How to Sell Solar Remotely

Many with solar sales experience are reluctant to attempt to sell solar remotely. They might feel that they can’t make the same connection with homeowners. Or they might think that homeowners would be reluctant to get on a virtual meeting or that some don’t know how to do it. It’s like anything else that we haven’t done before. We don’t know what we don’t know. Those issues, questions and more will be addressed here. We’re going to show you exactly how to sell solar remotely.

Here's a Quick Video to Demonstrate the Impact You Can Make with Homeowners via Zoom

Since Covid, the entire world has become more comfortable with online meetings. People discovered it to be convenient and a time saver. Very infrequently do we run into a homeowner that won’t do a Zoom meeting or that struggles clicking a link and turning their microphone and camera on. In most cases, people use Zoom all the time and are quite comfortable with it.

The Advantages of Selling Solar Remotely

You can have more appointments because there is no driving time.
If you have a no show, you can jump right into your next task. No down time.
You can prepare right up to the appointment time.
You can expand your market and literally sell all over the country. Is there a state you’d like to sell in that you can’t, now?
There are far fewer selling expenses.
You can be closer to family more often.
You can better manage your work schedule.

What You’ll Need for Remote Solar Sales

A private and quiet place in your home where you can be uninterrupted for at least 60 minutes at a time.
Either a nice, clean, neat area behind you or a virtual background. If you use a virtual background, you’ll need to limit the light coming from behind you from a window or bright light. If you have a window behind you as I do, you will want to cover that window, so light doesn’t wash out your virtual background.
If you have children, you’ll need to let them know that even though you are working from home, in some ways it is the same as you working away from home. They cannot interrupt you when you are working.
Take breaks in between appointments to pay attention to family members so that they don’t feel neglected.
Present yourself professionally as before, such as being dressed appropriately.
A Zoom or other virtual platform account. Zoom is the most widely used virtual meeting platform. Most homeowners have Zoom and are familiar with how to operate it. Google Meets is another option but is less widely used.
A Calendly account. This isn’t 100% necessary but it is a great tool to schedule your appointments. You can link it with your Zoom account to provide automatic Zoom links to prospects. And you can program it to send reminders before the appointment and appropriate information after the appointment.

The Discovery Call

If you will be presenting to a homeowner that you haven’t spoken to before, you may want to do a short discovery phone call. This would be the case if you purchased the lead of course, but also if the lead was generated by someone else by door-knocking or a referral.

During this call you will want to create rapport and act professionally. This is a good opportunity to develop a connection with your prospects and build credibility. Other than that, the key takeaway from this call will be their level of interest in going solar. Have they spoken with any other companies? Do they have recent quotes? Why are they interested in solar? Is it to save money? Do they want to be able to use more power without worrying about their electric bill going up? Or are they conscious about the environment and want to do their part?

My Zoom background complete with family photos

Maybe it’s a bit of all 3. If they have quotes from other companies, ask them if it was a purchase quote or lease? You might want to cover that topic briefly to determine what might be the best solution for them. In most cases the homeowner would be happy to email you a quote that they have so that you can compare apples and apples. This will give you an opportunity during the presentation to explain why you designed a system differently, if you did. Once you are done, ask them the best time for an appointment and schedule it. Go to your Calendly account and send a link.

The Remote Solar Sales Appointment

Be at least 5 minutes early. Have your Zoom screen open. Check your background. Check your appearance. Test your microphone and speakers. I use air buds to limit any background noise, but they aren’t necessary.

Introduction

This, of course, is when you want to get to know your homeowners and let them get to know you. Make them feel at ease by letting them know how the appointment is going to go and what information you’ll be sharing with them. Build credibility with your homeowners by mentioning your knowledge level and experience in solar. This is not any different than when you meet them at their home.

Discovery

If you haven’t yet completed a discovery phone call prior to this appointment, this is when you’ll ask the questions listed above.

The Rest of the Presentation is the Same

If you think about it, the rest of the presentation is the same. They’ll see and hear you. You’ll see and hear them. You’ll show them slides (if that’s what you use now), then the design and pricing, then close the sale as you do now. Instead of looking at your laptop as they did when you sold in the home, you’ll be sharing your screen through Zoom and directing them to the information you want them to see.

3 Key Buttons is All You Need to Know

Getting Comfortable with Zoom

Zoom is a very easy platform to learn. There are just a few buttons you’ll need to operate during a homeowner presentation. Sharing your screen is the main function you’ll need to get comfortable with.

If you are using a PowerPoint with Zoom you can design that PowerPoint to include notes that you can see but the homeowner cannot. This can make your presentation even more powerful because you’ll never forget anything.

Learning how to sell solar remotely is not a huge undertaking. If you like your existing presentation, whether or not you use PowerPoint slides, and simply make a few adaptations for Zoom, you’ll be selling solar remotely in no time. Just practice on a few friends or family members.

Learn About Working with Us at Home Based Solar Sales & REACH Solar

We have dozens of experienced solar sales pofressionals selling solar remotely aorund the United States. But we are always looking for more. If you would like to leanr more about our business model, visit Solar Sales From Home to watch a business overview video and schedule a Zoom call to speak with me. We'll get your questions answered and I'll show you around out platform.