We have all heard about ‘Solar Panels’ right? Yes, today we are going to talk about solar panels and how a solar panel business can generate leads. We will talk about solar leads, their uses, their pros and cons, and how we can convince people to buy and install them.

What is a ‘Solar Panel?’ 

Solar panels are a device that takes in the sun’s rays and converts them to electricity and heat. 

A solar panel is actually a collection of solar (or photovoltaic) cells, which can be used to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. These cells are organized in a grid-like pattern on the surface of solar panels. Thus, it may also be depicted as a set of photovoltaic modules, mounted on a structure upholding it. 

There are 4 major types of solar panels available on the market today: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, PERC, and thin-film panels.

Types of ‘Solar Panels’ and their costs:

Solar Panel (type)	Cost
Polycrystalline	$0.70 – $1
Monocrystalline	$1 – $1.50
Amorphous silicon (a-Si)	$0.43 – $0.50
Cadmium telluride (CdTe)	$0.50 – $0.60

We will discuss the ‘Pros’ and ‘Cons’ of Solar Panel below:

Pros of solar panels: 

• Lowers your electric bill                             
• Improves the value of your home                       
• Reduces your carbon footprint
• Reduces the emission of greenhouse gasses                             
• Combats rising electricity costs                  
• Earns money back on your investment        

Cons of solar panels:

• Not ideal if you’re about to move
• Low electricity costs = lower savings
• Finding local solar installers can be difficult
• Doesn’t work for every roof type
• Buying panels can be expensive

10 tips to generate solar leads:

1. Get listed on solar company directories.
2. Build a strong social media presence.
3. Get involved in homeowner communities and offer free advice.
4. Use SMS marketing.
5. Run ads targeting people looking to buy solar panels now.
6. Start a Facebook group for homeowners interested in solar.
7. Use content marketing to get leads from people searching online.
8. Use incentives to encourage referrals.
9. Use zip code/postal code as search engines.
10. Use warm calls.

Get listed on solar company directories:

 Of course, you would want your audiences to find your solar business when they’re searching online but it’s tough to get your website to show up on the first page of Google/Yahoo search results. That’s because these search engine platforms tend to favor websites with the most searched content and a long history of posting content.

For example; the directories, yellow pages, solar company lists, etc. This means the directories are most likely going to show up first when customers are searching online.

Even when customers are searching for a local business (by including words like “near me” or an actual location like “California”), the competition is still fierce. So, we suggest you get featured on solar company directories or lists so that your company’s name pops up when searched online. 

Build a strong social media presence:

 Social Media is a great source to allure a following of homeowners interested in solar energy. And that’s an excellent way to generate solar leads because then the homeowners will have you in mind when they’re ready to take the step. Some ideas for ‘Social Media’ worthy content that many solar companies use include: 

• Before and after photos
• Photos of projects in progress
• Videos of specific processes, like someone applying spray foam
• Photos from company events
• Testimonials, photos, or solar reviews from happy customers
• Solar or green energy-related quotes, graphics, or memes
• Announcements of company awards
• Posting at the right time of day also matters. 

As we have researched, it shows that posting in the afternoon on Mondays through Fridays is best. That said, it’s always a good idea to test out different times and days of the week to see what’s right for your specific business.

Use the hashtags the right way. Hashtags are essentially free advertising for your posts because people use them to find businesses and other influencers based on a particular topic. Many people even follow hashtags on Instagram like they do on their profiles. 

Get involved in homeowner communities and offer free advice:

Another great way to get solar leads is by getting involved in local homeowner associations and communities. To do this, you first need to recognize communities in your specific area and find out how to contact the leadership. You can simply drive around taking note of neighborhood names and then look them up online. Many large communities have websites that include the names of board members and sometimes even staff. 

Websites often involve information about business directories and sponsorship opportunities. This means you can have your business listed on their website or newsletter and also sponsor community-wide events like concerts, picnics, yard sales, and festivals. Bigger events may even permit you to set up as a vendor with a booth or information table.

Smaller communities generally don’t have websites but many have Facebook groups that can give you clues and contact information while many community Facebook groups are private and don’t allow solicitors, you can use it as an initial source of information to contact the leadership and get involved.

Use SMS marketing:

 When you are opting for SMS marketing, we suggest you get yourself a database by which you can get hold of the leads where you can reach them. Sending SMS will let a person/lead get introduced to your business.

You will have to provide all the details of your business in that message so a prospect can understand what your company does and how it can benefit them. A convincing message can turn a prospect into your customer if it can interest them in your business so make sure to create a message which will be attractive. 

Run ads targeting people looking to buy solar panels now:

People interested in buying solar panels right now are highly qualified leads because they’re past the information-gathering stage and ready to purchase.

Aim to target those people and put your ads up for them to notice. Try to use Google/Facebook/Instagram ads to target such audiences. You can do that by following these methods: 

• In-market: Show ads to users who have been searching for products and services like yours. 
• Remarketing: Target users that have already interacted with your ads, website, or app so that they’ll see your ads more often. 
• Content keywords: Show ads to users who are searching on Google for specific keywords or phrases (e.g., solar panel companies near me). 
• Topics: Target ads to multiple pages about certain topics (i.e., solar panels). Topic targeting lets you reach a broad range of pages on the Display Network. 
• Placement: Show ads on specific websites that potential customers are visiting (like directories).

Start a Facebook group for homeowners interested in solar:

This method is similar to the method of getting involved in homeowner communities — connect with homeowners who are interested in solar, offer your advice and expertise for free, and when they’re ready to buy, you’ll have a relationship with them. The difference between this strategy is, that you’re creating the group yourself. Also, the potential audience is much bigger. After all, over 1.5 billion people worldwide use Facebook every day. 

Tips to remember when starting a Facebook group: 

• Don’t try to sell your product. You’re playing the long game with this strategy. With that in mind, you should only post helpful and relevant information, answer questions, and offer expertise. The goal is to help group members solve their problems without being overtly salesy or sleazy. 
• Make sure your Facebook business page is up-to-date and professional. After all, many group members will visit your page to find out more about you and contact you if they’re interested in taking the next step. 

So your page should include a high-resolution business logo, a link to your website, and quality posts that show off your best work. From time to time, you should also re-post testimonials and reviews from past customers as social proof.

Use content marketing to get solar leads from people searching online:

This is the most important and long-term strategy for attracting leads that actually become customers from prospects is content marketing. If you’re not entirely familiar with this term, it just means using online content like blog posts, social media posts, and more to send people to your website when they’re searching online.

You have to make posts attractive to attract customers. Always post relevant and to-the-point posts for better reach.

Use incentives to encourage referrals:

As with any business, hammering existing clients for referrals is a powerful move to generate leads. Referral prospects typically come with more information gathered and are ready to move forward with a purchase faster than other leads because they’ve learned about your company before coming to you and making contact. And when it comes to big, huge, and expensive products like solar panels, existing clients are naturally more motivated to refer.

After all, people have to invest a lot of money to install the panels and they’re going to be motivated to earn anything back on it that they can. Plus, existing customers will have a relationship with your company for a very long time, possibly resulting in multiple referrals if you make it worth their while. Incentives like discounts or cash rewards are great motivators, especially if you offer tiered rewards for sending multiple solar leads. If a customer knows they will earn more with every referral, they will be more likely to send more your way.

Use zip code/postal code as search engines:

This method is mostly similar to the method of listing your solar company in directories. We have already talked about it in our first point but this is slightly different. You can add zip code/postal code searches to your product/services so that when a prospect is looking to install a solar panel and is looking in one specific area or city then they can search with their zip code/postal code then they can see the results of solar companies in that certain area and can contact them to install it for them. This way you can generate leads in your local areas and gain more contracts as a nearby company. 

Use warm calls:

This is a very old and traditional method of generating leads. Get yourself a database and phone numbers and start making advertising calls (warm calls) and interact with the prospects to give them a whole picture of your business and what your products/services are. Here, communication is the key.

The more convincing you sound the more leads you can generate. When you get a positive response from someone who tries to sell your products to them or if they reject, try to contact them again a few days later to know if they’re still interested. This way you can generate some potential leads.

To Wrap It Up:

We have already discussed how you can generate leads if you’re a solar company. Generating leads as a solar company requires nothing special but a few tips and tricks which we have provided. We hope you can generate your solar leads with the help of this article and may you succeed in your mission. Best of Luck!

We have an article about “Top 10 Fabulous Local Lead Generation Courses.” You can check that out!