By Allie Buckmaster, product experience associate, CURB
How do solar installers move from pitch to sale? For many companies, it’s a roll of the dice. How do they keep the customer interested in them instead of the other companies? CURB allows solar installers to distinguish themselves by selling more than just solar. CURB sells knowledge, independence, follow ups and differentiation in a synonymous market.
1. Differentiation in the market
Like it or not, solar installers are undifferentiated to consumers. Most companies offer the same equipment, so those who are able to stand out from the crowd will ultimately be more successful. If solar companies delivered more, consumers would easily build affinity to them, enabling an easier sell. For example, becoming a CURB distributor allows consumers to track and measure solar energy production while also detecting problems around the house before major damage occurs. This improves your company’s brand, increases referrals, and ultimately increases sales.
2. Increasing the return on investment (ROI)
In California, the ROI on a solar investment can be as low as three years, but in Texas, it’s easily seven. Reducing the ROI window for solar in Texas is easily achievable with CURB. Our research has shown that with CURB, the average energy bill is 25% lower than without CURB because it pinpoints the energy-hogging usage patterns that result in overspent money. What’s more, CURB can suggest other ways to lower energy costs, like installing a more energy efficient appliance.
By installing solar in conjunction with CURB, customers pay off their solar loan faster because their energy bill is measurably lower. For many customers, being knowledgeable about conserving energy is important, but justifying this significant investment is even more important, and easily accomplished with CURB.
3. Staying engaged with customers
CURB’s energy monitoring technology provides the data to enable an ongoing relationship between consumers and solar providers. For example, providers can be helpful when something needs to be replaced, such as a refrigerator, or how something may be improved, like using LED bulbs. Most importantly, CURB will tell you when your customers’ solar systems either aren’t producing as much as they should, or are having other troubles — making you their hero.
4. Keeping up with innovation
Green technology is rapidly becoming mainstream. Innovation in this space is coming faster than most believe, and for solar installers it is especially important to stay ahead of the curve. With CURB, the focus becomes energy intelligence, not just solar production, creating the opportunity to continually update and improve their solar and myriad energy-related products. CURB’s monitoring and notification features allow solar customers to observe their own energy production, while learning about ways to tune their behavior and conserve.
5. Promoting energy literacy
The solar movement is taking off, and more and more families want to “go green” — but what does that mean? There is often confusion between “going green” and the relationships between energy consumption and production. Most people like the idea of doing something good for the environment, but many also do not truly understand how their behavior has an impact. As a case in point, 93% of Americans recently said they did something to conserve energy in the past two years, but only 28% are favorable towards solar power.
This staggering gap comes down to energy illiteracy. Indeed, consumers can install solar panels and claim they are “going green” without really knowing what that entails. A solar company that delivers a product like CURB in concert with a solar system will, in effect, be educating their customers on how they’re using their energy and what it means for their finances and the environment.
Interested in CURB? You can purchase it on Amazon.