CASE STUDY · COMMERCIAL SOLAR INSTALLER · 6 MIN READ

Sam Ward Electrical: What an Electrician Moving Into Solar Reads Before Taking a Commercial Lead

running Sam Ward Electrical

4 years

running Sam Ward Electrical

in solar PV and battery storage

18 months

in solar PV and battery storage

new leads a weekday to choose from, in his words

5 to 10

new leads a weekday to choose from, in his words

working with our team at interview

2 to 3 months

working with our team at interview

6:42

From building sites to solar PV

Sam is the director and principal electrician at Sam Ward Electrical. He started out installing "on a subcontract basis on building sites, new building sites", then went out on his own about four years ago doing EV chargers and general electrical work. "And over the last 18 months, I've diversified into solar PV and battery storage."

That route is common, and the jump from electrician to solar installer comes with its own paperwork. Our guides to MCS certification and MIS 3002, the installation standard behind it, set out what an MCS survey and install has to cover.

Why he tried a lead company at all

Sam had never used a lead generation company before. He is, in his own words, "typically ... hesitant to get on board with this, this type of work", and he had a clear picture of how the rest of the market works:

“my perception of other companies is it's you pay up front and they send, they sell you these leads.”

He was careful to add: "Whether that's actually true or not, I don't know." What brought him in was the work done on each lead before he ever saw it: "you do a lot of what I would call the legwork in terms of qualifying the leads".

What he reads on a lead before he says yes

Every lead reached Sam with a write-up from the qualification call. He reads it for three things:

1. 1

   Energy use and bill spend, to size the system

   "From the, the billing information I'll be able to determine if what size system they require."

   If the size is beyond what a business like his can offer, he leaves it. If it fits, he knows roughly what he is quoting for before he leaves home.

2. 2

   The location

   "There'll be the locations on there, so I can see if that's somewhere that's within my remit to work in."

   He only takes sites in the area he is willing to work in.

3. 3

   Who the contact is

   "So I know it's viable and it's not just somebody who works at the company."

   The write-up names the point of contact and confirms they are the bill payer, so he knows he is meeting the right person.

The questions were not invented in one go. In the interview our team explained that a single phase or three phase question was added after an installer drove to a high-spending site and found a single phase supply, which limited the installation. For the full list of what to confirm on site, use our commercial solar survey checklist.

Choosing from a daily list, with no pressure

Leads came into a WhatsApp group with their size in kilowatts and their location. Sam's estimate of the volume: "I'd say on average it's between five and 10 new leads in the WhatsApp chat on a daily basis." That is every weekday, "Apart from Saturday and Sunday", which suits him because he does not work weekends.

“It's just offered to you. And if you like the look of it, you go for it. If you don't, no issue.”

He picks on two tests: the jobs "a company my size can offer to a customer", and a location he is willing to work in. Solar Surveys UK works the same way today: browse leads free, look at as many as you like, and only go after the sites that fit.

Before and after the survey

Once he picks a lead, the survey is booked for him. The team rings the customer before the visit, and rings Sam after it for feedback:

“They'll call the day before or a couple of days before to check that it's still okay to go ahead and give me a reminder that it's going ahead.”

Asked whether paying only when the survey is attended works for a business his size: "It's the best way for, for, for me to do it. It works for me." You only pay for appointments that are actually attended, and any that aren't viable we replace. If you want to see how a lead's cost is worked out, read our guide to commercial solar lead costs.

Recommending us to another electrician

Asked whether he would recommend us to other installers, Sam said "Yes, I would", and that he already had. The day before the interview he went to the Solar and Storage show, met a friend who is also an electrician, "and I was talking about you guys and I did recommend him to you".

The full interview is in the video above. TNW Marketing's own write-up of Sam Ward's interview is on tnwmarketing.com. More installers talk about their leads in our case studies and on the reviews page.

Sam Ward Electrical case study: FAQ