It’s a fact of life that in any skill set, having a solid grasp of the basics will net you far better results than any advanced technique.

Doesn’t matter whether you’re in martial arts, pottery, archery, selling, or generating solar leads. If you want next-level results, you’d better have a strong foundation to build on.

Unfortunately a lot of business owners don’t take this to heart. And then they wonder why they’re struggling to grow their business.

So below, I’ve outlined 5 different sales aspects I drill into every single one of my reps.

Ever since I’ve made it a staple of my sales team, we’ve seen our sales triple consistently. And the best part is, they’re really easy to implement.

1- Ask Questions and Listen

This isn’t fluff advice. It’s step zero to closing a deal.

Only 13% of customers feel like sales people actually understand their needs.

Which means the other 87% feel like sales people only care about getting their signature. And if you’re part of that 87%, then you’re throwing away exclusive solar leads.

Ones that could be easily closed with just a little bit of listening.

Here’s a tip to know which side your team is on: if you’re only waiting for your turn to talk and “pitch” them, then you’re not going to close the deal.

You need to find out what your solar leads want and need so you can give it to them.

This is very different from what they actually need and what you THINK they need. 

Don’t make assumptions.

You need to find out what makes them tick so you can tailor parts of your pitch to meet their individual needs.

The more personalized your communication, the more the solar lead will trust you.

2- Ask For the Close

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you don’t fight for what you want, you won’t get it.

Which is why I was astounded when I found out that 64% of salespeople never ask for the close in the first place.

You can give a long explanation of the product, detail all the benefits, and paint a vivid picture of how it’ll change the solar lead’s life.

But if there’s no ask, there’s not going to be a deal.

Remember, you’re paying top dollar to your solar lead providers.

If you’re not asking for the close, you might as well light that money on fire.

The only exception to this is if the prospect asks for it. But you can hardly rely on that.

I have my solar sales reps ask for the close eight times during a sales cycle at MINIMUM.

The basic formula I lay out for them is: Ask, Listen, Handle Objections, and Repeat Until Closed.

I also make it a point to have them ask for the close at the beginning of the pitch, too.

Don’t be afraid to ask and get told “No.” It doesn’t mean your exclusive solar lead won’t sign and you blew the deal. It just means they haven’t heard enough to make a decision yet.

It’s your duty to ask for the close and give the best presentation that will assist the prospect on making a well-informed decision.

3- Be Persistent

Just like I have my reps ask for the close at least 8 times per sales cycle, it also takes an average of eight touches to close a customer.

80% of sales require five follow-up calls after the meeting on average.

Yet 44% of sales reps give up after just one follow-up.

That blows my mind. It’s a MASSIVE waste of resources.

Seriously – how can you be willing to pay all that money to your solar lead providers and then barely use what you paid for? It’s insane.

Just because someone didn’t answer your first call doesn’t mean it’s a bad lead or that they’ll never answer you.

Maybe they were busy shopping. At their kid’s baseball game. In the gym. There are a million reasons why they may not have picked up.

Every single time you reach out to a solar lead, you should double call them, leave a voicemail, and send an email and a text.

If you’re not doing all of that everytime you contact a lead, and if you’re not contacting them at least 8 times – then you can’t say you followed up with a lead at all.

4- Response Time

In the service industry, fast quality service is everything.

We might be in sales, but ultimately solar’s part of the service industry as well.

If you’re responding to comments on your social media marketing for your solar business, you don’t need to worry as much about answering immediately.

But if you’re in contact with a solar lead who’s thinking about going solar, then you’d better do everything you can to respond ASAP.

Because fact is, 30-50% of sales go to the company that responds first.

I’ve heard of way too many companies who get contacted by a sales lead on Friday and wait until Monday to answer.

Or they only reply on certain days of the week.

THAT. IS. CRAZY.

The reality is you’re not the only solar company talking to this prospect.

Most likely, they’re in contact with at least one other company – if not more.

And if you don’t get on your A-Game, guess what?

That exclusive solar lead is going to choose the solar company that gets back to them ASAP.

Not the one that keeps them waiting and waiting and waiting for an answer. 

Guaranteed, if you’re doing this then it’s been costing you sales.

Make it a point to ALWAYS respond to leads immediately and you’ll have more opportunities to close the deal.

5- Ask for Referrals

I love referrals. Not only are they proof of a happy customer, but they’re a cheap and easy way to generate solar leads.

Which is why it kills me to see that 91% of customers are happy to give referrals… but only 11% of salespeople actually ask for them.

Reality is, everybody knows they should be asking their solar leads for referrals. But most solar companies rarely ever do it.

They’re too focused on getting new leads or looking for the shiny new object they think will magically get them more deals.

The truth is that it’s easier to do business with people who know and trust you already.

And those same people are the ones that’ll refer more business to you for almost ZERO COST.

In fact, salespeople who actively seek out and exploit referrals earn 4X to 5X more than those who don’t. 

That’s why I took the time to build out an entire referral system with different reward tiers.

It incentivizes our customers to actively go out and hunt down hot solar leads FOR us – saving us hundreds of hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars we’d normally have to spend on our solar lead providers.
Zain Jan