Are you a solar contractor facing some problems with solar proposals? Don’t know how to fix them? Don’t worry. Read this blog to get the answers to all your problems.
Since the last decade, the solar sector in the United States has been growing at a tremendous rate. Thanks to rising environmental concerns and more savings on power bills using solar energy, more homeowners and businesses are shifting to solar services, or should we say solar panels?
Solar energy is currently responsible for around 5% of total U.S. electricity generation, approximately 11 times what it contributed 10 years ago. Moreover, as of 2023, the solar systems installed across America have generated a total of 6.1 gigawatt-hours of electricity, sufficient to power four million homes.
While all of these fantastic numbers point to the solar industry’s bright future, there are several problems that solar installation businesses encounter daily with their solar proposals.
Having said that, in this blog, we will highlight the frequent issues that hinder every solar sale and provide solutions so that your team may efficiently close more deals and bring in greater revenue for your company.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Common problems with solar proposals and their solutions
Problem No. 1: Lack of awareness regarding solar panels
The very first common problem most solar installers often face is a lack of awareness about solar panels among homeowners. You might get a list full of prospects, but if they are unaware of what good the PV panel can bring to their homes, everything is useless.
Most residents don’t get a basic understanding of the required initial significant investment and why it can vary from home to home and state to state, the solar financing options, the ever-changing government guidelines, and the return on investment. This unawareness leads to minimal interest in the solar proposals and, ultimately, a likelihood of no sale.
Solution:
Every problem has a solution, and this one too. The loophole is their inadequate knowledge, which means you and your team cumulatively need to educate them. Teach them how installing solar panels on their property can help them save big on power bills, allowing them to earn more credits while also contributing to the environment.
Choose any medium that serves the purpose, be it social media, offline events in public spaces, webinars, videos, blogs, or anything that comes to mind.
Read more about raising awareness among your prospects and creating a successful marketing funnel.
Problem No. 2: Initial high upfront costs
While installing solar panels on their rooftops can help households save big in the long run, all this comes with a price tag and demands an initial significant investment. According to a report by Consumer Affairs, the average cost of an overall solar panel project ranges from $17,430 to $23,870. And it can go up depending on:
- Which type of solar panels do homeowners want to choose? For instance, monocrystalline, polycrystalline, or thin-film panels come at different prices with different efficiency rates.
- Fees related to site inspection, approvals from state and local authorities, and system design
- The installation and labor cost includes all the expenditures, from installing panels on the property to electrical wiring and mounting additional hardware.
- Additional battery storage system expenses to store electricity in the system in case the weather is not favorable, there is a power outage, or there is any other emergency situation.
While these huge upfront costs might seem daunting to customers, there are reliable and affordable solar financing companies on the market that could help you obtain different financing options at minimum interest rates. Moreover, there are additional rebates and incentive programs run by the federal, state, and local governments. All these will also help your clients offset their overall solar panel project costs. Thus, it will help your team take a step towards your potential solar client.
Know more about how you can generate a reliable solar lead and reduce your cost per action.
Problem No. 3: Ever-changing government guidelines and solar programs
The solar rebate and incentive programs run by federal, state, and local authorities are a source of big relief for solar customers. However, the thing is, these policies and programs consistently change over a period of time, according to new solar research, any American resident who possesses a solar system can claim a credit for 30% of the entire solar power system cost on their income taxes. This is due to the government’s belief that investing in solar panels is a wise investment on both a personal and national level. Furthermore, this number is only valid from 2022 to 2032.
So for solar installers, before stating their solar proposals to clients, it is of utmost importance to be updated with the current government guidelines.
Solution:
Well, this is not a huge problem and can easily be mitigated by being fully aware of it. Check out the following resources that will help you learn all the essential solar panel codes, standards, and programs of the American government:
Standards and requirements for solar equipment, installation, licensing, and certification. Federal, state, and regulatory policy for rooftop solar, utility solar, community solar, regulatory solar, and tax policy.
Problem No. 4: Complex solar panel funding
Solar financing is a nice alternative for customers who are not able to pay the entire project amount in one go. And for that, solar companies offer a couple of financing options, such as solar loans, solar purchases, solar leases, renting, and HELOC. However, with these many financing options available in the market, it becomes challenging for solar proposals to make homeowners understand each one of them if you are unable to acknowledge them.
Furthermore, it is even more taxing to explain to residents why they should take out loans to install solar panels. Why should I be taking Addison all the loan headaches?—an obvious question that would be coming your way from an American family.
Solution:
The solution is pretty simple. You need to have a thorough understanding of every single financing option. Know what their pros and cons are. Now divide the list of prospects based on their financial status and provide the respective optimal solar financing solution to them.
Know more about how to design a solar sale proposal to convert leads to your final paying customers
Problem No. 5: Getting approvals and permits
Installing a solar panel on the homeowner’s property demands from solar service providers a thorough pre- and post-installation site inspection by local authorities and the necessary permissions. This is intended for the safety and concerns of the solar provider, the homeowners, and the residents living nearby.
The mandatory solar permitting requirements include a building permit, an electrical permit, and a PV permit. But the pain point is that these regulations and approvals don’t have any standardized guidelines. They can hugely vary depending on the region’s authority, the size of the solar energy system, and the type of panels that are going to be installed.
All this creates a vague line of communication, which makes the whole approval process challenging for solar proposals.
Solution:
To mitigate this problem, you need to be in constant touch with the other local solar contractors and the local government guide for solar deployment.
Problem No. 6: PV system design and customization
With the rising demand for solar energy systems by homeowners, the demand for designs of solar panels among solar installers has also increased. However, the energy consumption, the amount of power the bill wants to save, and the size of the solar system that needs to be installed are different for every household.
This creates a big challenge in front of the solar proposals, as a one-size-fits-all policy cannot work here. This demands a lot of expertise and time. Since the sales staff is not supposed to know the design part, it still creates a hurdle for them to close a deal.
Solution:
You can’t let a solar prospect out of your hands just because of the designing part. Work with your solar panel design team and always have 2-3 solar proposals in advance with full preparation.
Alternatively, you can check out these solar panel design software programs for 2023.
Problem No. 7: Manually handling solar projects
In the present era of technology and innovation, most solar companies are still relying on the manual process of implementing solar panel projects. This includes the following data:
Site inspection and collecting information: This includes the electricity consumption, amount of power bills that need to be saved, location, and rooftop area where the system needs to be installed.
Designing the solar system: As stated earlier, designing a solar system takes a whole checklist of the homeowner’s requirements, including their financial analysis.
Creating the final proposal: This includes compiling all the manually collected information into a full-proof solar proposal.
Now, every aforementioned step goes through a manual process, which leaves room for human errors and can create huge problems for final solar proposals.
Solution:
To mitigate this problem, solar installers should switch from manual to automated tasks. And for that, these best CRM for solar companies can help in achieving that.
Problem No. 8: Fierce Competition
The solar industry is fiercely booming, and so is the competition. With the plethora of solar companies available in the market, all of whom are in a constant effort to woo their customers, it’s hard to grab their attention for your business.
And yes, bringing out-of-the-box solutions and being one of a kind can give you an edge over the competition, but is it this simple for solar installers? We guess not. And this brings us to another common problem facing solar proposals.
Solution:
To mitigate this problem, you need to stand out among your rivalries. But how would you do that? Well, there are a couple of ways.
- Understand the pain points of customers and come up with the best solutions.
- Ensure that you are offering services to them so that no one in the market is doing it.
- Compare the quotations. Are you quoting extreme prices?
- Provides optimal financial solutions to homeowners.
- Offer unmatchable post-installation repair and maintenance services.
Ensure that they are backed by robust customer support. Once you work on these domains, no one can stop you from getting potential solar customers for your business.
Final Words
The solar PV industry is growing at an unbeatable pace. Today, solar panels account for 4.5% of total worldwide energy production, followed by hydropower and wind power. Moreover, the expanding sector and changing consumer needs create a lot of hurdles and problems for solar proposals.
While challenges like these will always exist and will only get bigger over time, it is imperative to take crucial steps.
As aforementioned, we have addressed the common issues and also stated the solutions to the respective problems for solar installers.
By being aware of the forthcoming issues and sticking to the solutions, you can help your team and business stand the test of time, enhance the overall client experience, and pour more leads into your marketing funnel.
Having said that, we are taking a leave now. We hope you find this blog useful.
If you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section below.
We will respond to you shortly.
