Solar Sales Uncensored
Solar Sales Uncensored
5 Proven Strategies for Earning Six-Figures in Solar Sales with Free Referrals
Discover the transformative secrets of referral-based success as John Bobnas, a veritable wizard of the solar sales industry, joins me, Aaron Browning, for an eye-opening discussion. Expect to unlock a treasure trove of insights as we traverse John's journey from doubt to domination in the field, all while nurturing genuine connections that have built a business empire. His three-decade span in sales, touching everything from video conferencing to construction, has cemented his place as a referral maestro, and he's here to share that hard-earned wisdom with you.
Ditch the "head junk" and prepare for a deep dive into cultivating the mindset of a champion salesperson, as John and I dissect the barriers that can stall even the most seasoned professionals. We'll reveal why note-taking and perpetual training are not just for rookies, but are the hallmarks of those who rise to the top. Plus, get a behind-the-scenes look at how John transformed his network into a robust, referral-generating machine, and learn how you too can create raving fans and deliver consistent value across any industry.
Wrapping up, we'll share real-life tales of success harnessed from multiple income streams, shining a spotlight on the magic of networking and the benefits of a proactive and knowledgeable approach. Imagine saving your clients tens of thousands while lining your pockets through savvy solar solutions—this episode isn't just a talk, it's an action plan for your financial independence. We're eager to hear your thoughts and invite you to be part of this journey as we continue to explore the frontiers of business and personal growth together.
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Hello, hello, welcome to another episode of Solar Sales, uncensored. I am your host, aaron Browning, and I am excited to have our kickoff show, kickoff episode for 2024, with one of my best friends, mr John Bobnas. I have known this gentleman, this entrepreneur, this family man now for gosh. Probably five or six years Feels like longer at times, because we've run so many businesses together. We've really hit it off from day one.
Speaker 1:He is arguably the nicest person I've ever met, and I don't say that lightly, I really don't. He is so genuine, he is so organic with who he is and, as part of the reason I brought him on, there are really many topics we could talk on together, but something he does better than any person I've ever met and I think it's because of how genuine he is. He has mastered the art of the referral like legit, 100% mastered it. He wakes up every single day to deals, solar deals and his inbox, just from being organic, just from being him. So, without further ado, I'm going to bring up my good friend, fellow business partner, mr John Bobnas. How the heck are you my friend?
Speaker 2:I'm having a great day. How about you, Mr Browning?
Speaker 1:I'm doing well. I appreciate you getting on early. I know you're on the on the California time zone, but it's always good to see you, my friend. You're always smiling from ear to ear.
Speaker 2:If it's before noon it's a little early for me, so as I like to live that California lifestyle you, you do so.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you squeezing us in. Man, we're really excited. John, I know you are modest, but if you don't mind, would you give your I don't know 60 second minute and a half kind of background a little bit more about you professionally.
Speaker 2:Sure, I've been around sales forever. My it was raised by my grandparents Depression era. People are not typically easy on you, so it was always if you want something, go out and earn it. So my grandfather encouraged me very young to get started working at 16. I've been in sales for 30 plus years now, done just about every type of sales, whether it was back in the day when there was video conferencing before this high tech stuff that was on here, I was actually selling rooms to to big organizations like Universal Studios, to hey, this is your way of communicating across the country without having to travel.
Speaker 2:Then I did restaurant sales, been in the construction world, ran a construction company, helped with management, and then I started to get the itch to train and coach. And that's really where I feel my heart is helping others do better. I like constantly a big proponent of self improvement, personal development and getting better at sales as a field. So yes, I'm in solar sales, but I'm also in real estate sales. I will not shy away from selling any big ticket item at the highest level possible.
Speaker 1:I love that man. I think that's probably the reason you and I hit it off so well, is our background, our love for real estate. And, by the way, I didn't know I was going to go here and it's funny we're already starting it off that way. That's the other cool part too, about what we do here, especially when you really know the guest. Like there are so many different ways I could take this, john. I'm going to put you on the spot, brother, because this is what I do. Do you remember the day I called you telling you about solar and the new venture we were about to do together? Like what your reaction was?
Speaker 2:I would rather you tell me your memory of it, because I probably have, let's say, stylized it. I probably make a Hollywood movie out of it.
Speaker 1:You really could. So John is arguably. I talked about his love and his heart. Emails, Christmas cards, birthday cards to my kids. For God's sake, Just amazing. Like my kids wait for it every single day, my youngest holds his business card. It got blessed me. He's eight. He thinks it's a credit card. I don't have the heart to tell him that John didn't give a credit card.
Speaker 2:It's a nice business card. Come on, aaron, it is a high quality marketing piece, is all I'm saying, guys.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, we'll talk about that too, because I think that it gets part of the reason, part of the way you leverage yourself and get referrals. It stands out, like I said, my kid has it on his nightstand. It's crazy. When I called him letting him know a little bit over a year ago that this solar thing fell in my lap and I couldn't unsee what I saw his reaction from someone so positive was not positive. It was oh my gosh, what are you doing? Stop. You're not doing this door to door thing I used to sell. I think it was siding or windows. I forgot what it was now.
Speaker 2:Windows, painting, siding, roofing. I've sold everything in home. I have gosh over 2,000 in-home contracts under my belt, not including some of the solar sales.
Speaker 1:But his blink on this, ladies and gentlemen, was like, was really negative. It's the first time in my whole life of ever knowing him that he's ever done that. Not to say that we agree all the freaking time, because we don't, but he'll usually spin it in a very positive way. Tell me more about that, aaron. What do you like? This one was like dude stop. What are you doing? I?
Speaker 2:thought it was a step backwards. I did not want to see you lose Love. That Seriously true. I was thinking to myself this is not a positive step forward. Are you okay? Do you need help? Yep, I'm here for you because I've been in home improvement sales. I guess it's big ticket. I sold $25,000 window jobs. That's a pretty big ticket item, but not in comparison now to real estate. You sell a $2 million home is commonplace in California if you're productive and active like I am. But still I was thinking to myself come on, man, I had other people pitch me.
Speaker 2:Solar, it's the vision of the future. You need to check it out. Everything's going that way and, as in California, as of January 2020, in every new home constructed and most major remodels are going to have some amount of solar on them. So you better know what you're talking about, or you can do what most agents do, which is not know what they're talking about, and just go. Ah, solar's a hassle and I'm not that guy. I'm the guy like look, I want to figure it out, but I did not see it coming. Let's just say that. So what?
Speaker 1:changed man. If fast forward, he's now at a. We try our best to talk about our company, but he's on the board of directors. He's flown out to not flown out because he lives close by. He routinely goes for our monthly masterminds that are televised over 7000 sales reps in our company. He's on stage. He is the poster child for our company. What the heck changed what? You get doctor and doctor in our company and you're just like, oh my gosh, I missed it.
Speaker 2:Because it really wasn't about to be frank, like solar, this is can we be uncensored On solar uncensored? Yeah, the thing is, man, it really isn't about solar, even though solar's the vehicle, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:It was.
Speaker 2:I met the CEO and I went oh my gosh, this guy's a visionary. And you don't meet people where you go. Oh, this guy's a visionary. Very often. Most of the time, regardless whether it's solar windows, anything, whatever it is that you're selling in the home improvement world, you're not going to meet a lot of visionary thinkers.
Speaker 2:I met a lot of guys that are brick and mortar. I own a little business just trying to get by. Maybe I can reduce the material cost. Those are the conversations they're having and I was thinking when you said solar, I'm going, dude, I don't want to. I don't want to try to help somebody keep their company going or whatever it have. This guy was so far beyond that. This is a mission to change the world. And I went. You got my attention. That's interesting. What do you mean? We're going to change the world, we're going to do it differently. And I said, okay, that's interesting too and, like you said, we're not going to focus. This isn't to pitch the company. This is hopefully so.
Speaker 2:Whoever's watching this gets value, because I don't care what sales field you're in, I have stuff that will benefit you and help you, because I've made huge mistakes and I've also done a tremendous amount of investment in myself, as I'm not a big.
Speaker 2:I don't talk myself up Like when people I've been asked to be on other podcasts and sometimes it's just you know what. I'm not here just to promote someone else, but you have such a servant heart where you want to care. You seem to me, when you told me you're doing a podcast, going oh my God, your schedule's already ridiculous, now you're going to add this to it. But you said it was about helping other people. And that's what got me in my heart about this company was that they are about helping other people first, whether it's helping the homeowner, because this industry is fraught with tons of misrepresentation. The criminal level is off the charts when it comes to salesmen that are misrepresenting what they're offering and the homeowners themselves are getting into it for the right reasons, but they're being steered down the wrong path. And then it's go ahead. I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, 100%, man. It's unregulated, john, and I joke all the time. I know you guys are tired of hearing me say it, but I'm going to keep saying it because, until it changes, this is real estate 20, 25 years ago. It's the Wild West, this podcast, by the way, it's what John just said it was born. I didn't have to bear with it. It is still. It is a labor of love. It is so much more intense and needy than what I had thought. I love it, though.
Speaker 1:It was born because I realized that most people in this game who are trying to be good, trying to be good salespeople and that's not everyone, let's be clear on that they're running this transactional. They're going from solar deal to solar deal. I wanted to take our expertise, john's and many of our other guests, and teach people how to run this thing like a freaking business. So you start to get leverage, so you have a way out when you want to get out and I don't see anyone else talking like that in solar, it's all. How do I get the next deal? No, absolutely. That's unique deals. But how do you leverage that deal into four or five others? How do you start to build a team? How do you start? Anyway, that's why this thing was born, and that's really what John was just talking about.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And also, just to add to that, the idea that, like you said, why did I, why was I open? It's because you presented it properly. To be fair Anybody who's listening to this you pitch something to someone at some point, whether it's your client or if you're recruiting, because everybody recruits. It's funny, it doesn't matter what brokerage you're in. People in KW, oh, we don't recruit. You recruit like crazy. You want top talent. We all want top talent, regardless of the business that we're in.
Speaker 2:But for me, I don't, like I do. I'm not going to call it active recruiting. I say that I'm looking for people that want to join the mission, because this is so much more than just a job. This is an opportunity where you can actually affect the life and not only your life, but the life of the people, the homeowners that you're dealing with and also the salespeople you meet. I'm like you paid me a huge compliment and I really appreciate that To say that I'm a big-hearted person who really cares. That is my driver, that's my currency.
Speaker 2:If I could find a way to be a social worker and make $3 million a year, that's probably the perfect job for me, because then I could put on my superhero cape and I can go out there and I can hopefully change the world. This is the vehicle that allows me to do that, along with. Also, I'm still a green certified realtor. Right, you still have a real estate license. It's. How many billionaires do we read books from that don't identify by their industry? I don't call myself a solar salesperson because I sell more than solar. When I'm selling, it's more of an education and then it's seeing if it's a good fit for the homeowner. If it isn't a good fit, I tell people all the time I'm not sure this is right for you. I've had more referrals from people that I didn't sell than the people that I did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it should be that way. It's not for everyone. Some homes don't qualify. The numbers don't make sense, various reasons. Not only that, it's a strong takeaway tactic. Right, that's true. When I'm collecting utility bills, I don't even know if your home qualifies. I mean it. But the minute you do a takeaway to an adult, they want more. So it's funny. Being organic and being truthful will actually also work in your favorite multiple ways, which is really neat.
Speaker 1:By the way a little sidebar, when I called John, he was one of my first calls when I got started in solar, just because our business relationship, our friendship, everything else I respected him. I knew with certainty I hate certainty that he was going to jump in like immediately. Absolutely not. I don't even want him to lie, I don't want him to even mislead you. It took several weeks. He was always respectful. But, oh my gosh, you went talking about beating you up, and so I share that because I didn't know we were going to. But also, if you're team building, if you're recruiting and you have that call, that someone's going to react in a certain way and they don't. You need to be sure with what you're doing. That doesn't affect you. So, although I was crushed, I was like ah.
Speaker 1:I thought he was going to be my first one, like why are we not locking arms on this? I was locked and loaded Like I wasn't going to let that negative speak, even though he was coming from contribution, hurt me, and so I see so often where people make and I know you do, john. They make that first phone call and someone's oh you idiot. And they're like John, I'm quitting so and so said I'm an idiot, you can't be like that, you'll never, ever make it. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Totally does and it leads. The first thing I thought of when you said that was and that's not a technical term, but it's such a good term Head junk. How many people do we need, like I have? So all this training and I have this amazing pedigree, I've won all these awards and I've sold all this stuff, that everything that gets me all these great accolades. Does that matter, when my head is still telling me you know what? That's not for me, when I didn't even understand what I was saying. I didn't understand what I didn't understand. I didn't know what, really, what you were offering and you were doing it really well. I had two other people that had already approached me, by the way, for the exact same company. I didn't even know it was the same company because you did it so much better. But you did it from a place of contribution. You did it from a place of look. I don't want to be the only guy on the hill with the beach house. I want you to be my neighbor and you also came from a place of having the right posture.
Speaker 2:This isn't supposed. I don't know, maybe this is. I don't know what we officially are supposed to be doing here, but on different podcasts and they have different goals and agenda, but for me, it's about helping people right, 100%. The goal to me is, if somebody's watching this and they go, you know what that's valuable. I'm going to write that down. Like I don't always, I always have a notepad and paper next to me, but I'm not always anticipating needing to write notes and I write notes so constantly that it's if I don't write it down, I'm going to and I go back to it. Then it becomes a training and then people are like, oh, thank goodness, I'm like, thank goodness I wrote it down. Really, quite frankly, because as good as I think I am at something, remembering something, if I don't write it down, it's going to disappear most of the time.
Speaker 1:I totally agree. And, by the way, for those listening on the traditional podcast or the video version, which obviously go to whatever speaks to you better, do me a favor, let us know in the comments, because another training that John and I do we in fact we used to travel the country doing it was the art of peaking interest. So that's more on the team building side, which, as you go know, is my love language. It's also John's. If you want us to come back for another episode and talk about what we did, what I did exactly to peak his interest, that made him align with me, when he had already seen and heard about our company at least two times before, if not more. He's in California after all. We'd love to come back and do that.
Speaker 1:Like I said, we could do a deep dive on everything recruiting and how to set it up, the posture. Let us know in the comments if you see value and I'll make sure we do that. John, I do want to be respectful to you and also to our audience. I brought you here for so many topics, but the main one that I really want to spend some time on today is the art of the referral, how you do it, how you're posturing that, how you're setting it up, the best companies, all that sort of stuff. So from the very beginning, like how did this referral thing come out to you? Like what spoke to you about it? How did you decide to master the art of getting referrals?
Speaker 2:It doesn't take a lot of sales training to know that word of mouth referrals are the best business possible because it's just it's lowest hanging fruit right. And we all are in the same situation where, if somebody is an advocate for us, if you're not talking about yourself and somebody else is advocating for you, I'm just looking for raving fans and it doesn't matter the industry I'm in. But I'm also all about bringing value. I think bringing value, no matter what industry you're in, is the key to long term success. People ask me that, like I co-wrote a book with Jack Canfield, I don't know, five years ago, based on real estate sales performance and stuff. It was big charity book and it went best sellers, really fun. But people ask me all the time to go oh, you're part of the success formula, what's the key to success? And I go add value. That's it. It's that simple. If whatever you're doing adds value to people's lives, you become sticky and I Wanted to make this a little easier.
Speaker 2:People in every industry, whether gosh, you and I, have done many businesses when we've tried to market and pay to have somebody reach out to us. The goal, of course just have somebody raised their hand and go hey, can you call me about X, whatever it is you're doing. And I thought how do I get that? So, just like everything, like in real estate, I bought a bunch of leads and they are difficult and you got a filter through them all and you have to have a value proposition and it's expensive and time-consuming. But if somebody calls me and goes, hey, my neighbor says you're the guy, like when they call you you are always on top of it. You seem to always know what the latest that's going on, that's gonna be a sale. I'm gonna make most of the time as long as it suits the client's needs.
Speaker 1:Because I'm. It's a setup, though, man, because when you're chasing versus receiving, I have always said I and you need to be able to do both. If we're being honest, lead receive mode is so much more fun, so much better when you get that text or that voicemail, that phone call saying so-and-so Told me to call you. So here I am. They're expecting John to call. They're expecting John to talk about his solar company. Right, that's huge versus a cold lead. And, by the way, once again, I didn't know we're gonna go here, but let's do it.
Speaker 1:What the thing I love about John? He treats like a freaking business, like when he came on, he knew he needed leads day one. I didn't teach him that, he already knows. So, yes, he spent Thousands, tens of thousands dollars buying leads. He now doesn't spend a dollar on any of that stuff, which I love. Talk about that, the transition of how you did start that way. By the way, we're not knocking it. I've had other successful people. That's their jam. John just realized hey, I can go back to what I did grassroots and build a referral business, pay nothing and close higher quality leads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just thought, if we have more people that we can reach out to or people at least reaching out to us, someone some Activity to do. I did not know the solar business three years ago at all, but I was green certified as a realtor, which means that I had some amount of education. But most of the education I've gotten in solar has been me Be proactively looking for it. Nobody tells you to go to solar con, but I go to solar con. Nobody tells you, by the way, I go to real estate. I go to all things sales related. I went to a door knocking convention. I don't want a door knock, but I know people that do and I want to be able to bring them what again value.
Speaker 2:So how do you get people Advocating for you when you're not necessarily all that entrenched in the industry? You really don't have a footprint yet you bring a lot of sales Skill and integrity to the table, which is that's hard enough to find. Granted, that's hard to find, but if I can't bring maximum value to the client, I feel like I'm not doing well, which is one of the. Also the other things I loved about this company was that they required you To be a basically shadow. You had to shadow top guys in the company and you found out very quickly. Even some of the top guys were not great at what they were doing, like I was Giving tips and how to close and how to help with. Hey, we need to build urgency and we need to in. And they're like, oh, okay, great, I had guys that were the experts because they had the technical knowledge which comes over time and with investment in yourself. But I needed, okay, how am I gonna get referrals? And one of the top guys earning seven like, I don't meet a lot of salespeople earning Legitimately there's a lot of posturing, but legitimately seven figures a year. You don't find a lot of salespeople that do that right.
Speaker 2:So, to be where these guys are pouring back into me and giving me help, all I had to do was show up. That's incredible, the fact that all I had to do was be there and plug into trainings. And then I started to put myself out there. Hey, can I take you to lunch? Well, yeah, nobody else is doing, that's great, let's go. And then they were willing to let me follow them and watch what they were doing. But the number one recommendation they had and so if you do have a pen and paper handy, you're gonna write this down. Get in a networking group. There's free ones that aren't as good. There's somewhere you put a little bit of money into it. That's what I did. It's called B&I B&I comm. Go check it out, it's. I don't. I don't get anything for any of this. There's not an affiliate program, none of that. It's just. It will be one of those things where you go. I got my money's worth out of this podcast Just by writing down B&I business networking. I don't know if it's international, I think B&I.
Speaker 1:I don't know but back up for a second John. What, what, what is B&I? Okay, 30 second, what is it?
Speaker 2:B&I is a group of professionals that are heavily vetted To make sure that they are who they say they are, and in this networking group there's one seat for each profession. So if you're a realtor, you're gonna look for your local B&I group or something you can do in the area that you service and Most of the time the real estate position is taken the account in positions. Take all. There's a lot of positions taken. Fortunately there wasn't solar positions that were taken most frequently and it gave me an opportunity to come in as the expert Explain that we have access to all these unique because the company itself has some unique selling propositions. It's nice to be able to have the only 30 year warranty that includes roof penetrations. Most Solar guys are gonna go, man, that's unusual. Usually they're just relying on the manufacturer warranty that the manufacturer stops selling a panel. They don't have to deal with warranty anymore.
Speaker 2:I found a company that will now protect my real estate clients, who are really who I was trying to protect and refer this company and now I can give them access to a 30 year warranty with materials, labor, roof, everything. I'm not trying to pitch the company, I'm just saying that is yeah, totally oh, was worth the cost of admission for me. I'm like, okay, this is incredible. So now I'm sitting here with a group of other professionals. They heavily vetted me. They called other people that I had done business with. They knew when they recommended John. John was gonna show up, he was gonna deliver top level service. And if he didn't have the answer, the thing that kind of made me stand out was if I didn't have the answer, I said I have a guy that has the answer and I'll connect you with the professional. I'm not gonna guess.
Speaker 1:Yep, 100%. It's being transparent, it's being honest, especially cause this was a new career a year ago for us. People will see right through that. I totally agree. I wanna dumb it down just for a second longer, john, and if I miss anything, correct me. So B&I referral group, as he said, you have one seat per person. I wanna make sure we understand that. You're gonna have one solar professional, you're gonna have one person selling insurance, maybe one person at a car dealership, an HVAC guys and gals. Obviously the other thing too this group is coming together with the sole purpose of referring to each other in that business.
Speaker 2:That's it. It's just referrals.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy. So I don't wanna say you're guaranteed referrals, but gosh darn it, you almost are. As long as you're coming from contribution, you're giving it forward. You're the only solar professional there, so if they come across anybody, so you're building that network. The other thing too, john I'll turn it over to you one second and correct me if I'm wrong. Again, they have three different options as well, which I think is really cool. They adapted because of COVID. They have in person, which is their bread and butter. I think that's what John does, where you're gonna go meet one day or an hour or two a week. One day a week, every single month. They have an online version. So if you're in a smaller market perhaps, or maybe you're in a market where it's saturated there aren't any more in-person ones you can do an online of that fit your schedule. And they also have a hybrid to where you can do both at the same time. You wanna touch on those?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I found that really appealing and the beauty was that I could visit multiple chapters to make sure that the culture was something that I clicked with. And the reality was I wasn't looking to do a hit and run, I wanted to build a relationship with these people. How many books do we read where top peep, the top of the top I don't care if it's Tony Robbins or anybody who's somebody that you totally respect they all say your network is your net worth. So if you are gonna be around a network of people, I wanted it to be people that weren't just good at what they do but also had the same kind of servant heart I do and also weren't afraid to tell other people about me. Because the whole point of that is, like you said, referrals. So you can meet only in person if you want. They have those. Where it's a weekly meeting, it's a 90 minute meeting.
Speaker 2:Everybody does a little one minute commercial about what they do, but, more importantly, the whole goal of it is to give referrals, or access from your database to everybody that might benefit from their services, and you end up finding you start thinking along the term I have a guy who's an auto shop guy in my BNI group. I don't know if auto shop guy is gonna be the guy I can refer every day, but he constantly has people in the network going yeah, my friend just gotten a little fender bender, or they my daughter ran the ball and I'm thinking, wow, you don't think about all those little things, but every one of those is a referral for this guy, and so I think it was. I think it's somewhere about 85 bucks a month I spent, and when you think about marketing costs, no matter what business you're in, I tested out a lead source for solar when I first got going with this.
Speaker 1:And Is that what we're calling? That I tested out. He tested out his credit card to see how bad that thing worked.
Speaker 2:It was called an investment. It was a learning experience and, man, it was a costly one, but it wasn't just the only one. I probably did three or four. You're right, it was way over. It was over 12 grand I spent.
Speaker 2:And then I finally realized, oh, there's a reason that everybody who is doing the very best at the company is saying you probably don't want to invest your money in something where their whole business is selling you leads. And I went oh, that totally makes sense. If they're in the business of selling leads, they don't care. They don't have no skin in the game, they don't care if it closes, whereas every week I'm meeting with this group of individuals and they like hearing that you're benefiting and you're winning, because then you're thinking about them. It they encourage these one-on-one meetings that you spend time.
Speaker 2:It's fun to get to know people, and especially if you like them. So what do we all do? We all give business to people we know and trust. It's the facts of sales. So when you have people that you're in this group with and you realize, wow, these are becoming friends. I've only been in the BNI for 18 months and I don't even know if it's that long. They asked me to be the BNI president. They go you're exactly what we're looking for as an avatar for what this group needs. It's an influx of new kind of energy, and we want every seat to be your quality of seat and I'm like, wow, that's a huge compliment. So many people have been in the group for 15 years.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's what I said when I kicked it off. It wasn't just an edification to say it below smoke man, that is who you are. Like you I. When I think of BNI, I think of people like you. When I'm trying to get other people to step up their referral game, I'm telling them about you, man, so well-deserved. The other two, a little higher level tip and he said this very quickly. I want to make sure it's not lost to anybody. Not all BNI groups are created equal. Some have freaking rock stars that are killing it.
Speaker 1:I'll give you permission to interview multiple. Don't just hey, this person wants me and I'm in right. It's not like a real estate license. I'm going to join the first brokerage, right, Cause they'll all take you. Ask them how many referrals are they giving out? How many members are there? What's the attendance? Like? I don't know any other questions that come up to mind. Referrals are the big one, like how many referrals were passed out last month? Were passed out last year. What's the closing percentage? They track all of this and I've had some team members who've talked about them and they'll see like a 10x difference in a group right down the street in the same zip code. So I love that you said that. Man, I want to make sure it's not lost or anybody.
Speaker 2:I also anybody thinking, yeah, this sounds interesting, Maybe I want to look into it. Don't fall into the trap of thinking, hey, this group has 30 people and the other group has 15. I'm automatically going to go for the 30. That is, I chose one with 14 members and some groups have 35 or 40 members but my 14 members had done a million one in referral business and they keep track of every dollar that's given as actual, like commissions to all these people. That is a lot of money for 14 people to split. It was like that's absurd. It's $90,000 or something per seat that each seat is worth.
Speaker 2:But also, that said, I don't know if you'd agree with this, but it's just like any business or any marketing effort or whatever you're doing, you really get out of it what you should put into it and so many people don't do the investment. If you're making the financial commitment and the time commitment, there's an additional component to this where you actually have to build relationships with people. They call it a one-to-one in B&I, but the B&I what is the term? They have a slogan and their slogan. They're like a 40 year old institution, but their slogan you can apply to any business, which is givers game the more you give, the more you get back in return, and that has been like my heart and my mantra, regardless of what business I've been in for decades.
Speaker 1:Dude. I love that I was doing quick math, man. That's why I was looking away. I'm only good at adding in 3%, multiplying in 3% for our real estate days. That's changing, don't get me started on that 18 months in. At $85 a month, john has spent $1,530 this first 18 months. John, it's uncensored. You can kill me later. How much have you made from B&I?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's six figures.
Speaker 1:So who on? Let's be direct. I hopefully have earned your trust and respect with that. Who on this call would spend $1,500 over the next year and a half to make multiple six figures? If you're one of those that are sitting there, oh, he spent 1,500, hang up like disc and heck. Log off YouTube the podcast. You're missing it. We are tailing this to business owners. If I gave you, I don't even know what the return on that is 1,000 to one, like you all should be. John, where do I get the link? Like, how do I go? Explore this? There is no other return. That's why I get so freaking fired up, John.
Speaker 2:And that's the key, right, is that? How many people do we talk to where they go? Gosh, I'd love to own a business. And then they don't realize all of the expenses and costs of owning a business, like back in my brick and mortar real estate renting an office days I was spending and then not exaggeration about 96 grand a year in just office expenses, just to have a building for people to come have coffee at that I was paying for and come sit in a bunch of chairs or nice chairs. But so I think COVID taught us that we can do things at a very high level at a very high quality, virtually. And that was also what appealed to me when you had asked me about this, because I thought I'm not gonna go to a bunch of people's homes Like you asked about the B&I. I'm a what's called a hybrid right now, meaning that we meet once a month in person at a local hotel, which is nice. It's nice to see people and there's an energy and seeing people. But the cool thing is the other meetings weekly, are all on Zoom. So I've done this, where I will do the meeting on the beginning of the month and then on vacation for two weeks and still be able to tune into my meeting and still get referrals and still be able to do business Like the fact that we can do business virtually now at a very high level, even in things like solar sales. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:I do real estate virtually if I have to. I have clients that are all over the country. They want me to sell their home. Some of them are out of the country completely and they still go. Hey, you sold my other home in Encino and I'd love you to sell my next one because we're moving permanently to X, whatever that happens to be Philippines, israel. I got clients everywhere, but the being a lifelong client to people means that I brought enough value. They trust me and they know that I'm not gonna put my needs and my interests first. And then the people in my B&I or networking group, because that's the theme here.
Speaker 2:Right, you wanted to talk about networking. This is really low hanging fruit, guys. Whatever industry you're in, if you're getting some value out of this, then I've done my job. I feel like I have helped, because we're all whatever amount of time we have. We just don't know. We have no idea how much time we have left. And if you guys delay and then complain man, I really hate my job Really.
Speaker 2:Is this the first year you felt that way? No, I felt it for one day. Okay, let's do something about that. But here's the other thing too. And how many times we could do 14 podcasts about 14 different sales related subjects. But how many times do we meet people, erin, and they talk a big game about all the things they wanna do? I'm gonna be the person that changes my legacy for my family. I'm not gonna struggle anymore. I'm gonna be there at my kids' games and they get really weepy and then they go right back to work and they make excuses for why they can't join a BNI group my BNI groups at 6.30 in the morning till 8.30, 6.30 to 8.30 once a week. If you can't handle that, you probably don't have that big of a commitment to changing your life path.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, by the way, that commitment to John. He is not a morning person.
Speaker 2:I've worked for years.
Speaker 1:I hate it. He's still willing to do it, john, and I teach this a lot too, and our team calls for solar team. What are you willing to give up today so you can gain in the future? Obviously, that's one. You think he likes getting up at 6.30 once a week Heck, no, he doesn't. I know him. I'm sure it's miserable. He's probably mad at himself the night before, but he gets on, he gets energized, he sees the fruit of his work and that allows him to push through. I love that. I also love that you said how you could do it anywhere. Man, that's something you and I also. Once again, there could be 30 podcasts we could do.
Speaker 1:I will not touch a business that requires me to be in an office, that requires me to be at a physical location other than once in a while. But I will not. I will not. I wanna be able to pick up and say, john, I'm coming to California for a month with my family, I'll see you tomorrow. And everything John and I touched together. It has to offer, that has to. It has to, and I love that. This also feeds into that. John, if you don't mind, can you give us a strategy or two that anyone brand new thinking about joining B&I that a tip that they could do to help maximize the referral potential from a referral group like B&I.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:One or two top tips.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, and you touched on it and I wanna reiterate in case people didn't catch it Interview multiple chapters, no matter what. Even if it's not B&I there are other kinda similar and, like I said, be careful if they're free, because you usually get what you pay for. It's totally the truth, even with B&I where you're paying, then now we go okay. It doesn't mean that they're bad people or there's a good and bad groups, it's just different personality types. I really resonated with the group because that I chose after interviewing three of them, because it had the same kind of like-minded folks. They were very I care about people first type of folks. They were protective of their group. That really matters too.
Speaker 2:Look for people that have the right posture. If somebody's begging you to join the group, you gotta wonder why Successful people typically don't chase you, and that's a posture you could take when you're doing whatever business you're doing, as when you're talking to somebody, it's nice to want them. Hey, you know what, you have good credentials, you like your energy, but I don't have the bandwidth to chase you. And that alone, like when we eventually do our 16th podcast on recruiting and talking to people and I hate to use the word recruiting, because to me it's more sponsorship. I wanna sponsor you. I wanna be somebody who's your mentor, somebody who helps you not make the mistakes I've already made. And those are also what I mean by when I say you should interview the people in different groups to make sure that it's a good fit for you longterm.
Speaker 2:If they are, I got one more too If they offer you one year or two years, take the two years, really, make the commitment, because it's like an extra only couple hundred bucks. So it was like $600 or $700 for one year or 900 for two years, and so, 100%, I'm in for two. Matter of fact, you have a 10 year option. I don't wanna be doing this. Matter of fact, maybe I will be doing it from my beach house in Tahiti one day, because that's really the goal. Right is time freedom, like we can touch on that too. What is really winning? To me, winning was if I'm only working with the people I wanna work with, I've won.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, so much, so many nuggets. I was just doing the math again as you were talking. An hour a week, let's call it four weeks a month. On average, john is spending four hours a month on lead generation from this strategy to earn multiple six figures. That can be done anywhere. If you're not earning multiple six figures in your business right now and you're actually trying I guarantee you're spending more than four hours a month on some sort of lead gen strategy. That's the power of this thing. Like it is, it's mind blowing. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. John, put you in the spot again. Would you share a memorable referral story that you got from your BNI chapter? Is there a referral?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually do have a great. I've got a great referral story. It was a client of solar who was sold a system that was too small and they didn't even know that was a possibility. And I have been through a lot of experience and talking to a lot of people finding out that's a pretty common predatory thing Sales people in solar are doing. They're just trying to get the business and, quite frankly, they're desperate. Like here's the title of our next podcast. Little side note is Multiple Streams of Income. What you're talking about I love that you're dangling this. Look at what John Bobbins can do. Thank you, I appreciate that that. I always think, god, I got to do better, but you're only talking about one stream of my income.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:So everybody on this call, if you have multiple streams of income, you have more FU money. I'm not going to say the word because I'm trying to be respectful, but that's what we all want, right? We all want to only work with the people that we want to work with. So the referral was incredible because they go. Can you help them? I don't know if you can. They're struggling because now, instead of having just one high electric bill, they now have a medium electric bill and a big solar bill and they don't have enough power coming from their solar system. And I went I don't know, let me see if I can help. Turns out that the balance of the bill that they had from their utility. We could cut that bill in half and give them 30% more power than they were currently even using Because we have access.
Speaker 2:That's one of the reasons I love this company. That was one of the things you talked to me about. That got me excited was that we have broker-like pricing, where we're doing national purchasing on multiple different products, which is very unusual. So now we have top-level products at a fair price that I can then adjust the margin down. And don't get, don't freak out on the call, guys. It doesn't mean I don't make good money. I have made $10,000 on a sale and still had the homeowner thank me profusely. That's the key to me. That's winning is that if I make good money and they're excited about the price and they're saving long term, I haven't had it. Here's the cool part. I haven't had a solar client that saved less than $70,000 over a 25-year period just by making the switch to solar with me, and their bill went down a little bit. Sometimes it doesn't go down at all, even if the bill's the same. If you can go from renting your power to owning it and your bill never goes up again, come on, man. But anyway it ended up where I could help them and they were excited because they were watching their bill continually creep up, which was the reason they went solar in the first place. They feel ripped off by the other sales guy. The company they bought from, by the way, five years ago, is out of business, so really horrible. But you'll notice.
Speaker 2:Here's another pro tip I wear this branded shirt. I do not like wearing a branded shirt. It is not. I didn't want to go back to being a billboard, but I saw this a solar hero shirt from one of the people making multiple, six-figure, almost seven figures a year in like his third or fourth year with the company, and I went I really love that shirt. Do you mind if I buy a bunch of them? He goes, absolutely it's not his, he doesn't own it. But he came up with the idea of a solar hero and I said that's what I want to be. So I put the shirt on the back it says ask me about solar.
Speaker 2:And when I was at California Pizza Kitchen a month or so ago I had a lady literally grab me because I was wearing the shirt and she goes I have a question about solar for you. And I said don't grab me, lady. And she laughed so hard. She laughed so hard because I was. I'm nice about it. I'm not being a jerk, but the idea that I am trying every way I can to brand myself everywhere to anybody who's got that ocular reticulator activated going hey, I have a solar need Like.
Speaker 2:That lady was not at CPK thinking I have a solar need. She was there with her girlfriends, she's 70 years old but also a great story because she was taken advantage of and her company went under. So I've gotten three referrals from her. I did not sell her solar. What I did instead was I called the manufacturer of the inverter, met the inverter manufacturer guy there, not my job. She ended up making me a chocolate cake. We got her inverter up and running. She didn't need to buy another $20,000, $30,000 solar system. And now she's referring me as if I'm her solar provider, even though I was just the guy that serviced her needs.
Speaker 1:Man, love that. Love that you did not make a dollar on that physical transaction, but the return by you doing the right thing, being a standup dude.
Speaker 2:That chocolate cake, though man, that chocolate cake yeah.
Speaker 1:That's not good for our diet, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I start to feel like you were saying is it on video or on? I'm going, man, I hope everybody's just listening to this. This is I have a face for audio is all I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so not true, but that's funny bro.
Speaker 2:You're nice.
Speaker 1:That's really good. I want to be respectful of your time and our audience's time, man. In closing, do you have any last minute tips? Maybe someone who's not hitting the income goal? They've been in solar for a minute. They're hearing you talk about the lifestyle and everything else and also how you did it very quickly inside of 12 months, by the way, brand new to the field Anything we haven't talked about the last minute tip that you could give someone like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you need to decide Whatever it's going to be. Write it down. This is the thing that's a non-negotiable for me. Anymore I will not struggle anymore. I won't watch TV again until I have at least found what I'm looking for. And I don't know if you do or if you have something that is what you're looking for. But I mean, we have people making multiple six figures part time doing this. That's where I feel like I'm the gift giver, like, please buy the book, the go giver, if you haven't. But you get it on eBay for six, seven bucks. It's cheap.
Speaker 1:I'll throw a link in the chat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that book probably is in my sales career over the last decade, probably worth $3 to $5 million. The number one thing you need to read that read Start With why by Simon Sinek, another one that's great for just learning how to network using social media. When you're talking to people bringing value and really being able to peak interest, we can talk about that building an empire. There's so many great books that people should be starting with today, but the first thing, of course, is you got to make a decision, decide. I am not going to live the way I've been living anymore. Time is running out. It's running out on all of us guys.
Speaker 2:My sister that would be vulnerable for a second, if it's cool. My sister died at two years old in the swimming pool accident. Nobody knew that was coming. My uncle died in a freak airplane crash at 40 years old with a five-year-old and two-year-old at home. My mom died at 65 years old, perfectly healthy looking. People thought she was in her 50s, just got septic and died like it was the 1800s of pneumonia. But then my grandmother lived to 94. So the point is we aren't promised any amount of time. My ex-wife died right after Thanksgiving. I don't know if you knew that, erin.
Speaker 1:But she's in her 40s.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like guys. Please do it today. Whatever it is, reach out, dm me. It's my name on Instagram. It's my name on Facebook, I am not hard to find. Dm me. I will be glad to strategize with you.
Speaker 2:I'm not talking about solar. It could be about anything. Hey, I have a recl. Like I said, it's about bringing value right. We're all in this journey together and I care about you and I want you to win and I don't want you to have the same struggles I've had and if I can help you avoid one or two of those pitfalls, it's a pretty good legacy and I am just grateful to be here and thank you for having me. Erin, you're a beautiful human being. I appreciate, when I did take one of those random trips out to see my horrible commander's play, that you let me stay in your home, but that's the kind of relationships we've built, right, I didn't know you forever, but I feel like we're going to be family forever and I hope everybody watching this realizes and feels how much I care. I really want you to win. You can win. It is not a pipe dream. You just need to make that decision we got you. Just go out and do it.
Speaker 1:It oozes from you, man. I appreciate you. It's funny hearing you just wrap up with that and seeing you get choked up, emotional. It just once again it's organic with you. On December 30th, so a little bit over a week ago, I made a Facebook post and I think it speaks to what you just said. Man, it really did.
Speaker 1:I forgot what book I picked it up from. It's not original by any thought. I'm by any stretch. Excuse me, but it read and you can go search. Fact check me.
Speaker 1:The longer you wait for the future you want, the less time you get to spend in it. Start now. Like I had goosebumps, because we're all guilty of it, even John's guilty of it, absolutely. So I would challenge all of you guys take John's advice, decide. I'll throw up links to the books. Let us know in the chat if you want John to come back. I know I do. He has my wheels turning for future podcasts. I'd love to bring him back. If you guys see value, let us know John. I speak for audience. Thank you, man. You drop bombs. You truly have a go-giver's heart and I appreciate you, your friendship, your leadership, everything else. Audience. If you got any value from John or myself or both, please like. Share, review the podcast. We do this, it's a labor of love. We do it to pay it forward, to help someone speed up that curve, to learn from the mistakes we've made with our time and also our wallets. So I hope each and every one of you have a great day, john. Thanks again. We will talk soon, my friends.