Selling Solar

We know that not all solar leads are created equal. They can vary by geographic targets, lead source, and even where they are in the buying process. But how do you identify the most profitable leads to help make sure you’re not leaving money on the table?

Using feedback loops to improve solar lead quality

A feedback loop is essentially the process of using what you see in your reports to improve your results.

A simple example is this: You notice your solar sales are down. In reviewing your data, you can see that your contact rate has dropped and is now below 55% (falling below the industry average of 65-70%). Your contact rate tells you the number of calls that have been answered out of the number of people dialed, but you’ll need to drill down deeper to identify what could be causing a decrease in your contact rate. Looking at your down funnel metrics will help identify any possible issues with speed to lead or challenges with not setting as many appointments or selling to as many people.

It’s important to take your solar lead information and use it to better find future leads. This is what a data performance feedback loop is all about. When your contact rate drops, you’re not getting in touch with as many people or you’re just not setting a lot of appointments. Looking at your reports to understand where you have been able to generate appointments in the past can help you pinpoint the sources that will drive more appointments and sell more solar.

How to use data to build and scale your solar sales

Solar leads don’t perform the same all the time. That’s why solar sales can be tricky since data can perform differently depending on multiple factors like timing, territory, demographics, and even how you’re load balancing your sales teams’ schedules. You may find that certain states perform at certain times or that changes in your sales team or internal no shows are driving down your contact rate. There may also be ways to more effectively use your solar leads that involve various strategies, technologies, and tools. So it’s important to proactively analyze your data performance and establish a feedback loop with your team and data provider.

For example, let’s say you dig into your contact rate and notice your appointment set rate is low (under 15%). Your marketing partner can then take a look at your lead source ratio and customize for what is working for you.

In addition to adjusting factors like your source mix, there may be other internal changes that could be impacting performance. When establishing a feedback loop, it is important to be aware of other factors impacting lead performance including your sales process to help identify opportunities to increase your set rate. If your solar leads are performing below average in one state, your lead sources can be adjusted but there may be other changes to your internal processes that have impacted this area. Again you’ll want to get granular and look at the average performance in the area to figure out if it’s an issue with your solar leads, a territory problem, or a process issue. Here are some ways to optimize your processes to grow your residential solar sales.

Here’s also where you can look at historical data. If your set rate is low but your data provider knows that leads are performing at a higher rate in that area, the issue could be that the area is highly competitive, which is an opportunity to improve your speed to lead or make other process improvements on the call center side.

On the flip side, if you notice an area that is performing really well, this is a great opportunity to talk with your solar lead provider to identify a plan for growth in this market. If you’re closing a lot of deals and can take more volume, this could be a great opportunity to introduce other sources that are working well so you can make more sales. This could include reducing areas that aren’t performing well to put more budget towards high performers so that you create an optimal mix while ensuring your aggregate numbers are strong.

Sharing data with your solar lead provider for long term success

Sharing data feedback from your sales opportunities is a great way for you and your marketing team or lead generation partners to understand how your solar leads are performing for you and plan accordingly to continue meeting the needs of your business.

At Colossus, we use this feedback loop to strategize with our partners on how to hit their goals. This can include adjusting source mix based on performance, and customizing and optimizing campaigns to help you succeed and close more sales. We strive to meet your goals based on how your team is performing and how data is performing for them. This is an ongoing process and partnership, and we provide active monitoring of performance once updates are made to ensure we’re ready to meet both short-term objectives while successfully driving ever increasing results for our partners.

Colossus provides sales solutions built for the solar industry and partners with solar companies around their unique needs. To learn more about growing your residential solar sales, visit Colossus.com.