SolarInsure

Ian Altman 0:00

Ian, welcome to the same side selling podcast. I am your host. Ian Altman. Welcome to the same side selling podcast, I'm your host. Ian Altman, on this episode, we're featuring one of our clients at Solar Insure. Now I often talk about how we can teach these concepts to anybody, but really the success comes from the people who are masters at execution and implementation, and the team at Solar Insure exemplifies that. And so I thought this could be a great opportunity for people to learn how to properly execute these concepts of Same Side Selling and achieve pretty significant success, and I don't want to steal their thunder, so we've got Tabitha Dean and Chris with us from Solar Insure I'm going to welcome them onto the show and I'll turn it over to you. So Tabitha Dean and Chris, welcome to the same side selling podcast.

Tabitha Osborn 1:00

Hi, Ian. It's so great to be here. We're so excited to be able to share a little bit about our experience. My name is Tabitha. I am on the solar insure sales team, and I'm really excited to introduce Dean, our CRO and Chris, our director of sales, awesome.

Ian Altman 1:23

Do they get rebuttal now? Do they get to, like, you know, they get to, you know, disagree with what their roles are. They could is that they didn't So, so what I really like you guys to do is, I want to start and whoever wants to pick this up is great. Is tell me, so that our audience understands. Tell us a little bit about solar insurer. What you guys do, what void you fill in the marketplace?

Dean Chiaravallotti 1:47

Well, at solar insurer, we help contractors overcome consumer skepticism due to the negative press on solar and the bankruptcies that we see in the industry, or we find them challenged with having a profitable service department. Their service departments more like a loss leader than a profit center, or their sales people are just focused based on selling on price instead of value. And when we talk to them about these things, we help them see if these they want to work on these things in their business, if they're facing these challenges, and if they they want to work with them, with the products that we offer, then it seems to be like a great fit.

Ian Altman 2:32

Yeah, and if my memory serves, Dean, it's a it's a transferable warranty, if I recall correctly? It's 30 years. It's backed by a major insurance carrier, so that if a homeowner buys solar for their home, let's say, or a business, for that matter, and now the installer goes out of business, the manufacturer went out of business. There's been a lot of topsy turvy things in the industry. You guys stand behind that so they're not left holding the bag. Is that kind of the gist?

Dean Chiaravallotti 2:59

Yeah, absolutely. It's a 30 year warranty that's financially backed and has manufactured default coverage through Zurich, North America.

Ian Altman 3:07

Great, great. And so what are some of the things that you've seen in terms of growing the business? Tell us about how the business has changed. Because I want people to recognize you're not selling to end customers. Everything you sell goes through a channel. So help us understand how that dynamic works and and the changes the industry that you guys have had to deal with,

Dean Chiaravallotti 3:29

Sure absolutely. So I'll tell you that we our products only available through certified providers, certified provider channel, and we've always been selective, or so we thought on who we allow on our program, but after implementing same side selling and really becoming that trusted advisor for our providers, it really did change the narrative. We're not just selling warranty, we're actually helping them in various aspects of their business. So now, now that we're more of a consultant, you know, instead of, you know, telling them about what we do and how we do it, we're asking more questions and listening and being able to know what really is happening, what the real issue might be, and see if they want to fix that.

Ian Altman 4:21

Got it, got it. And I know that in the last year, there were some really significant regulatory changes and rebate changes and kind of tax implications. So can you talk about that? Because I gotta imagine other industries have faced things probably not as daunting as yours. So tell us a little bit about that.

Dean Chiaravallotti 4:41

Yeah, so at the beginning of the year, we faced major tariffs on countries of origin where solar panels and batteries are from, and this really hit the industry very hard. There was price increases and decreases, and it just really was topsy turvy in the first quarter. Order and the first half of the year, and then the there was some policy that was made at a at the federal level that really changed what the incentive would be for solar and for homeowners to be able to get solar along with commercial property owners. And it just was a race to the end of the year, it was just the craziest. We call it the solar coaster of a year, because it was beat everybody's forecasts. It was like a really, like the first half of the year was very, kind of slow, and then the last half of the year just, it was just an amazing upswing, and really we saw major companies go out of business. Unfortunately, some major solar companies and solar finance companies and even manufacturers go out of business because they just couldn't handle the stress of all the things that were happening. And there were some other underlying issues as well, but the changes in policy and the swings within the industry just they weren't able to survive.

Ian Altman 6:06

That got it and so and so your team needed to figure out, how do we position and sell your products in a market that was being majorly disrupted, where you had people like, you know, running on rat like rats on a ship, you know, trying to find the safe space to go to. And a lot of them were being, you know, just thrown all over the place and trying to figure it out. So what are some of the things that you did to position that? Because, you know, I do want to get to kind of the growth and the success that you've had, and I know that you guys have outpaced the industry, but, but how did you deal with that kind of situation, as the industry was, and all of a sudden, just for people's benefit in the industry, if I recall correctly, it was, there was like a 30% tax credit that you would get for implementing solar, and that basically went away as of January one. So all of a sudden you had to figure out which partners are going to be there long term and which partners aren't going to be there anymore.

Tabitha Osborn 7:08

Ian Altman 9:03

That's great. So you came across as the subject matter experts. And of course, hearing you say this, this all warms my heart, because there are people where we talk about these types of strategies, and they don't execute and implement it. And I always come back to the fact that your team is amazing at execution implementation, we would talk through different strategies, and then ultimately, once your team was on board, I'd say, Well, how's that going? And within weeks, all your messaging, all your positioning, everything was centered around that people were practicing on a regular basis. And so what have you found in terms of the installers, you know, the the certified installers that you have. How has that mix changed as you've gone through this? So, meaning, is it the same mix? Are you cultivating different types of part of I call them partners. I know that they're installers, but you know. How do you figure that out in the channel?

Are you asking more of like, how we identify who our best clients are?

How do you figure out those best clients so that you know you're focused on the people who are best aligned with you? Those are the those are the installers who you have a meeting of the minds. They're trying to achieve the same thing you are for the homeowner. And now magic can happen. Excellent.

So there's two aspects to this. Number one is clients that are interested in us, and they go to our CRO, they go to Dean, and Dean is the master at finding fit, and I'll pass it to him, and then once they are already a client, it's the same thing that you did with us. We have them sign up, we tell them the expectations. Ultimately, if they don't implement our product and our advisory, they're not going to be the right fit. And that's Chris's department. Chris leads all of our account managers and our retention efforts. So Dean, I'll pass it to you first. What are some of the ways in which you find fit and make sure that we have something for them we can solve? What what they're trying to solve?

Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, you know, same side selling methodology is all about getting on the same side of the table, identifying the problem and seeing if the problem that they have is worth it to them to fix and to fix it in the way that we fix things right? And if we can mutually discuss and find that fit, then that's the time where we move forward to and seeing how we what that, making sure that the issue is the real issue, making sure that the impact is really having, you know that issue is having an impact on them, and also being able to make sure that we can find a goal or the results that we can measure together in the future to be able to make sure that we help them to achieve solving that issue and and really, another thing that has really changed and with the way we updated Our the way that we talk to ones is is we're able to say no and no is not a bad thing. We didn't then waste each other's time, right, and end up having a distressed relationship. We just say No, not right at this time, we're not a fit at this time.

I love it. I love it. And Dean, one of the things that, if I caught correctly when we first started working together, anybody who signed up as a partner like seemed like, okay, they could be a good fit. And I feel like over time, you've kind of shifted that. So it's more look the the the installers who are committed to providing this level of protection for the homeowner, the installers who feel it's valuable to turn that service business from a cost center into a revenue center. The installers who want to give that extra peace of mind to the customer in every deal, those the people you focus on, and the person who says, Well, maybe one or 2% of my deals, I'll use this with it's tougher to get those people to capture your attention, is that, is that almost accurate?

Absolutely, seller insure is not a closing tool, and it is. It is basically, we're not just we're not a warranty. We're business advisors now, and we help in multiple aspects of the business, from the front end, marketing and sales, and all the way through consultation and through their service department, and being able to bring peace of mind that way with pay, helping pay for those service calls that are under the warranty and covered. And this helps them have a profitable service department. This helps them to get more reviews, right? And that are good reviews, which helps them get more referrals, and they become the regional energy service provider, instead of being called just an installer, where that's just a one time transaction. Now this is a lifetime commitment that they're making with the homeowner for 30 years, basically right for 30 years, being able to make sure that that system is up and running, and then they get compensated to be able to do that, and it creates just so much more value with them, within their the solar industry and the community that they serve.

What what sort of growth Have you seen for the installers? So the people who embrace solar insurer and are using this in their business. Are you tracking and monitoring what kind of results those installers are getting compared to the industry?

Yeah, so right now, as far, we are not tracking compared to the industry, but we're actually we're looking at the installation volume. Volume, right? And also, success isn't just in the installation. Is how many claims are they putting in? How much are we paying them to do that service work? So it's success is measured in multiple things, and also in referral sales as well. But we've definitely seen companies that are good become great, right? We can't take a bad company and make them a good company, right? So we were not going to work with them. They're not a fit at this time, right? But ones that are good, that have a service department, we can help elevate what they do, and that helps them to be able to be more successful. And we've definitely seen several of our clients that were once in only had a part of their market become regional leaders. We've seen markets where only our product was, was with one or two providers, and now it's with all the market leaders, right that qualify to be able to have that. And so it's definitely, we've definitely seen success within our customer

base that's fantastic. And one of the questions I have, because I'm sure something on people's minds is when you're changing this positioning from a sales standpoint, obviously it impacts your marketing also. So did you get pushback on the marketing side? This may be a question for Tabitha. I'll leave it to you guys as to who jumps in or Chris. But the idea is, how did you get pushback from marketing? How easy or difficult was it to create that unified messaging? If you want to get top results for your team, take a look at the same side selling Academy. Just visit same side selling.com to learn more.

Ian, yeah, I'd love to speak to that you read my mind a little bit, because as I was preparing to talk about how our account management team has embraced this, I actually started thinking about how just ubiquitous the language has become that we've learned from same side selling, like fit impact results, right? It's not uncommon to hear on a meeting with our compliance team, well, is this client still a good fit? What does that mean? Right? So it's really something that our entire company has embraced, not just our sales team, and I think it's made a huge difference for us. So to answer your question, like we knew that we needed this to be something that from the very you know, first glimpse at what we do online, on our website, through, you know, a flyer or something our marketing team needed to address. What are the common issues that installers are facing, and can we potentially help with those, not just hey, here's what we do. Here's you know, benefit, A, B and C, yeah.

So it kind of gets back to marketing, to the elevator rants, if you will, using using same side selling jargon. And the idea is, how do we make it so that we're hitting these topics that the right installer says, Yeah, I am having that problem, yeah, just like when I asked Dean, hey, tell me about solar insurer. It warms my heart that Dean started and said, well, installers have this problem, this problem or that problem, and it sounds like that's the way you're introducing this to everybody. Now, what I want to know is, so you learn this stuff, what are you doing to maintain this with the team and to reinforce these concepts so that you're building that muscle memory over and over,

yeah, so, I mean, one of the things is just was, was kind of foundational, right? We knew this is the way that we wanted to show up in the space, and we went as far as to actually build in inputs in our CRM for you know, how the client responded to our questions about each quadrant, right? So anyone at solar insurer could go to the Account page and see, okay, well, impact results, you know, what is it for this client? So we wanted a real structural approach to this, and then as far as maintaining it. This is something we talk like I said. This is something that is talked about not just by the sales department. Every department has this concept of a good fit and driving results for clients, but it's something that we talk about weekly on the sales team. We have dedicated time carved out every single week to do role play if we're dealing with a challenging situation working with a client, we will, we will strategize ahead of time and role play and and try and, you know, act out how this conversation might go, just a part of what we do.

So Chris, I love that you touch on that. What I want you to do is take us back to earlier and kind of what was people's initial reaction to we're going to role play on a regular basis. And so were people apprehensive? Were they? Were they skeptical? And then fast forward to now. You said you carve out time every single. Week for role play like as that. For starters, it may be that, oh, people were all on board from day one or not. But I just want to get a sense of what that evolution was like.

Well, I think whenever you put a recurring meeting on the calendar, people get skeptical. Ian, so you know, I think our our sales team is pretty exceptional, so no one balked at it too much, but I think it really started to click when you saw the sales team bringing examples of situations that they were in and they could then, you know, kind of play out what the conversation should look like, or could look like, get input from the team, play it back, try it again. I think when they started really seeing that practicing can help them solve real challenges with their clients, and, you know, learn from one of your colleagues in another region, that's when I really clicked.

Now, do you actually see that? Because I talk about this stuff, but I want to hear it, and I'm okay if the answer is no. But how often do you end up with situations where people say, you know, we role played that a few different ways. It could go last week and the meeting went almost exactly like scenario two or scenario three, or whatever it happens to be. Are you noticing that, or is it more like no, I just think people are more comfortable. I'm curious what you see.

It's probably, I would say more the latter, but it's, it's having a space set aside to talk about this stuff, to continue to use the method and keep it fresh. Yeah, does it go to a tea sometimes, not always, but yeah, I'd love Tabitha and Dean your input on that too.

That's awesome. So the anecdotes are great. The proof is in the pudding. What kind of growth numbers have you guys seen? And keep in mind, in an industry that's had a fair amount of disruption, and if you have metrics compared to the industry or things like that, that's great. But even just your historical growth rate versus what you've seen over the last, what, year and a half or so that you've been that you because I think it's about a year and a half that you adopted same side selling, right?

And Ian, our industry has continuously dropped double digits in the 20 and 30% each year as far as overall industry growth.

So overall, industry growth has dropped double digit, and during that time, you've more than doubled your business yes, I think that's reversing the trend of the industry. I mean, I'm no math wizard, but I'm pretty sure those are pretty those are pretty good stories and pretty good numbers. And so. So they're, they're a gazillion solar contractors out there. How do you determine the best fit for your channel? So you can say, Yep, this is someone who's going to be a great and great installer for us. We've got great alignment, because you talk about this notion of who's a good fit and who isn't. And rest assured, when I speak with companies, the biggest thing that scares them is when I say, Look, we're going to help you figure out who not to spend your time with. And everybody freaks out. It's like, well, but, but if I, if I get rid of certain customers, then I'm not going to grow, I'm going to shrink. I'm like, yeah, it's counterintuitive, I know, but this is actually going to work when you focus on the right, the right customers, versus just anyone with a pulse. So what's been your formula, and what kind of results is that? Is that produced?

Well, I would definitely say they have to be engaged, right? They have to be at that engaged level, communicative and and really working to try to make sure that they want to solve their issue our way, right? That's the main thing, and that we can work on that together. And what that does that creates mutual fit. It creates success between both of us and and they. They continuously improve and continue to grow, despite the challenges that our industry faces. So now, the ones that aren't answering the phone or are not answering their emails, the ones that are inconsistent, the ones that pay late, right, those sorts of things that they're not engaged, they're they're more at the effective or the effective level, they're no longer a fit for our company and our business and and maybe in the future, they will be, but at this time, they're not.

So let me ask you this, so, so the business has more than doubled. Did you do that by doubling the number of installers? Or do you have the same or fewer or marginally more installers today? How does that number of installers compare? Because many industries, people say, Oh, if you want to double, you would need to double the number of installers. Has that been the secret, or has it been the inverse of that?

I can touch on this. So we previously had a large number of clients that could sell our product. We increased that by almost double. So Ian, I would say 50% we were targeting and landed the clients that we could help and that we showed results with over a short period of onboarding time. And then 50% of that growth was re engaging, re establishing fit and gaining the trust to our existing providers to increase their sales, which increased our

sales, great, and then over time. So do you feel like you know, regardless of the number of installers, that the majority of your business is coming from, the top performers, and where you're growing so so the best, the best clients that you've got, the best, the best clients, are actually growing at a faster rate, and those the people that not only are driving your success, but it's leading to their own success,

they wouldn't keep working with us and renewing if we weren't.

Yeah, great. What are some of the most surprising things that you discovered during this journey? What are the things that you think, wow, we were kind of expecting these things. But here's, here's some added benefits we didn't necessarily think we would get with same side selling that we've gotten.

I could say my personal growth in sales has definitely been enhanced. I've been selling since just about right out of high school. I won't say how many years that's been, how many decades, but at least six years. But I'll just say, like it's really enhanced my skills, on my people skills, my listening skills. And I'll have to tell you, Ian, the moment that it clicked for me was when it shifted from me giving answers to me, giving questions, right, and also having that concise business case. That tool is so amazing for me to use, because I know if they open that and they reply, that most likely they're going to be moving forward and they're a fit, but if they don't respond, it rarely means success. So being able to have that this all the way through the process and the journey is has really, I think, elevated what we do each and every day, and elevated our industry, I believe, because we're no longer. Just selling warranties. Were trusted business advisors, yeah.

And I think, I think now your clients see it as, hey, if you want to be successful in this industry, you got to hit your wagon to solar insurer, because these are the people who are trailblazing what's going out there and what's going to be successful in the future. So and for Chris or Tabitha, are there things that surprised you, or things that you look at and say, here's something maybe we didn't anticipate, but that we're actually, we're actually realizing now,

yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll tag on to Dean's comment a little bit. And just like a personal, you know, a personal relationship to this, I've also been in sales, you know, well over a decade, and I distinctly remember when we first started talking to you, I was on the phone with our CEO, and he said, Hey, have you started reading like same side selling? And I quite literally said, Yes, and this is the way I've always wanted to sell. I don't want to make your head too big, Ian, but you know, there I came up in an industry that was very much, you know, I was trained to sell a certain way of, like, get the sale, you know, push, if you have to. And really have found this about face of, well, no, we're going to, we're going to celebrate, if it's not a fit, because we have gotten to the truth. We've had a better use of everyone's time. Everyone felt respected in this engagement. So it's, it's truly the way I've always wanted to sell. But I think, to answer your question like, What is a surprising thing? I think it has been our team culture, embracing when, when there is not a fit, or if there is no longer a fit with a client we've been working with that is a win, like we celebrate that as a win. And that's that's something that was definitely unexpected, because at the end of the day, we have gotten to the truth about our relationship with that client and whether or not we're truly helping them.

That's great. Tabitha, anything specific for you?

Yeah, I'll go in a little bit of a different direction. I come from the operation side and got into sales, not I haven't been in sales as long as Chris or Dean. They're experts. I completely underestimated how incredibly important efficiency in operational excellence is in sales, and what I learned is that when you have a playbook that works. There's no option you have to continue to refine and prove and use that playbook over and over and over. And something I'm really proud of is if you speak to our sales rep in the northeast, they're saying the same they're communicating the same things that someone in Hawaii would communicate, and that's because we're so consistent in our messaging. We're so rooted in what we know works for contractors, for our solar installers, so the consistency in our playbook and just having relentless, just relentlessly using it and improving it and improving it is how the best operations team works, and it's no different from sales. So that's, I think that was my biggest takeaway, or something that I learned along along the way.

Yeah, I remember when we first met, you had said, Look, my background is in operations. I'm taking this role as VP of sales, and I don't know what to do. And then you were talking about how you approach operations, and I said, Well, you have an advantage because you understand what operational excellence looks like, and if you do that in sales, you're going to see great results, and the fact that you're in an industry that's seeing double digit declines year after year, yet in those same 18 months, you've more than doubled the business that speaks to that point. And it's not just, it's not just, oh, this is great in terms of execution. I just love when you guys talk about this and you talk about how you you know, here are things we do every single week. Here are things we here's a process we follow. Here's the way we've incorporated these elements into our CRM. Here's the way we role play weekly. It's not well, we try to do it and this time and that time, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't know, you guys are all in and I think that's why you're seeing remarkable success. And it's, you know, it's flattering to me that people talk about same side selling and methodology, but I love the fact that I've had other clients where they're saying, Well, how do we do this? I'm like, Well, you should talk to Tabitha. Talk. To down to Dr, Chris, talk to Dean, and they'll explain to you what you have to do. And it's amazing because people will say to me, Well, I mean, it sounds like they just like they're dogged about this, like they they don't deviate. They do this every single time. I'm like, yes, they don't let their reps do things like separately, they all follow the same process. Yeah. Well, they they toyed with things. They experimented. They figure out what, figured out what works, and then they have people execute that, which sounds obvious. It's like, I wouldn't want to have a surgeon who goes, you know, this procedure has been really effective, but I think going to try it a different way this week. Like, I don't want to go to that surgeon. I want to go to the person who says, Look, we know this works over and over, and if we're going to try something new, we're going to try it in a test environment 20 times before we're convinced that we're going to unleash it somewhere else. And I think that's something that you guys have done that's really been remarkable. So what's the best way for people to learn more about solar insurer and connect, connect with you guys and just follow what you're doing,

go right to solarinsure.com fill out an inquiry form. You can do that, or you could follow our company page, solarinsure, on LinkedIn or Instagram, Facebook, and we'd be happy to DM us. We'd be happy to let you know more about what we do and how we do it? Awesome.

So let me just give people kind of a quick recap of some of the key things here. So notice how in each instance, whether it's Tabitha Dean or Chris, they're talking about what problems they're solving for their customer. They're focused on the elevator rants. They're not focused on features and benefits. They've established themselves as a trusted advisor in the industry. So they're not, they're not even really seen as a vendor who's who's offering this warranty coverage. Rather, they're seen as people who are the key to successful growth in the industry, and they're helping their partners grow. And I want to make sure this is lost on people. They're okay discovering that somebody isn't the right fit, so they can focus their energy and attention on the people who are the right fit and not go chasing rainbows for people who aren't the right fit. So Tabitha Dean and Chris, thanks so much for sharing your wisdom. I you know this sounds weird to say, but I'm so proud of what you guys have accomplished. It's just very cool to me to for me to see this over and over again and see you guys having great success. And I really appreciate your generosity of sharing your story with our listeners in the same side selling podcast world. So thank you very much.

Thank you appreciate it.

It's been great. You Ian.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai