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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 (00:42):

What's going on. Solarpreneurs. We are here live in Las Vegas. Guests probably won't be alive by the time you hear it, but we have, uh, Mr. Josh Peters on the show here on the podcast. Josh, thanks for coming on and with us today.

Speaker 3 (00:55):

Absolutely. Yeah, I'm super excited to be here with you.

Speaker 2 (00:57):

It's going to be awesome. And Josh, he is the director of experience here at your energy co if you're watching the video, he's all decked out in the gear. Yeah. You can see

Speaker 3 (01:07):

Every present.

Speaker 2 (01:08):

We're lucky cause he's about to roll out on the doors himself. So he fortunate enough that you would give us some time before he gets on the doors here on a Saturday. So, uh, Josh excited to have you on. And, um, you've obviously been super involved in recruiting over the years. I know you're just putting together, um, a whole experience now for these recruits coming in and it's super valuable for our listeners to just hear how to recruit the right way. And obviously you're doing a lot over social media, digital recruiting, which is super valuable, super important in today's. Um, just kind of landscape with things, especially during the COVID I bet, right?

Speaker 3 (01:45):

Yeah. I mean, you know, especially nowadays back in the day, you could just post that ad on Craigslist, but today you have social media and that's the biggest push for where people are. And so wherever the people are is where you go to recruit, honestly.

Speaker 2 (01:56):

Yeah. I know a huge in so many people, I see do it the wrong way as I'm sure we'll touch on. So before we get into all that, um, do you want to kind of, um, tell us about your like door to door background, how you got into solar and I guess how you kind of transitioned into all these recruiting absolutely. Down over the years. Cool.

Speaker 3 (02:15):

So yeah, I started about five years ago in the door, their industry, um, I got started in Kirby, so all you guys out there, um, if you don't know, Kirby's the vacuums, they've been around 107 years, so they're like the biggest sales org when it comes to door to door sales. Um, and the funny thing is, I didn't even know as a sales job, I just applied to a position and I was like, cool. It says 2000 a month, I'm going to work there. Um, and so when I got there and they were like, this is a sales position, uh, it was kind of a shocker for me cause I'd never done sales. Yeah. So I was just like, well, I'll give it a try. Um, and so when I got into Kirby, you know, obviously I dealt with the difficulties of not doing well, my like my first few weeks.

Speaker 3 (02:54):

Uh, but then when I caught on, um, I actually made my way to being the top salesman in the office. I got promoted to being team leader. Um, and then the next promotion I had after that was into a recruiting position. So, um, I did sales for quite a bit in Caribbean. Then I moved into a recruiting position where there's still sales involved. Um, but it's, it kind of taught me a lot about, uh, what a good process should look like for a sales company on how to, you know, create a pipeline, how to, you know, interview these people, how to hire them, train them and then get them to their first sale. Cause as director of experience, you know, one of the things that's the biggest part of my job is retention. And that's something that I've started to learn from, from my first recruiting job all the way up until here is, is the experience of making sure, you know, what keeps people into a business, what keeps people at the company.

Speaker 3 (03:42):

Yeah. Um, but yeah, so I, I did Kirby for about three years and the last two was, was basically just me hiring people, training them, um, and, and recruiting. Um, then after Kirby, I got into selling water systems. I did water systems on the doors for a while. Uh, the one like the full water filtration, water softeners, all that kind of stuff. I helped that guy build out his recruiting platform as well. Um, and then, uh, the timeline didn't work on me for that one. Cause he wanted to start recruiting like a year later. And I was like, well, I want to do it now. It just didn't work out. Um, but then, uh, after that, well, while I was at that job, I actually, um, we were on the sales call with the door to our experts, which just kind of funny. And that's where I first got introduced to the door, to our experts.

Speaker 3 (04:30):

And while we were on the sales call, um, I actually applied to go work for them. Um, and so that's how I got my job at door they're experts, uh, working in the recruiting department. Um, so I went to work with them. Uh, I started out just as kind of like a, like setting the position or setting the interviews for like the senior recruiters. Um, and then after about a month I got promoted into a senior recruiting position. Um, and it's then when I started to work with all the different industries, right. Cause I had only done Caribbean water systems before that, but then I started to work with best control companies, solar companies, roofing companies, garbage companies, you name it, right. We would recruit guys for all these different industries. Um, and while I was there, I started to work more, uh, more personally with solar companies.

Speaker 3 (05:14):

Um, and that's where I started to see kind of where the real opportunity is, you know, cause I've been in sales, like you were in pest control sales before, right. Um, and obviously, you know, there's money to be made in different industries. But the money I saw that was, was to be made in solar and the opportunity in solar is where my interest really started to peak. And so that's when, um, I started researching into, you know, different solar companies. I started looking into that opportunity. Um, and that's when about eight months ago I got connected with Jerry. Um, and he talked to me about, you know, starting this company here in Chico and building something that would be, uh, very easy to, to aggressively grow and expand as a company. Um, and kind of all the ideas he had for the company. So I started working with him about eight months ago. Um, and then I came to work for him. I quit the job there at DD experts and I came here about two, three months ago.

Speaker 2 (06:07):

Okay. Yeah. You've been through a lot man, while I've experienced a lot of different things. That's interesting. And it's cool. Um, I mean, we've, I've heard a few, few, few people on the podcast that, of transitioned over into kind of more recruiting roles like yourself. And so for you, was it, um, like did someone recognize, Hey, this guy is super good at recruiting, let's put them over and where recruiting role or was it you, you kinda just liked more, they recruiting type stuff. So you did it yourself or how did that work? How did you first transition into more? I recruiting stuff?

Speaker 3 (06:37):

So it was actually really cool. Um, because at Kirby, the way they structured it is they was, they would tell you all the different positions that you could attain, uh, through the company, uh, all the way up until earning your own office. Right? Because at Kirby it's a franchise, you can, you can have your own office. Right. Um, and when they talked to us about it in the training class, one of the positions was the recruiting position. Right. They call it a DPS, which I don't even remember what it stands for. I think it's something about like personnel something. Um, uh, but when they talked about that, it was what peaked my interest from the very start actually. Cause I, I really love working with people. Um, I love to have the opportunity to teach people stuff, but at the time, obviously I didn't have anything to teach them.

Speaker 3 (07:16):

Like, I mean, I wasn't good at sales yet. And so after I had gone through the sales process, after I, I knew what I was talking about, I had the product knowledge, the sales knowledge and the door knocking knowledge. Um, I got to the point where I was like, I didn't feel fulfilled just selling, you know? And so for me, the fulfilling part of things was when I got into recruiting, you know, helping other people to be successful. Right. And just like with any sales company, you know, you hire a lot of people and a lot of people fall off. Um, and so that was one of the things that kind of got me started on a journey of figuring out the best way to, to not only bring people into a company and to train them, but to keep them because I think, uh, everyone in this industry will agree that the biggest issue we have when it comes to recruiting is drop-off, you know, and, and that constant cycle of trying to get people into the company and the churning.

Speaker 3 (08:05):

So, um, but yeah, so that's, that's where I kind of started to find the passion for recruiting, um, for working with reps, uh, and, and the training side of things. Cause I mean, I loved the sales. I was good at it. Like once I figured it out, you know, I, I could go out and make some good money. Um, but for me, I always thought it's a lot cooler to see the fruits of your, of your labor and other people. Yeah. Cause like the fruits of my labor when I was selling was the money. Right. And that was cool. Um, but then it's a whole different level when you can take, you know, 10 people at a time and a training class, um, put them through like a product training, a sales training, then a door knocking the training and see them have success in their first week and see them get excited and see them make money. Uh, I really got addicted to that process.

Speaker 2 (08:49):

That's awesome. Yeah. And now I see so many people that just want to bring in more recruits. It's like putting band-aids on, you know, open bleeding women. They just want to bring in a hundred recruits, but yet they have no system set up to like nurture these recruits. And then they're surprised when all these, you know, all these guys just drop off after two weeks it's I've seen companies go out and hire these recruiting agencies, just get tons of leads coming in, have 50 people show up to a recruiting meeting. And then, but yeah, if they don't have a structure, a process in place, a way to nurture all these things away systems like you guys have set up here at your energy go, then I'm sure you've seen it do. There's a huge drop-off in people just quit. And after a weekend.

Speaker 3 (09:29):

Yeah. Very fortunate because the office I worked for in Kirby, um, the entire idea was retention because there's a lot of offices in Kirby where it is just churn and burn, like get a person in there. You can make a sale off sailor to off of them and then they'll leave. And that's like, um, that's like common. Right. But the, the office I worked for, the biggest thing that we tried to focus on was the retention, um, was the career growth, was like their path into a successful salesman. So, um, even though like, yeah, you're right. There are so many companies out there that they're just like, it's, they think it will take more work to retain like six good people than just to keep hiring over and over again, like 10, 15 people that are going to drop off. Right. And, and it might be a different type of work, but it's, it's way better to have a good, solid team of six people because those people are, what's going to attract and retain even more.

Speaker 2 (10:22):

Yeah, for sure. And yeah, so just getting that core people and building it out. And I know some people don't have like, you know, recruiting people over recruiting, but for me, as I've seen the companies I work with like hire people where nurture these recruits and build out systems, but I'll kind of like a map, a pathway of things they need to do. Um, you know, just starting the job. I think that helps a ton versus just, you know, saying, okay, let's start go, uh, dump guys off in an area in toughed out, have them have success like that. Um, but yeah. So for you Josh, like what are some big mistakes you've I know you worked with like DDD experts and you were seeing just companies all over the place, um, you know, helping them with their recruiting. So when you were going into these companies and helping them build out their processes and helping them recruit, what were some like big mistakes that you were seeing and things that they were doing wrong,

Speaker 3 (11:12):

Um, you actually hit the nail right on the head of what I wanted to talk about. And it's, and it's basically in one word it's it's attention. Right. Whereas like you said, you know, a lot of these companies will go out without the systems and processes built out yet. They're just, you know, cause when guys started a company, um, or they, they split off or whatever they're doing, um, what's the first thing on their mind. I need to make money. Right. Um, and I want to do it fast. And so sometimes what they'll do is they'll step over the simple things that could, that could keep, um, or could, that could start a good process and just get in, try, try to get right into the moneymaking. And so the biggest issue I've seen, especially in the door door spaces, uh, they think that they think that they're behind curve.

Speaker 3 (11:53):

It's just like people with like crypto, for example, like if you see something spike people, oh my gosh, I have to buy it now. Right. Um, so, so the biggest issue that people have when it comes to recruiting is, you know, if they start a company, they think that they need to have just like 50 people in a training class right then and there. Um, but they don't have a hiring manager. They don't have a training person. They don't have a onboarding process. They don't have like a training program put together for these reps once they get there. And so even if they do get those 50 people in the room, um, believe it or not, you know, reps aren't done, like you get 50 people in the room. They're smart enough to know like, if the processes are off, if these people know what they're doing, it's just like, um, having product knowledge and sales knowledge.

Speaker 3 (12:36):

Isn't good enough when it comes to, just to, to training reps to be successful. Right. Um, because as most people have learned in this industry, sometimes what you do, isn't a generalized, good thing for every single person to do. Right. Right. Like, especially if it's reps I've never sold before, um, like your you're pitch and what you do, your nuances on the door, like you can't just teach that. You can't just transfer it to them. Right. So putting together these processes and making sure that you have a simple, like, from, uh, apply. So like from applicant to onboarded and on the team, having those steps down. Right. Um, and just a quick outline of what that would look like. Right. Is, so you've got your ads. So whatever platform you use to run your ads, whether it be ZipRecruiter, indeed, Facebook, um, Craigslist, whatever you're using.

Speaker 3 (13:27):

Okay. Um, honing that process, uh, because one of the things that I saw when I was working with these companies, cause everyone's already doing their own recruiting. Right. And a lot of people use indeed. Um, a hard part about indeed is if you don't know the tricks behind it, Indeed's telling you to spend like 200, 300 bucks a day. Yeah. It's a lot of money. You figure out what you're doing. And then I tell you that, right. Because they make money off of you. Um, you don't have to spend that much money. You can optimize your ads way easier than that. Right. Um, and so that was one of the first things I would teach, um, these companies, because after they were done with us, they were going to continue recruiting. Right. Like after we had sent them people and they'd been in, um, in our little program, they were going to continue recruiting.

Speaker 3 (14:11):

So I taught them how to optimize their ads, what keywords to use, how to make it look best because when people are scrolling through indeed, um, they're looking at titles, right. Um, they're looking at titles. I think that was the 29 minutes. Okay. Restart that. Pods let's do it. We can edit it right back into a scene. Um, yeah, sure. Did you have, I think we were talking about, um, yeah, go ahead. Where, where you're like, I was just talking about like how people apply on indeed. Um, the first thing that they'll do is they'll scroll through and then those titles. Right. Okay. Um, so you want to have a good title and then the next thing that they notice is the pay. So, uh, whatever is the industry standard. Um, it depends on the type of person you're trying to recruit. So you have to understand, um, I know lots of these companies, they're like, I want to experience people experienced solar guys.

Speaker 3 (15:13):

Aren't on indeed. Yeah. Most of the time, they're not you on the why, because they have connections. Like if they're an experienced solar rep, they know about all the other companies, that's more of a head hunting type of thing. That's more of ongoing on, on social media. I'm trying to find these people, I'm talking to people in the industry. So if you're using indeed, it's mostly people that might have some sales experience in the past, um, or who would be a good candidate. Right. So you had to make it a more realistic looking pay. Uh, some of the biggest issues I saw with that is solar companies will get on indeed. And they'll put, you know, 200,000 to 400,000 a year. And these people to be true for these people, not even that, but they do not feel like they qualify for that. So why would you, they wouldn't even apply to the job because they're like, there's no way I could get a job that pays out high.

Speaker 3 (15:57):

Cause if they're going from $40,000 a year in their head, they're not worth $400,000 a year. Right. Um, so that was another thing. So the that's one of the first things that they'll see is they want to see the title and then some type of pay that makes sense in their head. Um, normally I would like to do just like, you know, 60 to 80,000, um, just because if they were making 40,000 a year for them, 60 would be an awesome jump, but it's not impossible. Right. And if they're in that 50 to 60, 70 range, then 60 to 80 is it's doable. Right. Then they will apply. So that's just, it's just one of those psychology things you can use when you're using like indeed, um, to help people apply. It probably depends on like the market. Do you like what you're either in that's true.

Speaker 3 (16:40):

Yeah. It depends on the market, but that's just in a general sense that that usually helps best when you're talking about indeed. Yeah. Okay. Um, but yeah, and then just the next thing would be, you know, you've got the ads down, that's the first step. Then once they apply, what, what are you doing? Uh, there's, there's different ways to do it. Um, and I'm going to say this from the start. I am not a fan of group interviews. A lot of people do them and I've ha I've heard people tell me, they're like, oh, they're the best thing they work. Um, I think they say that because they think it's a better use of their time. I disagree. Uh, I've never seen group interviews be as successful because here's the problem with group interviews, the type of people you're looking for, if they're in the same room as someone that looks like they're not even competent, right.

Speaker 3 (17:25):

It looks like they shouldn't even be able to get this type of job. Um, and they see that that person got the job. They won't come back and their trust level goes down. Does that make sense? And then like normal people are used to going to interviews one-on-one uh, or the higher level reps are used to one-on-one interviews. Yeah. So the funny thing is when you're doing group interviews, you're weeding out the type of people you want to just get the lower hanging fruit. Yeah. Right. Um, and that's, that's my opinion. That's what I've seen in the industry. That's what I've dealt with the last four years of, of recruiting that I've been doing. Um, people still do it and that's fine if it gets you, the, the numbers that you want. That's cool. But I recommend having a better process and, and the, the best process, I think, uh, when it comes to the way that you handle these applicants, um, is, is a two touch system, right?

Speaker 3 (18:16):

So like once someone's applied, um, you can either do it through texts or a phone call, but you, you texted them to set up a time to interview. Okay. Um, and then you do the interview. So it's a two touch process. Um, and with that, uh, after, after that interview that you do with them, um, another big problem that people have in the industry is just jumping the gun, right. Offering them the job, offer on the job right off the bat. They're like, oh, this conversation has been great. You have the job. Um, and, and the funny thing is, and, and this is a little tip I learned from Brandon Hall. It's a really, it's a funny way to think about it. But you know, like something that people do in the door to our industry is they try to sell the job to you. Right.

Speaker 3 (18:57):

With recruiting, it's different. You're not trying to sell the job. Like, uh, people normally are trying to sell themselves to the job. Right. And so the funny way he describes it, he's like, uh, if I was in an interview to be a firefighter, right. And the guy was telling me, and I was telling the guy, I was like, look, man, I'm going to be the worst firefighter. I'm not gonna be able to put out the fires. Like I suck. People are going to die. And the chief was telling me, dude, it's perfectly fine. You'll get paid. It'll be, it'll be cool. Like you can do an awesome job. Does that make sense? It makes zero sense that someone would say that, right. Or like 1% how they're doing. They're like, they get people that come in and they're like, oh, I've never worked commissioned before.

Speaker 3 (19:38):

I'm not going to, I'm not going to get it. Like, I'm going to suck. And these interviewers are like to, to be perfectly like, you're going to make money. You become a millionaire, like all those types of things. And it's just like, you would not do that. You would not do that in a regular interview. And so the, the thing is that we're trying to get away from, in, in the recruiting industry, right. Is we want people to understand that this is a job, right. And I know you guys are all 10 99. Right. But this is an opportunity for them that they still have to earn. And if people earn something, they treat it way better. Right. Um, if people would just get something, they, it's not something that they value. And so that's the mentality that you have to go into. It's just like sales, you have to have that mentality.

Speaker 3 (20:21):

Right. So when you're doing interviews, when you are a recruiter, the mentality that you need to have going in is that this person needs to earn this job. Yeah. Right. This person needs to earn the position because if they don't, they will be the person that in a week, they're not going to knock doors and they're going to leave. No doubt. Right. And so the value comes from, um, switching up your mentality, switching up the way that you do your interviews, uh, to do that. And the reason most guys don't do that is because they're scared that it's going to S like run people off. Like, they're scared that if they make the process more difficult, that they won't get as much as many numbers or as many people in there where it's not true. Like, yeah, you will weed out people, but it's, you don't want those types of people in your company. Anyways, because like I said, from the start, if you have a solid team of people, a solid, like five, six people that are your core people, um, that are, that are, you know, bought in that believe in the company. Um, and that they earned the position. Those guys will attract way, way more people and retain more people. And if you have a constant stream of new people coming in that feel like they didn't earn the position, um, and feel like they can just leave whenever

Speaker 2 (21:28):

A hundred percent. And I think it takes so much energy to drag these people. And it didn't even want to be there in the first place. You're constantly trying to babysit and make sure they're on the doors. And you're like, no, I promise it's going to work. If you just put in the dime when they didn't even want to be there in the first place. So it's like, yeah, I don't know. I think it's very similar to like selling, you know, if we're like begging people to a, please do this, please buy it for me. Like, no, one's going to do that. Right. It's like,

Speaker 3 (21:52):

It's the same concept. It's the exact same concept. Right. And the funny thing is, it's just like people have called me harsh before when dealing with reps. And they're like, I thought you're like a director of experience. Um, cause I think our last training class, a guy asked me, he's like, you know what, if I'm messing up or whatever, I was like, uh I'm I am a believer of 100% accountability. And I believe that if you want to be here, you will be here. If not, I'll tell you to leave. Right. Like, I'm not like, obviously you have to babysit new reps. Right. But babysit them when it comes to product knowledge and sales training, you don't babysit them when it comes to like the stupid complaints and things that they talk about. Um, cause you know, it's, it's funny like w for example, when people are on the phone with me doing an interview, right. Um, and if they say something along the lines of, well, what if I make zero sales? You know, most guys are good. What are they going to say? They're like, oh no, it'll be fine. We'll make sure you make money. You get sales, you know, the ISA I go. So you're telling me you're going to be the worst performer in the company.

Speaker 3 (22:52):

You're telling me you're not going to be good at your job. Is that what you're saying? Are you just asking a question? And then instantly they're just like, no, no, no. I was just wondering, like what happened? I was like, okay, cool. I just want to make sure. Cause if, if you're telling me you're not going to do well and that you aren't going to be a good performer for the company, I don't want you. Right. Like that's, that's not who we're looking for. And their mentality instantly changed because what guys are scared to talk about in interviews is commission, right? They're scared to talk about sales, um, because they don't know how to control that conversation. And that's the best way to flip the mentality. When it comes to controlling a conversation is you treat it like a dumb question because it is right.

Speaker 3 (23:29):

You wouldn't go up to a guy and talk about it. Like, what if I don't make the tacos? Good enough. You wouldn't do that. No. And so, um, realistically I think as an industry, we just need to start treating it more like a job, rather than just like, you are trying to bring people in and you're begging them to stay and you're begging them to come because you make money off of them. Right. And, and I know it's a hard thing to kind of switch your mentality around because, um, just like with sales, every single opportunity you're in, it's your time, it's your attention. Right. Um, but if you're a sucky salesman, you don't want to be in more houses. You want to be studying more and learning more. Yeah. Right. It's, it's, it's not because you're wasting opportunities at that point. And it's the same thing with the recruiting.

Speaker 3 (24:14):

You're wasting opportunities. If every single person that you bring into the company doesn't earn it. Um, they feel like, you know, they're just, they were begged to come onto the job. Um, and they have to be babysit for every single thing. And that's where, like I said, at the beginning, attention is one of the biggest things that is difficult for a company when it comes to recruiting because, um, they're spending time and attention on these reps that realistically aren't going to perform because it wasn't right from the start. Right. So they begged them to get into the, into the company. They told them that they're going to do good. And so because of that, the person who brought them in feels an obligation to make them good. Right. And I'm sure you've dealt with it and everyone's dealt with it, but how hard it is, how hard is it to take a rep that just absolutely has the worst mentality just is not good.

Speaker 3 (25:06):

And probably won't last a few days. What type of attention do you have to have to spend and put into this person a lot? Like you have to go with them on every single door. Um, you have to, like on the third day, go pick them up because they're like, ah, I don't know if I want to come back in, I'll come get you. Right. Everyone's dealt with it. And so if you focus your attention on, on the right part of the timeline, when it comes to recruiting, you'll see a huge change in your effort. Because if your attention is spent, um, this qualifying people from working for your company, because they're not the right fit. And then you'll see at this point when it's like time for them to, to work and time for them to be taught your attention and can, can be spent in the training. And then when they go out, there'll be much better prepared mentally. And just like, um, when it comes to the product knowledge as well that you won't have to dedicate as much time per recruit. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:01):

Okay. I love that. It's almost like another big mistake is just, you know, in general and sales people spending time with unqualified prospects, like how many new reps are spending two hours in a grandma Jean's house. He's 90 years old.

Speaker 3 (26:14):

Cause they're like, oh my gosh

Speaker 2 (26:17):

Know though. Yeah. It's like very similar in recruiting. How many recruiters are spending time with recruits? That's, you know, don't probably don't want to be there. Aren't good recruits. And I love that analogy, comparing it to other jobs that tacos the firefighters. Cause fee thing, that way it's yeah. It's like a whole different perspective that kind of really,

Speaker 3 (26:35):

And flip your mentality on it because, um, and like I said before, I understand these companies, the reason they want recruits is because they need to make money. Yeah. Right. But, but the cool thing is, um, with our industries, especially like solar, for example, um, if you don't have enough recruits or money, there's an easy way to fix that. You go knock doors and sell some. Yeah. Right. And so, and so, and a big reason why people start these companies. Cause, cause they want to start getting away from that, but they need to understand like, um, if you don't have enough time or money, like recruits won't solve that problem. I like get the money then the recruits, because then you can focus your attention on what action, what action needs to be done.

Speaker 2 (27:16):

Yeah. So money tips right there, make sure you were spending the time with qualified prospects. Make sure you're not letting your energy be sucked away by these people. That's you, aren't going to be good fits. And so speaking of not good fits, I know you guys bring in these groups all the time. How often are you bringing these ed? These recruiting groups every two weeks. Okay. So two weeks they're getting big groups or recruits in. Um, and it's really interesting where you guys are doing, just having almost like a bootcamp style, getting them in depth training. And then, um, last night I know they're doing like a scavenger hunt and uh, going out on the doors today. So, um, we'll hear maybe more about that in a second, but do you have any stories of, uh, I dunno, like bad recruits or, or like, um, interesting people give us something funny or crazy.

Speaker 3 (28:05):

The thing is guys, uh, um, no matter what you do, cause there's a vetting process. We have a pretty strict vetting process. I mean our first training class, we had 800 applicants and we brought 15 people on. Okay. So we, we, we cut it down to quite a lot because, um, like I said, if you focus your time on the right people, it goes well. Right. And you don't have to worry about like, yeah, we could have had probably 60 probably had 60 people from the applicant pool comp. Right. But we did the, we did an interview process. We did it the way that like, you know, gets rid of the people that you don't want to spend time on. Um, and, but then there are still people that will slip through the cracks. Right. And so there, there was, you know, there was someone that, you know, sounded great on the phone, did great for the training class.

Speaker 3 (28:50):

But when he showed up, we were just like, oh man, like this, this, this probably won't be a good fit. I mean, he, he showed up with a button up shirt, but it was on buttoned all the way up. His belly button didn't have any sleeves on. And he, I don't know if he was just like an actor or something, but he w he like tried to be the most dramatic person ever. Right. And, um, so we were like, okay, well, we'll, we'll see if it, if it works out, if we can give him a shot, um, but come the second day, we had to find him because we we're just like, you're not the right fit for the company. You're just, this is not the job for you. So, uh, and that's the other thing, guys, don't, don't be afraid, um, to, to fire or get rid of people because they will do more damage in your, in your, in your company.

Speaker 3 (29:37):

Um, if you let them stay, rather than if you just fire them right there. Because if you let someone that's not a good fit for the company, not going to fit for the culture, what that does for every other reps, uh, mindset is they're like, oh, well, they, they preach about their culture. They preach about their core values, but this guy doesn't have it. So realistically, what that means is they just want as many people as possible. They want us to make money for the company. Right. So getting rid of those people, um, will benefit you as a company, way more than trying to turn them into a good rep and make them a good fit for the car.

Speaker 2 (30:11):

Was this guy out knocking doors and is a button up.

Speaker 3 (30:16):

We gave him a polo to use, but he, he wasn't knocking doors. He was, he would, I had to shadow him. Right. Because, um, uh, we were told that like, you know, the police, they were trying to call the police on that for some reason, or that no, the worst part was, I think he might have been saying he was from NV energy. So like saying he was from the energy company and we're like, that's not what we teach at all. And so I had to shadow him and I think all he would do is he's not, he'd knock on the door, that'd be standing behind him. And the person would answer. He's like, Hey, my technicians right here. And he'll just walk off, just leave you. I'm just standing there like, hi, I'm the technician. Like, how are you? Like, what's your name? I guess I need to check your meter

Speaker 2 (31:00):

Quality appointment right there. I know.

Speaker 3 (31:02):

Right. That's see. That's for you guys that buy leads. Those are your appointments, by the way, those are the ones they're just like, yeah, there are people who walk up to the door and say, Hey, there's an appointment coming.

Speaker 2 (31:13):

That's funny. That's awesome. Well, Josh, I know you're about to have some doors and everything here, so we don't want to take too much more of your time. But last thing I kind of wanted to ask you about is you guys are obviously doing this boot camp style. Like we talked about bringing in hordes or recruits and, um, just getting them trained up. So why did you guys decide to do it like this, bring them all in for a weekend and kind of go out and what's been that experience, like doing it like that versus just like, I don't know, maybe the more traditional things bring in people one by one. What what'd you guys do?

Speaker 3 (31:44):

The biggest reason why we did that, Taylor is because, um, one of our, our, our mission statement and our biggest goal that we have as a company is, you know, Jerry brought us all together, um, because he wants us to be an opportunity company. Uh, our, our mission statement is we want to create the most millionaires and any other company in the world, um, through the solar industry. Right. And so we decided as a company, we're like, yeah, we could get a traditional office and we could do training classes there. Um, but it does not have the same impact impact on mentality and mindset for these reps. Um, I can tell you right now, you know, um, pulling in, in a Mercedes, you know, a Mercedes sprinter van, that's, uh, an executive van bringing them in and they see this huge mansion and they walk in and they just see just they see success.

Speaker 3 (32:29):

Right. Um, it puts them in the mindset to actually understand what we're trying to accomplish with them. Um, I mean, we had, uh, like for our training class yesterday, I talked with a few people and I like, I wanted to get your opinion. I asked him, I was like being here. Does it help you open your mind a little bit more to the possibility of you becoming a millionaire? Um, because, uh, what we, what we have is we tell these, we tell these reps, we tell these guys that they are future millionaires. We make them say it. We make them think it, we make them write it down. Um, and every single one I talked to, they're like, yeah, this, this opens my mind so much. And most of them are Vegas locals. They're like, I've never even been to this side of the, of Vegas.

Speaker 3 (33:07):

I've never even been to this side of the state where it's like the houses and like the mansions in the cars. Um, and so the biggest reason why we chose to do it this way, rather than the traditional get an office and all that, because, um, we really want these guys to open their mentality, to open their understanding, having an open mind to what we want them to accomplish. Um, and it's worked amazing so far. I mean, every single person we have on the team, um, it's really awesome, but like we have them send videos and they talk to people and they do their own recruiting. And that's, uh, that's another thing that I'm really big on is internal recruiting. Right. Um, but every single one of them are sold on the idea that they are future millionaires, they're surrounded by millionaires, um, and that they will get to that point. Nice. And it's all because of, you know, how we, how we present it, how we explain it and, and, um, you know, just, just what we have available for them within the company. And so that's why we decided to do it this way. So

Speaker 2 (34:08):

That's a really cool cause. Yeah. It seems like it's almost more like you're giving them the personal development, the mindset. So we're just happens to be kind of the vehicle do that. And, and often, yeah, there's some guys that, um, I mean, you're bringing in guys that it's really cool. Like you said, having experienced this type of thing, but I think for them to see that versus just going into a traditional office office and traditional thing, I think that's really cool what it does to someone's mindset to see that even for me, I came in and like, Jerry has his bodyguard and I'd never been in a van like that. Like, dang, these guys are high rollers, so really cool experience eating. Um, and so Josh, last thing, um, I know we were talking a little bit before we started recording just about the social media recruiting. Lots of guys are trying to get into that, and I know you, that's another big mistake you see, is people doing that wrong? So just for like maybe ourselves or ups or people that are trying to get more recruits that maybe aren't necessarily going to go hire like a recruiting agency or do this high level stuff that we've been talking about, what advice can you give to just people in general that want to maybe use more social media for recruiting and just start bringing in more of their personal recruits and building their own teams?

Speaker 3 (35:15):

Yeah. Well, the first word of advice is, um, use it, you know, that's, that's the biggest one is, you know, social media is the next big push when it comes to, um, success within recruiting because it's where everyone is. Right. Like, you know, it's funny, but you know, people scoffed at sick talk, but now everyone's on it. Right. It's one of the biggest platforms. And so, um, one of the biggest I see when it comes to social media recruiting, and there's so much I could go into, but I'll just talk a little bit about, uh, your own following, right? So if you are a, if you are a rep, if you are an owner, if you are whatever, right, you should be using your social media as a platform to kind of, um, to highlight your success right. To post like your, your accomplishments, your achievements, um, and, and you can post failures too.

Speaker 3 (36:01):

I like to tell people be real, right? Like, I mean, I post when I have a bad day, sometimes I post when, when things might not be going the right way. Um, but obviously you always post like how you solved that problem, but use it as a way to kind of highlight your success, highlight like, you know, the life you're living and what you're doing. Um, and that right there is what's going to cause you know, people that start, uh, you know, looking at it differently in the end, they'll see what you're doing and they'll, and they'll, you know, go through your stories. Um, and it gets the, it gets the seed planted. Right. Um, and I think what a lot of guys, uh, run into and it's the same problem it's patients, right? Um, they're like, oh my gosh, I have 5,000 people on my Instagram.

Speaker 3 (36:39):

Why is everyone not working for me right now? Yeah. You know? And so the biggest tip of advice I have when it comes to, you know, like for Instagram, for example, it's, it's touch points, right? So touch points means like the conversation or the messages that you're sending to these people. Um, so the best market that you have, the warm market for recruiting on your social media are people that will swipe up and like send emojis, right. To your stories, like the hundred or the handclap. Right. Um, those people, when they see those successes, when they see those stories, they'll swipe up and say something or they'll interact. Right. And a lot of the times guys will, uh, as soon as they see that, they'll send a message. Hey man, you want to be successful. You want to make a lot of money. I saw that you, you know, your profile looks amazing.

Speaker 3 (37:22):

You'll be really great at this. Um, let's talk, oh my gosh, you can't tell me how you, I can't tell you how many messages I've gotten like that on my Instagram in the last five years. And they turn off the recruiting director. I'm like, they turned me off so quick. I'm just like, oh, that looks horrible. Right. So, so my recommendation is when you have a warm market, right. When you have these people respond to your, to your messages, um, just small touch points. Like the first thing can be like, Hey, thanks for it. Like, um, thanks for the emoji. Like, or just like a thumbs up back, or like, what you can do is if you follow them, send them emojis on their stories. Like just get them starting to realize that you know who they are, you know of them. Um, and that like, you see them as well.

Speaker 3 (38:10):

Right. So those little touch points. And then like, eventually you'll see, they'll start sending like little messages with the, with the messages, with the stories too, right? Like if you, if you post a story of you in Mexico or in the car, they'd be like, oh, that looks so cool. Right. And so letting them initiate it and then like letting that conversation kind of flow because social media is different than face-to-face right. It happens over a period of time and you have to let it happen naturally and organically. Um, and so like, those touch points are going to start to get bigger. Right. They'll start like saying, oh, that looks dope. And then you can be like, yeah, it was super fun. You know, we ha we invited all the people who won this or the people who earned this trip out to Mexico and, and, um, it was a great trip.

Speaker 3 (38:52):

Right. And so they'd be like, oh, okay, cool. That's awesome. Um, and then they might ask a question on the next one then. Right. They'd be like, what are you guys doing? So, so touch points when it comes to social media are probably one of your best ways to not look like a desperate recruiter, right. To not look like, you know, the multilevel marketing guy, like, um, or I love those, those memes you see of, of like the Hey boss girl, like boss, babe, what you do, right. Yeah. When it comes to makeup with me. Exactly. Um, so those touch points, I, I would recommend to everyone, um, to start doing that, paying more attention to the people on your social media. Um, and I honestly, you know, I, I think it kind of hit home for me the most when, when I started like following successful people within the industry, because when I first got into like Kirby, all I knew was Kirby.

Speaker 3 (39:43):

Yeah. Right. But then I started branching out. I started following people in pest control in solar and roofing. Um, now I'd followed these really successful guys with really busy lives and all these successful people. Um, it would be cool because I did the same exact thing back in the day I would send the emoji. I would send a little message. Um, and that's where I started to learn how it worked because they would do what I just mentioned is the touch points. They wouldn't try to sell the position like instantly. Right. They would just gradually like let the conversation, um, grow. Um, and then they'd be like, Hey, I've got this event I'm doing, or I've got a ticket to this game gonna come with me. And then that's, that's, that is the best way to do it. When it comes to, you know, hot hiring these people through your social media following, um, that initially might not, you know, be looking for a job or it might not be looking in that type of industry, but then they'd see the success.

Speaker 3 (40:37):

I mean, I got a message yesterday from someone, um, that I I've known for years and years and years, I haven't talked to him in like six years, but he sent me a message yesterday. He's like, Hey, I see all the, like the success that you're having. I see the things that you're building up. I've been following you for like five years now. And I've seen kind of the progression, like, what tips do you have? Like, what are you doing? Like, how did you build up the success for yourself? And so sometimes it's just like, they come out of nowhere and it's just based off of you being consistent with your social media and showing people what's going on.

Speaker 2 (41:06):

Yeah. Like that guy is probably been seeing it for years. Right. And then finally he reached out to you and that's, what's cool is cause like, yeah, I've gotten a couple of recruits even just the last few months just from like, yeah. Um, I mean, I wasn't that consistent on social media, but we're the last six months, whatever I've been trying to post a little bit more. And, uh, these people, I mean, obviously at first it's not like they're coming right into my lap, but just me posting. One of them had like an issue with his other company. They they're off. It's basically like, you know, ran out of reps and it was just closing down. So because I was the one posting and, um, we kind of talked at events, things like that. I was the one that he reached out to because I built that relationship.

Speaker 2 (41:48):

He saw us post events and things like that. So that's like, you're talking about that's, what's cool is you don't have to beg these guys. They're just organic recruits. They're seeing your posts and they're coming to you. It's almost like a, I don't know, referral and Excel. Right. Those are the easiest ones to get are the ones that you're just doing, what you're supposed to do right place, right time, just you showing up, being consistent. Um, having that relationship even, it's just the emoji really relationship clap. And when they get a sell things like that, guys remember that and they'll go, oh, Josh is cool. I'm going to hit him up. See what's going on. So yeah, it's been, even if you got quite a few recruits, just coming organically through that too.

Speaker 3 (42:21):

Yeah. And the coolest thing about that, um, that I was going to say is obviously that's what I do, right. Um, that's what all the executives do guess what guess what we do as well. We teach and train all of our reps to do it smart because, uh, you know, we might have a following combined of like, you know, 50, 60,000 people as the executives, but then you start adding recruits. Um, and it's just, it just multiplies, like if you get sent people in there that have a thousand followers, that's instantly 10,000 more people that can be accessed. Right. So one of the biggest things we hit on as a company is social media. We have a professional photographer and videographer that when, once they joined the company and we start creating content for them, we start teaching them how to post on their stories.

Speaker 3 (43:04):

We tell them as soon as they get in the house, they're like, yeah, man, take a story. Let them know, like show the people that, you know, follow you, where are you at? What you're doing. Um, create a post, talking about how you are a future millionaire and how you're going to accomplish that. And so we get them started from day one on how to utilize their social media to start kind of explaining the opportunity that they have. And so organic recruiting is my absolute favorite way to do it because it costs you zero money. And they're always the best recruits because they're friends of people who are bought into your culture, who are bought into your company and your dream. Right. Um, and that person convinces them of that. You have to do zero work for that. It is my absolute favorite thing to do.

Speaker 3 (43:45):

And so we, one thing we hit on big is just social media. So all of our ribs, they all follow our internal social media. They all follow our, um, like our company, social media, and every time that they're posting, you know, we're giving them this content of them, really cool pictures, you know, in Vegas, in front of the mansion, a really professional looking things to put on their story. We're teaching them to do that. And I think just with this training class, I've had four people tell me they already have someone that wants to come work for me already. And that's just from them posting the stories from the pictures that they're putting, talking about what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (44:18):

Yeah. Right. That's huge. And now I love that you guys have, I'm seeing that more and more are these successful companies like simple solar? Uh, I mean, all these guys, they have, you know, daddy, they'd get a video guy, content guys, and they're given access to the reps and having them share all the content and tag people in it. So I think, yeah, I think that's kind of the future. That's what these successful companies are doing and no doubt it's working for you guys. So, uh, Josh, no, it's been awesome here. And um, and just seeing, I've been here over the weekend with you guys, just seeing the experience and yeah, it's been a good time. And, uh, just speaking, hanging out with you guys, seeing the process, so anyone that's listening, um, I would suggest you guys, you know, consider doing more content with social media, um, have your reps involved in that process.

Speaker 2 (45:07):

And then, um, just keep in mind, all the things Josh was talking about, make sure you have a process for these, um, you know, indeed recruits all these, uh, you know, recruits you pay for to make sure you have a process dialed in, because if you don't, it's just like pouring water through a leaky bucket, right. You're just losing, you know, half the reps that come in when you could be keeping them in, retaining them saving. That's one of the most important things. So Josh, we appreciate you coming on the show. I know you're going to get out and hit some doors here and everything. Um, so before we let you go, where can people connect with you and hear more about what you're doing and do you want to drop your social media and all that

Speaker 3 (45:41):

For sure. Yeah. I, my Instagram is just my first and last name, Josh Peters, 1996. Um, and my Facebook is just my first and last name. Um, and you can find me on those, on those socials. Uh, and then just to kind of touch on what you said, if you have questions or need advice, I get free advice. Like I don't charge people for advice. So if you ever have any questions, reach out to me on there and I absolutely respond. And, um, because most of the time when I talked to people about recruiting, they just have a thousand questions, you know? Um, so if, if anyone has questions or want to reach out to me and talk and set up a time to call and, and figure out what a better process might look like, I absolutely can do that.

Speaker 2 (46:17):

I love that. Appreciate that and yet very giving a guy here. So definitely hit him up. Let Josh know you appreciated him coming on the podcast today. And then if you have any recruits that liked to, you know, knock with their shirts on button or whatever, then shoot them. Josh is the way I do it because he loves the recruits like that. Get them chained up, be their technician. So, uh, with that being said, thanks again for coming on the show, Josh and we will talk soon. Yes, sir. Thanks.

Speaker 2 (46:43):

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