Solar Leads

How to Generate Consistent Solar Leads

The solar industry is soaring in the United States right now, and for good reason. The profit margin in residential solar sales is exponentially greater here than elsewhere in the world. With profit potentials at an all time high, many new solar companies are hitting the pavement and trying to stir up business. 

This presents many problems. Consumers have been flooded with solar marketing in every avenue from telemarketing and door knocking to television and radio commercials, making potential leads hard to come by. Consumers know about solar options and can dictate where, when, and how much they are willing to spend. Most residential home owners will do the research and find you. But how can you lead them to your business over others? How can you find these leads? How do you continually keep landing leads?

There are two types of leads: Bought or Organically Created. While organic leads are what you are after, they can take time to build. It is smart to invest in both lead options until your organic leads outweigh your purchased leads.

Buying Solar Leads

2019 has proven to be a year of positive solar transition. Solar leads are rising over previous years’ and to get in on these leads, you will need to utilize and pay for a lead generating company. Be careful here, though, as every solar lead generation company who calls you is not created equal. Many are frauds, presenting you with cold leads. Invest properly with a well-known company such as Solar Reviews, Solar-Estimate (owned by Solar Reviews), Clean Energy Experts (owned by Sunrun), or EnergySage. It is important that you understand how each of these companies works and choose wisely for what you are seeking.  Measuring your results is imperative to ensuring that you are investing wisely. 

If you convert at least 1 in every 20 purchased leads, you will generate a significant return on your investment.

Organic high-quality leads take time and effort to obtain; however, they will always be your greatest asset. As exhausting as it can be, this aspect of your business is worth investing time, energy, and money in to. While organic leads can take significantly more time to generate than purchased leads, once they begin rolling in, your flow of customers and business will continually increase. Consider investing in many (if not all) of the following marketing avenues:

Maintaining a Current Website
Your website is what potential customers will visit before agreeing to invest in you. If it is not consistently branded, eye-catching, grammatically correct, and full of reader-friendly informative articles, you will lose out on potential buyers. The overall layout should be structured to simplify the customer experience, leaving them with few questions and not much time lost. You have only seconds to capture their attention, with nearly half of customers claiming that they’ll leave a page that takes more than three seconds to load. Mobile users are arguably even more impatient, with 53% of customers abandoning pages that suffer similar delays. Investing in a high-quality, well-designed website is crucial. 

It’s estimated that 93% of all B2B buying processes begin with an online search, meaning that a high number of your conversions will come from leads generated through your business’ website. Utilizing a Call to Action to record a visitor’s name, phone number, zip code, and e-mail address will generate a potential lead list with ease. The hard part is getting your website noticed. In a competitive market like solar energy, focusing on SEO and incorporating long-tail keywords will aid you in your search engine ranking. It can take years for your site to climb the rankings, but with constant new content and shares through social media, your efforts will pay off quicker.

The leads you generate through your website will be the highest quality leads you obtain. You do not have to share them on a list of purchased leads; neither will you have spent time, energy, or excess funds to attract them, making them much more profitable in the long run. Go one step farther and have an immediate e-mail formatted to be sent out to these leads that begins to build the bond that will have them choosing you for their solar investment. 

 
Having a Constant Social Media Presence 
YouTube videos, blog articles, pictures, and daily content across multiple social channels is needed in the millennial generation. Customers want to feel connected to the companies they invest in. This generation is all about social media. Tag your company whenever possible, ask to be followed, and make yourself known. Think outside of the box and create shareable memes with pictures taken from your job sites. It’s important to stay on top of your social media accounts. Be quick with responding to comments and messages, and truly utilize it as the wonderful marketing tool it has grown to become. 

While social media is free, it is wise to invest in creating solar marketing ads for the most popular sites. This is not labor-intensive, fairly inexpensive, and easy to collect prospective customers. There are also apps that generate popup solar ads directly targeted at your market. You can collect information to add to your lead list. Even easier still, you can boost social media posts and purchase ad space targeted at your specific clientele. 

Proving Your Worth Through Reviews and Referrals
Request that customers add positive reviews to the most popular review websites on your behalf. As of 2016, the review website TrustPilot has produced a staggering 13,000,000 reviews from customers across 65 countries, with more than 500,000 new pieces of feedback posted each month. Because solar installation is an expensive investment, potential customers will always choose a company that has proven to satisfy previous investors. It is key to get your business recognized on sites such as this. 

On a similar note, referrals can also generate constant leads for your solar company. By completing high quality solar installations at competitive prices, you will build a positive reputation within the industry. Nearly 80% of customers will share positive experiences of service providers with their friends, creating organic and viable leads that are more likely to generate conversions.

Pursuing Partnerships
Partnerships can be built with like-minded companies. You can share leads, attend events together, and share services. Local trade shows and Chamber of Commerce events present ample opportunity to discuss potential partnerships in person. This face-to-face time grants you the ability to build a connection and trust, which will lead to scheduling meetings and signing contracts.

Providing a Continued Relationship 
Leads typically aren’t ready to close on the spot. Sometimes it takes a year for someone to commit to investing in solar. Ensure that they come back to you over your competition by maintaining a relationship with them. Create a monthly newsletter that contains the most up-to-date solar energy information that is emailed out to your lead list. Include ‘follow buttons’ for them to find you on social media, and always give them an easy way to reach back out to you.