With the global situation changing on a daily basis due to the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses have had to learn how to adapt and change their strategies at the drop of a hat. Whether your revenue has taken a hit in the last few months or not, it’s important to plan ahead to make sure that you’re ready for anything the economy might throw at you. Here is how you can cut out some extra costs in your day-to-day operations without hurting your sales.
Don’t use full-time engineers for permits and solar designs
While having a full fleet of experts on your team available to make your system designs and permit orders sounds like a great idea, it’s actually an unnecessary expense. With recent technological advances, you no longer need any special training to be able to design an efficient and beautiful solar system.
With Solargraf, designing a system requires no special skills or certifications. Simply set up your account with your materials and pricing, trace out the surface of the roof you’d like to install the system on and let the software do it all for you in a few seconds. Complicated design software is now a thing of the past. Hiring someone to design your systems should be too.
Once you’ve designed your system and closed the deal, you can order all the necessary permits and structural/electrical stamps straight through the software. Our team of highly skilled and certified engineers can get it done for you within two business days at the most affordable prices in the industry.
Cut down on gas and travel time with remote measuring software
Even with social distancing measures in place, many sales reps and solar installers still swear that site visits are the best way to make the sale and take roof measurements in order to ensure their quotes are accurate. Now that working remotely is becoming the norm, it’s important to consider that cutting out unnecessary travel will not only save you money but keep you and your solar sales representatives safe and healthy.
Subscribe to a solar panel software and reduce your travel time to the actual install. With a well-tailored account and the latest in HD imagery on your side, Solargraf can do all your measurements while you work from home. Pair live proposals that update every time you make a change to the quote with a good video call/slide deck highlighting the benefits of solar and you will never have to worry about driving out to a sales meeting again.
Not only are you saving on gas money but you’re also saving valuable time – time that can be spent making more sales calls, following up with your leads, and creating proposals. You’ll soon be so busy driving out to install new systems to consider using your car for anything else.
Learn to generate your own leads
While lead generation services are a great way to keep a steady flow of leads coming in, they can also be expensive and produce mixed results. You’ll often find yourself paying for leads that might not be an exact fit for what you offer, or competing against too many other companies for the same deals.
Coming up with your own solar marketing and sales strategy will not only save you money but will also give you the freedom to market exactly what your company offers to the exact people you want to market to.
Invest exactly how much money you want into each facet of your marketing, whether it’s Google Ads, Facebook marketing, or hiring a content marketing freelancer/writer to write blog articles that are relevant to your client base and leads. This will produce infinitely better results than simply throwing your marketing budget into one service and hoping you get what you pay for.
Invest in an end-to-end remote solar sales platform
The easiest way to save money without hurting business is to take a look at all the subscriptions and services your company pays for on a regular basis and swap them out for a singular product that does it all. Having everything in one central location will also help you streamline your whole company’s workflow and processes.
If you’re using separate products to manage your leads, create solar designs and proposals, keep an eye on your team, get your contracts signed, and order your permits, give Solargraf a try instead.
Installers swear by Solargraf for its all-in-one remote sales capabilities. Whether it’s staying on top of your team’s activities, emailing out proposals in minutes, applying for financing, or ordering permits, there’s no need to ever switch out to another website or software to get things done.
In Closing
While things may be complicated now, they won’t always be. Not only will these tips help you out in times that may be tough for your business, but they can also be useful when things are going well. Stay on top of your own solar designs and permits, make sure to keep a close eye on your marketing efforts and combine tools to ensure that your team is always aware of whats going on and you’ll be set to make more money with less.