:26
Speaker
But I do want to set up these referral partnerships.
00:47:28
Speaker
I do want to start getting more referrals.
00:47:31
Speaker
So yeah, can you talk about that?
00:47:33
Speaker
What are some things you did to set up these successful referral partnerships?
00:47:38
Speaker
And what's some advice you'd have around that?
00:47:42
Speaker
So it's like we were talking before.
00:47:45
Speaker
It's not something you can just turn on because you're going to slowly work into it just like anything else.
00:47:56
Speaker
You can't just shut one off and turn the other one on.
00:47:59
Speaker
But the best... I want to answer this a little differently than I did yesterday.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yesterday, I said roofers and home service companies.
00:48:07
Speaker
Those can be really good.
00:48:08
Speaker
And I have a few that are my best partners.
00:48:12
Speaker
But what I've found is it's the personality of who you're dealing with.
00:48:17
Speaker
So I've seen a lady, she runs a Christmas light company.
00:48:26
Speaker
In fact, this is their time of year.
00:48:29
Speaker
If you called every Christmas light company, they have a bunch of clients.
00:48:32
Speaker
They use a ton of power.
00:48:34
Speaker
It's actually an easy conversation for them to have like,
00:48:37
Speaker
Hey, do you guys' bills go way up?
00:48:39
Speaker
I have a solar person.
00:48:40
Speaker
Stuff like that.
00:48:41
Speaker
So it's not necessarily like, yeah, a roofer is the perfect referral partner.
00:48:48
Speaker
But if the person at the roofing company doesn't really get it, that's what matters more.
00:48:54
Speaker
So I would say instead of looking at the best industries, look at the people you know that are connected to homeowners and find those personalities that would understand.
00:49:07
Speaker
This is a way to make money and help people out.
00:49:11
Speaker
And you don't have to learn anything about solar.
00:49:13
Speaker
And so that's what social media is cool too.
00:49:16
Speaker
Cause I can see like, Oh, like I like the way these guys run their social media account.
00:49:22
Speaker
I'm going to try and partner with them instead of, because they're more of a match for me.
00:49:27
Speaker
Right?
00:49:28
Speaker
So look around the people, you know, or search out the people that you might connect with.
00:49:35
Speaker
And then try there first, whether that's like a realtor or a car mechanic.
00:49:45
Speaker
Because it's just about the personality.
00:49:46
Speaker
If they get it.
00:49:47
Speaker
One of the members of my team was a car mechanic in Houston.
00:49:51
Speaker
And he, before we did anything, he installed three people at his work.
00:49:58
Speaker
Right.
00:49:58
Speaker
Cause he just like, he was just like, Hey guys, I'm going to do solar.
00:50:01
Speaker
Like,
00:50:03
Speaker
Who wants it?
00:50:05
Speaker
So it's personality is what matters more than industry.
00:50:11
Speaker
Most people are in some industry where they're connected to homeowners where the conversation would be pretty natural to say like, hey, I can help out with solar if you guys need it.
Creating Effective Referral Partnerships
00:50:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:23
Speaker
And what's like your approach for, you know, reaching out to these people?
00:50:27
Speaker
Um, I think you'd mentioned yesterday, you're, you know, giving them like half of the commission.
00:50:32
Speaker
Um, but yeah, like, is that, is that the case?
00:50:36
Speaker
You give them half the commission and what are you, what's like, do you have a word track?
00:50:40
Speaker
Cause you're like reaching out to these people to make it.
00:50:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:43
Speaker
I mean, I have a few scripts that I just, just something general.
00:50:47
Speaker
Like the, the goal is always the same.
00:50:48
Speaker
Like let's jump on zoom and,
00:50:52
Speaker
Once I get them on a zoom call, I can share my screen and be like, Hey, look,
00:50:58
Speaker
you're a loan officer.
00:51:00
Speaker
Look what this loan officer did.
00:51:01
Speaker
And I'll show them actually what the guy made.
00:51:06
Speaker
I can literally go behind the curtain and say, look, if you participate with me in this, this is what happens when we do that.
00:51:15
Speaker
And so, once I get them into a call, it feels like it's kind of game over because it's really obvious that
00:51:26
Speaker
it's easy for them.
00:51:27
Speaker
People, one thing you got to understand is like when you're running a small business, like let's say you're running an HVAC company and someone comes in and says like, Hey, add, add this vertical to your business.
00:51:41
Speaker
Let's go.
00:51:42
Speaker
It's like,
00:51:44
Speaker
It's like, no, like we're not going to add solar.
00:51:47
Speaker
Right.
00:51:47
Speaker
That's that sounds like a lot.
00:51:50
Speaker
So the barrier of talking to referral partners is like, look, you don't need to learn a thing about this.
00:51:57
Speaker
You just need to listen to me for a little bit so I can explain how it works and and.
00:52:04
Speaker
you can see that it's simple.
00:52:06
Speaker
So it's really getting them into that conversation.
00:52:09
Speaker
But a lot of people are hesitant because they're like, Oh, I'm not just going to add solar to my business.
00:52:13
Speaker
That's when people, when we're like, you guys, you'll get hit up, right?
00:52:19
Speaker
Like sell, sell life insurance.
00:52:21
Speaker
You get that on Instagram, like every other day, someone in DMs, like, I'm not just going to start selling something else because I'm so busy with like the thing I'm doing.
00:52:29
Speaker
So that's the difficult part is,
00:52:32
Speaker
It's just like knocking doors, just like cold calling.
00:52:35
Speaker
Getting a referral partner in a call where they're listening is the hard part.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:52:41
Speaker
So it's more like it sounds like it's kind of similar to as if you're setting up a solar appointment, you're trying to not dump a bunch of information.
00:52:48
Speaker
It's all sales.
00:52:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:51
Speaker
And really, you're just trying to get them to...
00:52:53
Speaker
you know, sit down for another zoom or another appointment where you would explain to them and kind of sell them at that point instead of trying to like get them on board right away.
00:53:05
Speaker
But how I decide who I want to work with is usually the location.
00:53:10
Speaker
So it's like, I'll target an area I want to work in.
00:53:16
Speaker
Whether it's like, I mean, lately, like Illinois, some in Ohio.
00:53:21
Speaker
There's so many states now that are good.
00:53:24
Speaker
Like we're sitting on this spot that like solar feels weird right now because rates are really high.
00:53:31
Speaker
Money's expensive.
00:53:37
Speaker
Solar is more expensive in California because of the batteries.
00:53:41
Speaker
But there are 20 states, it feels like, sitting at 17 cents on average kilowatt hours.
00:53:49
Speaker
And you know what it's like.
00:53:52
Speaker
You've sold in LEDWP or something where it's like 20-something.
00:53:57
Speaker
And you still see these great savings.
00:54:00
Speaker
And so it's like, imagine if a whole state like North Carolina got to 22 cents a kilowatt hour.
00:54:08
Speaker
It is really different.
00:54:11
Speaker
So I encourage, like, it's important to think about how you're going to access those markets because they're not even started yet to where SDG&E started.
00:54:24
Speaker
When did they get over 20 cents?
00:54:25
Speaker
A long time ago.
00:54:27
Speaker
And look, we're still doing well here.
00:54:31
Speaker
So setting up to, like, sell in other markets is really my long-term strategy.
00:54:35
Speaker
Like, that's what I'm thinking is I want to be active with referral partners in business.
00:54:41
Speaker
North Carolina and Ohio and all these different places when the rates hit.
00:54:48
Speaker
Not even much more than where they are now.
00:54:50
Speaker
But right now, it's like so many of these places are neck and neck, right?
00:54:56
Speaker
Solar and their current utility bill are neck and neck.
00:54:59
Speaker
And there's really only those early adopters that are going, which is great.
00:55:04
Speaker
But it's coming.
00:55:05
Speaker
It's coming.
00:55:07
Speaker
2026, they say.
00:55:07
Speaker
I don't know.
00:55:08
Speaker
They say that's the biggest boom.
00:55:11
Speaker
I don't know.
00:55:11
Speaker
I say they say.
00:55:14
Speaker
I saw a research study on it, but yeah.
00:55:17
Speaker
It's exciting.
00:55:19
Speaker
I'm excited about it.
00:55:21
Speaker
Yeah, no doubt.
00:55:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:23
Speaker
And with your referral partners, because I've heard some people, they're constantly communicating with their referral partners.
00:55:32
Speaker
They're...
00:55:34
Speaker
Um, maybe it's like a weekly check-in they do with them.
00:55:38
Speaker
Um, they run competitions.
00:55:41
Speaker
I think I've heard some people do with referral partners.
00:55:44
Speaker
So I don't know, like, what do you do?
00:55:46
Speaker
Does it like a list you have of all of them and you have a whole system around it or do you just kind of go with the flow and all of them send you a lead occasionally here and there?
00:55:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it usually runs off.
00:56:00
Speaker
Are we doing stuff?
Adapting to Referral Partner Needs
00:56:02
Speaker
Oh, can you hear me?
00:56:02
Speaker
Okay.
00:56:04
Speaker
Yeah, I can hear you.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, okay.
00:56:08
Speaker
So what I realized is like, even my team in power.
00:56:12
Speaker
So like, I have a team of sellers and then I have these referral partners and I wanted to set up structure around like, okay, I want to have a meeting, right?
00:56:24
Speaker
That's how I was in solar.
00:56:25
Speaker
I was like, we need to have a weekly meeting, but everybody's so different.
00:56:29
Speaker
Like,
00:56:30
Speaker
The way I'm running my business is different than everybody else on my team.
00:56:36
Speaker
And so it's become an individual thing, which makes it a little bit more of my time.
00:56:43
Speaker
But we also have big meetings that you can go to or whatever.
00:56:48
Speaker
But each referral partner is unique.
00:56:51
Speaker
I don't really have a lot of structure around it.
00:56:53
Speaker
I would like it, but it just doesn't...
00:56:56
Speaker
this doesn't fit because everybody's doing such a different thing.
00:57:01
Speaker
Like they're all in different businesses.
00:57:02
Speaker
The conversation really wouldn't, wouldn't go well with all of them together.
00:57:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:08
Speaker
So it's kind of custom for each one.
00:57:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:12
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:12
Speaker
Custom for each one, but, and the share amounts, like it's not always 50, 50.
00:57:16
Speaker
It could be like,
00:57:18
Speaker
maybe just a thousand and install, or I have like a 70, 30 one going on.
00:57:22
Speaker
It's a, it's adjustable what, what I can do with, um, with that.
00:57:27
Speaker
So, okay.
00:57:28
Speaker
How do you decide, um, what that amount will be?
00:57:31
Speaker
Is it, it just, it's like, it's a decision on like investment.
00:57:36
Speaker
So if, if I am putting in more effort,
00:57:44
Speaker
to make this happen.
00:57:46
Speaker
So let's say you send me a list of leads that are not set appointments.
00:57:52
Speaker
You're like, Hey, this is our, these are our customers.
00:57:55
Speaker
These people might be interested in solar.
00:57:56
Speaker
Here you go.
00:57:58
Speaker
And I have to do the work of like getting those appointments set, then you get less.
00:58:05
Speaker
But if, if you hand me an appointment, it's like, these guys want solar really bad.
00:58:10
Speaker
Here's the bill.
00:58:12
Speaker
I get less because what you did has a ton of value.
00:58:16
Speaker
So it's gauged by who put in more value.
00:58:20
Speaker
And then, and then we try to match the value with, with what was done.
00:58:25
Speaker
So if, if I'm just selling the deal and, and I don't have to do anything, anything else, you know, then, then 50% like, great.
00:58:33
Speaker
I'm willing to share 50 with like,
00:58:38
Speaker
Like most, you guys probably have like an assist thing.
00:58:41
Speaker
Like you go close to someone else's deal that's new, you get 50 or something like that.
00:58:45
Speaker
So I think that's fair.
00:58:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:48
Speaker
So do you tell them that like upfront or are you telling them, hey, depending on if you give me like, you know, a set appointment, it wants to go slower, then I'll give you 50%.
00:59:00
Speaker
If it's just like people that are reaching out.
00:59:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:59:04
Speaker
So you kind of tell that with all the partnerships you set up.
00:59:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:09
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:59:10
Speaker
I mean, it's just unique every time.
00:59:13
Speaker
Yeah, makes sense.
00:59:15
Speaker
That's good.
00:59:16
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:59:17
Speaker
So I think the biggest thing I took from just today and then also a couple of things you said on the first podcast we did is just you're constantly looking for those partnerships.
00:59:28
Speaker
Like you mentioned yesterday that you went and did some door knocking in Coachella and you just had the mind shift where you're like, okay, I'm seeing HVAC.
00:59:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:59:39
Speaker
vans roll into these homes.
00:59:42
Speaker
Like why am I even knocking on the walls?
00:59:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:59:47
Speaker
No, what was crazy is like, it's all gated.
00:59:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:50
Speaker
All gated community.
00:59:52
Speaker
There's HVAC vans everywhere, fixing air conditioners.
00:59:54
Speaker
I was like, I'm going to talk to them.
00:59:56
Speaker
You know, so I just went, I just walked into all their businesses and started saying like, Hey, you guys have an opportunity here.
01:00:05
Speaker
Let's take advantage of it.
01:00:06
Speaker
Not one of them had a referral partner for solar.
01:00:10
Speaker
Wow.
01:00:12
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:13
Speaker
They all rejected me, told me to take a hike, but someone should be partnered with them.
01:00:19
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:20
Speaker
No, I mean, I had a few good meetings, but it was shocking to see, like, I expected them to be like, no, we got solar figured out.
01:00:27
Speaker
Like we have a company we go with none of them.
01:00:32
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:32
Speaker
And that's, yeah.
01:00:33
Speaker
I mean, that's in California.
01:00:34
Speaker
Imagine other markets too.
01:00:36
Speaker
I know.
01:00:37
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:38
Speaker
The rates there are like 20, 22 to 25
Opportunities in Untapped Solar Markets
01:00:42
Speaker
cents.
01:00:42
Speaker
And there's a ton of solar there and there's still a ton that will happen there.
01:00:46
Speaker
But, um, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:00:49
Speaker
So I love that.
01:00:50
Speaker
And I think that's one of the biggest takeaways I've, I got from our conversation, Mike, and for anyone listening, it's just like, yeah, if you are purely door knocking, start to think, um, you know, who are these people around me that could be good referral partners and,
01:01:05
Speaker
maybe you're not just like mike was you see these hvac vans roll up um you see a maintenance guy you see uh maybe someone's coming to clean their house it's like all these things i didn't even think about but those could all be potential referral partners because they're talking with homeowners every day you know maybe they're handy man he's going to 10 other homes that don't have solar yeah you knock a street and you have 10 conversations three of those people
01:01:33
Speaker
Like if you find out what they do, like if they're a realtor or like they're going to do something where they talk to people that own homes and they might be, you know, like I said, you're looking for a personality.
01:01:47
Speaker
It doesn't maybe even matter what they do.
01:01:49
Speaker
So definitely when you're knocking doors, take that mindset out, out there, which is like, Hey, these people can help me find others for sure.
01:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
01:02:02
Speaker
Well, Mike, it's been awesome having you on the show today.
01:02:05
Speaker
And for anyone that's not following him, you're probably living under a rock.
01:02:08
Speaker
You should be following Solar Mike on Instagram.
01:02:11
Speaker
So go reach out, let him know you appreciate him coming on the show today.
01:02:16
Speaker
But before we wrap up, any maybe closing advice for people that are
01:02:21
Speaker
you know, maybe new or struggling setting up the social media referral partnerships or I don't know, just anyone that's maybe a question if they should be in solar.
01:02:31
Speaker
Any closing thoughts or advice?
Future Growth and Opportunities in Solar Industry
01:02:34
Speaker
Get out.
01:02:34
Speaker
No, I'm just kidding.
01:02:36
Speaker
Don't get out.
01:02:37
Speaker
I think I mentioned it earlier.
01:02:40
Speaker
You will be sad if you do.
01:02:44
Speaker
The boom for solar hasn't happened yet.
01:02:46
Speaker
And I remember when I came in,
01:02:48
Speaker
I came into San Diego two and a half, three years ago, and there was already this kind of like, are we near saturation?
01:02:57
Speaker
Like, have you ever felt that?
01:02:58
Speaker
Or you guys ever talk about that?
01:03:00
Speaker
Or you and your friends, like, talk about saturation for solar in San Diego?
01:03:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:06
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
01:03:07
Speaker
Especially when you get on the streets.
01:03:08
Speaker
I mean, it's like a fear, right?
01:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
01:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they all have it.
01:03:13
Speaker
And then you hear people say, like, you guys have been here a hundred times.
01:03:17
Speaker
So you sit there and you think the thought, well, this can't go on for much longer.
01:03:22
Speaker
Like, how much more can I make out of this industry?
01:03:24
Speaker
And then there's this sense that, like,
01:03:27
Speaker
Let me squeeze what I can out of it and then go do something else.
01:03:30
Speaker
Well, I think that's a bad strategy, especially if you're in Southern California.
01:03:35
Speaker
It's easy to feel that.
01:03:37
Speaker
But go walk a street in Texas and you'll die like shingle roof south facing 10 in a row.
01:03:47
Speaker
Perfect.
01:03:48
Speaker
And you look at their bill and they're at 18 cents and you're like, wow, if this was 22 cents,
01:03:56
Speaker
six of these houses out of 10 are going to have solar just like in California.
01:04:00
Speaker
So be here for that.
01:04:01
Speaker
Like figure out a way to be here for that.
01:04:04
Speaker
It's coming in the next, it's going to go on for 10, 15 years.
01:04:09
Speaker
Saturation, not even going to happen in California for at least another decade and other States, you know, even after that.
01:04:17
Speaker
So the solar, like,
01:04:21
Speaker
space has a lot of time in it there's a lot to do um and i guess when i started selling around the country that was like so eye-opening to me i did have that fear and i did have that sense and i knew other people were feeling it too that like okay this is limited i've got to just like put my head down and go hard and i'm saying like look up and be smarter and prepare for like
01:04:51
Speaker
a more expansive, like scaled out approach.
01:04:55
Speaker
That's what I try to help people do.
01:04:59
Speaker
Um, because I believe like the best is yet to come and that's certain.
01:05:06
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:06
Speaker
I love it.
01:05:07
Speaker
Be excited.
01:05:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:08
Speaker
It's going to be good.
01:05:09
Speaker
That's right.
01:05:10
Speaker
Love it.
01:05:11
Speaker
So yeah, having abundance mindsets, I think, you know, scared money, don't make money.
01:05:16
Speaker
It's like everyone should be out there thinking of the huge opportunity we have.
01:05:20
Speaker
And even people, you know, even markets where it does get saturated, I'm thinking California in 10 years, how many of these systems are going to need to be maybe replaced or maybe they need more panels.
01:05:31
Speaker
Maybe they need batteries.
01:05:33
Speaker
And we have retrofit batteries.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
We're,
01:05:35
Speaker
All of the solar companies are going to be doing retrofit batteries by next year.
01:05:40
Speaker
So there you go.
01:05:43
Speaker
Like that's a, that's a ton.
01:05:44
Speaker
And then guess what?
01:05:46
Speaker
Five years from now, like we're going to need to be doing that in other places.
01:05:49
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:51
Speaker
So there's a ton, there's a ton and you just, you have to just,
01:05:56
Speaker
No matter what solar company you're with, I know because I talk to people in all these different companies and the installer I use isn't perfect either.
01:06:04
Speaker
We all watch the industry ebb and flow, figuring it out.
01:06:10
Speaker
It's a young industry and no one's doing it perfectly.
01:06:15
Speaker
So you need a ton of patience and a ton of grit to just...
01:06:19
Speaker
sort of ride those hikes in interest rates and prices and install failures, problems with roofing and just be patient.
01:06:30
Speaker
Like it, it's going to be worth it.
01:06:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
01:06:34
Speaker
Okay.
01:06:35
Speaker
Well, yep.
01:06:35
Speaker
Good things come to those that are patient and we appreciate you being patient with this podcast.
01:06:41
Speaker
Anyone listening, it's the second time recording it.
01:06:45
Speaker
So I think it was even better.
01:06:47
Speaker
I think we got some good stuff.
01:06:47
Speaker
So much better.
01:06:48
Speaker
Yesterday was terrible.
01:06:50
Speaker
Trash it.
01:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
01:06:52
Speaker
No, it was fun.
01:06:53
Speaker
Glad to be here.
01:06:55
Speaker
Yep.
01:06:55
Speaker
So thanks again, Solar Mike.
01:06:57
Speaker
And guys, go reach out to him.
01:07:00
Speaker
Shoot him a DM.
01:07:01
Speaker
Leave him a comment on his next post.
01:07:04
Speaker
And hopefully we're going to have you again.
01:07:05
Speaker
on the, uh, in the future, Mike, but I appreciate you coming on.
01:07:08
Speaker
Yeah, let's go get dinner.
01:07:09
Speaker
I'll see you at the taco place.
01:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
01:07:12
Speaker
You bring your wife.
01:07:12
Speaker
All right, man.
01:07:14
Speaker
Okay.
01:07:15
Speaker
All right.
01:07:15
Speaker
Thanks, man.
01:07:16
Speaker
Good to see you.
01:07:17
Speaker
Bye.
01:07:18
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs?
01:07:19
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
01:07:21
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
01:07:32
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
01:07:39
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
01:07:42
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
01:07:47
Speaker
So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solarpreneur.
01:08:00
Speaker
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01:08:09
Speaker
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01:08:10
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
01:08:14
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
01:08:19
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
01:08:22
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
01:08:23
Speaker
Go download it right now.
01:08:25
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
01:08:31
Speaker
That's going to show you how.
01:08:32
Speaker
So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.