When I first was introduced to the dog-eat-dog world of solar sales, my first solar sales co-managers Leo & Ben kept reiterating to the crowded room of struggling salesmen “Go for the same-day!”
“How many same-days can you get today, Travis?” They would ask as a way of setting the bar. As a way of motivating us to go out there and get people to sign up the client today.
Now, that might sound good if you are selling cell phones, blue jeans, or even lawn care services….but, how in the world can you possibly expect someone who is being faced with a huge decision of whether or not to go solar to sign ANYthing on the same day that you first called on that person. Or, if you truly followed Leo and Ben’s model, it was not calling people but knocking on stranger’s door which really makes this model even more insane.
You see, I was a local to this area. I have lived in Columbia pretty much my whole life, except for the time that I went away to college at Clemson. My pride and joy was the massive database of 4000 plus past clients and prospectices that I have carefully curated since I started my first entrepeurial venture at age 9, Matt’s Shoe Shining Service.
I was not about to go knocking on stranger’s doors trying to introduce myself when I had a database of names, numbers, addresses and sometimes detailed notes about the clients. A good bit of them would be prime targets because they would also recongize my name or remember doing business with me in the past. This would be ideal and a nice foot in the door for me.
These out-of-town sales managers didn’t give two poops about the residents of South Carolina. They could care less about the fact that they might be setting up someone with a product and service that is not right for them. Now, I’m not saying that I was exactly a saint back then. In fact, the very idea that I would leave my salary position at the farm to go and work for these losers is a sign of where I was spiritually and mentally at the time. The saying that you are drawn to people who are like minded is true. I wanted to make money, gobs of money…and I didn’t really care how.
“If you are speaking with someone and they are acting like you can’t get a same day, leave them and go to the next one,” Leo would say. “The chances of people inviting you back to their home when their spouse is home is rare. Those deals never close. Go for the same-day’s and leave the rest alone!” That was the message and I truly didn’t understand and didn’t believe that was correct.
Let me get this straight, I thought seriously to myself. You want me to convince someone who has not even thought of going solar before I first started talking with them today to put their John Hancock on a Docusign saying that they agree to a 20 year solar lease….when 99% of them have never even heard of the concept of a solar lease before today. You must be out of your freaking mind!
The out-of-town sales managers were obviously not from around here. This is the south. This is South Carolina where I grew up understanding that leasing is not as smart as owning. Like with a car, I learned from childhood that the ownership model for a vehicle is much better longterm than leasing a car. My dad explained early on that “we buy cars paying cash, we maintain them when they need it.” “We drive them until the wheels fall off…and then we sell them ourselves in the Carolina Trader or on the internet to individual buyers. We don’t lease vehicles son,” Dad would say.
One major sketchiness factor here is that Leo and Ben would say, “Just get them to agree to the roof inspection.” “Tell the homeowner that we don’t even know that their home and roof will even qualify for solar. We just need them to sign up for the roof inspection and that they can cancel at any time. This signature is JUST to get the roof inspectors out here so that they can take an analysis of the roof and see if it is even going to work.
What I didn’t realize, until with Andy and Ann, a friend of my mother-in-law, member of my church, and attendee of a garden club presentation that I did on solar….they were the first couple that I signed up for this 20 year solar lease. I mean, this was the first lady that I “Same-Dayed” when her husband was not there one evening.
“Just sign here so that we can get get the roof inspectors out here to see if you are even going to qualify. You can cancel at any time. This is just preliminary paperwork to get them out on your roof.” I had rehearsed this many times and it seemed slick. It seemed that that perfect line that they wouldn’t be able to refuse. Who wouldn’t want to have a roof inspection. I would say, “before we even get too far into this process, why don’t we go ahead and get the people out here to take some measurements and see if this is even going to work.”
Why would go for that?! You see, what this also triggered was an initial payment from the multibillion dollar company to the sales rep. The first commission check would be paid to the sales man and the sales manager two weeks following the client being same-dayed. But, the catch is that the client is nowhere close to actually being ready to sign up for a 20 freaking year lease on solar panels.
What also happens is that within a day or three, that first homeowner I signed up, “Ann and Andy” got an email that say, “Congratulations on going solar and agreeing to a 20 year solar contract.” WHAT! I didn’t know they would get that! Ben and Leo did tell me to warn them of that. So, here are some people that were friends of the family, who really trusted me, who I had told them that they were just going to be signing up today to get the guy out here to take measurements on their roof. But, instead, they got an email saying that they were locked into a forever agreement.
These clients were perfectly qualifed in my books. They were wealthy. He had his own electrical business and she was tenured at the local university making nice money. They had a south facing roof on a long ranch home. Their roof was not within needing replacing over the next 10 years, because it was a semi new roof. They were smart, trusting, welcoming, and understanding that I was new into the recently opened up solar market and were wanting to help me and my wife out……BUT, not to the extent that they would be lied to. When Ann received that email saying that she had “signed up”, she was pissed. Everything from that point on was done via email so that she had a paper trial. She didn’t trust me anymore. She wanted out. Out right away! She felt taken advantage of and betrayed. And, I don’t blame her. I would feel the same way.
I learned after that experience and that lost sales opportunity with a key prospect who had alot of friends….that, I needed to warn them first. “Now, just know that when you sign this Docusign form, you will start getting automated emails saying that you have signed up. Don’t be alarmed. They are standard. Just remember that you can cancel at anytime, up until the day they are bringing the solar panels out to install them. You will have plenty of time to shop around and do your research. This is strictly to get the guy out on the roof. Why don’t we go ahead and get the paperwork started. You can sign here…and here…and initial here…”
What a sketchy sales manager. What a sketchy industry. What a sketchy sales process. What a sketchy way of paying sales people and managers before they actually sold anything. By the way, that money gets “clawed back” from your bank account if they actually cancel the agreement….which so many people did because of various reasons. What a sketchy way of taking advantage of people to sign up for a 20 year program when they might be elderly, broke, or ignorant to begin with. Later I learned that those folks were EXACTLY who they were trying to target in the first place.
This company did not want the wealthy, the educated, the healthy living folks. They prayed on the poor, the elderly, the low income folks who couldn’t take advantage of the tax credits to begin with. If you don’t make any money, they what good is a federal or state tax credit? If you don’t pay taxes, then you can’t turn in a coupon to the government. I learned so many things from working for them and alot of what I learned was to clarify exactly what I didn’t want to do. That was take advantage of people. I don’t want to be sneaky about sales. I don’t want to pull one over on someone and I sure don’t want to knock on freaking doors in places that I don’t know.
They wanted the old person who didn’t read the contract. They wanted the young person who just wanted a slightly lower power bill, like 10-30% but didn’t have the money to put down for solar. They wanted to poor truck driver who had no savings, a huge power bill in an energy sucking mobile home but didn’t have financial sense or ability to do anything else….he just wanted to go solar at any cost.
This is not what I signed up for. This is not what I left the farm to do. I would leave them after 6 months and go work for a solar company that was a competitor but sold ownership financed solar instead of the leased model. It would be a much better next step for me.
