How to Properly Pitch Solar Panels

The solar industry is growing, and with growth comes competition. When your business is constantly competing with hundreds of local solar companies looking to cash in on the solar boom sweeping the globe, it’s essential to set yourself apart from the pack in any way possible.

Even if you provide a fantastic service, a beautiful installation, and an efficient system, none of that will matter if you can’t close the deal. This means that fine-tuning your solar sales pitch is one of the most important aspects of running a solar business. Here’s a breakdown of the three steps you need to implement to properly pitch solar panels to increase your close rate and take down the competition.  

Improve Your Solar Pitch With These 3 Steps

An excellent solar sales pitch needs to educate, anticipate and answer questions, and create enough urgency with the potential customer to ensure that they don’t shop around too much or take too much time to make their decision. Here are the three steps you should be taking in order to build, improve and optimize your sales pitch.  

1- Jot down everything you want your pitch to cover in a quick list 

One thing you don’t want to do is head into a sales pitch unprepared. Sit down and put together a list of everything you feel like your pitch should include and list it out on paper. To start, list all the different options you offer in terms of materials, financing, warranties, and any extras.  

Next, you’ll want to outline some important aspects of your solar business that you want the customer to know. This could be a short history of the company, some examples of finished solar installs, and some testimonials from happy customers.  

This will humanize you and your company, build trust, and set you apart from the other guys who might just send out a proposal and call it a day. Putting together a quick list will get you thinking about exactly how you want to organize your sales pitch and help you build a pitch deck in step 2.  

2 – Put together a pitch deck 

Whether you prefer door-to-door sales, virtual/remote sales, or a mix of both, you should have a pitch deck ready to share via screen-share from home or the office, on a tablet, at the kitchen table, or to simply use as a memory aid when you’re pitching in person.  

A good pitch deck should be short but informative – think around 5 – 10 slides long and should include everything we outlined in step 1. Start by describing your business to the customer, outline their problem, and then provide a solution (your services/business) to help them solve it.  

Here’s where you can include photos of your team, some solar installs you’re particularly proud of, and any stats or statements that could help set your business apart from the rest. You’ll also want to educate the homeowner on solar power itself, from how it works, to what they can expect from their solar energy system itself, as well as what you offer in terms of help, troubleshooting, and maintenance after the sale.  

3 – Leverage your solar software and proposal to involve the homeowner in the process 

Solar software isn’t just for designing systems anymore. While using software is the number one way to design solar systems accurately, it can also be a powerful tool for solar sales reps.  

One of the most underused aspects of solar software and proposal tools is that you can use them to involve the potential customer in every step of the sales and design process. After presenting your pitch deck, head into your software and design the system with the homeowner, using this time to tailor their design, offer them a few different configurations and options, and edit on the fly based on their feedback.  

Once your design is complete, click over to their proposal, scroll through it and stop to explain each section from the materials you chose to their savings. Finally, explain what their cost looks like with the different financing and payment options you offer.  

This process will give them the full picture of their solar quote and leave them with multiple opportunities to ask questions to ensure that they’re comfortable with the system you plan to install for them, involving them in the whole process and building as much trust with them as possible.