In my experience there's little difference between convincing men or women, unless a patronising installer lands on your doorstep suggesting that the savings can buy loads of shoes and handbags, in which case most people would be offended and find an installer who understands their customers. Good luck with your sales Coleman - you might need it with that attitude! Installing pv and running your own MCS company are 2 totally different things.
Any advice on where to go, and how to go about it?
Graeme's advice is sound, go local and talk to the owners of the company not the installers, the owners have a vested interest in giving you the best deal for your needs - they get free marketing on the back of it when they get it right. We haven't marketed since January, are booked up 2 months in advance and are having to delay surveys from recommendations for 3 weeks at the minute and turn all new enquiries away. Don't be deterred if you have to wait a while, it's probably a reflection of the service the company is providing.
Research panels and inverters as much as possible before you have your surveys it helps if you understand what you're being offered. There's no right or wrong combination of panels and inverter for installation. Some people care about where the panels are manufactured, some don't. Some people want to pay extra for branding, others don't, some insist on one type of inverter others don't mind as long as there's a decent track record. Just make sure that you get an installer who will design a system for you rather than selling a bog standard one size fits all system - you usually get this sort of thing from national installers.
