How can they get away with this?

[SRE]

Mmm similar answer really, it's about building relationships. The ones who supply us have been doing so for the last 18 months and we seem to get by ok as long as we're flexible. It's always about getting the right person. Email, phone and don't lose your patience but be persistent, the wholesalers are in the same boat as us.

 

[FB.]

just got to find some stock

So if we find solar panels disappearing from rooftops, we shouldn't necessarily blame it on travellers; only if the cables are missing along with the panels.

 

[jupestar]

to be honest we are not really that busy, we must be doing something wrong.... i've been selling at 21 (with the possibility of getting 43.3). got a 17kwp going up this week although my roofers have just had to cancel. so i'm doing that on my own. three domestic the week after. all the site visits i go on seem to be not suitable, roof too weak or a flat roof which are too high, and too small to be ballasted... we just work off referals but all our current ones have been rubbish...

 

[finchy]

I'm in the same boat here, one minute busy with quotes then people are sitting on it ! 3 leads all turned out as time wasters, my 50kwp has gone cold ! Got two this week but thats it, its very tough going !

 

[SRE]

Are you going back to your original customers and reminding them what a good job you've done and asking them to let their friends and family know? If you don't want to ring them directly use survey monkey to send them a survey about customer care then you can use positive responses for your website and negative ones help you to see things from the customer's perspective that you might not have considered before.

When we were first starting off I drew up a list of all the farms in a 10 mile radius - 200. They are my reserve list for when I get quiet. Replace farms with small business parks, commercial landlords etc in an urban area and you'll find there are loads of opportunities. Networking with the Chamber of Commerce can work well too - they tend to keep their business in house.

I think we're a bit lucky cos we've been a bit behind the South in take up BUT I've got competition from about 30 companies in our area doing the same - we've only got 210,000 houses in the whole county.

 

[moggy1968]

sorry, didnt explain myself well enough, we are installers and I need some stock, but no one is getting back to me !

don't buy kits, source what you need in bits and pieces from wherever you can get them.
I have a job next week where kit has been sourced from 4 different places.

 

[jupestar]

to be honest lead generation is not my kettle of fish... we've done really well out of referals and doing a few eco-shows. but i've found when you go down the route of new cients you always end up duecing it out with Double glazing companies.


i lost two recently cause of this. one who's roof was two small for in installation, had shingle tiles which need to be able to dry out, and would have had to pierce a closed roof. and a second who horrendously rejected me cuase i said ut would take longer to install cause his ridge would have to come off to get the hooks in and i needed to check the muck had re- set (as its so cold). before i put the panels on. apparently the other company had a system to avoid this so were worth paying the extra for - they also told him i couldn't take.the ridge off due to building regs... so he thought i was on the take!!!. it took me a hour to drive out and see that this solution was to clamp the top row of panels more that halfway down..

 

[Eco Deal]

just reported one of our local installers to real who have a clock on their website counting down to the reduction in tariff from 43p to 21p! I'm fuming it gives us all a bad name and it's hard enough to explain a ridiculously complicated scheme to the customers without this rubbish! Yougen and some others have started a campaign against it but real are collecting evidence between now and the end of march - what use is that!!! :83:

i have seen same site lol time bomb!!!

 

[SRE]

Wish it would bomb them :-(