A recent article in Solar Industry Magazine highlights the most common sales and marketing mistakes made by solar contractors. These insights are the initial results from a multi-year project led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with collaboration from behavioral experts and solar professionals.

When most business owners hear about sales and marketing, they think of spending money on customer acquisition and lead generation. Surprisingly, the last three common mistakes in this list have more to do with not making the best use of a resource that every company already has in bulk: past customers.

According to Solar Industry Magazine, “referrals remain the most cost-effective way to acquire customers. Solar companies pay about $500 for each referral, give or take a few hundred dollars. Even a generous referral fee of $1,000, which some companies do offer, is only a fraction of the average customer acquisition cost of $2,000 to $4,000.”

If you make these three mistakes, your company could be leaving money on the table:

• Not asking for referrals or asking incorrectly
• Losing contact with past solar customers
• Giving up too soon on leads or getting referrals

To learn about other common sales and marketing mistakes, and how to fix them, read the original article.