If you want to close a transaction with a potential customer in the solar sector, it pays to move quickly.

Findings from a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study of factors that influence homeowners to install solar offer insights into some of the most common mistakes contractors make during a sale.(source)

In fact, sales research has discovered that the speed with which a lead is phoned after showing interest is the most important driver of conversion rates.

Quoting is an error-prone process that frequently results in underquoting work. And, in most cases, it is not detected until manufacturing has begun, making it more difficult to raise a modification with the buyer. It is critical to empower your sales team to deliver accurate quotations.

Do you feel like sales quotations are too complicated to build, or that sales teams don’t have the time to do it? If so, then this post is for you. 

The importance of accuracy and speed

Establishing a trustworthy relationship necessitates speed and precision. Customers prefer to buy more frequently when there is trust and clarity.

However, placing quoting purely in the sales department has traditionally caused problems, as sales staff require training to correctly create a quotation based on technical accuracy. You want the sales team to be focused on scheduling and negotiating, not on technical fact-checking.

For a quote to be accurate, the materials must be properly described, choices must be offered with pricing implications, and an anticipated delivery time must be supplied. This necessitates corporate visibility and Enterprise Resource Planning in order to accurately estimate sales earnings and integrate the entire process.

You may decrease training for new sales representatives by employing a dynamic rules-based engine that allows sales reps to choose models and create options. As well as avoiding further training when new products are introduced.

Providing sales teams with the right tools to be fast and accurate shortens the sales cycle, increases conversion rates, improves forecasting accuracy and results in larger deals. 

The struggle with existing CRM and sales tools

Fast-growing solar installers and service providers must have a solid solar sales strategy. To keep busy solar sales teams on track, the process of getting leads, gathering customer and system information, tracking progress, and being able to update consumers must be efficient.

Despite its name, a customer relationship management system (CRM) primarily allows businesses to retain prospect and lead information in order to reach out to and nurture them to become customers. Once a prospect becomes a customer by signing the contract, a CRM is no longer the appropriate tool for managing the solar contract's fulfillment.

Although CRMs are well-suited to sales and marketing activities such as lead segmentation, prospecting, outreach, and sending periodic updates to existing customers, teams can realize significant productivity and customer satisfaction gains by connecting their CRM to a new category of software for Solar Project Management and Fulfillment.

Common challenges when using sales tools for project management

As solar energy becomes increasingly popular, solar installers and service companies are facing new challenges. 

In the past, project management tools were sufficient for managing solar installations. However, as these companies expand rapidly, they are finding that these tools are no longer adequate. They are becoming increasingly manual and time-consuming, making it difficult to scale up operations. 

As a result, solar installers and service companies are searching for new solar sales tools that can help them manage their expanding businesses.

Some of the common problems the sales teams face when using different disconnected sales and project management tools include:

• Manual transfer of customer data from CRM and sales tools to project management tools;

• Disconnected records of customer data, installation schedules or tasks for ongoing solar operations;

• Following different, non standardized best practices of filling and completing important documentation;

• Lack of automated workflows to remind sales, design, permitting, installation, and service personnel when it’s their turn to undertake a task;

• Lack of mobile or offline capabilities for capturing important data;

• Team collaboration challenges with re-organizing shared files;

• Lack of automated project milestone updates;

• Delayed payments due to lack of reminders and alerts for invoices.

By investing in new solar sales tools, these companies will be able to improve their project management and ensure that they can continue to grow their business.

Conclusion:

Solar sales software can be a huge time-saver for your solar sales team, but only if it is the right system for your solar installation company. 

Make sure to consider how well the software integrates with your current systems and whether or not the sales team will have access to it on mobile devices. 

Most importantly, make sure that the software has a built in workflow so you can track progress and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. 

If you're ready to take your solar sales operation to the next level, contact us today for a free consultation and learn everything you need know about the PowerOn software.