CASE STUDY · COMMERCIAL SOLAR INSTALLER · 6 MIN READ

Solar Solutions: Knowing the Customer Before the Site Visit

working with our team, roughly

6 months

working with our team, roughly

where the business is pushing now

Commercial

where the business is pushing now

when he goes through the new leads

Evenings

when he goes through the new leads

6:35

Who Josh is

Solar Solutions is a solar installer that has been running for a few years, "not massive, but we're getting bigger and bigger." Josh also runs an electrical side, so he spends a lot of the week driving between jobs. The business did some domestic work with our team first, then moved on to commercial, which is where it is pushing now.

What went wrong with lead companies before

Josh had been cold called by lead companies and tried a few. The pattern he describes is common: money up front, then very little back. Of what did arrive:

“It's just a telephone number. You can contact them, and they just basically fob you off.”

The legwork ended up being his, and "you've put some money up front for it as well". If you are comparing suppliers now, our guide to choosing a solar lead company lists the checks worth making before you pay anyone.

How he picks leads: a rough location first, then a yes or no

New leads come through a WhatsApp group with a rough location, and Josh decides as they arrive, often going through them at night. He likes that he is never committed to a site before he has seen it: "I like it 'cause you can just pick as you go".

That is the same idea behind browsing leads free on Solar Surveys UK. Look at the area, the type of site and what the business told us, and only go after the ones that suit your diary and your crew.

What he reads before a site visit

Once a lead is his, the appointment sits in the portal, so he can check it from the road without chasing anyone. Josh lists what is there: the customer's details, their email address, a picture of the site, and what our team discussed with them.

“So it's always good to have that insight before you go, and you get an insight to the customer a bit and know what they're looking for”

The alternative, as he puts it, is meeting a customer when "you don't know anything about 'em." Knowing what they are after lets him "gel a bit that way." Our commercial solar survey checklist covers what else to confirm before, during and after the visit.

What he finds on site

The businesses have been vetted, and Josh says it shows: they want to move forward, and he is "not also fighting, two or three other contractors really to win the job." That leaves the price as the main thing to get right: "If we price it ridiculous, they may ask for other people".

Getting the price and the saving right on the first proposal matters more when you are the only one quoting. Our payback calculator and the guide to selling commercial solar help with both.

The clearance section

During the interview our team pointed Josh to the clearance section of the platform: leads that have not been allocated yet, offered at a discount. There is nothing wrong with them; they tend to be a little less attractive, perhaps smaller, or put off other installers because of the roof or the location.

Metal roofs and cement board roofs both came up in that conversation. On an older commercial building a cement board roof can be asbestos cement, so read our guide to solar panels on an asbestos roof before you price one.

Volume, pace and starting small

On volume, Josh says there are plenty of leads, and at one point he was driving to a site thinking "I can't keep up." He also points out how long commercial jobs take once the customer is happy:

“with the DNO and, all the paperwork involved, structural surveys and things like that, it can be quite a long process.”

By the interview his early jobs were "all started to roll through". The network operator's part is usually the longest wait; our guide to DNO applications for solar explains each route.

His advice to anyone nervous about lead generation is to start small and build trust before committing more: "You can start smaller and then get the relationship and build it up". You only pay for appointments that are actually attended, and any that aren't viable we replace.

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

Solar Solutions case study: FAQ