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Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail. I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.

Speaker 2 (00:41):

What's happening. Solarpreneurs. We're back with another episode in this time we have the Brazilian master himself, my man Christian coming on the show. So we got Christian Maru and I thanks for coming on the show with us today, Christian.

Speaker 3 (00:56):

Oh man. Thanks for having me. I'm I'm super excited actually. It's my very first time speaking in public like this and, uh, I'm super stoked to be, to be here on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:08):

Yeah, well it's well-deserved because, um, if you haven't seen, if you haven't followed Christian yet, he's been just one of the most consistent like solar sales reps. I've seen, he's consistently hitting big numbers. Um, and we're going to talk about all that today. So he is the number one rep at affluent, right? Is it fluent? Yup. Okay, cool. Making sure I got the name right. And yeah, been doing awesome. And you're soon to start up an office there in Houston. You're telling me here in what 3, 3, 4 months, something like that. You're going to go down there. Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:42):

Yes. I started, I started with flowing on May 7th and I, after a month and a half, they say, Hey, I feel like you got a lot of potential. There wants to, to expand the company. And they showed me a few places and I chose Houston to be the place to go. Right.

Speaker 2 (02:02):

Well, my cousins down in Houston, so maybe I'll, uh, he just bought a house down there. So I'd love to get him sold. He's point, he's pulling this, you know, he's moving, he might move in a couple of years, crap. So

Speaker 3 (02:15):

I know how to handle that.

Speaker 2 (02:20):

I'm his cousin. So I can't like tell him to cut the crap as much, but if I send you to his door, I know you'll get him taken care of.

Speaker 3 (02:27):

Yeah. I can smell the blood man. I can smell blood from far away.

Speaker 2 (02:32):

I better watch out. Cause now all my Houston podcast listeners that I heard that are going to be like hitting me up. So put, put a target on his back, but no, that's a awesome man. And so yeah, I mean, again, you've been having a ton of results being super consistent and we're going to get into all that. But do you want to tell us a little bit of your background, Christian? I'm like, I don't know what, how you got started in knocking doors and um, just how you got in the store and everything.

Speaker 3 (03:01):

Sure. My brother. Um, so on September 1st it tells an 18. That's when I got that's exactly when I got here in this country. So actually tomorrow, I guess it's going to be three years. Hasn't even been three years and just like a lot of international people. And I can relate to a lot of people from my country and from different places and different backgrounds when they get here, they, they get the cleaning jobs. So that's what I was doing. I was cleaning cars, uh, in a dealership. And then we started cleaning offices and Jean, Jean places at night and stuff like that. And it just, you know, I wasn't super happy cause I was working during the day and I was working at night and working multiple jobs and, and I was like, I've done sales in Brazil. Let's put the way I felt like I was successful. My company was doing well. I was running my company for seven years in the security industry. And that's how I started knocking doors. Actually I was knocking doors in Brazil for my, for my own company. Uh,

Speaker 2 (04:11):

Yeah, like singularity system, like style.

Speaker 3 (04:15):

Yeah, something like that. And also like pepper spray, like everything that you can have to defend yourself in a situation of risk, just because in my country, actually we're not allowed to have guns and firearms or anything like that. So happen to says you better know some martial arts jujitsu, you know, you better, you better be ready because we just not allowed to have anything. So I realized that here in the U S people could have some stuff. So it just decided to, uh, to do that in Brazil. So instead of knocking doors to talk to homeowners, I was knocking on doors of the police departments. So I'll go to every single city drive to us, small town or anything like that and say, Hey, how do you guys like your equipment? How do you guys like the boots? The Cavilers, the helmets, everything, you know, the gun holsters, like all sort of equipment that law enforcement have. That's what I was doing. I was just the main distributor say. Okay. Okay. And then he was just knocking on doors, visiting police departments. And to be Frank, you gotta be ballsy to talk to this guy.

Speaker 2 (05:32):

Yeah, that's crazy. That's yeah. It's funny. I'm uh, I'm taking a Brazilian jujitsu class. Uh, right now I just took my third class the other day. I'm beat up, man. Probably can't see on the camera, but I'm, uh, got bruises all over the place. So guys,

Speaker 3 (05:50):

I can, I can see, I can see the bruises. I did it for a little bit, but I'm more of a couple era. I don't know if haven't heard of martial arts and it's pretty, pretty cool as well. So yeah, that's kind of how I started in dental. I had this cleaning jobs kind of hated. And then I got into sales. I started with T-Mobile and then I, uh, I got a manager position and I was like, okay, that's a little better. What? I realized that I was working in a store and there was no more room for growth because other than that, I was just, I don't know, maybe I should open my own store, but if I do want to do that, that's like 500,000. Uh, and I was like, yeah, I felt like there was no more room for growth and I would have to wait for people. So what I started to do, I started to approach people outside the stores say, Hey, who do you guys use for the phone? And I started like approaching people. And I got a notice saying, Hey, you can do that. You can do that. You got to wait for people to get inside the store. Uh, and that's when I realized that, you know what? I don't want to do diet because even though I was so out of 124 people, I was number one in sales for months and months and months in a row.

Speaker 3 (07:18):

And by doing that, it's still even being number one. I felt like I couldn't grow anymore anymore. Uh, I, I will have to be just passive and waiting for people. And I was like, no, I want to do something where I can run my own paycheck. So I recruited myself, nobody actually recruited him, recruiting me. I started, I got into the door to door tribe, Facebook group and say, Hey guys, I want to do sales, hit me up.

Speaker 2 (07:47):

Like, man, I wish I would've seen that post. It probably got, probably got 500 messages.

Speaker 3 (07:54):

Oh my, oh my. So I sat down with every single pass, controlling the book and I talked to Santiago and Sentire said, Hey, if you just want to learn the job past control is a good way to start. And then if your career, maybe you should look into solar. So I did, I talked to flow in and I talked to a pest control company, decided the past was for me because a lot of my friends that were doing past. So I did pass for a first summer, three months in the summer, broke my arm and yeah, I was arm wrestling. And actually I was I'm wrestling my manager for over 20 bucks

Speaker 2 (08:37):

In

Speaker 3 (08:37):

An arm wrestling. Yeah. I can send the video so you can post on your page later.

Speaker 2 (08:42):

Yeah. We'll have to put that. It's like a company in the podcast. That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (08:47):

Yeah. So I was having, I was having a really good summer, uh, number one, rookie for the company. Um, three months in the summer had like 400 counts. Uh, I was on a pace to just 600, but because it was, I broke my arm with three months and I went back. I had a recovery and then summer was over. So all of the guys, they just came back home and I talked to the owners and say, Hey, I have a goal to do 600 accounts. My very first summer, would you guys let me come back? And then everybody was gone and I flew back to Texas and I, I started working again doing passive control by myself. That was pretty much it. Oh yeah. All of the boys that were home, it was just the owners and myself. So I did go back sold for a little bit. And then the company say, Hey, you know what, you're the only one here. I don't feel like too good choice to have just you here. And then they just sent me home. Wow.

Speaker 2 (09:55):

Holy cow. Some extreme dries. That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (09:59):

Yeah. It's just because I had a goal. So something that I want to share, if you'll let me with the, with the people, with the audience, it's just that instead of goals, to be Frank, I had more of a commitment. So I, every time when you, when you see the results that you can get, I would say it's always good to reevaluate your goals because if I didn't reevaluate myself and didn't compare, I was just trying to compare myself to my very best version of myself. I feel like a lot of times we just compare ourselves to other people and that, that can be tricky, you know, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. That can be tricky. So if I, if I take to my original goal, I want it, man. I want it to do 150 pest control accounts. And I sold a hundred my first month. Like, uh, yeah. I was in the country before, like a year, a year, a little over a year. So my English was still, I still have a lot to learn, but where my English was super, super broken, but I just, you know what, sales it's, what's going to pay the most money. So I got, I got a better, I better figure it out.

Speaker 2 (11:18):

Yeah. That's incredible. So I got to ask, why did you, uh, what brought you out to like the U S in the first place? Why'd you come here? Is that for school or were you just thinking you're going to work or when did you come out?

Speaker 3 (11:31):

Awesome. That's a great question. So BYU has always been a dream for like all of the LDS families out there in Brazil. Like people just see like, oh my gosh. Like the us in general is just to like live in the dream, you know? And then my wife, she was doing manufacturing engineering in Brazil and she, Hey, what if we go to the U S and I could just go to BYU? And I was like, okay, I support you. And we got here together. And that was initially was for school, you know? And yeah, she was still going to school and work.

Speaker 2 (12:08):

Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. No, I love hearing the drive ins. I dunno. Would you say like being in Brazil? I think, I don't know. You tell me I never been to Brazil, but I've been to Columbia. Maybe there's some similar stuff. That's where I did my church mission and it's like, I don't know. I'm sure it's similar in Columbia. People had nothing. Um, I imagine Brazil, there's probably a lot of poor parts and stuff like that. So I'm sure you gotta like, you know, scrap for everything and just like, you know, fighting call your way to success and everything. Um, probably more than out here in the U S we have, we have a ton out here compared to, I know a lot of countries down there. So do you think that contributes like your drive? Obviously you have like a ton of drive jelly, keep going where most other people to be bought in is industry. They're not, especially in solar, they're going to hit five, six deals in the month and be satisfied with that because they're making awesome money with that. So what is it? Yeah. What do you think, um, where do you get that drive from? If, if you have any, anything to say about that?

Speaker 3 (13:09):

Yeah. Um, every time when I think about drive, uh, I remember once I was talking to river rivers keener for like a while, I was just sharing like some personal stuff. And I remember it was just right when he made a post saying if you don't work hard, you're not grateful for the opportunity. That's how I always felt. It's not, I was one of the things that I learned from reading the book, grit from Angela Duckworth, gray, gray, gray book. It's just literally showing me the persistency and the grit and all of that. And when you're grateful for everything that happens. And especially when it come from a different background, I feel like sometimes here in the us, I see people actually complaining, like for not having space in the fridge. And, you know, like I came from a place where like, I will complain to not have stuff from the fridge, you know? Yeah. Sometimes we have the easiest sometimes I just feel like why fear is just so easier and never things just so, so, so cheaper that we take stuff for granted, you know, like we complain for the price of gas now, like three, $4, but in my country, 17, you know?

Speaker 2 (14:35):

Yeah. That's great. Yeah. That's awesome. And you reminded me, I don't know. Do you know a Leo salesman? He's like, yeah. Have you talked with him fellow Brazilian? He was on the podcast too, actually one of the earlier episodes of the show, but, uh, yeah, it's pretty crazy. He told me too how his dad first came here and same thing. I think he started out in cleaning and started his business and all that. And, um, went through like several bankruptcies, but it's just, uh, I think it's awesome hearing stories like that, of you guys that come from different countries and, um, you're just doing whatever it takes to have success. And, um, yeah, it shows an hours you're working. I asked, uh, I sent river a message because at first I was following you for a little bit, seeing you close all these deals and I'm like, wow, what is this guy doing?

Speaker 2 (15:23):

Is he on like sells steroids or something close in deal after deal? What is he doing? Um, and so I messaged river. I'm like, man, this guy works with you. What is he doing? And river's just like dared. He just works insane hours. He just goes out there all day, every day. And he's good at sales, but he's just putting in a ton hours. So, I mean, really, I think, do you want to give us idea how many hours are you typically working a week and give us some of your results. You've been getting to be number one rep there.

Speaker 3 (15:54):

Perfect. Perfect. I feel like, I don't know, uh, coming from passcode trope, I feel like sometimes the solar guys there, I don't want to say people are lazy, but it would just, we just don't work as hard as the farm guys or fast control guys. Exactly. I was eating up a friend say, Hey, what time you guys have meeting? And what time did you go to area? And my friend told me that, uh, his past patrol company, they have been at 9:00 AM and 10 30. They go to area and they work in art, in knife. I've been doing solar for almost almost 10 months now, and I'm never done to add myself. Uh, I work a lot, uh, some things that I might do differently. It's just that once I go to the doors, I just don't stop. And I really mean it. For example, my wife doesn't talk to me when I'm on the doors.

Speaker 3 (16:53):

And she knows that I just abide by some personal rules and some personal standards that I, I just don't do social media unless I'm posting the deals and talking about that. Like the only reason why I post and I shared that is just for personal accountability. Like it's not for visibility. It's not for the credits. Like I don't, I don't care. I have, I actually have 500 followers. Like I don't care about like how many people I have. Yeah. But you're like, the people I follow, it's just, they bring value. Like I don't follow any celebrity, like any famous people, brands and stuff. I don't have time for that. I just don't. So when I get to work, man, I have a P bottle in my car

Speaker 3 (17:46):

And I just, yeah. Like I, or I, I, okay. I can't, I can say like, just being the trees and bushes and stuff, I've done it like so many times I just have a people auto. And then that said, like, I have go to gas stations, zero times I meal prep. I'm following a diet. I started a program a few months ago. I'm sticking to I, if I'm drinking anything, I take it with me. Like I just have everything to be ready for the doors in. And then I just don't stop and say, oh, I talked to 30

Speaker 2 (18:21):

Homeowners, 30 homers. Nice.

Speaker 3 (18:24):

That's my go-to. You don't have to be talented. You don't have to be super skilled if you just pull yourself from, in front of 30 people every day. I just feel like there's no way to get the results. And the only way to talk to that many people is just being efficient with the doors, you know, just cherry picking. One of the things that I do, I use my segway a lot. I love it. I wouldn't, I just, man, I don't even, yeah. I don't know. Have you ever used a segway Taylor?

Speaker 2 (19:00):

Yeah. Yeah. He's it. I, I forgot about it for a little bit, but then say you and river breaking them out. I'm like, man, I ain't gonna pull that thing back out because I forgot how like, you know, quicker and it makes it like more fun on the tours too, to get rejected. Just hop on the segway.

Speaker 3 (19:16):

Yes. Yes. Especially even if a super hard know what I do every single time. When I hop on my segway, I feel like it's a mental break. Like I don't even feel the no. Cause my brain at that moment is just trying to concentrate on getting on the segway, get it to the next house. See if their shutters are open, see the oils things as they arise, see people's homes, see like how many cars in drive and stuff like that. So it was just a lot of things that comes out automatically to the mind just cause you're used to the job. And that's my goal too. I, I remember being on an adventure with Sam Taggart and he said, and I was asking like, what should I do when I get a super-hard note? And he asked me back, what do you do? And I told him, I just fly to the next door. Like I don't let that get inside my head. I don't wait like half a second. Like whenever they're a jerk, you know? Or like super rude to me. I just two seconds later, I'm on the next door. Right.

Speaker 2 (20:17):

That's awesome. That's the way to do it. And like all these things, but like people expect, I don't know a lot for a long time. I thought people that were closing tons of deals had some like secret formula, my secret word track they're doing, but you heard it from Christian himself. He's not doing anything. He's just doing like simple things, super consistent. And it's like, I love how you just think of it. Not in like hours work, but no, it's just, I got to talk to 30 people. I got to get in front of 30 people because if I do, that's how I'm going to have success, so I'm going to get it right. And so for our listeners, Christian, um, how long would you say it typically takes you to get in front of 30 or 30 homeowners every day. Okay.

Speaker 3 (20:59):

That's a great question. So my rule of thumb is just to be driving to an area at three. And in a lot of days, I'm on the doors at three and I work until dark plus one, something that we have part of the culture, just like whenever it gets dark, you just knock one more door and really not more than one door to be just because, yeah, just because of personal standards, but as a company, like, will you just knock until dark plus one? And then yeah, whenever it gets dark, you just be careful the way approach the door. It's just being friendly. You show your badge, you know, you just, yeah. Just the way you carry yourself. Everybody knows the rules and stuff like that. But

Speaker 2 (21:44):

Yeah, that was good. Yeah. And so I did, so you're in a Dallas, right? Cause they're not going to Dallas area. That's where I started. That's where I, uh, uh, I guess got my start in pest control is, and in Dallas actually in, uh, it was pretty brutal. I didn't, I didn't throw it on as many pest accounts as you. I was pretty terrible pest, but um, I remember I got a gun pulled one time in Texas. Those, those Texans are no joke, man. You get guns pulled on you and stuff out there.

Speaker 3 (22:15):

Yeah. I had first month growing dollars. Same, same, same, same way brother.

Speaker 2 (22:23):

Yeah. And you got it. You guys got to get like permits and every city to knock out their deer. Right. And they're pretty strict about that.

Speaker 3 (22:30):

The city and knock sometimes. And again, it's more of a, your attitude. If you feel like you belong the place and you feel like you're all in the area, I feel like everybody's going to be receptive.

Speaker 2 (22:43):

Yeah. That's awesome. Well, no. So, um, another thing I see you doing a lot of Christian is, um, just getting a lot, a ton of same day appointments. It seemed like almost every deal I see you're posting up on Instagram. It's like same day, same kilowatt, same day 11 kilowatt, just big systems. And they're like majority, same days that looks like. So what do you do? Um, like tell me about that. Do you shoot for same days and what are you doing to get so many same day appointments? Cause that's actually a question I get asked a lot too from our listeners. Okay.

Speaker 3 (23:16):

Okay. Um, so yeah, average size. It's usually anywhere from nine to 11, that's kind of the average over there. So what we're doing, what I'm doing to get the same days, I don't even allow myself to work differently than that. Like if I'm not same day in you, I don't, I don't actually set the appointment. So it's much more of the way I perceive, uh, going to the events. And again, I think I kind of shared that with you, just listening to podcasts, like your show and many others and listening to people that have been on the job for so long. I just had to learn how to respect and love myself. When I started, I would just feel pity, you know, like, oh I, and that right now, I just feel like everybody's got a Ted story, you know, like who gives a crap? We all got [inaudible] uh, I'm the foreigner I have, I don't know where English and I don't know if I can do solar. So like, man, when I started, my goal was to close 40 deals in the year and then I've closed 60 over the last four months.

Speaker 3 (24:37):

Yeah. So I just, I just started to believe in myself a little bit more. For example, just the way just the self-talk every time, uh, before I even opened my eyes, that's first thing I do. I try to get myself into peak state. So I repeat a little, like a little mantra that I have for myself. Like I, I, I'm just going to share with you guys. I say today is a good day to make it a great day. Today is a good day to make it a great day. And then on the third time I put more emphasis and I jumped out of the bed and I just get ready. Today's a good day to have to make it a great day. You know? And that gets me to a different state. You know, Tony Robbins called calls it like pig state. And then I have some more stuff. So self-talk is kind of a big thing. I know Taylor McCarthy and a lot of the big players, they talk about that. So after I say that, I also share something else. I say, I'm a great salesman. I sell every day sales come easy to me because I work the hours focused. I'm enough. I weigh my mornings. I weigh my days. I'm winning my life.

Speaker 2 (26:03):

Boom. I love that. That's awesome. And I know you and river are big on those. I see river doing a lot of stuff like that too. Yeah, it works. I mean, and that NLP stuff. Neuro-linguistic programming. Um, yeah. It's white toner. Have you been to a Tony Robbins event

Speaker 3 (26:20):

Actually. So for August, that's the, I love, I love that you asked that. So for August, uh, fluent, they had a competition. So the number one, like the number, the top performer would get tickets for Tony Robbins. Yeah. So in a month for four now in November, next month I'm flying my wife and I were both flying. Like the company got us tickets hotels, and we're going to Tony Robbins for five days.

Speaker 2 (26:48):

Wow. That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (26:50):

It's always, it's been a dream man. Like I I've seen this guy in, like I'm not your guru and a lot of stuff since I was in Brazil, I was like, dude, he's the man. And now I'm going to get to see the legend myself. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:04):

He's the goat for sure. And yeah, you'll have, I've seen them seep speak a few times, but yeah, it's just all the stuff you're saying. Like his event you'll see it as event. And I know you've seen like his documentary and all that, but it's just like screaming and shout and the whole time jumping up and down. So like for managers that are listening to this podcast, make sure you're happy. You're teaching your reps, this stuff. And, uh, Christian just gave you some sweet, um, you know, and contagions manifestations, whatever you want to call them. Souls are good things to repeat. So are you, are you kind of telling yourself those things, like as you get up or as you get out on the doors or just like all the time Christian?

Speaker 3 (27:42):

Yeah, I repeat that one. Like today is a good day to make it a great day. And then I say three times and I was repeating myself. I'm a great salesman. I sell every day. So when it started, I would say I sell every week because that was my goal. And then I realized that like, why am I selling only every week? Because if I sell every week, I might be sending like four or five, six deals. And like, that's not for me. Like I can do more than that. And it got to a point. I was like, if I'm deciding to sell, just think about the guy. I don't know. Maybe someone listening to this show they've been selling two or three, four or five a month. And then my question is why would you cut yourself short and not sell for the other 25 days of the month? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:32):

I just, I, I kind of like punch myself in the face and I kind of had a serious conversation with myself and that's when everything started to change and I started to same days. So getting back to same days, I want to answer that question. Now I want to share my thought process and how I do it a lot behind the scenes. Like it's not the magical words that that's not, you know, it's just the game. They're like, why did I decide to sell one or two a week? And now I'm telling you, man, if someone, I fun talking to you on the, let's say on a Tuesday and they say, yeah, like, I'm going to be easy. Can you come back on Friday? I'm like, no, sir, I actually can't. So I'm going to show you the calendar. And I actually show my calendar. As you can see, like everybody's been looking into solar, like if you don't want to do this, that's okay. The government, they have a lot of tax incentives. That's okay. Like yes or no, whatever answer works fine with me. My job is to find people that is ready to take the money and take advantage of the program. I've never seen anyone in my life say no to save money. What time is it good tomorrow at four or a six? Boom.

Speaker 2 (29:54):

There you go. So you're saying that you, you said you don't do next day appointments all like a hundred percent, same days, or do you, do you ever do like next day appointments

Speaker 3 (30:06):

That I've, I've driven back to houses and then all super solid guy in like four days later and then they no show, like if you just the numbers, like, just think, just trying to get to know your numbers. I think it's important. I know my numbers, like if I don't know my numbers, there's no way for me to increase my closing ratio and stuff like that. So there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes. Like getting to know your numbers, like, oh, how many deals you're closing a month? Cause some people say, oh, I closed. Yeah, you can have a good day. But that doesn't mean really good. Like everybody can have a good day. Everybody can have a good week, but you actually know a guy like for Dick consistency, like four or five months in a row or 10 months in a row, like a year or people being a top performer for years. Those are the guys that, that respect, like, I don't know, maybe selling three or four deals in a day. Yeah. That's good. But if you don't sell a deal next month, that's not good, man. That's not, you know?

Speaker 2 (31:10):

Yeah. I agree. And that's yeah. That's unfortunately like, like you said, a lot of people in solar, that's the curse of these big commissions. People see the checks coming in and then they don't work after. So that's why I tell a lot of our guys just don't even like, look at how much you're going to make. Like just go out and sell more. Right. It's gotten hit big numbers and do it consistently because that's, what's, that's what's missing. Is guys just hitting their hours and hitting their numbers consistently. Would you agree?

Speaker 3 (31:37):

Yeah. Yeah. And before I beginning to fall, just go and spend the money on stupid stuff anyway. Yeah. Yeah. It seems I started, you can ask flow in, like I never even touched a paycheck. Never like never, I never touch it because I finally feel like I just, I just invest the money. I like, I know Adam lab, some guys say invest 20% and yada, yada. But if auto manage your money, you can invest a hundred percent of it and just leave legislate broke. Yeah. But that's, that's just, I'm just trying to set myself up for the future instead of like the short-term goals. That's why like I go for same days. I really mean it. I talked to someone if I don't feel like they're a solid lead Taylor, I read her not have the lead then getting like a lead that I know that's not going to sh a no-show waste of time creating the proposal, wait for the proposal to get ready, driving back to the house. And then they know show me right. When I talk to that homeowner, I always, before setting the appointment, I say, Hey, when I come back, I'm going to show you two things. I'm going to show how many panels you're going to need on the roof. You know, where the panels go. And I'm going to show exactly the financial breakdown, how much money you're going to be saving. Uh, if everything makes sense. Is there any reason why you wouldn't move forward with this?

Speaker 3 (33:16):

I, the reason why I always asked that question. Cause if I take, give me any sort of resistancy, like I don't even set the appointment. That's not for me. Cause when I was doing solar in California, because it was a harder market, I felt like I really had to be a good salesman. You know, it was like, go for the appointment. It's like, cause I know in California you save people money. So if they latch you in, sometimes it's like a terrible lead. Like, dude, I don't want to go solar, but okay. You can come back and then you close the bill, you know?

Speaker 2 (33:55):

I

Speaker 3 (33:55):

Mean this week I had people I've had that happen so many times in California, people like, oh it's solar. I know everything about solar. I will never go solar, but yeah, come back, show me the numbers. And then like, and they signed dogs and

Speaker 2 (34:13):

That's awesome. And yeah, it's like, yeah, I forgot what I was going to say. But yeah, just being consistent set in the same days. And um, I think that's a big problem though. Is guys get this rush of excitement? I don't know about you, but when I was starting out, especially in IC in newer reps is they get this almost like rush of excitement when they can say, oh, I set a lead. I set an appointment for tomorrow, went in their head. They know is that this point is like a hundred percent not going to show crop appointments, but they just fill out the form whatever to say. They got an appointment. So I've talked with teams that don't even like recognize appointments booked anymore. We used to recognize and give like a ton of recognition for how many appointments were booked on a day.

Speaker 2 (34:57):

But now we sort of swapped it up and our teams, we don't even like posts when we book appointments for the most part it's because I don't know. I think, I think guys put too much focus on just that little rush of excitement when you say, oh, I've set an appointment. Or really like, as you know, when solar means nothing until you get it to install. Right. So at the end of the day, installs are king and um, you know, obviously you got to help people with the steps beforehand. But yeah, I agree with that a hundred percent. Um, I think people set way too many crappy appointments and get happy about it. So

Speaker 3 (35:33):

I've done it myself. Like I've done it myself, just trying to trick myself and maybe look really good for the company. Look good for the guys that you work with. But at the end of the day, like only closed deals and installs. That's the only metric that's gonna matter. Like the amount of people you you're getting from and the people you sign up. Oh yeah, I've done it like so many times. It's just that it really depends this tenders. You're holding yourself to, you know, as whenever I decided to like do same days and, and treat my time as the most valuable thing in the world, I felt like everything has changed. Just like, it's not just saying like, I love myself. It's just like, Hey, I don't know if we're going to have solar. I liked listening to the Michael Donner. When he says on his podcast, he was thinking it was, it was going to be the end of the solar. Remember that? I, I, I, I feel like I try to leave like that, like everyday, like, oh, maybe it's the inner solar. I bet I better take it of energy, the opportunity. This is the mother gold rush.

Speaker 2 (36:47):

Sure. I know the guys who are Trina like that, they're having the success. And so something that I really think is cool that you do Christian is I feel like another big thing you're super consistent on just your teens. I see you post on like, you know, pictures of books or reading workouts you're doing like you were talking about earlier the meal plan. And for me, I think I know myself, um, when I am being super consistent, I'm not as near as consistent as you. So I have a ton of respect for that. But the times where I'm working assistant or is where I'm falling, like both set schedules, those are routines. I'm doing my workouts reading, um, getting my healthy eating in. So for you, how, how big of a big of a factor would you say that is? Like your routines every day in the stuff you do before you go out on the doors, do you want to share a couple of those things that you're doing that maybe help you out just like get in the right mindset to hit the doors consistently every day?

Speaker 3 (37:40):

Yes. Yes. Taylor, I'm not, uh, you know, uh, I'm closed system when it comes to closing deals. But for example, I'm not the guy that's working out like crazy doing CrossFit. I'm not in the best shape I've lost. I've dropped 25 pounds so far.

Speaker 2 (37:58):

Yeah. You're not going to CrossFit with river. Isn't that thing.

Speaker 3 (38:03):

And yeah, he took me, he took me to CrossFit a few times, but it's just too hard for me.

Speaker 2 (38:08):

That's no joke.

Speaker 3 (38:10):

Yeah. But something that helped me, for example, the same consistency with some, some people have with the gym I have with the diet and with the meal prep. So I'm trying to get one thing at a time in order in my life. Cause I feel like the way you do one thing is the way you do everything, but there's no way to change everything at once. It's just tapped by stop. So I started with the diet and I, I'm pretty sure that pretty soon I'm going to be the guy just super consistent with working out. Because for the last 10 months I've been taking the cold showers and it's not like I hate it. I hate it. I came from Brazil like there. Yeah. It's like, it's a one country, you know, it's like, yeah. But I, I saw like Dora, Dora guys doing the cold showers, people doing for years.

Speaker 3 (39:01):

Like, you know what, I'm going to give it a try and then realize that now, like it's not that hard for me anymore. So even when I don't do a whole lot of things, I just, Hey, I've done hard things myself in the past. So even the days when I wake up late, which I do, I don't win the morning every day. I'm not the guy went in the morning everyday. I want to share that with you. But what happens is when it's game time, it's no joke. It's game time. Even when I was doing pest control, uh, it's not, uh, now if you are a little bit of a shame of Shea, uh, saying that, but our meetings was at 10 hours, the guy waking up literally and 9 58, and now I'm serious. My alarm was set for 9, 8 58. I was broke and I was going to brush my teeth for 30 seconds and fly.

Speaker 3 (40:01):

And for so many times I had to like pee one-on-one and eat it. Yeah. Eat like Marjorie or, or, yeah, just like do crazy stuff, you know, be slammed and punch. And they're like, yeah, that happened. Like, yeah, I was late like a lot of times, but still I was able to be number one by the end of the summer. So it's not only about waking up early or it's not only about winning the morning or really it's just implementing what you do. I don't read 20 books a month. I don't read, I read one book a month sometimes, but whatever I read, I try to implement as well. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:51):

I love that. And that's something my think is really cool too, is you're sharing the wins and the losses. I mean, you don't have to do it all a hundred percent to be number one, Christians. Oh yeah. Some guys think that, oh, I didn't. I missed my morning routine. Well, this day is shot. I'm going to get out on the doors late. Uh, this day's going good. But I think the guys that are having success, they're missing things here and there, but they're still being as consistent as possible. Like if they miss their workout or if they miss out on their cold shower or whatever, they're cutting their losses and they're still gonna make that day as accessible as possible. That's another lesson that I feel like I still need to learn sometimes. I don't know if you get out on late on the doors, don't like consider your whole day shot.

Speaker 2 (41:34):

Just go out and push as hard as you can for the hours you did get out instead of letting it effect your whole day, which I think is awesome. And you posted the other day, Christian. Um, I think it was on a Saturday. You posted, um, that you got out and knocked the whole day, but you didn't get like, I don't know if it was in a single appointment or a single close. And I thought that was cool, dude. Cause I'm used to seeing you post sale after sale, and then you kept that real scene. You didn't get anything on that. Saturday was that last Saturday you posted that.

Speaker 3 (42:02):

Yeah. So again, I work three weeks, super hard in a take, I don't know, like a few days off. So, uh, I realized the Saturdays are first solar in my opinion. Cause they can get people home. And because my goal is to same day, I was like, I'm going to be at the door. So what happen is over the last 16 weeks, five weeks I was out. Okay. Cause pretty much once a month, I'm out for training for traveling vacation, whatever it is. So what happened out of the 16 Saturdays? I worked at last of those. So last Saturday was the 11th Saturday. There was always selling and now was, I was trying super, super hard. I did get on the doors like nine, 10:00 AM and I D I didn't stop. Like I, I stopped to eat for three minutes, my meal prep at the guest.

Speaker 3 (42:58):

I dunno for some of my posts. I was there to just eating at a gas station and I was like, I can't, I'm on a winning streak. You know, like just the momentum that everybody talks about. So I wanted to carry that. Cause now it's a tradition. It's like sailing on. It's not even a question anymore for sure. And yeah, so I was like, I got to find the deal. And then I did, uh, for example, when, uh, when I went to Houston for the first time, it was like a month ago actually my, my first Houston installed is going to happen tomorrow. Nice. Yeah. I realized that I was having consistency consistently, but I never had a two spot in, I, and I've seen a lot of guys just selling three, four deals in a day. I was like, oh crap. How did these guys do that?

Speaker 3 (43:53):

You know? And I was like, you know what, I'm doing it. And wa and I did it. And then the following day, I sold two as well. Nice. And then the following day, I sold two again. And then, and then I realized that whatever is your standard, try to raise the bar. So what I mean by that, for the listeners that I sell in four or five, six, dude, just like, there's no way you're not selling 10 a month. Like why you're not selling double digits because once you do, you just do it and then it was just do it again and there, just do it again. And then was just going to do it every month because you've done it because you've done it. So, yeah, I like, I've done like 10 and then I get 10 and then 10 and then 12 and then 15 and then 16. And now like, now I want to close 20. I want to close.

Speaker 2 (44:53):

Yeah. That's true. And yeah, I think that's another miss people like set their standards so low and then they hit it, get complacent. Um, but yeah, I actually just got out of pot and podcasts earlier today with the Alex Hogan hall. And she was talking about that too. Just how competitions help her reps like get to a new level. And then it's like, okay, you saw yourself do 15 in a month during this competition. Like, why can't you do, why can't you do that every month now? So I think that's a key thing for managers, leaders and stuff like that. Get your guys to hit higher levels. And then they see it's possible. It's like they, once they see the four minute mile has been done, then you can't say it's impossible anymore. Like Christian just went out and did it. Right. Just went out and did it. These guys can do it. It's possible. I mean, Christian, you didn't even know, you didn't even know English from selling pest control for crying out loud. Like anyone should be able to hear,

Speaker 3 (45:49):

I know you don't like roaches. I don't like cockroaches as well. Okay. We got up, we got something in common. Let's get you started. Okay. The trucks are right there. You know, the Johnsons, boom. Yeah. The trucks is going to finish and then you're next on my list. I'll do super cheap. Boom.

Speaker 2 (46:05):

That's why I left Brazil. There are too many roaches and spiders. That's awesome stuff, Christian. Um, and then like with goals. So can you talk about real quick before we kinda wrap up here with your numbers? What, what type of metrics is there some metrics like, you know, you need to hit to hit your goals every month, like X amount of appointments. Um, is it pretty much just 30 homeowners you're focused on focusing on and then, you know, the rest will fall into place with that or any other metrics you focus on for the month?

Speaker 3 (46:39):

Yup. Yup, definitely. Um, so when it comes to the numbers, uh, it's important to know your numbers. For example, I'm just going to look, I have my numbers on the notes, on my phone that way. Uh, I always track, I have, uh, I've shared my calendar on social media anywhere to anyone that wants to see my calendar and how it looks like how I have my appointments, how we book it and how I know exactly the outcome. I, what I did. I color coded what I mean by that. For example, every time when I have a showing in blue, I noticed an appointment when they shows a purple. I know it's an appointment that I pitched that didn't close when it shows green. I know the people that I showed. So I have, uh, I have a visual just right in front of me. So it's, it's kind of easy.

Speaker 3 (47:29):

I just opened my calendar and I know, I know that I'm doing well, and I know that I'm not doing well, and I know what I have to work on. And I know what I have improved because it's visual. I just call her a code in my calendar and knowing that I it's always there. It's always available for example, um, why don't we just go, hold on. I just, I just switched phones. I got a new phone, but it was so busy working. Like I, I had owned the bot for a month, a new phone and the brand new iPad. Like he came out, I got it. And I didn't even open. I was just busy working.

Speaker 2 (48:07):

I know I got to close more deals than that at bed.

Speaker 3 (48:12):

I just moved to Utah for like two days or something. It was like, you know what, I'm just going to take the iPad and the iPhone. So I started up, but I remember, I remember, so when it comes to July, I had 41 appointments out of this 41. I have, I don't know, 18 or shows. I had like 14 that I pitched that didn't close. And I had 15 that, a page that did close and I had three, the fail credit. So I realized that August, if I ha if I wanted to have my best month, which I did, I had to do bigger numbers because it's a numbers game. So what I did, I increased my numbers. So for August, I had 62 appointments and out of the 62, 23, no show me, which is 30%. And then out of the people that showed up, I pitched 18 that didn't close and a page 16 that they'd closed. So right now I'm sitting at a 50% closing for the people that I sit down. Wait. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:14):

That's incredible. Yeah. And yeah, that's, that's no secret to, I think a lot of guys forget is like top guys, like you, any top guy that I get on this podcast, that's closing a lot of deals. They all know their numbers like that instantly. So for our Solarpreneurs listeners, um, if you, if you can't like, you know, tell back your numbers right now and go through your ratios, like Christian just did, then you're missing something there. Cause I think that's a huge thing. If you can't know your numbers, you don't know like the back of your hand, how are you going to improve them? That's what Christian has been doing. That's how he's been all day increases numbers. He's just like, oh, I need to sit with more people than it being cheap as ratios the same or improve them. I know my best months and sales.

Speaker 2 (49:57):

Um, yeah, I've, I've been a mad man about tracking numbers too. So that's that's um, yeah. Huge thing. If people aren't doing that. So a Christian, I know it's getting late. You're in Utah, we're doing a late night podcast right now. So Christians appreciate you for coming on. Um, we went back and forth so glad to finally get you on the show, even though it's, you know, 10 o'clock at night for you. Awesome. But, uh, Christian. So before we kind of wrap up here, where can people find you on social media and connect with you and all that?

Speaker 3 (50:29):

Yeah. So when I got here in the U S I actually, I didn't have social media for about like two, almost three years now. I still use Facebook, Krisha, moron, and the ground. I that's why I have like 500 people. Just pretty much all door to door people. Yeah. I started needs to grow and like, not like maybe a year ago, stuff like that. I just want to share it. Won't last thing that the numbers, they, they didn't look like this. When I started, like, I will have to sit down with five, six people to close one. So I had to work way, way harder now because it closed at 50% every day, I just got to get inside two houses and that's it, whatever your number is. If you're closing one out of four, just do the reverse engineering. Because a lot of times people, they just do like how much money they can make, but they don't break down with the reverse engineer to see how many people they have to talk to how many hours they have to put in order to get those appointments.

Speaker 3 (51:35):

Well, how many of these appointments are going to show how many of these appointments are going to cancel? What's your cancellation rate? Like it's important to know that stuff and just backtrack and do the reverse engineer. So cause when it started, I was like, yeah, I want to do 40 deals. And I was like, no, I don't want to do 40 anymore. And then I wanted to do 60 deals. And then I realized that I could do 16 for months. And now, now I want to close way more than that. You know, it's just, yeah, that's pretty much what I, what I wanted to share with the guys that like, it was, it was hard. It was hard, but now I'm just grateful. So we had to push for meetings, Christian Maroney, and I'm available. Like I don't care for work for a different company hours if people, Hey, I'm going to Houston, you are invited to just stay in my place. You can just work with me. I don't care, whatever t-shirt, you're working with. I don't care whatever company, if I can provide any value, if I can. Like, if I, I dunno if I can stand for the industry, if I can support any solar fallow, because I feel like sometimes people they're not happy with their current companies or sometimes people aren't happy, but they still can learn from people, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:49):

That's huge. So yeah, no, I think abundance mindset. Um, definitely appreciate that. And um, yeah, like I always tell the story, but a lot of people starting out when I started in solar, didn't have that mindset. They're like, no, if you're from a different company, I'm not going to talk to you. I'm not like sharing anything, company secrets. So I think it's awesome that guys like you now are, you know, just coming from that abundance mindset and willing to share, what's working for you and you know, specific things you're doing and saying on the doors. So a last kind of follow up question that Christian, before we let you go here, um, you, you mentioned that you, you know, increase your closing ratio and improve those numbers a lot. I just been going anything specific that you did to like increase those ratios. Do you think it was just more, experience-based just more time you needed or were you like drill on role playing like crazy? What helped you increase those ratios in your closes and all that

Speaker 3 (53:42):

Fantastic question, Taylor. I love it. I love it. So I learned at a young age, I don't know, probably most of the listeners they know Zig Ziglar. They know Napoleon hill. They know gene rum for me. Like if you're listening to, if you listen to Zig Ziglar and Jim, like, I just compensate with numbers. What I lack in skill, that's it numbers, what are lacking skill? What I mean by that? I just had to get myself in front of a lot of people until I could learn. So what made the change is that along the process, I realized that I just needed to simplify. I was making solar too complicated. I was explaining in a way that people go like, dude, I'm not sure in my car. Did he says a confused mind? We always say no, just make it simple, like stupid, simple in a sense that now every single one of my presentations, I'm pretty pretty a hundred percent confident that if I do my presentation to a third grade, they're going to understand like a hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (54:55):

Hmm. That's awesome. Yeah. Love that. So Christian, thanks for all the tips you shared. So for Solarpreneurs, keep it simple out there. And guys, it's not rocket science. Christian came from Brazil, barely know in English and he's killing it in this injury. He's one of the top reps in the industry. So do those simple things, be consistent, get out on the doors at the same time, be consistent in your closes, tracked your numbers like a madman. And I think that's pretty much all there is to it. So, uh, so Christian, thanks again for coming on the show and before yep. Before we let you go, I guess we pretty much went through anything, but any, uh, any final tips you want to share with our Solarpreneurs before we say goodbye,

Speaker 3 (55:37):

My brother, uh, I think, I think that said something that I do know that I also do. I want to share one thing like with the international people, sometimes some guys it's like, oh, like it's hard, no doors, doors for you as well. You know, just believe in yourself. And you have, I've seen so many people just getting to the industry and crushing it. I'll say that's something that I wanted to share as well just believe in yourself, this, this is for you and know your demographics. I know exactly what type of people that I closed at a higher percentage. It better send that you ratio rate. So that's, that's kinda my, the people that I go to. So when I, same days just based on their body language, they, they react. They, they talk to me the way they carried themselves. I can save from closing that deal or no. So if I don't feel like I'm closing, I don't even set the appointment. So just kind of know the people that you close easier. Cause the Indiana, the day, you don't want to be the best salesman in the world. Just go talk to, just look for the low hanging fruit.

Speaker 3 (56:48):

Just look for the low hanging fruits and that's it.

Speaker 2 (56:51):

Yeah. I love that. So w what, what are the demographics for you, Christian? What, which ones do you go after?

Speaker 3 (56:59):

Um, now, now it's getting to a point that I can close. Pretty much everything. It wasn't like as now. I don't, I don't have a demographics, but yeah, in Texas, there's a lot of like, uh, black people. I feel like that's a really good demographic for me. I can connect with this people really, really well, and I haven't closed. So in my country we speak Portuguese, but I learned here in dos. I, I don't close a whole lot of deals in Spanish to be Frank with you. Nah, but I like it's, it's good people. So, but that's not my go-to. I feel like, yeah, I'll say black people, but I, I like, I like styling everyone.

Speaker 2 (57:42):

Yeah. Let's go. Well, Christian, thanks again, my man. Sorry. I think I've said we're going to wrap up like 10 times and then you keep, you keep, you keep dropping a cold on us. So I'm like, dang, I need to ask him about this. And he follow up with

Speaker 3 (57:56):

Very, very first time speaking in public. So I just can't. I just can't hold myself.

Speaker 2 (58:00):

Yeah, no, you did awesome, man. So I appreciate you guys go give Krishna fall. Let them know you appreciated that episode. And thanks again. We'll be connecting and talk soon, Christian. Thanks for coming on the show.

Speaker 4 (58:13):

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The SOLARPRENEUR podcast is here to help you close more deals in the solar industry, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully, have a much better time and situation.