Understanding Leads: Different Types of Solar Leads

LL Media can help your solar team grow. Below is an explanation of Different Types of Solar Leads. There aren’t many sectors that are standing closer to the cutting edge of futuristic technology than the solar industry. Right now, this is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world; quickly gaining a larger and larger market share compared to more traditional power options. In fact, the job of an installer of solar panels is one of the most prospective jobs in the US — saying

that it’s got a sunny disposition would be an understatement.

Jokes aside, there are plenty of reasons why this industry is absolutely booming — from the rising affordability of commercially-viable solar panels to government incentives that favor solar investments.

Naturally, the rising demand for residential solar panels also means that competition is higher than ever before — everyone is looking for their place under the sun (this is the last pun, we promise). With that in mind, a solar company has to ensure that they’re using the most effective way to reach potential leads; the days of door-to-door sales are long-gone, replaced with complex digital marketing strategies.

Still, in markets like these, finding the most prospective leads is incredibly important; seeing as people who are actually ready to make an investment into solar panels know that they’re making a long-term purchase. Even with the falling costs, solar panels are still not cheap; which is why most people willing to buy them are also willing to spend enough time deliberating on the best possible option.

Understanding the different types of solar leads that are available on the market is a necessity for any successful marketing strategy in this industry; which is why we’re going to explain everything that you need to know about leads in the world of solar right here!

Solar Leads 101

Just like any other type of lead out there — solar leads are potential customers that might “convert” to buyers at the end of your interaction with them. Much like traditional leads, you can get them in a wide variety of ways — from website landing pages to local TV commercials, and just about everything in between.

However, before you invest all of your money in an ad running after a morning show on local television stations that no one watches; you need to understand that the name of the game in 2021 is digital leads.

These days, people find all of their required products and services online. And that’s especially true when we’re talking about products that are more expensive, and represent a more long-term investment. You can probably already see where we’re going with this — that’s precisely what solar energy is.

Considering that, you need to make sure that you have an online marketing strategy; it’s basically a necessity. And it’s not enough just to find leads online; you need to have a better lead generation strategy than your competition because you can bet they’ll be hot on your heels. If you really want to succeed in this business, you’d be smart to buy leads online!

Why is buying solar leads a good idea?

Okay, so you know that you’ll need leads in order to get the biggest possible number of customers from your marketing strategy. But can you generate leads on your own and avoid the expenses of buying leads altogether?

After all, as any online marketing expert will tell you — creating the right content, optimizing your website for search engines, and running a proper AdWord campaign should do the trick; plus, it’s cheaper!

In reality, things aren’t as simple. Firstly, everything on that list can take months of hard work before it bears fruit in the form of concrete leads; after all, managing a digital marketing campaign is not simple, and there’s an entire industry centered around that.

And you need to remember what your competition is doing as well — at the end of the day, it’s a number’s game. Seeing as a majority of leads doesn’t pan out into an actual sale, the safest bet is to try your luck with the biggest possible number of leads in the first place.

However, deciding to buy solar leads online is not the end of the road when it comes to learning about leads for this market. You’ll soon find that there are plenty of different kinds of leads you can buy, each with their own pros and cons. Here are the Different Types of Solar Leads:

• Pre-set Appointments
• Live Transfers
• Real-Time Exclusive Web Leads
• Real-Time Shared Web Leads
• Aged Web Leads

Preset Appointments

One of the main things that you’re trying to achieve by buying leads online is to reduce the amount of work that you need to put in for generating them. And, apart from that — you want to increase the certainty that these leads will actually lead to sales.

Buying leads in the form of preset appointments get you both of those things if you find a source willing to perform lead screening as well. That way, you’re outsourcing the lion’s share of the work to someone else, because they’ll also be handling the appointments.

All that’s left for your in-house team is to close the actual sale. Of course, that’s not easy either — but not having to deal with the prep before that is certainly a relief. This is great in terms of lead acquisition and your ROI; however, this type of lead may be more expensive than the other options in the beginning.

Live transfers

After the pre-scheduled appointments, you’ve also got the next best thing — live transfer solar leads. What you’re buying here is basically information about pre-screened leads that have already expressed interest in obtaining a solar panel solution.

This kind of connection between you and the customers removes a lot of the legwork as well because you won’t have to do any actual prospecting.

Real-time shared and exclusive leads

One of the biggest advantages of buying Different Types of Solar Leads online is that you have access to many different kinds of leads. However, the flip side of that coin is — so do your competitors. That’s why shared real-time leads are one of the most competitive and hard-to-get leads in the solar industry.

The reason for that may be clear from the “shared” part. In essence, shared leads are those that lead generation companies to sell to more than one solar company. So, yes, you know who’s interested enough to warrant a call — but so does everyone else.

Compared to the Different Types of Solar Leads, which cost a couple of bucks each — you’ve also got real-time exclusive leads. They go from a few dozen bucks to a lot more, depending on the market in question — and as you might have guessed, these are leads that no one else has.

Aged Web Leads

Finally, we’ve got the last type of leads that some other industries may frown upon, but could represent a good choice for solar providers: aged leads.

These are solar leads that have “aged” because they’ve expressed interest in solar appointments before — but not recently. Now, while this might mean a cold lead (and thus, a less useful one) in some other sectors: it’s actually not a bad kind of lead in solar when it comes to cost-effectiveness.

Aged leads are some of the cheapest you can buy, because they’re generally less prospective than real-time, current ones. However, that’s not always the case with solar leads. Remember, people often spend months deciding on what solar contractor they’ll go with; meaning that aged leads are often not cold at all. And yet, their price remains the same!

So, while aged leads are still a bigger gamble; they could very well turn out to have the biggest ROI if they pan out.

Closing solar leads

When you do buy the leads that are prospective enough — the question is, how do you close them effectively? How do you ensure that you make the largest possible number of sales? Seeing as solar isn’t as old as insurance and mortgages, it requires a relatively different approach.

First of all, you will need more patience. Even the most interested solar enthusiasts may be clueless about the actual technology and the costs involved with installation and maintenance; explaining everything thoroughly is something you need to be prepared for.

And before you go into the explanation, find out what the main motivations and concerns are for this particular buyer. Do they want to use solar to increase their power savings in the long run? Or maybe they just want to reduce their dependence on the local power grid — while also preserving the environment?

All of this will inform your approach to the lead, and ensure that they’ve got a clear overview of the immense benefits of solar energy; ultimately helping you close the deal!

LL Media Leads and Appointments equals more sales for your solar, roofing, and home improvement teams.