15:21
Why solar installers need to niche down to win
This was filmed on a Saturday evening with a Domino’s pizza in the oven.
But the point is serious.
A lot of installers sit in the middle ground.
They know solar has higher margins.
They know it scales better.
They know the customer profile is easier to work with.
Yet they keep taking on lower value electrical work that holds the business back.
This video is about why niching down matters, why the installers who go all in on solar tend to win, and why delaying that decision usually makes things harder, not safer.
If you are already doing solar and feel like you are half in, half out, this will likely hit close to home.
For context, this video was originally recorded on 5 December 2024, views and strategies may have changed since.
Featuring
Video transcript
Happy Saturday evening everyone. I am in a great mood. I’ve got a Domino’s pizza on the way. In fact, it’s currently in the oven, and I wanted to take a moment while I’ve got 15 minutes or so to go over something that I think is particularly important for getting results as a solar installer.
That is actually being a solar installer and niching down.
All too often we come into businesses that are stuck in this cycle whereby they know solar has a higher margin. They know it’s more scalable. They know that typically the customer demographic and profile is easier to work with. And they want to be installing solar, but unfortunately they are held back by the fact that they continue to take on electrical work that is significantly lower ticket value.
Of course, there is an element of wanting to help people, 100%. But we find that businesses that just take the plunge and go all in on renewables are the ones that typically win out over others. The sooner you can make that jump, if that’s something you think you’re going to do in the future, the better.
I have these conversations all of the time with business owners that are in that middle ground.
Oh, we just got an update on our Domino’s tracker quality check. This is exciting.
So I’m going to break down a couple. For example, businesses that were previously electrical companies but made that jump.
Right off the bat, Actsmart were previously heavy in CCTV and things like that, and they’re pushing more and more onto the renewable side.
AJ Renewables was actually fire protection at one point and is now, of course, AJ Renewables. It couldn’t be more clear.
Some other ones to call out: Current Renewables again was electrical and is now focused almost entirely, well actually entirely, on the renewable side. He was literally saying to me earlier how when he’s in the home and all of his awards are to do with solar specifically. He’s got things like Southwest solar installer of the year, and all of his imagery on his website is to do with solar. All of his reviews mention solar. They’re not talking about changing light switches. They’re talking about actual EcoFlow solar installations.
That is the difference, and that is what he thinks is why he comes out on top a lot of those times against other electrical firms.
Any others to call out, for example, Let Renewables was previously an electrical company. It had 255 five star reviews from being an electrical company, but Lewis realised that while that was fantastic and he’d helped a lot of people in doing so, he thought solar is where he can have the biggest impact.
If he can build all his systems around that, he’s going to win out in the long run.
NY was exactly the same. He built a fantastic electrical business over 10 plus years. Literally, we had a map of all of his customers in Derby. I could have sworn every second house he’d done electrical work for, but he knew that to scale the business to the extent that he wanted to, he needed to really niche down and go into just renewables.
Same with a few other on this list. I’m sure there’s others. Don’t be offended if I missed you out, but it’s super important that you make that jump.
I really think so because solar is one of the most competitive home improvement niches going, and if you’re not all in, you are in part all out. It really is that simple.
I think as soon as you make that jump and that decision, everything becomes easier.
It’s the same with us. We’ve very much productised our service. Everyone on this list gets the exact same service that we provide. You might think that’s lazy, but the reason we’ve done that is so that we can improve the service as a whole and our entire business and the value we can provide, as opposed to improving a bespoke set of little things we’re doing for one specific client.
Of course, it’s easier said than done because if you’re in that position you’ve likely got a team of people working for you that you need to continue to provide work for and keep busy.
But if you need the confidence, typically that stems from having the demand that forces your move. If you’ve got people banging your door down to have solar installed, then it’s going to be quite a lot easier to say no or turn down switching a light switch that is 40 miles away.
It typically does stem from demand.
So if you’re looking to make that jump and you already do have a track record with solar installations, it’s not like it’s completely new for you, but you’re just a little bit away from getting rid of everything else and going all in on solar, then we’d love to help you.
We found that a sweet spot is businesses already doing about eight installations per month. We can add jet fuel to that business and get it to 16 installs a month very quickly with meta advertising.
If you’re doing four a month, then typically the first problem that arises is that you can’t handle the leads. Beyond the first four deals that land through, you need to work on a lot of operational things, which we can do, but if you’re at the eight mark you’ve normally already fixed some of those problems. To get to 16 is not that difficult in terms of operational complexity.
That’s about it from me right now. Let’s see where the pizza is. We’re still on quality check. Taking a little while, but it’s going to be good. I just know it.
I will catch you in the next one. Hopefully that was useful for anyone in that situation, and I’m more than happy to put you in touch with any of these clients that have made that jump to see if they can give you some words of wisdom. I know Chris loves sharing about his experience making that transition. So there you go.
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