And what they need to do to stay alive
‘Adapt or die’
I’m not exactly who said that. Google says it was Darwin, but it also says that it was H.G. Wells. I think it was Brad Pitt in Moneyball, though.
Whoever said it, it’s the truest quote I’ve ever heard, especially for business owners.
My dad had a solar business. He wasn’t particularly good at sales, but he was a charming man so he could close a door here and there. His ‘favorite’ methods were cold calling and door-to-door. When I say ‘favorite’ I mean that he just didn’t know what else to do.
He did enjoy what he did, though, to an extent. The majority of his day was spent knocking on doors, or just putting flyers in the mailbox. Whenever he came home he was exhausted.
We needed some more money, so my dad tried to add some more volume, grow his business a little bit. That’s when he realized he couldn’t. All this time, he was trading his time for money, and you only have so much time.
Finding a new way
I was studying marketing at that time, and I hated it. I love marketing, but I really don’t like studying. I’ve always had this entrepreneurial spirit, so I just wanted to go out there and try what I’ve learned.
My dad always liked to take a (calculated) risk, as his motto was ‘the biggest risk in life is not risking anything at all,’ so it didn’t take a lot of convincing to let me help him.
It was the best thing ever. While there was room for improvement, it was amazing. Before, my dad spent about $1200 per acquisition. Within a week of running ads, he closed a deal with just $600 spent. And those costs just kept going down.
My realization
I’m sorry to say it, but most solar business owners are really stubborn.
I realized that there were hundreds, if not thousands of solar businesses struggling to grow.
‘Never change a winning team’ they said about running ads instead of going door-to-door. They just didn’t know what the team wasn’t winning at all, they just scored a couple of points.
The solar industry is growing, but there are just a handful of companies that are dominating. The others will just slowly die. That’s simply because their methods aren’t scalable. Sure, they can hire some people to knock on doors, but it will eat up your margins.
How to stay alive
I’ve heard a lot of people say that they just don’t trust the marketing industry, and they have good reason to. There are a lot of scammers.
That’s why I strongly advise you to do your research of who you’re going to do business with.
Others tell me it’s ‘too risky’. Sure, it’s not entirely risk-free, but it’s not going to eat up all your savings. Most marketing companies, including mine, will refund you when there are crap results. So worst-case scenario, you waste a couple of hours of your time and then move on.
The best-case scenario is that you’ve got a predictable flow of appointments coming in, waiting to be closed. No more door-to-door, just having a lot more free time to spend doing fun stuff or at least less boring stuff.
My advice
Stay ahead of the game, don’t wait until it’s too late.
While your current methods might work fine, they will become obsolete because of all the other businesses that are moving online.
So I’m just telling you to just give it a shot. Just be careful of who you’re working with.
We have a few spots open, so if you want to work with us, you can book a call here.
If you want to watch a 3-minute video where I explain the magic a little more in-depth, check this out:
https://www.loom.com/share/6a15ee41ee594aa1830db9f1dd33b0e1?sharedAppSource=personal_library
