Obtaining Utility Bill
It is essential that as setters, you get the electrical usage information from the homeowner. Without it, the closer will not be able to complete their custom savings report which will either ensure that the appointment doesn’t go through or waste a lot of time in the appointment that could greatly affect the closers ability to close it. By getting the power bill or usage, you are slowly solidifying the appointment since the homeowner is taking extra time to get it for you. If it’s the type of interaction where the homeowner says, yeah I’ll have it ready when he swings by when really he’s just wanting to get back to the game that’s on… do you really think he’s likely to hold his appointment you set? No.
There are 3 ways to getting the usage:
- PDF from the paper or email
- Online Portal
- Calling into the power company
Before asking for the power bill, preface it with why you need to know how much power they use. Once they understand the reason for you wanting to see one of their bills, they’ll be more willing to let you take a look. Be sure to have assumptive verbiage when telling them to get the power bill or usage. Something like “Awesome, just go ahead and grab that real quick for me, so I can see what it’s looking like” or “ Great, just pull out your phone real quick and I can show you where to find it (pointing and looking at their pocket). Obviously you need to be careful that you don’t sound too demanding to where you end up crossing a line, but also don’t be afraid to have some assumptive language in there–a little can do a long way.
What if the spouse handles the power bills? Get them on the phone. Get them to the door. Be confident about it. If there is no possible way to reach the spouse, tell them you will be swinging by later to come and grab the usage. And then MAKE SURE to show up!
Another trick that you could use is telling them, “I’ve got to check your metering real quick to see if it’s been brought up to date. While I do that, go ahead and grab that power bill and I’ll just tap on the door when I’m done. What side of the house is your meter on? Over here or there?” Get creative, and try new things! As you focus on getting the power bill and make it the biggest priority, you’ll be surprised at how many more people sit down, and how many more closes you’re getting.
Statement of Indifference: “Cool, all I’m here to do today is just check on your usage if you are qualified or if you’re not so I can leave you to your day. Once I see that, I’ll be able to tell, right away, if you guys are eligible.”
Option Question: “Do you do paper billing with [Utility], or do you do
everything online?”
Directive Statement: “Ok,
if you could grab that for us real quick.”
Option Close: Do you get your bill in the mail or do you pay everything online? Online. Gotcha, if you’ll just pull out your phone real quick… (point and look at their pocket until they pull it out) I can show you where to find the kilowatt hour information. So what I’ll do is take a picture of the bar graph and send it to our energy specialist and they will crunch the numbers and let us know if you prequalify for our program.
Solidifying and Setting
Solidifying the Appointment
This is going an extra step further than just setting a qualified appointment. It has a lot to do with the questions you ask as you are setting the appointment. This is all about building curiosity and using pullbacks so that the customer feels there’s a need to try qualifying and at least see the numbers. And it’s telling them that you don’t have time right now to go over it with them, but that you will find time to fit them in with all the other neighbors. Here are a couple of other things you can ask or say to make this appointment even more solid.
Find out how much tax credits they get and qualify them based on the category they fall in. Here’s what you should find out:
Have them put the appointment into their calendar on their phone or on the wall! I always say, “I’m going to put that in my calendar right now, if you can just pull your phone out and put it on yours as well.” This will make them less likely to forget, which actually accounts for many flaky appointments because people forget things even within 24 hours.
Tell them exactly what you will do from now until when your specialist comes by to show them the report so they know you are going through enough effort that they should respect the appointment they just agreed to. Say something like this: “Now that I have the usage graph, I will send it to our engineers who will do a shade analysis on your roof and find out how many panels you would need to cover your usage. My energy expert/specialist will have it ready to go to show to you and your wife tomorrow at… Didn’t we say…6?” They will say the time again or correct you.
Use pullbacks throughout. A pullback is telling them not everyone is a good fit or that you are ok with the fact that they may not want solar. It lays off the pressure. A few pullbacks I’ve found helpful are the following:
- “Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can really show you right now because I don’t have the report ready. But once we have it all finished, we can actually see how much solar will help you.”
- “There’s been a few people that I have told not to do solar because they didn’t check all the boxes. That’s what we will find out when we look at the report. But the majority of all your neighbors have been pleasantly surprised on how much of a no-brainer it has been to swap their rented power bill to a bill you actually own and it didn’t even have an upfront install cost.”
- “We will build a report with your usage, and we will tell you if the appointment isn’t even worth either of our time. I just have seen roofs before, and most everyone with a roof like that tremendously benefits switching to solar.”
Lastly, DON'T FORGET TO CONFIRM those appointments on the morning of the appointment. You need to make sure they remember about it.
In summary, customers that are solidified throughout the setting process are more curious to see the results and are more invested to sit down and don't feel pressured or sold by the sales rep. They will have the highest likelihood to SIT with the closer. At that point, he does his job. Your biggest goal is to get him a lot of SITS, not just appointments SET. That's why we solidify throughout.
Made with Bullet