Generate More Solar Customer Sales and Increase Your ROI
Solar panels photo by Nuno Marques on Unsplash
Whether you are a solar equipment manufacturer, installer, or financing company, you need to show your prospective clients how meaningful their business is to you. Of course, you want to make a sale, but that shouldn’t be where your sole focus is. Instead, as you try to market your product, understand the customer’s pain points and build a relationship. How can you be the one to change their life for the better?
Even if someone is set on investing in solar energy, it doesn’t mean that they will also be invested in your solar business. But by making prospective and current clients alike feel valued and important at every step of the way, they will be more inclined to place their trust in your hands. Consider how your solar company can provide unique customer appreciation gifts to earn you that trust and make you stand out from your competitors.
Solar companies are part of a fast-growing market.
Thousands of homeowners are investing in solar panels. And green development is projected to continue to grow. This is due to a combination of ambitious clean energy goals and pandemic-related and winter disaster-related electricity bill increases. More and more people are recognizing how the reduction of fossil fuel dependence can impact their lifestyles. With the PVWatts calculator developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, homeowners can even estimate how much power they will be able to generate with solar energy. This way, they know that they are making the right decision.
However, just because the market is on the rise doesn’t mean that your solar company will be the one homeowners choose. Competition in the solar industry is also expanding. There are currently over 13,000 solar panel installation businesses in the United States alone. This means that your company must try harder to reach prospects and make that sale. Similar competitive industries find that unique customer appreciation gifts place them above the sea of competitors in the area.
“This small but unique mailpiece serves as a memorable gift, and it will set you apart from boring door hangers that competitors are leaving behind.”
Solar energy solutions make a meaningful impact on any building.
One question that customers make about any big purchase is: Is it worth it? The cost of electricity varies based on location, so those that live in areas with middle- to upper-level utility rates will definitely save money in the long term. Your solar company just has to be transparent about what they are able to expect out of this investment. Regardless of the upfront costs involved, solar panels last approximately 25 to 30 years. With that in mind, homeowners and businesses alike are capable of reducing their carbon footprint for a good amount of time. Many homeowners are not only motivated by money, but by their impact on the environment and communities.
What it comes down to is whether your solar company can help prospects imagine the value of solar panels. During your outreach, what if you sent them a custom 3D pop up card of a house with solar panels attached? This micro-experience will show them what their building could look like, sparking their imagination. You can even use a QR code on the back to bring them to a landing page on your website that answers specific questions they could be having about the process. This small but unique mailpiece serves as a memorable gift, and it will set you apart from boring door hangers that competitors are leaving behind.
“By 2030, it’s projected that more than one in seven homes in the United States will use solar panels.”
Solar energy solutions are an investment for both parties.
Currently, the average cost of solar panels is $16,000. However, there is actually a huge range of costs, spanning from $3,500 to $35,000. This is on account of the types of panels (monocrystalline and polycrystalline) and variation in sizes of systems. Once again, your business should be clear with clients about how much they will have to budget for their particular building’s needs.
As a business, you also want to get the most ROI out of the money you are investing in marketing. Customer acquisition is often expensive. It can cost five times more than retaining a customer. In order to calculate your company’s customer acquisition cost, add the amount you have spent on marketing and sales, then divide that by the number of new customers acquired. Your marketing and sales spend will include any creative and technical costs, as well as employee salaries and inventory upkeep. Take initiative with campaigns that are sure to work with your target audience.
Ultimately, you want your closed sales to be high and your customer acquisition cost to be low—a great ROI. this is why customized 3D cards are such an attractive tool for prospecting. They offer the same kind of unique experience as a customer appreciation gift, with a more affordable cost than larger gifts which are expensive to ship.
How can you effectively prospect customers?
Besides having excellent sales representatives, quality marketing materials are essential. Any company is able to make boring flyers and postcards. The same goes for those that want to shell out a considerable amount of money for a 30-second TV commercial. But not everyone is producing unique customer appreciation gifts that make the recipient immediately say “wow.”.
Unique prospecting marketing pieces sent via the U.S. Mail are highly effective. Businesses are more likely to generate purchases from direct mail efforts than they are through email campaigns. Your company can gain the positive attention you desire from prospects by using a custom 3D pop up card. These can be used as a follow-up piece after a rep visits a home, or after a quote has been provided. One option for a design could be a solar panel surrounded by the sun. An eye-catching model like this is exactly what you need to attract prospects and show them what your company is all about.
What should you do to keep customers happy?
Current and past customers are like gold for generating new referral business. Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly powerful because people like to hear from other people about whether something is a great investment. You simply have to make sure that they have felt appreciated by your company. This is especially true for those in the solar business considering those customers are spending a large amount of money on an installation. If you want their loyalty, you need to go the extra mile to thank them.
By rewarding your successful solar customers with unique customer appreciation gifts, they feel special and remember you. Include custom 3D pop up cards in your show of appreciation so that you can instantly delight, impress, and surprise your client. A design that you might be interested in using is a tree. This 3D tree can represent the good that the customer is doing for the environment by switching to solar energy. Or you can create a completely custom card design with your company logo and more.
Awesome 3D Cards can bring your solar company to life in a new, creative way. Custom 3D pop up cards make a huge impact with a minimal investment. They are only a small percentage of an acquired customer’s value, so you can get a solid return. All you have to do is come up with a visual interpretation of your business that makes sense to recipients. Send our team a message or sign up for a call to discuss your unique customer appreciation gifts further.