October 16, 2024 • 19 mins
How can networking be the secret sauce for success in the solar industry? Join us as we uncover the strategies behind building powerful connections with Dirk Neitzel from think solar OKC. Dirk is a leading figure in the Oklahoma City solar scene, and he shares his insights on making your solar business thrive through relationship management and warm market referrals. Listen to Dirk's personal journey of moving his business from Oklahoma to Florida and back, gaining invaluable lessons that have refined his approach to solar installations. Learn how think solar OKC empowers homeowners with tailored solutions, tax credit guidance, and seamless financing options while navigating the complexities of local roofing regulations.
We dive into the nuts and bolts of the solar installation process, from municipal approvals to the final flip of the switch. Discover how generating excess energy can translate into significant power bill savings for homeowners. With Dirk, we explore the power of networking, reflecting on experiences with business groups like BNI and other local events that can propel your business forward. You'll walk away with insider tips on sourcing multiple quotes, leveraging tax credits, and finding the right networking fit for your business.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You do business with people that you know, like and
trust.
But I really like giving backand that giver's game mentality
that a lot of the groups have.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey friends, it's Kasey Farmer here with the Build
With BBB podcast.
Welcome back Today on thepodcast we have Dirk Neitzel
with Think Solar OKC, a localBBB accredited business owner,
community partner and our hostfor our October Ambassador
Coffee coming up on October 23rd.
Dirk, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Thank you very much.
Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, so one of the things that I think would
interest a lot of our listeners,our viewers today is to know
that a solar company does a lotof networking in Oklahoma and is
really connected.
Tell us a little bit about whatyou do and why.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So you know we're just trying to serve the
Oklahoma City community, get outthere and really know people
and their needs.
Obviously, power bills are astruggle for a lot of Oklahoma
City families or individuals,but also the tax credits that we
can provide to give some peoplesome relief on that front.
So really just learning aboutpeople.
(01:26):
The thing about networking isit helps us keep our costs down
and we can pass those savings onto the customer by spending
less and just doing morerelationship management.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
When you say cost down for other business owners
who might be listening to thepodcast today, how does that
help you offset costs in termsof your marketing strategy?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So if I'm meeting someone in a warm marketing
situation or in a organizedmarket situation, there's no ad
spend.
You know, I just meet theperson or get referred to a
person and so you get a betterrelationship from the get-go.
Also, the close rate for warmmarket referrals is higher
because you know you've alreadygot the testimonial on the front
(02:08):
end, because they've beenreferred to you from a common
connection.
So referrals are great forclose rate but to keep costs
down.
And then networking sometimeswe do direct sales in certain
situations as well.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So rewinding a little bit, well.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So, rewinding a little bit, what does Think
Solar do?
So?
We are a solar broker, so ourjob is to navigate the solar
industry for the homeowner.
We always think of ourselves asrepresenting the homeowner, but
we want to make sure thatpeople are getting educated on
how the tax credits truly work,all the different financing
options there's a lot ofagriculture, small business
grants available, correct waysto mount things onto a roof,
(02:51):
whether it's shingle or metal orflat roof.
The requirements of having anelectrician on site the whole
time.
Making sure all the permits andthe utility agreements are done
ahead of time so that oncesomething gets installed it gets
turned on, rather than justsitting there and looking at the
panels but they're not makingany electricity.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
For a state like Oklahoma that has, I'll say,
more roofing laws than moststates, how does that work?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So we definitely do a roof inspection on every
customer.
How does that work?
So we definitely do a roofinspection on every customer.
The wind rating for how we rackit actually improves the wind
rating of a roof, so that's notan issue.
You also have an 18-inch marginrequirement around the panels
in the roof, and so just makingsure we're not just doing what's
(03:42):
up to code but also what'sindustry best practices for each
individual project.
But everything that most of thesolar companies are doing is
already roof compliant.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You came from.
You were in-state, then youmoved your solar company out of
state and then you came back toOklahoma.
Why did you come back?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So I followed my kids .
My kids moved to Florida.
So I moved my original Oklahomacompany to Florida.
Then they moved back.
So here we are again.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Back home amongst our family and friends and just
trying to help everyone out.
So I actually sold that companyin Florida and so this is a
restart, rebrand.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
What would you say to a business owner that's
considering doing that, maybelistening to the podcast today?
How do you go from?
You've got all of theseconnections and customers in one
area, and then you're takingthat and uplifting to another
state and then you're startingall over again sure tips and
tricks I would say it's actuallyeasier to restart something
that you've done before.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Um, I think a lot of people wish they could go back
and do it all over again, and soI've had that opportunity twice
, and so we just do it a littlebit better.
The industry's changed ingeneral anyway, with the
different programs.
The tax credit changes a littlebit every year, the panel of
the equipment gets a little bitbetter and, honestly, some of
(05:01):
the installs in Oklahoma, Iwould say, over the last few
years, got worse, and so beingable to vet crews and know who's
doing it right has been a newchallenge that wasn't there
before.
Five years ago.
I think we all installed it theright way, and I don't know if
it was a labor shortage or what,but a lot of people went to a
quick and easy not so goodinstall, and so just you know,
(05:21):
there's a new problem all thetime.
So everybody's changing.
Whether it's a restart or not,you always have to stay cutting
edge and see what's the nextbest thing out there.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, unfortunately we see a better business bureau
in lots of industries companiescoming behind another company to
fix things that maybe weren'tdone the right way.
If you were going to talk to acustomer before they ever did
any kind of interaction with thecompany, what would you say to
them, like, how do they pick theright company for their home or
for their project?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Sure, and, honestly, as a broker, we're looking at a
lot of different companies.
For them, one thing is makingsure that they're using a
licensed electrician, which isrequired by law, but not a lot
of companies follow it, and sowhat happens is you get
installed, but then it won'tpass inspection if you don't
have a licensed electriciandoing the install and on site,
(06:11):
especially when the inspector'sthere.
Another thing is how we mountit to the roof.
There's night and daydifference between you know a
little sticky foot that goesjust onto your decking versus
flashing under your shingles andfinding the rafter, and so most
customers don't know thedifference.
All they see is the.
The panels look good or theydon't, which is also important.
The aesthetics are important,and there's some companies that
(06:32):
don't.
I've seen installs where someof the panels are landscape and
some are portrait, or there'swires running across the roof,
just all sorts of crazy things.
You're like how?
Or you know, panels justsitting in the shade or facing
north, and it's just all sortsof crazy things.
You're like how?
Or you know, panels justsitting in the shade or facing
north, and it's just.
There's some crazy things outthere that you wish the customer
.
Just done a little bit moreresearch, and so you know, my
job is to have all thatknowledge for them and make sure
(06:56):
that they're getting the bestvalue for their purchase.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
When it comes to education.
How do you help set thecustomer up for success?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So we start every every time we talk to a customer
we do.
I have five slides that we talkabout how net metering works
with the utility, how the taxcredit truly works, how a
25-year warranty works and howthe monitoring system works,
because we want them to havefull ownership.
And the other thing is you'recompeting against the internet
and Facebook and door-to-doorsales guys that are just
(07:28):
misrepresenting the industry andso you have fun to just make
sure you get ahead of all themisinformation that's out there.
It's actually funny.
There's a big push now inmarketing for AI, but if you ask
AI questions about solar, somany times comes back with
misinformation, and so I'msometimes yelling at my computer
.
So many times comes back withmisinformation, sure, and so
sometimes yelling at my computerno, no, jim, and I know that,
chappie T, that's not how itworks.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
You know, the truth is good.
The truth is fantastic.
The federal tax credits and andthe net metering through
through different utilities isamazing.
So I don't know why peoplemisrepresent it when the truth
is it's a good program.
Yeah, but the other thing I wasgoing to say is there's a lot
companies out there that areprice gouging and the banks know
(08:08):
that, so then they put a lienon the house, which is not a
good situation for the homeowner.
But if you have the, the solarvalue, and so it's a secured
loan against that, then you canavoid the lien on the house.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
So that's another another thing we're having to
educate people about okay, Icould see where oklahoma
homeowners might be hesitant tosign a contract or work with the
solar company because of theamount of extreme weather that
we have here.
Tell me why maybe that's nottrue.
I love.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I love getting the weather question.
We purposely don't put it inour standard presentation
because we want them to ask andtease us up, for you know
there's different types ofequipment out there.
The most solar companies inOklahoma are using panels that
are certified for four and ahalf inch hail.
Solar companies in Oklahoma areusing panels that are certified
for four and a half inch hail,but the trick is to have
(09:00):
safeguards in place for if itdoes get weather damaged, right.
So we want to warranty thesolar and also attach it to the
house in a way where it can becovered by the insurance if the
whole home got destroyed.
But the trick is not to have anif this, if this, if this type
of warranty.
It's to have a, a catch-all,that says I've got to produce
this much electricity or thatpiece of equipment gets replaced
, so it doesn't matter whathappened to it.
(09:21):
It needs to be making theelectricity that it was supposed
to, which is you know what youexpect from your power company,
so you should expect it fromyour own power system yeah, we
talked a little bit about thisbefore when we were doing some
other marketing things to getready for the ambassador coffee.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
But tell me about client testimonials and what
that looks like and what makesyou excited about running a
solar company I love clienttestimonials.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I think that our average client and I mean this
100% I think our average clientknows more about solar than the
average solar salesman inOklahoma.
Because we do the education, wemake sure that they've got
accountants on their side andunderstand tax credits and we
give them the monitoring so theycan see every single panel and
(10:09):
they know exactly what they'reproducing, how much money
they're saving each month.
They're understanding theirpower bill.
So we do follow-ups with themto make sure that their utility
company is billing themcorrectly, that they're getting
the savings they want.
And so keeping that educationand keeping that touch points
rather than hey, I sold yousomething, good luck.
Keeping that.
We're going to hold your handthrough the whole process and
(10:31):
past it to continue to work withthe customers means that those
testimonies we're getting aretrue and they have a lot more to
testify to other than oh, wewent solar and we love it.
It's, we went solar with thesespecific people and we love it.
And you know, even yesterday Igot a call from a customer
that's moving and she wants usto do solar on her new house.
(10:53):
So there's not a lot of repeatbusiness in the solar industry,
especially for the companiesthat spin up and go out of
business real quick, but we seerepeat business because of the
way we take care of ourcustomers.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
For a customer who might be interested in solar.
Tell me the process frombeginning to end.
What does that look like?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Sure.
So we normally do, you know,like a few minutes of education
again on how the tax creditswork, how the net metering works
, how solar works in general inthe state of Oklahoma and with
their specific utility ormunicipality.
Then we go into working withthem to design a system that
they like the way it would lookon their house because
aesthetics are important, or wecan do a ground mount.
(11:33):
Then we talk about thedifferent programs that are
going to help them get that, getthat purchase funded.
So you've got the 30% federalfederal tax credit.
How is that going to work withthem?
Are they w-2, 1099?
Lots of different questionsthere.
How's the net metering work fortheir specific utility?
And when the panels are facingat that azimuth to the equator,
(11:56):
at that tilt, with that amountof shade, how much can they
expect to save on the power billso that those savings can help
fund the solar?
And then there are certainclients that are in agricultural
or small business zones, sothere's some grants available.
So really just the engineeringpiece, the financing piece and
seeing how much are they goingto save, how much is their
(12:17):
incentive going to be, is themain two topics.
I think everyone should gosolar.
I think it's the right thing todo for future generations or
for the planet, but you stillhave to make it financially
feasible where it's also a goodfinancial investment for that
family, and so that's really thefocus.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
What does the install look like?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So it takes about usually about a month, sometimes
two it kind of depends on whichmunicipality, time of year and
which utility they're with toget all of that approved ahead
of time so that once we've gotthe permit and the
interconnection agreement withtheir utility, now we can have
the equipment delivered within aday.
We use a local distributor, soscheduling with our crew, they
(13:00):
can do most houses in a day.
I got the roofing crew doingthe roofing part, the
electrician do the electricalwork all at the same time, so
it's usually a one-day installprocess and then hoping we can
get the inspector either.
Sometimes we can get aninspector because they know our
crew so well they can do it byFaceTime.
But getting the inspection donewith the municipality and then
(13:22):
usually there's a secondinspection from the utility to
get their meter swapped over togo bidirectional, and so you
know our thing is to advocate onbehalf of the homeowner to get
all those things done as quicklyas possible, which we don't
have control over everything,but we have control over how
hard we push, and so at least wecan do that.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Squeaky wheel yeah, absolutely.
And so at least we can do that.
Squeaky wheel yeah, absolutely.
For somebody who just got solar, the biggest incentive is
savings, right or green?
Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, definitely saving on their power bill.
From the day you turn it on,even before they switch over
your meter, you can have somesavings.
But the whole point is, youknow, when it's really sunny
you're making extra and puttingthat back to your utility and
getting extra credit so you'regetting more savings.
Depending on the time of year,they could wipe out their whole
bill.
There's, uh, sometimes in thesummer we're just wiping out the
(14:13):
high rate but you're still onthat nighttime low rate, so
still significant savings.
And then you know, early nextyear getting those tax credits
back and really really enjoyingthat.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Rewinding a little bit.
We talked about networking justa touch in the beginning, but
you do a lot of networking.
Do you want to talk to me aboutthe group that you meet with on
Fridays?
And how anybody can attend that?
And then what's coming up?
I guess it's next week.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, so my thing is, and just like I run my solar
company, it's all aboutlistening and seeing what people
need.
So I'm in a B&I BusinessNetworking International group.
So that's a paid, exclusivegroup.
You trade referrals, you meetweekly, very professional
setting.
We meet I'm in two becausewe're launching a new chapter,
(15:01):
so I have one by Zoom onTuesdays at 8.30 and on
Wednesdays at 7.30 am.
In person I host a free,non-exclusive, no required
membership for free on Fridaysat my office at nine o'clock,
which is very personal, not verysales pitchy, more, just hey,
what's your wins this week?
What do you need help withpersonally or professionally in
(15:23):
solving those problems?
We do Munch and Learns onFridays at noon at our office as
well.
So always looking for guestkeynote speakers, but it's still
more of a networking event andjust friends just trying to
learn and grow together, andthat one's free of cost as well.
There's the Mix and Minglebusiness networking group.
I think there's 15 chapters ofthat in Oklahoma right now and
(15:46):
they meet a different day of themonth and then it repeats the
next month at a different localrestaurant.
So that's a great low-cost wayfor people to get out and
network.
And then the BBB Coffee, so,like the one we're hosting on
the 23rd at our office, is from9 to 10 am, so that's another
great one, and not everybody hastime to go to all of them.
(16:06):
There's also, you know, thenorthwest chamber, the south
chamber, the yukon chamber, theasian chamber, the hispanic
chamber.
They're great and not everybodyhas the full staff to at all of
them.
But everybody should try themall and go when you can and see
which ones fit your schedule thebest and which ones you know
obviously boost your businessthe best.
But there's a lot of fantasticnetworking opportunities in
(16:27):
Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, and we talked a lot about this when we did some
other filming for the coffee.
But really, maybe not everynetworking event is for you.
Maybe you'll go and you'll say,oh, these aren't really the
type of business I need to meet,or maybe you didn't like where
they hosted it or whatever.
That's okay, but give them alla try and then decide which path
that you want to take, and thenmaybe send a coworker or a
(16:50):
teammate to the other one andmaybe they'll like it just as
much, right.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I just have a whole separate Google calendar
of all the networking events.
Then they're there.
So if an appointment cancels,that's okay.
It's a positive I have now Igot an hour to go to mix and
mingle or different things likethat, and it's also the I don't
want to have to reach out toeveryone all the time about you
should buy solar.
It's better to be like hey,come with me to this coffee
(17:14):
group, right, and then you know,obviously they get to know me
and you do business with peoplethat you know and trust.
Um, but I, I really like givingback and that givers gain
mentality that a lot of thegroups have yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
What else should our listeners, business owners,
consumers know about think solar?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
oh um, there are a lot of of tax credits right now
for for businesses and andhomeowners, and grants, and if
you've got a quote from onecompany, that doesn't mean that
you necessarily saw what thereactually is out there for solar
and for your needs.
And so we just always tellpeople like, hey, get to know us
(17:56):
, we might be able to help yourbusiness in some random way that
has nothing to do with solar.
You know, I've been anentrepreneur for a while now, so
always love to hear about otherpeople's businesses and how we
can support them.
But then also, you know,everyone should see their solar
numbers for sure and see if itmakes sense for them or not and
make an informed decision ratherthan making a judgment call
without the knowledge.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
For anybody listening today who wants to connect with
you offline where can they?
Or online, where can theyconnect with you offline?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
where can they?
Or online, where can theyconnect with you?
Cool.
So my, my website is ran bysomeone that I met at networking
.
It's think solar, ok, see calm.
And then my phone number is ranwith someone I met through
networking.
It is lightning communicationsdoes a great job.
Our phone numbers 405 345 1 2Okay, great.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So there's a form on your website, right for somebody
who might be interested ingetting a quote.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yes, there is a contact form there.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, so for our listeners today, make sure to
check out ThinkSolarOKCcom.
Is that what you said?
Yes, thinksolarokccom.
They are also very active onsocial media, so make sure to
follow there and give them alike and share.
Otherwise, check out thedescription box below for this
episode for notes, resources,links, all the things that you
(19:10):
might need to know about solar,about bbb, and we will catch you
in the next episode.
Thanks so much for being here.
Thank you, bye friends, thankyou.
You do business with people that you know, like and
trust.
But I really like giving backand that giver's game mentality
that a lot of the groups have.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey friends, it's Kasey Farmer here with the Build
With BBB podcast.
Welcome back Today on thepodcast we have Dirk Neitzel
with Think Solar OKC, a localBBB accredited business owner,
community partner and our hostfor our October Ambassador
Coffee coming up on October 23rd.
Dirk, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Thank you very much.
Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, so one of the things that I think would
interest a lot of our listeners,our viewers today is to know
that a solar company does a lotof networking in Oklahoma and is
really connected.
Tell us a little bit about whatyou do and why.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So you know we're just trying to serve the
Oklahoma City community, get outthere and really know people
and their needs.
Obviously, power bills are astruggle for a lot of Oklahoma
City families or individuals,but also the tax credits that we
can provide to give some peoplesome relief on that front.
So really just learning aboutpeople.
(01:26):
The thing about networking isit helps us keep our costs down
and we can pass those savings onto the customer by spending
less and just doing morerelationship management.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
When you say cost down for other business owners
who might be listening to thepodcast today, how does that
help you offset costs in termsof your marketing strategy?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So if I'm meeting someone in a warm marketing
situation or in a organizedmarket situation, there's no ad
spend.
You know, I just meet theperson or get referred to a
person and so you get a betterrelationship from the get-go.
Also, the close rate for warmmarket referrals is higher
because you know you've alreadygot the testimonial on the front
(02:08):
end, because they've beenreferred to you from a common
connection.
So referrals are great forclose rate but to keep costs
down.
And then networking sometimeswe do direct sales in certain
situations as well.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So rewinding a little bit, well.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So, rewinding a little bit, what does Think
Solar do?
So?
We are a solar broker, so ourjob is to navigate the solar
industry for the homeowner.
We always think of ourselves asrepresenting the homeowner, but
we want to make sure thatpeople are getting educated on
how the tax credits truly work,all the different financing
options there's a lot ofagriculture, small business
grants available, correct waysto mount things onto a roof,
(02:51):
whether it's shingle or metal orflat roof.
The requirements of having anelectrician on site the whole
time.
Making sure all the permits andthe utility agreements are done
ahead of time so that oncesomething gets installed it gets
turned on, rather than justsitting there and looking at the
panels but they're not makingany electricity.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
For a state like Oklahoma that has, I'll say,
more roofing laws than moststates, how does that work?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So we definitely do a roof inspection on every
customer.
How does that work?
So we definitely do a roofinspection on every customer.
The wind rating for how we rackit actually improves the wind
rating of a roof, so that's notan issue.
You also have an 18-inch marginrequirement around the panels
in the roof, and so just makingsure we're not just doing what's
(03:42):
up to code but also what'sindustry best practices for each
individual project.
But everything that most of thesolar companies are doing is
already roof compliant.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You came from.
You were in-state, then youmoved your solar company out of
state and then you came back toOklahoma.
Why did you come back?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So I followed my kids .
My kids moved to Florida.
So I moved my original Oklahomacompany to Florida.
Then they moved back.
So here we are again.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Back home amongst our family and friends and just
trying to help everyone out.
So I actually sold that companyin Florida and so this is a
restart, rebrand.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
What would you say to a business owner that's
considering doing that, maybelistening to the podcast today?
How do you go from?
You've got all of theseconnections and customers in one
area, and then you're takingthat and uplifting to another
state and then you're startingall over again sure tips and
tricks I would say it's actuallyeasier to restart something
that you've done before.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Um, I think a lot of people wish they could go back
and do it all over again, and soI've had that opportunity twice
, and so we just do it a littlebit better.
The industry's changed ingeneral anyway, with the
different programs.
The tax credit changes a littlebit every year, the panel of
the equipment gets a little bitbetter and, honestly, some of
(05:01):
the installs in Oklahoma, Iwould say, over the last few
years, got worse, and so beingable to vet crews and know who's
doing it right has been a newchallenge that wasn't there
before.
Five years ago.
I think we all installed it theright way, and I don't know if
it was a labor shortage or what,but a lot of people went to a
quick and easy not so goodinstall, and so just you know,
(05:21):
there's a new problem all thetime.
So everybody's changing.
Whether it's a restart or not,you always have to stay cutting
edge and see what's the nextbest thing out there.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, unfortunately we see a better business bureau
in lots of industries companiescoming behind another company to
fix things that maybe weren'tdone the right way.
If you were going to talk to acustomer before they ever did
any kind of interaction with thecompany, what would you say to
them, like, how do they pick theright company for their home or
for their project?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Sure, and, honestly, as a broker, we're looking at a
lot of different companies.
For them, one thing is makingsure that they're using a
licensed electrician, which isrequired by law, but not a lot
of companies follow it, and sowhat happens is you get
installed, but then it won'tpass inspection if you don't
have a licensed electriciandoing the install and on site,
(06:11):
especially when the inspector'sthere.
Another thing is how we mountit to the roof.
There's night and daydifference between you know a
little sticky foot that goesjust onto your decking versus
flashing under your shingles andfinding the rafter, and so most
customers don't know thedifference.
All they see is the.
The panels look good or theydon't, which is also important.
The aesthetics are important,and there's some companies that
(06:32):
don't.
I've seen installs where someof the panels are landscape and
some are portrait, or there'swires running across the roof,
just all sorts of crazy things.
You're like how?
Or you know, panels justsitting in the shade or facing
north, and it's just all sortsof crazy things.
You're like how?
Or you know, panels justsitting in the shade or facing
north, and it's just.
There's some crazy things outthere that you wish the customer
.
Just done a little bit moreresearch, and so you know, my
job is to have all thatknowledge for them and make sure
(06:56):
that they're getting the bestvalue for their purchase.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
When it comes to education.
How do you help set thecustomer up for success?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So we start every every time we talk to a customer
we do.
I have five slides that we talkabout how net metering works
with the utility, how the taxcredit truly works, how a
25-year warranty works and howthe monitoring system works,
because we want them to havefull ownership.
And the other thing is you'recompeting against the internet
and Facebook and door-to-doorsales guys that are just
(07:28):
misrepresenting the industry andso you have fun to just make
sure you get ahead of all themisinformation that's out there.
It's actually funny.
There's a big push now inmarketing for AI, but if you ask
AI questions about solar, somany times comes back with
misinformation, and so I'msometimes yelling at my computer
.
So many times comes back withmisinformation, sure, and so
sometimes yelling at my computerno, no, jim, and I know that,
chappie T, that's not how itworks.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
You know, the truth is good.
The truth is fantastic.
The federal tax credits and andthe net metering through
through different utilities isamazing.
So I don't know why peoplemisrepresent it when the truth
is it's a good program.
Yeah, but the other thing I wasgoing to say is there's a lot
companies out there that areprice gouging and the banks know
(08:08):
that, so then they put a lienon the house, which is not a
good situation for the homeowner.
But if you have the, the solarvalue, and so it's a secured
loan against that, then you canavoid the lien on the house.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
So that's another another thing we're having to
educate people about okay, Icould see where oklahoma
homeowners might be hesitant tosign a contract or work with the
solar company because of theamount of extreme weather that
we have here.
Tell me why maybe that's nottrue.
I love.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I love getting the weather question.
We purposely don't put it inour standard presentation
because we want them to ask andtease us up, for you know
there's different types ofequipment out there.
The most solar companies inOklahoma are using panels that
are certified for four and ahalf inch hail.
Solar companies in Oklahoma areusing panels that are certified
for four and a half inch hail,but the trick is to have
(09:00):
safeguards in place for if itdoes get weather damaged, right.
So we want to warranty thesolar and also attach it to the
house in a way where it can becovered by the insurance if the
whole home got destroyed.
But the trick is not to have anif this, if this, if this type
of warranty.
It's to have a, a catch-all,that says I've got to produce
this much electricity or thatpiece of equipment gets replaced
, so it doesn't matter whathappened to it.
(09:21):
It needs to be making theelectricity that it was supposed
to, which is you know what youexpect from your power company,
so you should expect it fromyour own power system yeah, we
talked a little bit about thisbefore when we were doing some
other marketing things to getready for the ambassador coffee.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
But tell me about client testimonials and what
that looks like and what makesyou excited about running a
solar company I love clienttestimonials.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I think that our average client and I mean this
100% I think our average clientknows more about solar than the
average solar salesman inOklahoma.
Because we do the education, wemake sure that they've got
accountants on their side andunderstand tax credits and we
give them the monitoring so theycan see every single panel and
(10:09):
they know exactly what they'reproducing, how much money
they're saving each month.
They're understanding theirpower bill.
So we do follow-ups with themto make sure that their utility
company is billing themcorrectly, that they're getting
the savings they want.
And so keeping that educationand keeping that touch points
rather than hey, I sold yousomething, good luck.
Keeping that.
We're going to hold your handthrough the whole process and
(10:31):
past it to continue to work withthe customers means that those
testimonies we're getting aretrue and they have a lot more to
testify to other than oh, wewent solar and we love it.
It's, we went solar with thesespecific people and we love it.
And you know, even yesterday Igot a call from a customer
that's moving and she wants usto do solar on her new house.
(10:53):
So there's not a lot of repeatbusiness in the solar industry,
especially for the companiesthat spin up and go out of
business real quick, but we seerepeat business because of the
way we take care of ourcustomers.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
For a customer who might be interested in solar.
Tell me the process frombeginning to end.
What does that look like?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Sure.
So we normally do, you know,like a few minutes of education
again on how the tax creditswork, how the net metering works
, how solar works in general inthe state of Oklahoma and with
their specific utility ormunicipality.
Then we go into working withthem to design a system that
they like the way it would lookon their house because
aesthetics are important, or wecan do a ground mount.
(11:33):
Then we talk about thedifferent programs that are
going to help them get that, getthat purchase funded.
So you've got the 30% federalfederal tax credit.
How is that going to work withthem?
Are they w-2, 1099?
Lots of different questionsthere.
How's the net metering work fortheir specific utility?
And when the panels are facingat that azimuth to the equator,
(11:56):
at that tilt, with that amountof shade, how much can they
expect to save on the power billso that those savings can help
fund the solar?
And then there are certainclients that are in agricultural
or small business zones, sothere's some grants available.
So really just the engineeringpiece, the financing piece and
seeing how much are they goingto save, how much is their
(12:17):
incentive going to be, is themain two topics.
I think everyone should gosolar.
I think it's the right thing todo for future generations or
for the planet, but you stillhave to make it financially
feasible where it's also a goodfinancial investment for that
family, and so that's really thefocus.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
What does the install look like?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So it takes about usually about a month, sometimes
two it kind of depends on whichmunicipality, time of year and
which utility they're with toget all of that approved ahead
of time so that once we've gotthe permit and the
interconnection agreement withtheir utility, now we can have
the equipment delivered within aday.
We use a local distributor, soscheduling with our crew, they
(13:00):
can do most houses in a day.
I got the roofing crew doingthe roofing part, the
electrician do the electricalwork all at the same time, so
it's usually a one-day installprocess and then hoping we can
get the inspector either.
Sometimes we can get aninspector because they know our
crew so well they can do it byFaceTime.
But getting the inspection donewith the municipality and then
(13:22):
usually there's a secondinspection from the utility to
get their meter swapped over togo bidirectional, and so you
know our thing is to advocate onbehalf of the homeowner to get
all those things done as quicklyas possible, which we don't
have control over everything,but we have control over how
hard we push, and so at least wecan do that.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Squeaky wheel yeah, absolutely.
And so at least we can do that.
Squeaky wheel yeah, absolutely.
For somebody who just got solar, the biggest incentive is
savings, right or green?
Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, definitely saving on their power bill.
From the day you turn it on,even before they switch over
your meter, you can have somesavings.
But the whole point is, youknow, when it's really sunny
you're making extra and puttingthat back to your utility and
getting extra credit so you'regetting more savings.
Depending on the time of year,they could wipe out their whole
bill.
There's, uh, sometimes in thesummer we're just wiping out the
(14:13):
high rate but you're still onthat nighttime low rate, so
still significant savings.
And then you know, early nextyear getting those tax credits
back and really really enjoyingthat.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Rewinding a little bit.
We talked about networking justa touch in the beginning, but
you do a lot of networking.
Do you want to talk to me aboutthe group that you meet with on
Fridays?
And how anybody can attend that?
And then what's coming up?
I guess it's next week.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, so my thing is, and just like I run my solar
company, it's all aboutlistening and seeing what people
need.
So I'm in a B&I BusinessNetworking International group.
So that's a paid, exclusivegroup.
You trade referrals, you meetweekly, very professional
setting.
We meet I'm in two becausewe're launching a new chapter,
(15:01):
so I have one by Zoom onTuesdays at 8.30 and on
Wednesdays at 7.30 am.
In person I host a free,non-exclusive, no required
membership for free on Fridaysat my office at nine o'clock,
which is very personal, not verysales pitchy, more, just hey,
what's your wins this week?
What do you need help withpersonally or professionally in
(15:23):
solving those problems?
We do Munch and Learns onFridays at noon at our office as
well.
So always looking for guestkeynote speakers, but it's still
more of a networking event andjust friends just trying to
learn and grow together, andthat one's free of cost as well.
There's the Mix and Minglebusiness networking group.
I think there's 15 chapters ofthat in Oklahoma right now and
(15:46):
they meet a different day of themonth and then it repeats the
next month at a different localrestaurant.
So that's a great low-cost wayfor people to get out and
network.
And then the BBB Coffee, so,like the one we're hosting on
the 23rd at our office, is from9 to 10 am, so that's another
great one, and not everybody hastime to go to all of them.
(16:06):
There's also, you know, thenorthwest chamber, the south
chamber, the yukon chamber, theasian chamber, the hispanic
chamber.
They're great and not everybodyhas the full staff to at all of
them.
But everybody should try themall and go when you can and see
which ones fit your schedule thebest and which ones you know
obviously boost your businessthe best.
But there's a lot of fantasticnetworking opportunities in
(16:27):
Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, and we talked a lot about this when we did some
other filming for the coffee.
But really, maybe not everynetworking event is for you.
Maybe you'll go and you'll say,oh, these aren't really the
type of business I need to meet,or maybe you didn't like where
they hosted it or whatever.
That's okay, but give them alla try and then decide which path
that you want to take, and thenmaybe send a coworker or a
(16:50):
teammate to the other one andmaybe they'll like it just as
much, right.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I just have a whole separate Google calendar
of all the networking events.
Then they're there.
So if an appointment cancels,that's okay.
It's a positive I have now Igot an hour to go to mix and
mingle or different things likethat, and it's also the I don't
want to have to reach out toeveryone all the time about you
should buy solar.
It's better to be like hey,come with me to this coffee
(17:14):
group, right, and then you know,obviously they get to know me
and you do business with peoplethat you know and trust.
Um, but I, I really like givingback and that givers gain
mentality that a lot of thegroups have yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
What else should our listeners, business owners,
consumers know about think solar?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
oh um, there are a lot of of tax credits right now
for for businesses and andhomeowners, and grants, and if
you've got a quote from onecompany, that doesn't mean that
you necessarily saw what thereactually is out there for solar
and for your needs.
And so we just always tellpeople like, hey, get to know us
(17:56):
, we might be able to help yourbusiness in some random way that
has nothing to do with solar.
You know, I've been anentrepreneur for a while now, so
always love to hear about otherpeople's businesses and how we
can support them.
But then also, you know,everyone should see their solar
numbers for sure and see if itmakes sense for them or not and
make an informed decision ratherthan making a judgment call
without the knowledge.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
For anybody listening today who wants to connect with
you offline where can they?
Or online, where can theyconnect with you offline?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
where can they?
Or online, where can theyconnect with you?
Cool.
So my, my website is ran bysomeone that I met at networking
.
It's think solar, ok, see calm.
And then my phone number is ranwith someone I met through
networking.
It is lightning communicationsdoes a great job.
Our phone numbers 405 345 1 2Okay, great.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So there's a form on your website, right for somebody
who might be interested ingetting a quote.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yes, there is a contact form there.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, so for our listeners today, make sure to
check out ThinkSolarOKCcom.
Is that what you said?
Yes, thinksolarokccom.
They are also very active onsocial media, so make sure to
follow there and give them alike and share.
Otherwise, check out thedescription box below for this
episode for notes, resources,links, all the things that you
(19:10):
might need to know about solar,about bbb, and we will catch you
in the next episode.
Thanks so much for being here.
Thank you, bye friends, thankyou.
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