“The early bird gets the worm.”
“Strike while the iron is hot.”
“You snooze, you lose.”
You’ve heard all these cliches, and they all boil down to one simple message: You need to act fast to win.
This is true in many situations, especially selling solar. Solar is a highly competitive market, and if you want to be the one taking home the signed contract, you need a sales process that is quick and accurate.
Our webinar, Sell solar in 20 minutes with Aurora, shows how you can go from having just a homeowner’s address and one month’s utility bill to a fully customized proposal in less than 20 minutes.
While every homeowner — and sales representative — is different, there are a few do’s and don’ts that can help speed up your sales process so you can close more deals on the spot.
DON’T overcomplicate things
And by things, we mean your workflows. If your sales team is using one piece of software solely to create proposals, your design team is using another tool, and your engineering is using a third software tool for the final designs, you’re introducing a lot of complexity, extra work, and probably errors.
As you’ve likely experienced, jumping from software to software is a sure way to waste valuable time and potentially make mistakes that will set you back even more.
DO streamline your sales process
Making your sales processes as simple as possible not only helps avoid mistakes, but lets you design and sell solar systems much faster. Using one software solution that fills the needs of your entire team lets you focus on what really matters — getting panels on roofs.
With Aurora’s Sales Mode, you can customize a system, show a 3D rendering, calculate financing options, and even show the homeowner how their solar system will affect the environment — all in one place. And to keep the experience seamless and as easy as possible, you can even apply for financing directly in Aurora with our Integrated Financing options.
DON’T be the high-pressure sales representative
We all know this stereotype. Solar can be hard for homeowners to understand, and if you come at them with a forceful pitch, they might get so overwhelmed that they’d rather turn down your offer than listen any longer.
DO involve the customer in the sales process
It’s usually a much better strategy to work with the homeowner as a partner. Show them the design, discuss their wants and needs, and customize your proposal together in real-time. Be prepared to make design changes on the spot based on the homeowner’s feedback, and use the sales process to educate the customer so they feel empowered and comfortable discussing solar with you.
Actually listening to and consulting with the homeowner will make them more involved in the project and increase the likelihood that they’ll want to do business with you, and not your competition.
DON’T focus all your efforts on describing the benefits of solar
Is this important? Absolutely. But it is probably also one of the first things the homeowner will research on their own before they even reach out to you. Spending the majority of your time with the homeowner listing benefits they may already know will not set you apart from the competition.
DO let the visuals do the selling
“Show, don’t tell”. Using visuals is a great way to educate the homeowner and really show them everything they need to know about their potential solar installation.
Create a 3D model of their home on the spot, let them see a sun path animation that illustrates how the shading changes throughout the day — or include details such as how the surrounding trees and buildings might impact the amount of sunlight that hits their roof. Then drive it home with detailed irradiance maps to help homeowners visualize the best roof faces on their home to put solar.
The more visuals you can give the homeowner, the more you set yourself apart from the reps that only provide a 2D design and a list of benefits — and you’ll look like the expert doing it.
And, as a thank you for reading, here’s a bonus do/don’t that wasn’t in the webinar.
DON’T give them just another cookie-cutter proposal
We’ve all seen these proposals. Maybe there’s too much text. Maybe there’s nothing about the particular benefits of solar to the specific homeowner. Maybe it has no information about what sets your company apart. It’s likely all of these things, but whatever it is, it sends the message to potential customers that their specific install is just another project.
DO show them what makes your company different and why they should choose you over any others
In addition to the personalization we’ve discussed in the rest of this blog, it’s important to show the customer what’s great about your company. What sets you apart? What have other customers said? Do you have a unique origin story? Have you completed some especially noteworthy projects?
A well-thought-out “About Us” section in your proposal can help customers see your company as not just a solar provider, but a partner. This can make all the difference when they’re thinking about signing on the dotted line (or on the tablet).
To learn more do’s and don’ts, and see how you can use Aurora to create accurate and compelling proposals in less than 20 minutes, watch the full webinar. Then, sign up for a free, customized demo to see how Sales Mode can help you close more deals.