CASE STUDY · COMMERCIAL SOLAR INSTALLER · 5 MIN READ

Smart Homes Electrical: How the First Lead Became a Signed 100kW Contract

signed from the very first lead

100kW

signed from the very first lead

on that one site, all together

3 roofs

on that one site, all together

the paybacks Thomas sees on printers and farms

2 years

the paybacks Thomas sees on printers and farms

when that install was planned

May

when that install was planned

7:45

Who Smart Homes Electrical are

Smart Homes Electrical is based in the Midlands and does "both domestic and commercial installs through the whole of the Peak District." It is mainly focused on commercial, and wanted help finding commercial clients and getting surveys arranged.

Qualifying leads: less backpedalling

With lead companies before, Thomas says the qualifying was left to his team:

“there's been a lot of a lot of work backpedaling and finding out if they are reasonable quality leads”

He is honest that not everything is perfect now either: "there's still a handful of bits that are awkward for us to get through", and his team still qualifies some leads more deeply. When he said some early ones could not go all the way to a quotation, he says the team listened. You only pay for appointments that are actually attended, and any that aren't viable we replace.

What a supplier does before a lead reaches you is the thing to check. Our guide to choosing a solar lead company has the questions to ask.

The first lead, step by step

1. 1

   The right area, with enough detail to qualify it

   "I got some good detail on the client to to qualify at first which did look interesting."

   The job fell right in the area Smart Homes had asked for, and looked "right up our street" before anyone went out.

2. 2

   Site visit and survey

   Thomas arranged a visit with the client, did the survey and met them.

3. 3

   The payback, reworked to the client's target

   "looked at the payback made some adjustments on it to fall in line with their payback period for for what they're wanting to spend."

   The revised proposal was sent back to the client.

4. 4

   A second meeting on the detail

   They met again to go through "some fine bits of the nitty-gritty" of the final install process.

5. 5

   A signed contract

   "after a week of not pestering him too much, we got a signed contract back ready to go."

   It is 100kW over three roofs that sit together, which Thomas calls "a really easy install for us".

At the interview the connection agreement application had gone in, with installation hoped for around the beginning of May. Our guides to DNO applications and the G99 application cover that stage. To match a proposal to a client's payback target the way Thomas did, try the commercial solar payback calculator.

Why printing companies and farms

The first job was a printing company, and Thomas wants more of them, and farms. Both use a great deal of energy and are keen to cut it:

“The paybacks are so short. We're in two years on paybacks at the moment.”

When you browse leads, the type of business is one of the quickest signs of a short payback. Our guide to capital allowances on solar covers the tax side business owners will ask about.

Reminders that stop things slipping

Smart Homes is busy, and Thomas values the reminders in the WhatsApp group asking whether he has followed something up, or reminding him what is booked today: "it's like having your own PA to be fair." Without someone nudging, he admits, "I kind of let stuff slip".

For a business that is "not a huge company", he says, "It gives us a bit more manpower on the sales side of it", without hiring an extra salesperson.

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

Smart Homes Electrical case study: FAQ