Ok, so the number and the time frame may boggle your mind, especially if you’ve never done those sort of numbers. Trust me, I felt the exact same way, but once you start putting yourself around people who are doing those numbers (in some cases $100,000 in one month) it becomes much more realistic.
Why I’m Sharing This With You
I pride myself on being one-hundred percent transparent. My friends and family members would all describe me in two simple words: no filter. I don’t sugar coat anything and I never will. I’ll keep it honest because that’s what we all deserve.
Also, if I can inspire you to push yourself just a little bit and try something different, although possibly challenging, then that ounce of growth and success you gain makes writing these articles worth it.
Here’s exactly how I’m going to make $50,000 in 10-Weeks knocking doors and how you can do the same. (If you want to see how I’m going to do it and don’t care to do it yourself, scroll down to step 5)
Step 1: Join A Direct Sales Solar Partner
Solar is one of the hottest and most in demand industries at the moment and is projected to grow astronomically. Think cell phones before Nokia and snake. Companies were willing to pay big bucks for sales rep to push cell phones at the time because they knew that it wasn’t a matter of if people would buy them but when.
This is the exact same thing happening within the solar industry. It’s not a matter of if they do it but when they do it. The pay however, won’t be the same as it is today. I mean think about it, cell phone reps working at Verizon are going to earn a $20-$40 commission for selling you a phone whereas back in the day they were making hundreds to thousands. The same goes for solar today, companies are paying HUGE now but it won’t be this way forever.
The reason you want to join a direct sales solar partner and not an actual company is because your commissions will be higher. When you join a solar company directly, they’ll typically give you a small annual base salary ($15,000 – $20,000) and will then feed you appointments. However, those commissions per deal are way small. So even though you don’t have to go out and hunt for business, your earnings are far lower.
Step 2: Get Onboarded
Most direct sales solar partners do not have prerequisites for being a part of their organization. As long as you have a great attitude, positive mindset, are receptive to feedback and learning, and are crazy enough to get doors slammed in your face and cussed at, you’re freaking hired. Direct sales companies mold boys into men and grow girls into women.
Get onboarded into the organization by going through whatever the required steps are for employment. Usually you’ll have to take some sort of test for the parent company (solar company) regarding code of conduct and best sales practices. After that, you’re required to get any applicable local or state licensing, set up your email company email accounts and any other additional software logins, and that’s it. You’re good to go. Don’t worry if this sounds confusing, you’ll usually get help throughout this entire process.
Step 3: Shadow, Hit The Doors, Pitch Practice
Shadowing is essentially the art of following someone around like a mannequin that doesn’t speak and listening to all of your experienced reps pitches on the door. Your pitch = sales pitch. It’s basically what you say to homeowners as soon as they open the door. You want to break preoccupation (whatever it was that they’re doing) while also being respectful of their time, yet also likeable with just enough mystery to peak their interest in what it is you’re talking about.
When you’re not shadowing, you want to be at home practicing your pitch in the mirror or recording yourself on your phone to see exactly what you look like and what you sound like. I know it sounds weird but trust me, whatever you sound like on the doors is exactly how you sound like on that recording. The key is to watch your tonality, body language, delivery, and overall state of being. Be receptive to feedback from your peers and you’ll get better.
Finally, hit the doors with a partner for a while, but eventually go out on your own and hit the doors solo. Get your face kicked in, learn from experiences and constantly seek areas in which you can improve. This is a game of persistence and numbers. It’s always been said that the hardest door is your car door. Anyone can get in their car and drive to area but getting out of your own car is the hardest. Managing yourself is the real battle. If you can do this, you will succeed.
Step 4: Pick Up Sales Books, Take Online Sales Courses, Ask For Help
The hardest part of door-to-door sales isn’t the doors itself but the battle within that you will face daily. You are literally your biggest supporter and your biggest critic. The best way I’ve learned to avoid this rut is to get outside of myself and feed my brain the good stuff… books, audios, courses, and seminars.
There are plenty of sales books to read, Audible is a great alternative if you’re more of a listener. Go on YouTube and watch some best sales practices. Be resourceful and seek out the information that’s going to help you succeed. What I’ve often found is that within every office there is a plateau of knowledge since everyone is regurgitating the same information. It’s wise to go outside of your office and seek out mentorship from other successful reps in your company from different offices from time to time.
And also seek out knowledge outside of your company and office itself. You can learn a lot through other sales companies. Pro tip: there is always something to learn from someone. So keep your ear to the ground but also keep your foot on the gas and stay hungry for knowledge and advice that will help you level up.
Step 5: Set Your Targets
Having no plan for success is planning to fail. You’ve got to give yourself big target goals that you can then reverse engineer from and execute with daily actionable goals. Here’s exactly how I’m going to make $50,000 (after taxes) in the next 10-weeks knocking doors and helping homeowners save money on their electric bill by switching to solar.
Please note: these metrics are based on my personal selling ratios. In order for you to get a good idea of what you’re ratios are, you’re going to have to go out and sell!
10-Week Blitz (4/22/19 – 6/29/19)
- Create 86 Opportunities (Leads)
- 25.8 Will Cancel Appointment (30% canceled)
- 60.2 appointments shown (70% Will Keep Appointment)
- 15.05 Deals Signed (25% conversion rate/1 out of 4 sign)
- 13.09 Deals Go to Install (87% conversion rate)
- 13.09 Installs x 10.260kw average system size = 134.33kw Installed
- 134.33 x $500/kw (average) = $67,169.65
- $50,377.24 (Net commission after taxes)
The way I set my target was simple. I know I want to net $50,000 (after taxes) in 10 weeks. So I set my goal of earning $67,000 or greater in payable commissions (before taxes) and then factored in -25% in taxes, which left me just over my target mark of $50,000.
From there, I determined how many opportunities I would need to create in order to meet my closing ratio of 25% (1 out of 4 sit downs I have end in a signed deal). I then knew that out of those 15 deals signed, 13 of those would go on to get installed (87% of my signed deals get installed).
These metrics are based on my previous 3-years of sales history. Yours will be different.
What If I fall Short?
Even if my average system size drops from a 10.260kWp to an 8kWp (kilowatt-peak) system size and my closing ratio goes from 25% down to 20%, after taxes I will still walk away with $31,424 in net commissions so long as I create 86 opportunities and my 87% deal signed to install ratio remains the same. That’s still earning over $3,142.44 per week over the course of 10-weeks on average, which is still pretty good.
My schedule from (4/22/19 – 6/29/19) will be as follows:
- Knocking 4-days per week
- 4-hours per day
- Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
- Sundays and Mondays off
- Appointments scheduled on knocking days will be before knocking times
- Other appointments will be scheduled on non-knocking days
Let’s take a look at the total work time and numbers broken down:
- 16 hours per week knocking
- Creating 8.6 opportunities per week (2.15/day)
- 15 deals signed (90 minutes per appointment)
- 60 appointments x 90 minutes = 90 hours
- Total hours worked over 10 Weeks = 250 hours
- Hours worked per week = 25 hours
- Hours worked per day (6 day work week) = 4.16 hours/day average
- Average earnings per week = $3,132 – $5,001.75
- Average earnings per day = $522 – $833.50
- Average earnings per hour = $130.50 – $208.37
Let’s Put Things Into Perspective
While there’s nothing glamorous about knocking doors, you can get paid handsomely and very well without any upfront financial investments. Let’s take a doctors salary for example.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary of Medical Doctors is $224,828 annually. While this sounds glamorous, doctors also work 59.6 hours per week on average throughout their career. If we break that down, that’s:
Doctors Annual Salary Before Taxes
- $224,828 Annually
- $18,735.66 Monthly
- $4,683.91 Weekly
- $780.65 Per day (6 day work week, some doctors work 7day work week)
After Taxes (35% in 2019)
- $146,138.20 Annually
- $12,178.18 Monthly
- $3,044.54 Weekly
- $507.42 Daily (6 day work week)
Hours Worked
- 238.4 Hours Worked Monthly
- 59.6 Hours Worked Weekly
- 9.9 Hours Worked Daily
So when you really look at it, a doctor is earning $507.42 daily working 6-days per week and we’re earning $522 – $833.50 per day really only working 4-days per week knocking. I don’t really count appointments or the other 2-days of the week doing appointments as work because that’s the fun part of the job. By this point the homeowner trusts you enough to welcome you into their home and it’s usually smooth sailing from there.
Mind you, these numbers only reflect closing at a 25% ratio. There are guys in our company who are closing at 75%! Yes, I could use some major improvement. Imagine what those numbers would look like in your bank account. What would that do for you?
What I’ll Do With The $50,000 and Why I’m Stopping on July 29th, 2019
While the numbers are always exciting, it’s the hard work that’s not so exciting but this is where I get to trust the process. It’s worked for me in the past and it’ll surely work for me again so long as I put in the work. What I’ll do after the last install goes up and the commissions have been paid is another story.
For now, I’m invested financially and mentally to progressing my online marketing and technical abilities to create my solar tech start up. I’ve decided not to take on any VC funding and instead operate as an Open Startup, disclosing all analytics and financials. Transparency is key.
One thing that’s always given me much joy is traveling. There’s something about being on a plane and venturing off to an unknown destination. I’ve definitely got a case of wanderlust. But because I’ve wanted to create this startup, I told myself that if I was going to travel this year, it was going to be for business only.
So after booking a flight to Barcelona for a huge marketing conference and scheduling in another marketing conference in San Diego, I noticed that I had about 20-days to spare in-between. So i figured why not make a trip out of it and see some of the other wonders of the world.
My itinerary is as follows:
- Barcelona, Spain – July 7th – 10th
- Athens, Greece – July 11th – 12th
- Cairo, Egypt – July 13th – 14th
- New Delhi, India – July 15th – 17th
- Ko Phagnan, Thailand – July 18th – 25th
- San Diego, California – July 26th – 29th
- Who knows… July 29th and on…?
I’m using these next 10-weeks as a launching pad into the next chapter of my life. I’ve always wanted to live abroad and work with other digital nomads or at least in a city that’s thriving in technological development.
As of right now, I’m debating on catching a flight back to Thailand or maybe making San Diego my home base. San Francisco would be great but paying $2,500/mo for my own 1-bedroom spot would deplete my funds rapidly. Maybe Austin, Texas or maybe Budapest, Hungary?
I’ll wait until that time comes to make the decision and then I’ll know. What I do know now is that it’s about 30 minutes until time to begin this 10-week blitz to catapult me to the next chapter of my life.
So why am I stopping?
Tony Robbins said it best, “Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.”
I’m not fulfilled when I’m knocking doors. I’m fulfilled when I’m creating, bringing ideas to life, laughing, traveling, working hard on things that I care about. So if I have to dedicate the next 10-weeks of my life on being laser focused in order to pursue what I’m passionate about, then let’s do it.
Check back for weekly updates on my progress. Be great.