Solar Sales Job - Build a Solar Career

Solar is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. And it will continue to be for the next decade and possibly far longer. But perhaps you're dissatisfied with the company or companies you've worked with in the past. You're looking for a more reliable installation company, a better redline, or simply a company that will treat you better. After all, a good solar salesperson should be treated like extremely well because without the sale, no one is making money. But instead of just looking for another solar sales job, look for a company like ours that will help you build a solar business and a long-term career in solar.

Here's the reality about the solar industry. For decades it's operated the same way. Throw a bunch of people out into neighborhoods to knock on doors and see who will stick it out. Then give those that do a high redline until they prove themselves. Maybe they eventually get a lower redline and at some point can build a team. But if they do build a team, the team gets a higher redline so you can get an override. The team smartens up and shops for a better deal and leaves. It's been a revolving door filled with high turnover and no loyalty from the dealer to the sales team, or the salespeople to the dealer. There is an inherent problem in the solar business model that 90% of solar companies employ.

An Alternative to the Solar Revolving Door

So, if I've aptly described the frustration you've had with a solar sales job, I am very happy to tell you there's an alternative to this carnage. However, it's a sharp turn in a different direction. It's a completely different business model and because you aren't familiar with it, you're going to need to be wide open for change. You've got to realize that a radical change is needed in this industry so that people can build a career in solar and not just jump from company to company largely getting the same result. Isn't that what Albert Einstein labeled as insanity?

What's This New Solar Business Model?

The changes are primarily in 2 areas. The first is that we mainly do remote solar sales through the use of Zoom. It doesn't mean that our solar salespeople can't do in-home sits because they can. But we have proven that we can attract some very talented salespeople who don't want to knock on doors. And we've proven that homeowners are very comfortable with meeting on Zoom. Perhaps even more so than having someone come to their home.

The next big change is that from day one our solar salespeople can start building a team. They don't have to wait for a promotion or until they can train a new person. Our training system trains everyone so why not let people start building a team right away? Through our compensation plan that I discuss below, people can start making bonuses on the sales done by people they bring in right away. And because each new Field Rep that doesn't have solar sales experience has to do 3 sales with their Team Sales Rep, Team sales reps get a large amount of utility bills and leads from new Field Reps. I have never had to go out and get leads at all. I work the leads provided by new Field Reps. More on this below.

Let's Talk Redline

Let's first get into what most people looking for a solar sales job put at the top of the list, commission. The first question I always get is, "What's your redline?" We don't have a redline. How can that be? Well, what we do have is a baseline cost of the system. One difference is that the baseline cost is far lower than a redline. Another is that everyone that makes money on the deal gets paid out above the baseline. The dealer, management, etc. all get less if you, the salesperson lower the PPW on a sale. How does that affect you? It means there's more money in the deal for you. Compare that to a redline where if you lower the PPW, the only one that takes less is you. Everyone else, the installer, the dealer, and the management stay whole. What it does is allow you to go and compete for business.

Here's an example. Let's say you're on a $2.25 PPW redline. Your competing with another company or companies for a 10 kW deal in Florida. It could be in any of the 40 states in which we install, but let's use Florida. With your redline at $2.25, if you sell it at $2.25/watt you make nothing. But a Sales Rep from our company COULD sell it at a $2.25 PPW and still make $1,200. I'm not saying that you necessarily have to sell deals in Florida at a $2.25 PPW. But it's an example of how everyone in the commission stack takes less so you can still make a commission on a deal if you need to go low.

Click to View the REACH Solar Sales Rep Website

Sales Commission Overrides

People from other solar companies have told me stories about when they or someone they know introduced a salesperson to their solar company. That new person went out and crushed it earning six figures. The person who introduced them got nothing more than a thank you from the company. Not with us. When you introduce/recruit someone new, you get an Enroller Bonus every time they make a sale equal to 2% of the commission. An example would be if your Recruit sells a 10 kW system in Florida at a $2.80 PPW, you get a bonus of $170. What if your Recruits sold 10 deals like that in a month? You'd earn $1,700 in bonuses. By the way, that bonus does not come out of the commission that the salesperson makes. It's over and above that.

Bonus Pools

In addition to commissions on your own sales and overrides on sales that people you bring onto your team do, we have monthly bonus pools. A percentage of every sale done company-wide goes into the bonus pool. If your team does the required sales revenue in a month, you will be rewarded with a share of the bonus pool.

Neither overrides nor shares of the bonus pool require a minimum number of personal sales.

Recruiting Solar Salespeople

First off let me be clear. You do not need to recruit anyone. If you want to have a solar sales job and just sell, you certainly can. But with the bonuses and overrides that are available that would be a short-sighted decision in my opinion. Assuming that you want to build a solar business and not just have a solar sales job, let's talk about how you can recruit people.

Do you think you might know some people who would like to make a strong income working from home selling solar in 35+ states? They don't even need to live in the U.S. because the selling is all remote via Zoom. The first people that I talked to were real estate agents. Their income was going down because of the market so they jumped on fast. They started building their team, which became my team, and it all grew fast. So, talking to strong sales-minded and business-minded people that you know is job #1.

You can also run job ads. There are many publications where you can do that but I use Craigslist. We have an approved job ad that you can use. I live in Florida and advertised in Los Angeles on Craigslist. I brought in a guy that knows how to recruit. He has built a team of nearly 600 people and counting. And yes, those people are all on my team. The guy I recruited doesn't want to sell. He just wants to make bonuses on the sales that his team does. So guess where all those leads that his new people bring in go until they make 3 sales? Yes, to me!

Those are the 2 primary ways to recruit but because solar is such a hot industry, you can find solar salespeople by just meeting new people and asking them what they do for a living. If they don't sound too enthusiastic about what they're doing, turn them onto REACH Solar.

Getting Solar Leads

This is another top question I get from experienced solar salespeople. So, how can you get leads? You can get solar sales leads any way that you've already gotten them. You can knock on doors, buy leads, go to events, and use digital marketing and social media.

I already described what I do. I build my team and because recruits need to produce 3 sales with their Team sales rep, which is me in many cases, they have to go get leads. How do they do that? By talking to people that they know who are homeowners. They get utility bills to me. I do the system design and present it to the homeowner with the new Field Rep. The Field Rep gets 10%-20% of the commission on the sale depending on how many sales they've made. You might think giving up 20% of your commission for the lead is too much. I get that. But think about what happens long term. First, if I recruited the new Field Rep, I get an additional bonus on top of the commission on the sale. But more importantly, I help someone start their solar sales career and get paid a bonus on every future sale that they do! I am getting paid on sales that I don't have to do.