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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. What's up Solarpreneurs Taylor Armstrong. Back with another episode, I

Speaker 2 (00:45):

Hope you're doing well today. We're going to dive into why you should be asking your homeowner's thought provoking questions, why you should be getting them to realize the benefits of solar and what type of questions should you be asking your clients or the homeowners that you talk to all that and much more in today's episode, let's jump into it. So, um, it is almost a fall here. Those that have gone home for the summer. Hope you had an awesome summer, but let's be honest. You should be doing solar all year round because it's the greatest industry to be in. There's no better thing you could be doing than helping save the planet, helping homeowners get away from the utility company. That's what we're all about here. And as usual, that's what this podcast is going to train you to do. It's get more deals, get more referrals and get more results as you're out there, starting your solar business or continuing your solar business or whatever step you're at, along the journey.

Speaker 2 (01:51):

So before we jump into the topic today, um, I wanted to just remind you, go hop in the Solarpreneur Facebook group, if you're not already. And then along with that, we had a solar Joe on what was it a couple of weeks ago? He has, I think probably the, I'll say the best Facebook group. Okay. Solar printer, Facebook group. Isn't quite to the level, but we're going to get it there eventually. Um, but go join both those Facebook groups, his, his solar objections, and then Solarpreneur is the one where we're talking all things along with the podcast. And we are networking with the listeners and as usual, hoping to hear feedback from what you guys thought of the topics of the episodes of the guests we had, we've had on and suggestions for improvement, all that good stuff. But the reason I'm bringing that up is because last week I had a situation where, and I'm still going through this actually, but, um, I'm doing a solar on a couple of townhomes here in California and these hos, I don't know what's going on.

Speaker 2 (02:59):

It seems like they're getting tougher and tougher out here. Um, the past, I don't know, year or so year or two, I've done few townhomes here and there few places with shared roof spaces. And really hasn't been much of an issue. But last week I've had some just accounts on hold and I'm trying to figure out what to do for him. Um, what happened is that each ways basically came back and said, Hey, unless you guys take out a million dollar insurance policy, you can't have solar added onto these, um, to these units. And what's funny is I talked to several people in both the communities to different communities down here, and no one had to take out a policy, a separate, uh, insurance policy. I'm like, what is going on? So we brought this up to the hos and they're like, oh, we're just, we're requiring it.

Speaker 2 (03:51):

Now. They basically just ignored it and wouldn't give us an answer why it was being required. So I don't know if they talked to their lawyers again or had some issues who knows, but both of them just out of the blue started requiring this. And it's a huge hassle because the homeowners, they don't really want to take out a separate policy. And then one of them did get a quote and there's probably cheaper, you know, policies out there. But the co the one customer got, it was going to cost them an extra thousand bucks a year just for this million dollar insurance policy. And that's adding that on. Do you know what he's paying with the solar? He's paying a decent amount more than he's paying every month, which even with that, he still should go solar. But, um, he basically said, Taylor, and we don't really want to like go through this.

Speaker 2 (04:41):

We're going to have to pay more and have to get separate insurance and tough to, you know, tough to get him back on board. If he's going to have to go through this huge hassle hassle and pay all this extra money. So anyways, the reason I'm seeing all this is because I was pretty much stumped the installer where you're using. They're like, yeah, we can't even do this. And so I'm post a comment in, uh, both of those Facebook groups, solar printer, and then solar objections just got some great feedback, some great comments from guys that haven't gone through, similar situations. Um, one was from, uh, Jake [inaudible] who's at solar academy. We're going to get them on the show here soon, but they just reminded me that it's here in California. You can't have a homeowner spend more than a thousand dollars on their solar project, like extra for anything they each way requires.

Speaker 2 (05:36):

So it's not fully resolved yet. We're still going back and forth with HOA, but just from the great comments and the great feedback I got posted in the Facebook groups, I think we're going to get, be able to push these accounts there now, because California, they can't make you spend more than a thousand dollars. And if the policy itself they've already spent hundreds and hundreds just to like submit their HOA applications and everything. So if the separate insurance policy is going to cost a thousand, then come up, man, you can't make him do that. So that's where we're at. And once we figured that out, I honestly didn't know that. So, um, we're going back back to the HOA with that, um, quiver with that arrow in our quiver. And hopefully we can get these accounts push through. So just wanted to say that because if you ever are stuck on deals, if you ever need a feedback from the community, that's what it's all about.

Speaker 2 (06:34):

We're all, I've just been super grateful to get good feedback, to get, um, great people in the industry. Sharon what's helped them. And that's where you're going to get from these groups. So I wanted to invite you if you're not part of these Facebook groups, part of these communities go get in on them because there is some fantastic nuggets there, mean shared some great tidbits of info and actually going to bring up a few more things that I've learned from the groups. So go join them and then hit me up and hope to connect with you guys in there. I try to pop in there at least a couple times a week myself. So that being said, let's hop in today's topic. And that is why you should be asking your customers good questions. And the reason I'm doing this topic today is because a few weeks back at the knock star event, um, did an episode, talked a little bit about some takeaways from it, but, uh, we are in key west Florida.

Speaker 2 (07:30):

And one of the topics that Danny PESI, who was also on the pod on the podcast, go listen to his episode. If you haven't already, his topic was why we should be asking better questions. And what he talked about to start it all off is just basically, there's three ways. You can convince someone to do something and one is way more effective than the other two. And so I'm going to start with the least effective in that is you telling your homeowner why solar is a good thing, just from your perspective. It's like our Mr. Customer, this is going to save you a ton of money. This is going to help your home. This is going to benefits you long-term, it's never going to increase your electricity rate. It's an awesome product. That's basically you telling them why they should do it, right? The least effective way to explain to them.

Speaker 2 (08:25):

And I think many of us are doing that right now. So take a look at your presentation. Are you explaining to your customers just from your perspective, why your product is good and why your program is good? If not, then this episode is for you, or if you are doing it, I should say this episode is for you because the next two ways one is better than the other, but here's the next one is you telling your customer from a different perspective? So what I mean by that is we've a lot of us have heard, like, feel, felt, found, overcome objections, right? Um, I totally understand Mr. Homeowner, you know, what do you know your neighbor neighbor across the street? Yeah, he actually had the same concern and what he found that going solar, it was going to actually help him sell his home or whatever the objection is.

Speaker 2 (09:12):

Right? So that's an example of you saying something from someone else's perspective, and this is a lot more effective than you just telling them, because if they can hear it from someone else's perspective and in a story format, more importantly, then they're going to believe it more. It's going to activate that right side of the brain. Um, you want them emotionally involved, right? So if you can bring up names, if you can bring up other people, that's getting them emotionally involved because people at the end of the day, buy on emotion and justify their decision with logic. So this is the next best way. And it's a really good way in before hearing this. This is mostly what I was doing. I'll be honest. It was mostly explaining too, in my presentations, I was trained to utilize just the different points from different people's perspective.

Speaker 2 (10:04):

And so it's a great way to sell. It's a great way to make your presentation more effective, but here is the best way. And that's what we're going to talk about today. And that is you help the homeowner realize it themselves by the questions you ask them. So if you can ask them effective questions, hypothetical questions, and get them to realize the benefits themselves. This is the most effective way it's better than even telling it from a different person's perspective. Hey, so what we're going to do in this show is give you a couple talking tracks, give you some examples that you can start using in your presentation today. So go through it and I want to invite everyone. That's listening. All my Solarpreneurs that are listening today, go through your presentation, more importantly, record it and really take a look. See if you're asking effective questions, because if you're not guaranteed, your close closing ratio is going to go up.

Speaker 2 (11:01):

If you can start to utilize some of these questions and homeowners are going to realize that it's just not smart to stay with the utility company, if you can master these questions. Okay. So here's a few questions. Some of these are coming from Danny PESI so, um, appreciate him. And hopefully he doesn't mind me sharing these, but here's a few examples of great, uh, questions that you can ask your homeowners today right now. So here's one, if you are trained to get the homeowner to realize that rates are increasing, how are you doing that? Maybe you're just showing them articles, which is great. Maybe you're telling stories, but if you can get them to realize logically it has to go up, that's the best way. So here's an example that Danny PESI gave us. Um, and he does that, just asking them about the grid.

Speaker 2 (11:55):

So he says, Mr. Homeowner, do you know how old the grid is? The one that generates power to your house? And then usually there'll be like, ah, I don't know. Probably really old. Yeah. I mean, when you guys moved here 30 years ago, it was the same grid. Right. So help them realize that it's old. Okay. And in most cases, the infrastructure for the grids, I mean, they're probably a hundred years old, pretty old. So then you say anything that's a hundred years old, do you know how much money it costs to maintain something that old? And then this is where you're directing them to the customer, realizing that their rates have to go up. Hey, so you, um, and then you, and then once they kind of realize that, I mean, if basically we're putting band-aids on the grid, right? The grid is just being maintained.

Speaker 2 (12:50):

It's a hundred years old and guess who's going to pay for it. We are. So you're directing with those questions. And then the last kind of question to, um, hit the nail on the head with that one is who do you think is paying to maintain it? Do utility companies and the stock holders or the customers. Okay. And anyone that has logic, they're going to say the customers. And he gave him a great example too, of like cars for anyone that is a big car fan. Maybe they have an old car sitting in their garage or Cadillac or whatever you can say, Hey, how old is your car? I mean, it's, that's what, 70, 60 years old now old car, is it pretty ed? You have to do quite a bit of maintenance on it. Yeah. I mean, it's old, right? A lot of maintenance to be done with it.

Speaker 2 (13:39):

So think of the infrastructure of the grid, um, SDG that's our utility company, whatever your company is. They're basically putting band-aids on it because there's so much work that needs to be done. They have to put band-aids on it. They have to spend a ton to maintain it and they're passing on those costs to us. Okay. And then, so think of, it's going to depend on your area too, maybe in your area. There's Texas, for example, I mean, all of the, uh, the freezing, right? The grid went down. Maybe there's something local going on where you can bring up, you can ask them questions about, and then they can realize for themselves that their rates have to go up. There's no other option. The rates are going to go up. Hey. So whatever your point is, think of all the points you're trying to make in your presentation, go right down.

Speaker 2 (14:30):

I would say two to three good questions for each difference. Um, point you're trying to make in your presentation, then start to use these in your yeah. As you're presenting to your homeowners, Hey, here's another one. Uh, given the cost of inflation, do you see your bill in the future going up or down? Great question. I've been using that and that's a good one to kind of gauge if they really think their rates are going up. Right. So if they say no, I mean, basically no one is going to say no to that. I mean, rates cost some inflation. It's expensive, but it's a good way to gauge where they're at. Do they really believe that rates are going up? Do they really believe there's a big problem? Because if people do not see a problem with the utility rates or with what's happening in the utility infrastructure, they don't see a problem.

Speaker 2 (15:21):

They're not going to want a solution. So that's a first, that's the first thing you can do is make some questions to really see where they're at. Did they believe, did they hate the utility company right now? Hopefully they do. And then your job isn't going to be quite as hard, but if they don't have a big problem with you till the company, you have to create that forum again by using stories and again, by using questions. Okay. And then just to go through a couple other talking points, um, I'm going to pull up actually, some that I see in the group and this way you should go join these F Facebook groups because they have great content in there. They have some great, um, great points you can use in your presentations. So this one, um, actually my friend, uh, solar Lily made a kind of a list of questions in one of the Facebook groups.

Speaker 2 (16:18):

Here's another example, 20 years ago. How much was gas, Mr. Homeowner? Do you remember right about $1. So if 20 years ago I would have offered you a gas card with $0 down to have your gas fixed at $1 for the next 20 years, then you didn't have to pay for it. Uh, once paid off, what would you have said? Probably it's okay. It's only a dollar a gallon right now. What would you do for that card? So, great question. She's leading the homeowner down that road, down the golden brick road in helping them realize that that's what solar is. Okay. So once people agree to these things, that's essentially what solar is. Future-proofing your homes, energy bill against inflation, and the average 4% increases nationwide. Great talking point right there. So you can go see the group. There's a lot more examples, but bottom line start using more questions.

Speaker 2 (17:17):

Another one that I thought of is, um, just renting versus owning, right? If you're selling loans like most people in this industry, what's the main reason you guys bought your house. Do you think if renting was cheaper at the time you guys still would've bought? What if the house was $300 a month cheaper to rent? A N most people are gonna say that they would still buy their home. Even if it was a lot cheaper to rent. Why, why, why are they saying that? If you get the homeowner, think to think why it's better to own versus rent. It's going to be so much easier to get them to believe, to buy into the product of solar, especially for those of you that are in markets, where there's not much savings with solar. You need to really drill this down into their head. That it's so much better to own versus rent from the utility company.

Speaker 2 (18:11):

Right. And another great guest guest we had on, uh, Alex Smith, a couple of episodes. I thought that was something genius that he does. He said one of the main things he does in his presentation is just go through that exercise with the homeowner and be like, Hey, Mr. Homeowner, um, what if it was like 500 bucks cheaper to rent here? Would you, would you do that? No. Okay. What about 600? No. What about 700? And then just take it down. Most people would pay a ridiculous amount more to own than their rent. Right? So if you can help them see this, it's going to be so much easier. I hope this helped. Okay. But again, go and write down some questions you can start using. Let me know if you want to hear more episodes like this. If you want to hear more talking tracks, I got more, but don't want to sit here all day.

Speaker 2 (18:59):

Just, just, uh, we should probably do like a live role-play bring in someone to go back and forth with the questions. Probably be a little bit easier, but go down and write your questions. Your talking points, record yourselves. And then this is going to make it so much easier to get people to buy-in to the vision of solar and what we're doing. Hope that helped go out and think what questions can you use today in your presentations? And then how can you make it better? How can you use the questions and the stories and from other people's perspectives, those are the two best ones. Okay. So think question first, then think a story from another homeowner's perspective and then worst case scenario, it's you telling them, try not to do that. That's the least effective way to sell your product. Hope that helped let us know what you thought and you don't want to miss out on next episode, because we are going to have the one, the only Rick Martinez on. If you're on Instagram, you will have heard of this guy, for sure. He's the no soliciting bro. He makes the coolest memes in the door to door industry. So go give him a follow, but don't miss out because he has a fire episode. He's gonna be on them for the next show. We do. That's all we got today. Keep crushing, close your deals this week, and we'll see you on the next one.

Speaker 3 (20:21):

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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.