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Why local solar installers win by being relatable
Tonight’s video is about something local solar installers can do that energy companies and software-first businesses simply can’t.
Be relatable.
This isn’t about price.
It’s about people.
As a local installer, you can be the face of your business. You can show up on camera, speak to prospects after they enquire, visit them on site, and stay involved throughout the process.
That continuity builds trust in a way faceless corporations can’t replicate — no matter how much money they throw at advertising.
In this video I explain why being visible, human, and consistent creates a genuine competitive edge, especially when you’re losing quotes by a few hundred pounds and don’t want to race anyone to the bottom on price.
For context, this video was originally recorded on 13 January 2025, views & strategies may have changed since.
Featuring
Video transcript
Tonight we’re going to talk about something that you, as a local solar installer, can do that the big energy companies can’t, and the software-first companies can’t either. And that is being relatable.
As a local installer, you can get on camera as the owner of your business. You can be the face of that business. When someone interacts with your adverts, they can see you, and then they can speak to you after they enquire. They can speak to you when you come out to do the survey, and they can deal with you throughout the process.
And it doesn’t even have to be the owner. It can be someone on your sales team, a marketing manager, or another key person in the business. As long as there is a consistent person throughout the journey, or familiar faces referenced at multiple points, you immediately have a major advantage over faceless corporations.
The key point here is simple: people work with people.
Energy companies might be able to beat you on price nearly every time. But if you’re on camera showing your personality, and someone genuinely wants to work with you rather than just get the absolute cheapest quote, you’ve created a competitive edge that doesn’t require you to slash your margins to near zero. That’s also why we don’t really focus on price in the ads we run for our clients. We focus on the installer themselves.
The big energy companies simply can’t do this properly. Even if they try, it feels inauthentic. You know it’s an actor, or a junior member of staff, or something that’s gone through three layers of corporate sign-off. It ends up feeling dry and impersonal compared to what you can do in one afternoon, stood on a roof at an active installation site.
All hope is not lost. You just need to play to your advantages, and there are plenty of them. This is just one.
As a local service provider, there are many reasons someone will choose you. You just need to show them. You need to get on camera and put your business out into the world, instead of relying on customers finding you by chance or purely on word-of-mouth referrals. No matter how good your existing customer experience is, referrals alone are not enough to fuel consistent business growth.
This is a short and sweet one for tonight, but I hope it’s useful and gives you some encouragement if you’re currently losing out to energy company quotes by a few hundred pounds while already working on tight margins. You don’t need to race them to the bottom on price. You need to differentiate and clearly showcase your unique attributes.
That’s all for now. I’ll catch you in the next one.
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