In a recent article, Solar Power World discussed a study outlining best practices for solar sales. Velocify, a provider of cloud-based sales software, performed the study by testing the responsiveness of sales teams at 30 residential solar installation companies.

Velocify paired the results from the study with its earlier research—where the progression of millions of leads were studied—and compiled tips for improving the solar sales process. Read the whole white paper here.

Lesson 1: Stake your claim, quickly
When it comes to the speed of responding to prospective solar customers, faster is better. Calling a new lead within one minute increases conversions by 391 percent, according to Velocify. While responding within hours is clearly better than responding within days, previous Velocify research has shown that the likelihood of conversion drops considerably when responding to inquiries later than one hour after submission. Therefore, companies that take longer than one hour to respond are leaving money on the table.

Lesson 2: Follow-up matters—to a point
When it comes to persistence, it might seem intuitive to make as many attempts as necessary until contact is made. One could also argue that after a couple of failed attempts, resources should be diverted to other work. According to previous Velocify research, the optimal number of call attempts is six because 93 percent of prospects that eventually convert have been contacted by the sixth call attempt.

Lesson 3: Respond by both email and phone
Only 46 percent of companies placed at least one phone call and one email to the researchers. With the increased use of email auto-responders, it is surprising that a higher percentage of inquiring buyers did not receive an email within seconds or minutes of requesting a quote. While an email might not seem as powerful as a phone call when responding to a quote request, the importance of prompt email response should not be overlooked.

For more information, read the full Solar Power World article here.