D2DCon 2024 | How Enerflo is Revolutionizing Solar Sales: Ryan Jaime on Integrations, Flexibility, and Supporting D2D Reps | The D2D Podcast

In this episode of the D2D Podcast, Clint Root sits down with Ryan Jaime, Vice President of Business Development at Enerflo, to explore how this open API platform is transforming the solar industry. With his extensive background in smart home, energy management, and solar, Ryan shares how Enerflo’s Lead-to-PTO solution empowers residential solar installers, EPCs, and sales dealers by streamlining processes, cutting soft costs, and centralizing data.

Ryan emphasizes the critical role of business development in solar, explaining how Enerflo’s platform offers flexibility through integrations with multiple tools such as CRM, financing, and sales enablement, allowing companies to remain agile in a rapidly evolving market. He also touches on the door-to-door sales ecosystem, illustrating how Enerflo provides sales reps with the tools they need to be successful, fostering business growth through efficient technology and process optimization.

Throughout the episode, Ryan highlights future trends in the solar industry, including battery technology and the involvement of major players like Lion and Tesla, as well as Enerflo’s role in powering $4 billion in solar transactions annually.

You’ll find answers to questions such as:

• How can Enerflo’s open API platform optimize solar sales?
• What advantages do solar companies gain from flexible finance partners?
• How does Enerflo help reduce soft costs and improve process efficiencies?
• What trends are shaping the future of solar, including battery technology?
• How can sales reps benefit from Enerflo’s integrations with various software tools?

Get in touch with Ryan Jaime and Enerflo:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-jaime-b54baa118/
Website: Enerflo.com

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Transcript

00:01
DoorCon seven 2024 sitting here with Ryan Jaime of Enerflo. Catch me up. What's going on? What do you want to know? I know it's like a really broad question to start a podcast, but, uh, tell, tell me about Enerflo. What are we, what are we looking at? Yeah. So for 2024 been here now at Enerflo for four months. Obviously my background is in sales. Yeah. So being in Enerflo is heavy business development. And the thing about business development is biz dev, you know, nothing moves less

00:31
three months so you don't realize your wins for three, six, nine months. Right, right. So four months in catching some momentum. I think the biggest thing is, you know, end of the flow obviously is a product that that is lead to TPO pulls all the other software together one single sign on and allows you to have transparency through the entire sales process. Right. So having a blast. It's been awesome. You know, they really took a lot to get my

01:01
co-founders to want to come to this event. Oh really? Why is that? Well, if you think about it, as it pertains to Dota 2.0 Con, I think of the guys that are in the industry, and Sam has been such a freaking, he's been such a driver in this space. People either feel amazing about it or they feel threatened by it. I know sometimes groups and companies feel threatened by it. Sure. But when I help my company understand is that if you can win the hearts of the cells,

01:31
Totally. Yeah, it's funny how sales tends to drive everything right culture The company the how big it congrats It's all driven by that and if you cater to those those sales reps and give them the tools that they need to be successful It's a beautiful thing happens for businesses. Yeah Well, I think also if you if you really think about a client, you know You have you have these companies and all these people come out and we sell all of these

02:01
conversation those COOs are gonna go and ask the sales guys hey what do you think about Enderflow? Now now here's what's funny 75% of those sales reps have never even used Enderflow but if they've never heard of it right they don't like it. Oh interesting. So if they can come to Dota Dota Con and you'd be like oh yeah Enderflow the guys with the trailer and the setup and the solar panels on top it's so stupid it really works. Yeah I've heard nothing but good

02:31
interesting too because we see a lot of door-to-door reps come through, not just business owners come to the door, like everything. We have everything from your entry level sales rep looking for help to your CEOs of massive, even publicly traded companies come to this, right? And so it's really interesting when they come in and they go, wow, I've never even heard of Enerflo. And I'm like, wow, you work in solar, how do you not know? So it's interesting what exposure door-to-door con. Speaking of which, did you come to door-to-door con one?

03:01
You remember? I don't. Seven years ago? I honestly couldn't tell you. Couldn't tell you. Well, I did. And I'm telling you, like, this is incredible, what Sam's done. Like, the exposure and bringing the whole community of Door to Door together in one place is been, it's been really fun to see this, you know, Door to Door con grow. And companies like Enerflo get a platform to really get their word out, where you can come up, talk to these companies, and really find out what they're all about, instead of hearing from, you know, some third party that you really

03:31
trust anyway right? Yeah what do you remember the door to door one? I do. What was it like? I honestly was not even there. So it was it was a smaller venue as you can imagine it's brand new I remember when it was announced I was like wow how's this gonna go down you got all these competing door-to-door companies and it's interesting how you know without Sam really having the vision to do it you know none of this would have been possible and the fact that it's been around for seven years and been wildly successful it's it's pretty impressive I'm very impressed that that you know

04:00
industries that can compete so much together can come and and break bread together and and and exchange ideas and even have their people train you know other groups of people it's been really fun well and Clint I I was probably the most resistant when this was started oh yeah because I've been in closed sales ecosystems yeah and if you're in a closed sales ecosystem it's really hard to say hey I'm gonna expose my my reps to open sales training and open sales

04:30
I've grown up, you know, and now I totally see the vision, obviously. Unfortunately, I saw the vision used after everybody else did, but I've been here and supported probably the last five or six. Awesome. Yeah, it's really interesting. Like, isn't it fun to just walk around and it's like all these people you've met over the years and grown up with and see what they're up to and see what they're all about? I've reconnected with so many people here that otherwise I don't know if I'd ever see McGinn in my life. You know what I mean? Maybe on Facebook, maybe not. A lot of them aren't even on social media.

05:00
That's been a lot of fun. Yeah, I have a question for you. Yeah. As you've walked around, have you not said to yourself, and I don't want to be self-aggrandizing, but have you not said to yourself, damn, I'm really happy I've been good to people? Yes. I can't agree with that more. It's fun because we do, you know, we compete against each other, but at the end of the day, this industry is so small. It is. So small, relatively speaking, and so do good business. You never know. It's been nice. I'm not going to say I've never had a bad running.

05:30
I'm saying like overall I walk around see all the old old players all the OG Yeah, I'm like it's good to see Dan done. Yeah, good to see Chris Burgess. Good to see Clint Cushing. Yeah Mendez. Yeah, I said yesterday. I mean who else I saw Mendez Cushing. Yeah, but it just Dan done all the names Yeah, Casey Moser. Yeah, who else? Oh man. There's like too many to name right now Give me a couple of your of your favorite so so fun So I run into Jeff Mendez every once while we're you know

06:00
We live in the same relative area, so we run into each other. But it's fun to see him out and about. I get to see him every once in a while. He ran in. I had a great 30-minute conversation with him, catching up. You know, yesterday, that was a lot of fun. Elsewhere, I don't know that that would have happened. We're both so busy, right? But yeah, you know, I saw Nick Gielison, saw Chris Kennedy from Perfect Vision. I haven't talked to him since he was handing out TVs and everything in Dallas when we had a big rah, rah, rah, you know, thing.

06:30
names out here and if you've never been to door to door con you've got to come check it out you'll be you'll be surprised last night had dinner with adam chance oh really yeah that was cool you know wow it's like i mean uh yeah then the list with me i mean joey loba i mean the list with me jake oliver said joey lober's here joey lober's here mike hackett who started qualsis wow like who i mean yeah it's it's crazy like i i literally have been here every every waking second of door to door

07:00
and seen half the names you just mentioned. I finally saw Sam this morning. Oh, yeah. He's like an enigma. It's the way he walks through walls. Yeah, that's crazy. By the way, before I forget, I had dinner at your restaurant, Lola. 9th and 9th in Salt Lake. Let's go. We're friends, right? I'm not saying this because we're friends. That food was unreal. Thank you. I had the, what do they call it? The carne asada burrito? Carne asada open-faced burrito. So it's like Mexican restaurant.

07:30
But it doesn't really, it's not Mexican to me. It's a fusion. Okay, it's a fusion. I'm not in the industry, so I don't know that, but man, I was like, I'm trying to have a business meeting, right? And all I'm thinking about is, oh, I need to, I got to get this more to the stake, you know, or whatever that was. Oh, so good. So good. So props to you. Thank you. That's a lot of fun. I'm sure there's a lot of challenges. You know, what's cool, and the reason why I bring that up is it's like, we've known each other for a few years. You were pretty far into your door-to-door career, as was I when we met, right? Yeah.

08:00
see guys get in, you know, we all get into this industry bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, you know, we're gonna go sell the most amount of accounts, you know, as a rookie or whatever, but it's fun to see guys actually stick with it, become good at it, and become masters at this profession, right? And then actually be able to use that as a stepping stone into other things. I've seen you do great things. Now you're working with Enerflo and the software sales, you know, they're doing great things over there, but you're also a business owner on a restaurant, which is completely unrelated yet.

08:30
have that opportunity. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, unless you came from a lot of money that I don't know about, you wouldn't even have that opportunity had it not been for door-to-door. No, I tell people all the time. I feel like in my life right now, I'm playing with house money. You know, I mean like my, no, no, no one in my, you know, my mom and dad didn't graduate from college. Like, like everything, my education has all come from my direct sales industry. Yeah. And it's like everything that I'm able to do has stemmed from this industry. And I have immense gratitude. I'm excited for Solicon. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.

09:00
Yeah, because this is really reconnect and build networks and you're right all the good So much of the good that's come in my life has come because of what we learned in this industry And it continues to bless my life as I know it does yours Yeah, so you're heavily involved in solar, but if you haven't just been working so you worked in in alarms You know you started out selling telecoms or so in addition at work, right? Yep. All right, love song satellite You know from Michigan a lot of people think that you're from, Utah. Just so you know that that's the rumor Maybe I will yeah, I mean, yeah, exactly

09:30
present it well, but and you live in Utah and everything like that, but you're actually from Michigan. Yeah. Talk about a little bit about that. First of all, let's go Detroit lions. Yes. Let's go home for him. By the way, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not like you. I'm not a Detroit guy, but this, this go around. I'm I mean, they're coming to watch that. Um, from Michigan, born and raised, you know, my dad was a G general motors, you know, that's, Michigan's known for the car industry in the eighties. So my dad was a 50, you know, 40, 40 year general motors, assembly line, you know,

10:00
pretty blue collar. My mom was a cosmetologist, so it's like, you know, these are hardworking humans. And when I got into this industry, I really resonated with the hustle it took to make the money. But all my family still lives in Michigan. I do have a sister that lives here. It gets wild here. Yesterday I had to stop the podcast because I couldn't even think. I'm like, anyway. My sister, Andrea, even, she lives here. I'm a Michigan boy.

10:29
Today I was rocking my Detroit coat. Today I rock my Utah coat just to show love for both. But you know, I think if you're from Michigan and then you move to Utah, it's important for your business that you adopt. You adapt to your new world and your new city, your new state so that you're pushing and driving revenue. But I love Michigan. My family's there. That will always be home to me. But this has become a second home. Yeah, for sure. That's fun. So I wanna talk about, I want you to pull out your crystal ball.

10:59
I want you to tell us the future of solar, what's going on. What are you seeing? Because I feel like you've got a little bit more of a unique perspective. If I was working for XYZ Solar Company, that's my perspective. That's all I'm hearing. That's all I'm seeing. You work with so many solar companies. Right?

11:17
What are you seeing in the solar industry? What are your predictions for 2024? The truth of the matter is, I really do have night vision right now. I'm not like, I don't just say that. I'm happy you asked me this question. I didn't ask you to ask me this question. That's right. But the truth is, is right now at EmuFlow, because we transact 4 billion solar jobs a year on the platform, the finance companies that want to be in finance, the TPO companies that want to be in TPO, they come to us

11:47
know that with a highway that has so many vehicles driving on it. So these finance companies are coming to a 6, 8, 10, 12, 24 months before they launch. Amazon is getting in the game. I've heard of them. Yep. I've heard of Amazon. Yeah, yeah. You know, big company. Amazon's getting in the game. We are literally building out TPO products and platforms for the people. TPO's third party offerings, least products. Right. We're seeing...

12:17
battery. You're gonna hear a lot about Lion Battery. They're located in Salt Lake off I-15. Yup. Or not Salt Lake, I'm sorry, Lehigh. In Lehigh. Lehigh. Off I-15. Them and Tesla, believe it or not, actually stay really close. They're engineers to each other. And they're kind of like, frenemies, and watch each other to see where they're getting. Nobody knows this, but Lion quietly does $100 million a year in revenue off of portable batteries. Wow.

12:47
sanctuary product that is the home battery. Wow. So these guys are the real deal. And I'm excited about them. Batteries, it's interesting just watching, you know, batteries evolve cell phones and everything. The battery technology is getting so good. Like that is our future. Would you agree? Yep. 100%. And you know, I used to think it was about clean energy, but this is dirty energy. It's not. It's about all of this energy that's on the grid that's got to be moved off the grid.

13:17
these EVs, these electric vehicles, are the equivalent to having 10 power walls on your garage. So just an electric vehicle has the equivalent of like 10 batteries. So the ability to have your wall of batteries in your garage, transferring energy back and forth between your EV, bi-directional charger, and then charging your home, that is essentially, that's called a virtual power plant, pulling all that power off the grid and having the home, the EV and the batteries on the wall.

13:47
I'm lighting up right now. Yeah, yeah, I can tell. Because I just, I feel passionate about all of us as homeowners truly being able to be off the grid. Oh, that's cool. Yep. So let's talk about Enerflo real quick too, because Enerflo is primarily a solar product, yes or no? Yeah, yes. It is a solar platform, that is correct. Nice. Yep. And what are some of the benefits, or when you bring somebody into the Enerflo family, start doing business with them, what are some of the, what can you do to help them?

14:17
you expect you get from enter flow that you know sets it apart I'm gonna explain this in the easiest way possible because it's not the easiest to explain but for months working it I feel like I really understand a value proposition and a flow what makes enter flow great is in a world where you have a solar industry that is so volatile and the flow is able to have multiple finance partners you

14:46
the solar owner, complete agility. You have a finance partner that's run out of money, call Ennard Lowe, hey, switch me over to this platform, this platform. Our job is to go integrate with all the best TPO products, all the best loan products, all the best battery products, all the best smut home products, so that you guys can have optionality. Okay, I want you to think about those days when you and I were in a lawn.

15:16
and I get a call from you that said, I have bad news. Bank of America is pulling out because Monotronics is going bankrupt, so they're pulling out our funding. And like eight companies in the state of Utah go out of business that day, because Bank of America decides they don't want to play in this space anymore. The days of that are gone, right? If you're Freedom and you only work directly with Mosaic, that makes me nervous. If you are Sunder and you only work with Freedom as an installer, that makes me nervous.

15:46
Enerflo is the ultimate Stealing wheel for sales reps to allow them to have complete optionality and never be Stuck with one finance punter the one install Nice that makes that makes perfect sense. That's really interesting. Yeah, it's a little hated for that Clint I I can see that and I can see why that would be but you know what? It's it's an industry disrupt disruptor right now going on And I'm starting to hear more and more Enerflo. Yeah, we're hearing about it Yeah, and it looks like it's here to stay

16:16
And I look goodly. I love those guys still don't want people to be exclusive Same thing with mosaics same thing with light reach like hey Why don't we why don't we have all an integration with all these companies and allow the best? Prices service to the customer to win that's how the customer and that's the way it should be right customer first Absolutely, if you take care of the customer the rest takes care of itself And I got to give it to my co-founders. They really do play Switzerland. They really do they they do not

16:46
They're like, hey, listen, they tell me when I go out to the marketplace, it's actually been hard for me. They've said hi mate, focus on tier one integrations, sell the integration, don't sell the product. Because if the integration is good, the rep will have a great experience. If the rep has a good experience, the customer will. If the customer will, will lower the cost of solar. Nice. Now I can tell you're really excited about it. And it's exciting to watch Interpol. We're cheering for you. Thank you. I appreciate you. Absolutely. Last question. Yes.

17:16
this weekend what's the score? Okay I'm gonna give it to you right now. The Lions are gonna win 31 to 27. 31-27. Yes Lions are gonna beat the 49ers and then the Lions and then and then from there they're gonna go on to the Super Bowl and they're gonna lose by 35 to the Ravens.

17:34
Yeah, you heard it. You heard it. I'm from Detroit. I'm a Lions fan. Okay. All right. Well, Billy Sanders is coming out of retirement Lot a lot of predictions