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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 (00:43):

Speaker 2: (00:43)
Why are you thinking like a real estate agent is a must in the solar industry, and what are the things that they're doing that you're probably not in your solar business? All that and much more in today's episode of the Solarpreneur podcast, let's jump into it. My name's Taylor Armstrong. I'm here to help you generate more referrals, get more leads, close, more deals, and hopefully have a much better time in the solar industry. Hope you're doing well. We're entering fall and I'm loving it. It's cooler. What a perfect time to knock doors, right? Cooler outside. People are not sweating their, their pants off. It's uh, just a great time. The only downside is it does start getting darker a little bit earlier here in, uh, California. It's dark by like seven o'clock, which is kind of a bummer. And then once daylight savings, time hits start at like six.

Speaker 2 (01:39):

So we've done some episodes on that about why you should be knocking in the dark. Really. It's not that big of a deal, right. But great time to be knocking. And so before we jump into the topic today, wanted to just, um, thank those of you that have connected with me on a social media. I put out a post about an unfortunate experience I had on a Instagram. So thank you to all those who responded and helped me with some feedback on it. You can go, uh, follow me on Instagram, if you didn't see that, but had a unfortunate kind of referral experience that I got some great feedback on. So go check that out. Would love to hear your feedback on it. I did post on my story. So maybe by the time you're listening to this probably won't be up anymore. But, um, just the long story short, I got a referral from someone and they sent me just the address of it.

Speaker 2 (02:35):

And I did end up closing the deal, which was awesome. So I told him, I said, Hey, got the deal. Um, locked down. I'm going to shoot you a little referral bonus. And this person, they requested that I pay him half the commission on the deal. And I'm like, well, you only gave me the address. It wasn't like a, you know, set appointment or anything. He just sent me the address and told me to go check up on him. He had closed them earlier, I guess in the year, then an up canceling. So he said, Hey, if you're around here, see if you see if you can make something happen. And I did. And he expected half the commission. So I asked for some feedback on that. So I kind of a long story, but anyways, the overruling whelming response was that probably doesn't need half the commission, but I will shoot them a referral bonus anyways, great place to connect with people.

Speaker 2 (03:27):

And then the other thing I wanted to ask, if you know anyone that is crushing it, anyone that is doing something unique in the solar industry, shoot me a message. Let me know about them. Um, I got a phone call from someone yesterday who someone in his office closed a 60. I think it was 64 deals last month connected me. We're going to do a podcast. So guys like that, I mean, the world needs to know about these people. 64 deals in a month. Come on, man. What are you doing? Super impressive. So if you know people like that, that hidden gem, that undiscovered talent, let me know, let's get them on the show. Let's hear what they're doing to have so much success. So without further ado, let's jump into the topic today. And that topic is why you should be treating your solar business more like a real estate agent.

Speaker 2 (04:20):

Okay. And quick backstory. The reason we're talking about this is per usual because of some experiences I had last week. Um, if you haven't noticed, I base a lot of this podcast off what's happening to me in real time off. What I see is working for our team and I'm sharing it here with my Solarpreneur peeps. Cause that's where, what we're about is helping each other grow. So the reason we're talking about this is because, um, if you've been listening, you've been hearing some ways I've been getting referrals, some ways that I've been trying to create the perfect customer experience. Hey, we learned about this. I went to an NOC star retreat there in key west, which I've been talking about. And two in McCarthy, he talked a lot about that. What's the perfect customer experience that you can create the PCX. He called it.

Speaker 2 (05:10):

And if we do that, we're going to be getting more referrals in talking about real estate agents. They work mostly through referrals, right? At least the good ones that I know they're getting a lot of referrals. They're not necessarily knocking. I know some that knock doors, but most real estate agents they're working referral based, right? They're getting leads by different ways than just going out and knocking on doors. So how can we be more like that in the solar industry? I don't know about you, but sometimes knocking doors all day. It's not the first thing I want to do. Right? And I know if anyone is doing this year round, there's probably times where you enjoy getting more referrals than out there knocking all day. Okay? If you and no offense to those that are knocking all day that's I know people are killing it that way, but in my opinion, you should be a mixed bag of tricks, right?

Speaker 2 (06:03):

You should be getting your referrals. You should be thrown in some online leads. You should be knocking on doors. You should be networking, connecting with other people in getting leads in all avenues possible because that's how you're going to thrive. Okay? It's like people that only did online ads. Um, one of my mentors, Russell Brunson, he talks about how he built his business. He's the click funnels guy, super successful. Um, if you haven't heard of him, but he talks about some of his early businesses. He built them only off of Google ads. And what happened was Google ads. They changed their algorithms to only benefit basically the big juggernauts that were running ads. So anyone that had a huge ad ad budget ad spend that was spending, um, hundreds of thousands a month, basically those ones, um, all the results went to them after that.

Speaker 2 (06:59):

And so Russell Brunson, he was, you know, a small guy at the time, a small fish in the pond and his ads dried up basically overnight. So he had to adjust. He had to open his business to different avenues, different ways, because it's like anything. If they shut down, if it's COVID and they outlaw door knocking, what are you going to do? Right. That's what happened here in California. COVID hit for basically, I don't know, two, three months, you couldn't really go out and door knock. I knew a few people that did, but I don't think they had super great results during this time. So it's like, what are you going to do? You need to be able to adapt and adjust and pivot so you can still have success. Even when these things happen, even when these surprises come up. Okay. So that's why you should think more like a real estate agent and get leads through different avenues.

Speaker 2 (07:53):

And so something that I have been doing, give you an example. I learned this trick from, um, my boy, Mikey, Lucas, family go listen to his podcast. He was on about a month ago, but we were talking at this event, the knock starving in key west Florida. And here's a little, a little referral hack. Write this down or remember this. Okay. You get customer's birthdays. Okay. And you remember them, you send them stuff on their birthdays. Who's doing that in the solar industry. Pretty cool, huh? Okay. And um, let me expound on that. So Mikey, the way he gets people's birthdays is what do we have to all do? When we get someone signed up for solar, unless you're doing a cash deal, I guess you gotta run their credit. Right. And what do you need to run their credit? You need their date of birth.

Speaker 2 (08:50):

So what Mikey does, and I stole this from him. He gets a picture every time as he's running their credit, he takes a picture of their birthday. Maybe leave the social security number out of there. Right? I don't know if you'll necessarily need that. Okay. Unless you're planning on stealing people's identities, but snap, a picture of their date of birth, and then boom, you have their birthday and what can you start doing? You can start sending them gifts every time they're having a birthday. And Mikey talked about this, he works a lot referral base. He has some huge referral chains going on. Um, he was talking about how he got, I think it was like 15 referrals from one lady. And that's how you build referral chains is you start doing those little things. And that's why I'm talking about thinking like a real estate agent, because what does real estate agents do?

Speaker 2 (09:40):

They send people stuff on their birthdays. Maybe not all of them, but I know a lot of the good real estate guys. They're sending gifts on people's birthdays. They're sending their postcards, they're getting referrals, they're getting repeat customers. And this is how they do it. They do it by staying in the loop with their customers and connecting with them, gain to take that even a bit further. If you haven't already go listen to, I did an episode on, uh, using a service called send out cards. Okay. Um, I think it was, I don't know, four or five episodes ago. Go check that out. Um, it was, I think it was the why you should take pictures with your customers. Yeah, that should be it. Go look for that one. But I talk about send note cards as a service I use. What's really, really cool about this.

Speaker 2 (10:32):

I don't think I mentioned it in the episode if I did sorry for repeating myself, but you can put in the customer's birthday as you're sending them gifts and then you can schedule, send out cards. Um, it's sendoutcards.com go create an account. We'll put, uh, if you want to support the show, we'll put our, uh, affiliate link in there too. If you enjoy the content, but you can put in the customer's birthday and then you can have emails sent to you, reminding you that, Hey, it's a John Smith's birthday coming up and then you can send out a gifts for their birthday. There you go. Little hack right there. I'm starting to do that with every single customer. If you want to create that connection, if you want to create that long-term relationship, this is how you do it. You do it by staying in touch.

Speaker 2 (11:20):

And for a lot of us door to door, guys, this is tough. This took me forever to learn. I came from door to door, pest control. How many door to door pest guys keep in touch with their customers. Not too many, especially yet some of these guys. So on a thousand accounts, a lot of people to keep in touch with, but this is how you create that lasting value. And this is why solar is different. Let's be honest. We're making real estate commissions, a lot of us by selling these systems. So why are we not treating solar more like real estate, more like a business, more like something that we build real lasting relationships with people, and don't just sell and get out of there super important. You do that. And that's how you're going to last in the industry is by doing little things like that.

Speaker 2 (12:04):

Okay. So I'll try that out and let me know if you guys think of any other ideas on how to really just create a lasting relationship with your customers and treat it more like a real estate sell. I did a little Google Google search before I did this episode and obviously real estate. They get a lot of referrals. So I searched how to real estate agents get their referrals. A lot of stuff in here that can apply to solar as well. So I'm just going to jump through them real quick. This'll probably give you some ideas as well, but the first one it says offer exceptional service again. How can you create that perfect customer experience for me, it's sending out gifts to my customers. Okay. Every single time we send them, send out cards, you send them a picture that you took with them.

Speaker 2 (12:51):

You send them a personalized letter, which is super quick to do with send out cards and you send them some brownies. Okay? Boom, perfect customer experience. Obviously there's more to it than that. Hopefully your team has something on the back end where you're communicating with your customer every week, sending them updates. Okay. So that's something that if you don't have set up, if you're a company owner, let us know, we can definitely help you create that and craft that more. So, uh, anyways, what can you do though, to offer exceptional service, start thinking of that, thinking of all the things that you can do, that's going to differentiate, differentiate yourself from your competitors to create that exceptional service. Number two was be a specialist. If you think are real estate, they've got signs out here, but I'm driving to different areas in it. It'll say, uh, it'll say like condo real estate specialist, um, I'll see signs based on different areas of the town.

Speaker 2 (13:53):

Um, like alcohol is an area out here, alcohol and real estate specialist. So that's being specific. So how can you do that in solar? Maybe it's new move in real solar specialists, maybe it's, uh, I don't know, townhome solar specialist. Maybe it's mentioned solar specialist. Maybe it's maybe you can do it based on the area. So think how can you be a specialist? How can you specialize in a specific home and the specific type of person, maybe you're Latino, maybe you're Hispanic, maybe you're that, uh, Latino solar specialist. Right? And you're focusing on all the Mexican homes, the Mexican areas in your city and a lots of people doing that. So figure out a way to be a specialist. Okay. And that's one way to really get increase your lead flow. Number three, work with local business owners, but how can you network with other people and get them to provide you referrals, to work with local business owners?

Speaker 2 (14:59):

So you can go to networking events like BNI. Um, there's there are events that happen should be in every pretty much every local area where you can go and network with people. And I have not done this personally. So I know people that have had a ton of success. Um, guy named, uh, Jonathan Brunetto. He's on, he's one of that power's top guys. I know he has some good content on this, but people are having success going to meetings like that. Networking number four was providing useful content to your clients. Okay. And what contents do you have right now? Hopefully you have some content out there on your website on, um, if you're using rep card, great place to put some useful content that you'd send to customers. And we are actually helping companies do this. So if you are a company owner or want to pass this on your company, we are actually helping people now get some useful content.

Speaker 2 (15:53):

If you don't already have that established. So hit us up. If you need help with that number five was re rewarding referrals, which obviously is a no brainer, but hopefully everyone's doing that. Make sure you ever reward your people. And, and guys don't be that person that gets a referral and doesn't pay out. I know so many people in the industry that have not paid out their refers. So make sure if you promised or referral, uh, you know, pay out and make sure you pay them out and make sure you pay him out right away, because it's a quick way to never get a referral. Again, if you do not actually pay out your, uh, customers. And it's funny, I actually had a client who had a referral. He is going to give me, but then he, uh, he said, Hey, I'll give you this referral, but I want something in writing the name, gonna get paid out on it.

Speaker 2 (16:42):

Uh, Mike I'm like, dude, I set you up with solar help for sure. Pay you out. Is that give me something in writing. So I literally had to write them up, you know, like a document saying that he would get paid out for his referral. So hopefully your trust, your customers have more trust than that, but it's pretty sad. Don't be the person that causes distrust by not paying out your referral refers that, give you a referrals, tongue twister right there. Hey. And then last couple six build relationship with industry leaders. Okay. Um, so who are industry leaders in solar that you can build connections with?

Speaker 2 (17:26):

Um, and then seven have a strong social media presence. Okay. A lot of people are crushing it in the social media game. If we've talked about some ways to get it through this, I'm not going super in depth, but just hopefully giving you some ideas here. Number eight, email implement, email marketing, automate Asian. Um, this goes back to having your marketing in place. Hopefully you have content sequences, um, texts and email sequences that can go out to people. Again, hit us up. If you need help with this number nine request testimonials, Hey, you all should be doing this. If you're following me on social media, I try to get testimonials with the majority of my solar deals. Great way to get more referrals by showing people this and having them do this. And you really anchoring yourselves. Number 10, distribute, branded material, number 11, be easy to find and contact.

Speaker 2 (18:20):

Okay. So this goes back to a lot of people aren't doing this. Surprisingly, make sure you're putting your number in customers' phones. Right? Make sure they're saving it and make sure you put like something about solar in there, because most of these people are forgetting your name. The second you walk out of their door, right? So if you don't put like Taylor solar or something, easy to find, you're not going to hear from these people. They're not going to come back to you. Number 12, host a party, number 13, work with a referral agent. Okay. So hopefully this gives you a few ideas of how you can start thinking more like a real estate agent. Love to hear your thoughts. Let me know what you think and go connect with the real estate agent. There's another way. Okay. Get your leads from there. If you can connect with some real estate agents. So I'm just trying to get you to think outside the box. It's not just about having only one way to generate leads, think outside the box and get multiple ways of generating your leads. So I hope that was helpful. Let me know if you have any other ideas on how you can generate leads and referrals and think more like a real estate agent and send this to someone that you think could use help with that as well. And we'll see you on the next episode. Peace.

Speaker 3 (19:35):

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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.