This is the ninth article in our Commercial Solar Success series.
How often do your sales team report lost sales because people want to “think about” the idea or they just want to learn about solar and what it could save them? Imagine if every prospect your team tried to convert were already educated about solar, what it’s worth to them and what they need to look for in a solar company.
These are ready-to-buy customers who are booking an appointment with YOUR company. Absolute gold. When you imagine all the time your team is wasting educating customers and getting them to the point of “contemplation”, it should make your blood boil! Your team could be spending time with high-conversion prospects while the rest are automatically educated through intelligent processes.
The sales process with tyre-kickers
What does the typical “sales” process look like with tyre-kickers? Most solar businesses are very familiar with this process:
- Get the lead
- Initial phone (or email!) contact – spend 30 minutes finding out about solar and how it can help them. You do the right thing and book an appointment even though the prospect is a little reluctant.
- The appointment – Spend 1.5 hours (plus travel time) telling the prospect what solar will do for them, letting them know why your company is great and answering a plethora of questions.
- The follow-up phone call – Spend another 20 minutes speaking with the prospect about your proposal and why they should do it (they still aren’t sure if it’s right for them).
- Back-and-forth – The prospect continues contact with you asking more questions, comparing you to other companies and taking up your valuable time.
- If you’re lucky, you get the sale – but only after some heavy negotiation (measly profits) since the prospect has compared you with every other solar company on the planet. If you’re unlucky, they change their mind or go cold for some reason.
The sales process with high-profit prospects only
This is what your sales process should look like:
- Get the lead (through intelligent marketing)
- Initial phone contact – Just book the appointment, the prospect knows what they’re looking for and what you have to offer.
- The appointment – Spend an hour chatting and building rapport – the prospect already has their mind made up and they sign the contract.
- You deliver the installation and make a good profit on the sale.
This is how sales should look like! Find out how ProfitVoltaics can change your commercial solar sales process for good!
Find out what a commercial consultation with SunWiz could do for your business
Previous article in this series: How optimisation improves solar business performance
Next article in this series: Teaching your prospects to love your business
Check out our report on Commercial PV Success if you’re serious about the commercial sector