prospecting leads for your solar business

Prospecting Leads for your

Solar Business

How to Generate Leads &

Identify Customers

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Lead generation is the

starting point of the sales

funnel, every successful

lead adds to the top and

bottom line, so it is

important that you plan

ahead.

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Leads

1000

Prospects

100

Customers

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ATTRACT

INTERACT

CONVERT

It Pays to have a Robust Lead

Generation Program

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Lets begin by analyzing the lead generation

process and breaking it down into relevant

components, we need to ask some basic

questions;

Who are my Potential

Customers

What are their key purchase

motivations

How do I reach out to

them in a cost effective

manner

What do I communicate

to them

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For a small & medium business with limited or non-existent market research

budgets, customer profiling is an iterative process.

Most small scale solar businesses are local; they usually start out posting

advertisements in the classified section of local newspapers or participating in

local events to generate leads.

Information on Leads should be captured in Contact Forms where depending

on how exhaustive our questionnaire is substantial information on the

potential customer can be captured:

Demographic Data Psychographic Data

Step I – Customer Profiling

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Step I - Customer Profiling, continued…….

• Demographic Data (What You’re Like) – Name

– Age

– Address

– Phone number

– Pin Code

– County

– Income

– Marital Status

– Homeowner

– Profession

– Qualifications

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Step I - Customer Profiling, continued…….

• Psychographic Data (What You Like) – Lifestyle indicators

– Interests

– Motivations

– Attitude

– Hobbies

– Social Status

– Liberal / Conservative

– Technologically savvy

– Urban / Rural

– Race

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Step II – Understanding Customer

Motivations for buying Solar

Solar Customer

Economics

Energy Independence

Sierra Club Member

Liberal Democrat

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Surprising Facts About People Who

Have Gone Solar

• They do it primarily for the ECONOMICS

• Solar attracts both Ultra Liberals & Ultra Conservatives alike, but the average solar owner is somewhere in between

• Most Solar owners perceive themselves to be ‘savvy’ spenders

• Most decision makers for solar energy at the household level are Men

• Most are not tree huggers but are technologically savvy

• They see Solar as a ‘smart’ investment

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Step III – Cost Effective Ways to Reach out to

your Customers

• Now that we have determined the profile of our

customer; we have to find cost effective media to reach

our customers:

Medium is the Message

Social Media Traditional

Media

Cost v/s ROI

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Step III – Cost Effective Ways to Reach

out to your Customers, contd………..

• Traditional Media Tools:

– Local classified advertisements

– Participation in Community Events and

Trade Shows

– Flyers & Door Hangers

– Signs

– Data Services

– Stickers

Referrals & endorsements

from your current customers is the most invaluable

lead source

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Step III – Cost Effective Ways to Reach out to

your Customers, contd………..

• Social Media Tools:

– Website

– Google Adwords

– Facebook

– Google+

– Twitter

– YouTube

– Inbound Marketing Services

Referrals & endorsements

from your current customers is the most invaluable

lead source

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Step IV – Communicating with your

Customers

TARGETED COMMUNICATION

MESSAGES

Motivation

Energy Independence

Motivation

Economics

Motivation Political

Affiliations

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Step IV – Communicating with your

Customers, contd………..

Communication Don’ts:

– Messages related to payback & ROI don’t

appeal to the ‘political affiliation’ segment

– Messages relating to Environmental Benefits

do not appeal to the ‘Economic’ minded group

– Messages relating to ‘being tech savvy’ does

not appeal to ‘Energy Independence’

segment.

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Step IV – Communicating with your

Customers, contd………..

Communication Do’s:

• Focus a different message to each segment;

– ‘Environment’ Benefits Segment; talk about the effects of global warming, hurricane Sandy….

– ‘Economic’ Benefits Segment; dwell on ROI, payback and other analytical measures

– ‘Energy Independence’ Benefits Segment; no dependence on ‘Big Business’, pride….

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And Finally Nurture every Lead..

• Show a ‘Quick’ response time; Industry data indicates that leads receiving a call-back in two minutes or less were four times as likely to convert to sold as an average lead.

• Your Sales-Cycle may spread over 4-8 weeks, it is important to communicate & engage with the customer at every level, to address his quest for information and assuage his concerns

• Telephonic interaction & site visits are crucial

• Using CRM tools to capture information and track all touch points with the customer

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For Further Information

Contact: bijou.Lulla@yoursolarsalesman.com

the author is a Solar Sales Consultant

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