As your team grows, it becomes more important to hold regular reviews to make sure their performance and goals are still aligned with the company’s.

Problem is, most solar companies are mainly concerned with how many solar leads a rep has generated or how many deals they’ve closed.

So concerned, in fact, that they ignore the more holistic aspects of their team.

If you want to optimize your solar company’s performance, then consider ditching the traditional employee performance review model for the 360 review model.

This is something I implemented while I was building Better Earth to 9 figures.

And let me tell you, it provides a hell of a lot more insight into your team’s strengths, weaknesses, and obstacles.

Let me run you through why 360 reviews are much more effective than traditional reviews:

1- 360 Reviews vs Traditional Performance Reviews

The core problem with traditional reviews is that they’re driven mainly by concern for metrics and revenue.

This causes the reviewer to focus almost exclusively on the employee and their performance at the cost of external factors that can be directly or indirectly affecting them.

The traditional review model also limits you to a single, fixed perspective since the feedback usually only comes from managerial positions.

And it places all responsibility on the employee to improve things when the cause for poor performance may not be under their control.

If your rep is having a hard time closing deals or finding exclusive solar leads, there are plenty of factors that could be at play outside their own performance.

I’m not saying that metrics and KPIs aren’t important.

But treating them as the end-all-be-all of employee performance is a short-sighted strategy that guarantees you’re gonna run into issues down the road.

The reason I like the 360 review model is it’s mainly driven by concern for an overall optimally-functioning unit.

It gives weight to metrics, sure, but it also takes into account how well your company is functioning overall, and how the employee fits into it.

It also works the other way around.

Since this model focuses more on soft skill sets than actual performance, you’re getting a more holistic view of how an employee’s performance affects the entire company – not just their work.

Plus it gives you multiple different perspectives into a rep’s performance.

The feedback you’re collecting comes from not just managers but coworkers and customers as well. That allows for the possibility that an employee’s poor performance is being affected by something else in the organization, which makes it more likely you’ll sniff out the true root cause.

Say one of your reps is burning through leads from your solar lead provider.

The traditional review model almost makes it inevitable that you’ll find the fault rests with them.

But the 360 review model leaves open the possibility that the issue lies in your sales pitch, or your training, or your follow-up process.

And if something like that is in fact the case, then using the traditional model runs the risk of leaving problems unsolved when you think you’ve already solved them.

Even though traditional reviews are more concerned with improving performance, they actually make it harder to do so by ignoring an employee’s impact on ALL aspects of the company.

This creates a sort of top-down tunnel vision when you’re looking at your solar business.

It can even lead to a toxic workplace culture and low retention rate.

Not to mention it also robs you of low-hanging fruit, like solar leads you could’ve converted as an indirect result of implementing change based on a 360 review.

2- Cascading Benefits

Another reason I prefer the 360 review model is how its holistic approach leads to company-wide benefits.

For instance, since it focuses on soft skills over hard numbers, you can expect to see your managers become more in-tune with a rep’s performance.

Normally it can be difficult for a manager to track more granular details like a rep’s relationship with their teammates or customers.

But 360 reviews make it easier to get a top-down view of the entire team and see how everyone is impacting each other.

If a rep is in charge of your solar company’s social media management, their performance is weighted not just by how many solar leads they generate but also how well they engage with prospects.

Another benefit to the 360 review model is that reps receive a fuller, more valuable picture of their own performance.

They get more comprehensive feedback, which gives them more tools to improve themselves with.

If the feedback from their teammates is positive it can also leave the rep feeling more accomplished and appreciated, increasing motivation and intra-team performance.

That in turn leads to improved relationships with their teammates, which leads to a healthier work culture, which leads to increased sales and exclusive solar leads.

And while it doesn’t sound like it at first, this model even increases individual accountability.

Reason for that is people don’t like letting others down. They tend to hold themselves more accountable when they know their coworkers will be reviewing them.

This increases morale, motivation, and intra-team support, which leads to an overall increase in performance.

Even the rep’s customer service skills will improve using this model.

Knowing that customer feedback is included in their review can motivate your reps to make a true impact with customers.

They’ll want to provide great customer service to get glowing testimonials to the point that going above and beyond will become a normal part of their day.

3- Disadvantages of a 360 Review

As effective as the 360 review model is, it’d be irresponsible of me not to discuss its shortcomings.

The biggest one is the potential for incomplete information.

360 reviews are usually anonymous, so if you or the rep needs more clarification on someone’s response it’ll be difficult to get it. 

Plus if the rep feels that some feedback they received is inaccurate or unfair, they won’t have any way to talk through it with the person who gave the review.

This can potentially hurt morale and performance, which in turn can affect the rep’s ability to convert solar leads.

And as comprehensive as they are, 360 reviews can also be inaccurate.

The inclusion of more data points and soft skill analysis invites the potential for misrepresented info.

If you’re not careful, you might accidentally link two data points that aren’t actually related. 

Also, other reps can be biased in their reviews, favoring people they’re friendly with or overly criticizing people they’re not.

This can skew the perspective of people’s performance.

The 360 review model also requires more logistics.

A manager reviewing a rep based on their performance is pretty easy to do. But getting a portion or all of the company to do it takes extra steps.

You need to make sure you have a system in place to facilitate this kind of review process or it’ll create more work than it’s worth.

Personally I like to collect feedback from peers via electronic surveys.

They’re quick, easy, and anonymous. You can also host 1-on-1s if you want to get more detailed feedback.

You can even have the feedback given directly peer-to-peer.

Obviously that’s not for everyone, but if your team is comfortable with this level of open communication then it can go a long way towards improving trust between reps.

That in turn will positively affect workplace culture, morale, and performance, which leads to more sales, a better close rate, and more efficient use of the leads from your solar lead provider.

4- Conducting a 360 Review

There are plenty of different ways to run a 360 review, and the unique needs of your solar company will dictate how you do it.

In general though, there are certain things you want to pay attention to.

• Establish criteria for rating each employee

  You’ll need to decide what factors to consider during the review process, as well as construct a ratings system.

  This can be as simple as something like “non-existent, minimal, neutral, good, very good, excellent”.

  Here’s a few traits I look at when I run my reviews:

• Leadership: Decision making, taking responsibility and approachability
• Communication: Listening, non-verbal and oral communication, ability to receive feedback and give feedback constructively
• Teamwork: Participation, readiness to help, reliability
• Organization: Time and project management, attention to detail
• Creativity: Problem-solving, critical thinking, originality
• Interpersonal skills: Confidence, empathy, positivity, stress-management, enthusiasm
• Company alignment: Understanding and compliance of values, mission, vision, strategic plans and processes

• Choose who will assess each employee

  At the very least, this should include the rep’s immediate coworkers and supervisor.

• You can also include customers in this. The way I like to do this is after the install, I’ll send the homeowner a text or email or even call them asking to leave a review for their rep.

  As an alternative, you can ask each rep to personally request feedback from people they’ve worked with over the course of the review period. Again, this requires an atmosphere of open communication and may not be for everyone.

• Send out a survey for reviewers to answer (anonymously or not)

  Give them at least a week in advance before the rep’s review, but emphasize the deadline. Pretty straightforward.

• Questions to ask in a 360 review

  When you send out feedback surveys, you’ll want to focus on the relationship and regular interactions between the rep and the person providing feedback.

  Some questions I like to ask:

• What interpersonal skills do you see the rep regularly use when working with you, team members and clients?
  
  This helps the rep gain a strong understanding of how well they collaborate with others, which encourages them to continue using these communication skills to remain effective.

• Are there any interpersonal skills the rep lacks and should work to improve?
  
  Reps can use the answer to this question to build a strategy to enhance their qualities and turn weaknesses into strengths.

• Do you believe the employee shows motivation and drive to complete their tasks effectively?
  
  This informs the rep of their work ethic and ability to complete valuable projects for team members, supervisors and clients.

And that’s pretty much it. Like I said, the 360 review model has its issues.

But I find it to be far more impactful and informative than the traditional review model.

Give this method a try and pay attention to how your reps change the areas mentioned in their feedback.

If they’re a true quality rep, you’ll see them making efforts to improve.

And that’ll inevitably lead them to improving their customer service skills and closing more solar leads.
Zain Jan