2. What is different about solar? Typical business Sells widgets of different sizes Repeat customers Customers understand product/service Customers see product, touch it Solar Business Everything is custom-made Once the sale is over, it’s over for them. Customers don’t Product on top of roof, never touched
5. Why do customers buy? It’s personal! Solar purchases are costly, complicated and high-risk, so the customer has more at stake. Adding to this perception of risk is the nearly risk-free alternative of buying electric power from the local utility. In the world of high risk the customer will not rely on the word of the provider. The customer’s decision process is based on finding objective information from reliable sources, something the vendor cannot provide. Think about the last time you had to select a surgeon, a family doctor, a lawyer, or an investment broker/advisor -- all high-risk purchase decisions. Would you select a surgeon based on a small branded gift or a picture of their last patient? The only way to market a high risk offering is with methods that reduce risk in the mind of the customer -- references from someone the customer trusts, industry standards, evidence of expertise and ongoing service. Warren Schirtzingerhttp://solar-strategies.blogspot.com Costly Complicated High Risk How did you select your surgeon, family doctor or investment advisor?
6. Energy is your secret weapon. Let’s get your solar business fired up!
7. Igniting your solar business with enthusiasm Be enthusiastic Be committed Have knowledge of issues and awareness of your customer’s involvement Your Next Steps example Trade show exercise 1 person to sell 1 person to capture names 1 person to educate
8. Use Social media to attract visitors to your booth, in advance of the event
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10. Make introductions for others. You will find that creating bridges between others…. Leads to a successful marketing implementation plan
12. Measurable social media choices Web searches Wikipedia Linkedin.com Facebook Twitter Amazon.com Ebay Yelp, Mojopages Citysearch Wordpress In other words, just about anything more than a static web page is social media.
13. Is it a waste of time for my business? Blog: take photos of customers after install and post to blog that week Yelp: Request that your customers write a good review of your business Linkedin: Make the most of your thousands of connections to get millions of customers Blog: take photos and do nothing with them. Yelp: Hope that your customers will write a good review of your business. Linkedin: Only limit yourself to the few dozen people you know today. Using it right Using it wrong
14. Build Reputation and Trust Facebook Profiles Google Searches Linked in Yelp Craig’s List Facebook PPC GooglePPC/AdWords Linked in (upgrade) Yelp Ads Recruitment ads on Craig’s List No fees Fees
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16. SolarCity tagline “Turn Sunshine into Savings” http://www.youtube.com/user/solarcity100 Largest spender of Solar Energy Marketing Dollars in the United States. 94,000,000 million searches a month on Bing alone.
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20. Sungevity “Lease is More” “Solar Home Specialists” core competency – Leadership: Danny Kennedy and Charles Ferer (formerly from SolarCity) Spending on Facebook PPC, have three TV commercials on website, Free Solar iQuote
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22. 1BOG Organizes community buying and transparency (i.e. affordable) “Solar Power Meets Consumer Power” 11 Regions/7 states They spend little in ad$. Safety in numbers, group discounts. Have good You Tube videos. FB Page goes to Yelp! Listings. More than 300,000 Twitter followers.
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24. SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB) designs, manufactures and delivers the planet's most powerful solar technology Global Footprint: North America, Asia, Europe Investor driven, Dealer-focused Since 1985 Spend a lot on TV, radio, print ads and have co-op vendor dollars (see dealers)
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26. REC Solar Small Company Feel. In five States. Have live chat online. Local Map shows on Google Search “Quality Systems: ontime, on budget, every time guaranteed” Quality is their first name. Don’t spend a lot on advertising compared to the other guys. 888 OK SOLAR
32. OK, so what 9 things should I do first? Develop low cost per lead/customer acquisition campaigns for my residential /commercial markets from PPC, radio and e-mail blasts Increase the value of my brand by regular and consistent contact with existing customers, i.e., follow up Integrate sales operations into my marketing process Shorten the sales cycle pipeline through my sales intake form questionnaire Create and implement my integrated marketing and public relations strategy for residential/commercial markets Integrate internal marketing team with ad/PR team Identify, pitch, and implement retail partner programs Present creative direction for digital and traditional marketing Launch solar tours, trade shows and identify marketing opportunities for commercial solar clients
33. Secrets of Great Marketing Reach out to manufacturers to request/determine effective use of co-op marketing funds Manage in-home solar parties and webinar programs Identify unique co-marketing opportunities with commercial clients, residential and commercial sales along with inside sales teams when planning marketing strategies Provide website improvements and plan for the next generation website. Stay informed of your core strengths and the competition’s and adjust strategy Get into the field on a regular basis to view installations and talk with customers Stay connected to every department so marketing can address their needs
34. 5 ways to Measure the Effectiveness To what degree is the quality of your customers improving? What % of your tire kickers get screened out with the intake form? (#4) How many more quality presentations made this month? Are you closing a higher percentage? Is “time to close” a lead averaging under 90 days?
35. 7 Success Tips and Tricks Listen to your competitors. (that means research) Know yourself and limitations. Become a collaborator with a competitor in another marketplace and share insights (i.e., today). Understand when you need professional help. Focus on actions, not theories, and long term results. If in doubt and it’s legal and ethical, do it! Stay within your budget.
36. Don’t forget PR, too. Use a celebrity (Adrian Gonzalez and his mom), give an award, have a public official give a speech (don’t forget the balloons!) The media will cover your event if you invite them and have a good “hook”.
37. Follow up? Follow us @solarmarketing @vervesolar Facebook Page for this conference workshop: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Your-Next-Steps/120534847975758?ref=ts California Solar Marketers Group (on Linkedin.com) http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1658317&trk=anet_ug_hm mbmccabe@sunmarketing.net 858 488 2867
Editor's Notes
Discuss timeline to sales here. A common error is to have a 9 month cycle between the presentation and the sale. That’s too long. Try to shorten the cycle and make a sale to the customer who’s ready, not the one who needs to process for months.
Establishing credibility takes a lot of references. Trust is critical. You can do that by showing that standards mean something to you, and by using third party references from customers, online recommendations, and by paying it forward in giving back to your community and establishing your reputation.
See the example of the next slides, a trade show exhibitor…..Why does a trade show booth need three people to staff it correctly?
Which of these booths would you like to visit? Which one would you steer clear from?
Google Analytics
Facebook is the easiest and has not a cost to create your personal and business pages. However, you can use their PPC and you can do it two ways. One is CPM (lowest cost) and the other is CPC, which you only pay if someone clicks, so the CPC may be fifty cents, and the CPM may be only 5 cents because you pay even if no one clicks. You set the daily maximum you want to spend. Google Ad Words is similar, but has more reporting available, more options, and searches are wider than just those on Facebook.Linked in is free to use. How many have a profile? Linked in pro is $20 a month and higher. You can also recruit here.
This is a shot of my campaigns. You can see the peak number of clicks. You see a paused campaign. You see 4300 search impressions for $6.68. I have turned off content for now.
Alexa profile for solarcity shows how many views worldwide. Solar City is the 24,000th most viewed page in the US.
PPC understood better
Yelp review for 1BOG
1997 founded by Judy Ledford, 37 open jobs 4 sectors: Residential, Business, Gov’t, Utilities
PR works to get results from a third party source, and you can put these on your social media profiles, too.
