09:02
Why always booking a follow-up improves solar close rates
Tonight I want to talk about sales in solar and renewables.
That’s slightly outside my usual lane.
I sit firmly on the marketing side.
So take this with a pinch of salt.
I’m not a sales trainer, but I do get a lot of visibility across 25+ clients — what’s working, what’s stalling, and where deals quietly die.
Before anything else, a huge caveat.
The biggest driver of close rate is still the fundamentals:
Reputation.
Quality of work.
Referrals.
Operational standards.
None of that can be replaced by tactics.
But once those basics are in place, there are patterns that show up again and again among the best performers.
One of the clearest is this:
They always book a follow-up.
Not a maybe.
Not a “we’ll be in touch.”
A defined next step in the diary.
We see some installers closing close to 20% of leads.
That doesn’t happen by accident.
This video is simply an observation of why follow-ups matter so much in solar, and what they quietly fix in the sales process.
For context, this video was originally recorded on 5 December 2024, views & strategies may have changed since.
Featuring
Video transcript
Good evening. Tonight we’re going to talk about solar and renewables sales. This is a bit different, because normally I’m on the marketing side, and now I’m talking about sales. So take my advice with a pinch of salt. I’m no expert, but I am gaining a lot of visibility and data from 25 or more clients on what’s working well, what isn’t working so well, and what people might be missing in their processes to get better results.
Huge caveat here. The main thing that will increase your close rate is working on the basics and fundamentals: increasing your reputation, delivering the highest quality service possible, encouraging referrals, and all of those things. That will mean far more to your business than anything I say in this video. Once you’ve nailed those fundamentals and everything is moving in a positive direction, then you can start focusing on tactics like this.
In our own sales process, we never close on the first call. It’s a discovery call. When you book in with us, we learn about your business and showcase what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. The reason we don’t close on the first call is because we actually want you to speak to the competition. We want you to see what they’re offering, because it becomes very clear why we price ourselves higher, why we’re a premium service, and why we do video-first marketing. We want you to come to an educated, well-informed decision in your own time rather than being pressured on the spot.
However, I won’t let you get off that call without booking a follow-up discussion. If you don’t book a follow-up, I’ll assume that something I’ve said doesn’t align with how you want to advertise your business, and that we’re not a good fit. That’s fair enough. I don’t want to waste your time or my own. Even if that follow-up is three weeks away, that’s fine. What matters is that we’ve got something in the diary. There’s a next step and some level of commitment.
This follow-up discussion is incredibly important, especially in solar. We’re seeing this clearly from our best-performing clients. Some of them are closing close to 20% of leads. That’s huge. Of course, reputation and workmanship play a role, but there are certain habits they all share. One of the biggest is always booking a follow-up call, proposal review, or next appointment. It’s a solid next step in the diary.
The first reason this matters is that it prevents stalling. Without a scheduled next step, people get busy and move on to other things. They might come back to you in three months, or not at all. A follow-up keeps them in a structured process and creates momentum. They’ve seen your ads, had a survey, experienced a good consultation, maybe seen a system design or a 3D scan of their roof, or had a referral from a friend. They’re already bought into the idea of going solar.
As a service provider, you know you have something of extreme value to give them. You know the forecasts are reliable, the payback period makes sense, and the customer is likely to see a strong return over the time they plan to stay in the house. You want that momentum to keep building. You don’t want it to stall.
Booking a follow-up also shows professionalism. If you present a quote, build rapport, and then just leave without defining the next step, it can feel like you don’t really know what’s supposed to happen next. Being assertive and booking a follow-up discussion shows there is a proven process that many clients before them have followed and achieved results from.
Another key benefit is reducing uncertainty. Solar is often one of the biggest investments someone will make in their lifetime. There’s naturally a lot of focus on financial returns and a lot of uncertainty around them. Your process needs to minimise that uncertainty and provide reassurance at every step.
It also shortens your sales cycle. By defining the next step, you’re expediting the process and putting it on your terms. Once you have enough data and volume, you can start forecasting cash flow more accurately and reinvesting more aggressively into marketing.
Finally, it helps with prioritisation and resource allocation. When advertising starts working well, businesses can become inundated with high-quality leads. Even on a modest budget, you may suddenly have more opportunities than you know how to handle. Booking a follow-up call is a clear way to identify who is serious and who isn’t. If someone won’t commit to a follow-up, they’re likely lower intent and can be moved into a long-term nurture sequence. Those who do book deserve more of your attention and will typically convert at a much higher rate.
That’s essentially it. Always book the next appointment. The sooner the better, but the exact timing doesn’t matter. Even if it’s far in the future, just get it in the diary. It gives you a reason to follow up properly and keeps the process structured.
Hopefully you found that useful. Next time, I’ll try to bring more data into it, but for now these are my observations. See you in the next one. Cheers.
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