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Reaching commercial prospects first

This is the fifth article in our Commercial Solar Success series.

There is tough competition in the solar industry. And unfortunately, many solar businesses are selling on price alone which ends up driving down the value of solar, reducing prospects’ price expectations and damaging the entire industry. This is of course why reaching your prospects first is so valuable. Not only will they assess your offer on its merits rather than how your price compares to another company, but because you found them first, they will feel an obligation to consider your proposal above all others from the get go.

Finding your “golden” list of prospects

This is the fourth article in our Commercial Solar Success Series.

What’s a “golden” list of commercial solar prospects worth? Imagine if you could take thousands of leads and filter all the bad ones out in an instant, leaving only the most interested prospects for you to sell to. What a difference that would make to your success in the commercial sector right? But how do you get a “golden” list of commercial solar leads? It’s not as easy as getting a tele-marketing campaign running to call every business in the yellow pages! You need to be smart about it.

Targeting the best regions for commercial solar

This is the third article in our Commercial Solar Success series.

Hitting a region with a low commercial uptake of solar is a really tough gig. Businesses haven’t seen their peers using solar to offset their commercial power bills. If you’re spending time doing this then you might as well be throwing money out the window. Knowing target regions that are “hot” for commercial solar is very powerful stuff. By marketing to the neighbours of businesses in an area with high solar uptake, you are getting very close to decision-ready prospects.

Targeting businesses for commercial solar

This is the second article in our Commercial Solar Success series.

How do you target businesses when you’re looking for commercial solar customers? Do you use direct marketing? Google Adwords? Facebook advertising? Newspapers? TV? Radio? What about door-knocking? Have you ever wondered how you could find the types of businesses who buy solar quickly and easily? Imagine for a moment 2 scenarios:

Hitting The Commercial Solar PV Sector

This is the first article in our Commercial Solar Success series of articles focused around how you can establish a successful commercial sales process.

Businesses come to us so too often saying that they are struggling to grapple with the challenges of commercial solar customers. Many businesses just haven't been able to take off with their commercial success for a variety of reasons. You might be succeeding in residential, but with the market share swiftly shifting more and more to commercial, it's essential for all solar businesses to get a firm grasp of what's required to succeed in commercial solar. We've created this series to help address the challenges that the commercial sector brings (and help you achieve higher profits).

Selling commercial solar is completely different to residential. The systems are larger, there are technical considerations, the decision-makers are usually tougher and the whole process can take much longer. In fact it’s not unusual for commercial solar systems (10kW+) to take more than 3 appointments, many quote variations and 6 months, a year or more of waiting for a decision! So knowing this, how does a solar company go about hitting the commercial sector in the most effective way possible? Here are some tips from SunWiz based on our extensive analysis of what successful companies are doing right, and what gaps exist:

What you need to know

Here are a few things which are absolutely crucial if you’re planning to enter (or expand) commercial solar targeting:

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Solar Juice: Top Battery Wholesaler 2016
20 March 2017

SunWiz is Australia's foremost authority on data on Solar Installations.
Australia's Battery Market: Believe the Hype!
20 February 2017

Believe the Hype: Australia's Battery Market is set for eye-watering growth For quite some time I'd dismissed the hype about the attractiveness of installing grid-connected batteries in Australia. Yes, everyone loves the idea of energy independence, and would love to give the middle finger to the electricity retailers who buy excess solar power at a fifth of the price they themselves charge. But I thought there would be few people willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to do so. On top of that, though Tesla had created a surge of interest, most PV retailers were struggling to convert that into sales, or had limited product supply options. When I surveyed the market in April 2016, respondents reported that only although half of solar power enquiries were asking about batteries, barely 2% of people who bought a solar power system actually bought a battery with it. Back in April, the median respondent forecast there to be 850 installations nationwide in 2016, totalling 28MWh; 75% of respondents expected fewer than 5500 installations would occur last year. My what a difference half a year can make! In the second half of 2016, more products came to market, Tesla announced a major price drop, and lo and behold batteries became an affordable option (for some). Using SunWiz's PVsell software, the dashboard below demonstrates that an Adelaide household can get a 7 year payback on a 5kW PV system with 13kWh of storage, if they have moderately high energy consumption (25 kWh/day). In the process, they can generate 88% of their energy needs, reduce their solar export by three-quarters, and reduce their grid draw by 72%. Its no wonder that Australia is about to become one of the top countries in the world for battery installations. But how do we know what's actually been installed? Whereas the STC incentive means SunWiz can track PV installations with a high degree of accuracy and deep resolution, no such data source exists for batteries. While distribution network operators may seem the natural focal point of data collection, our discussions with network operators revealed they are largely unaware of the true volumes of batteries that are being installed on their network. So, in order to provide some transparency into what is otherwise a highly opaque market, SunWiz has had to personally interview over 60 battery market leaders. And by leveraging SunWiz's status as trusted independent solar analyst, we have been given unprecedented amount of information (most of which we must keep confidential), and this has been compiled into a report that provides unparalleled insight. The report shows: 6750 battery installations occurred in 2016, up from 500 in 2015. This means that 5% of new PV systems included energy storage in 2016. New South Wales and Queensland led installations in 2016. Because most of the installations occurred in the latter part of the year, we are confident there will be at least a three-fold increase (and more likely a fourfold increase) on these number in 2017. This would mean one in five new PV installations in 2017 includes batteries. There was a record volume of capacity installed in major projects, rollouts, and distribution network trials. Our full report provides a rich dataset of research, survey, and industry opinion that will inform the strategies of storage manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers for the year ahead. It includes a full details of the volumes installed in 2015 and 2016, forecasts for 2017 and beyond, commentary and insights into market trends, details of battery pricing and financials, a listing of the top ranks of manufacturers wholesalers and retailers, and comprehensive coverage of the key news of 2016. More information on the report can be found at http://www.sunwiz.com.au/index.php/battery-market-report-2017.html
Battery Installations in 2016 exceeded 6750, SunWiz research finds
30 January 2017

SunWiz today released the results of its extensive surveys, interviews, and research into the Australian market for energy storage. SunWiz's research concludes that there were at 6750 battery installations in 2016, totalling 52MWh. To put this into context, there were 130,000 installations of solar power systems in 2016, meaning that effectively 5% of solar installations included batteries in the past year. Says Warwick Johnston, Managing Director of SunWiz "6750 installations in 2016 represents exceptional growth in the Australian battery market, coming off the back of 500 battery installations in 2015. What makes it all the more impressive is that most installations occurred in the latter part of the year, setting up 2017 to be another year of remarkable growth". Johnston says "SunWiz expects the market to treble in 2017, suggesting 15% of new solar installations will include energy storage this year." New South Wales was the #1 location for battery installations, followed closely by Queensland. South Australia has the most favourable market for battery installations, owing to large amounts of sunlight, high electricity prices, and subsidy programs from government, AGL, and SAPN - all of which contribute towards some solar-storage systems having 7-year paybacks before subsidy. 2016 was also the largest year for storage projects. Highlights inlcude the 2MWh installation at the Sandfire Copper Mine, the 1.1MWh community installation at Alkimos Beach, and the ACT auction. Survey respondents from solar retailers indicated that 70% of sales enquiries for solar also enquire about batteries. Customers are interested in the ability of batteries to become grid-independent, reduce electricity bills, and make more efficient use of their solar panels. The report, which was based on hundreds of hours of interviews, surveys, and research, provides transparency into what is otherwise a very opaque market. Johnston says "our interviews highlighted the storage market is in its infancy and market education is required. Customer expectations of batteries differ markedly from the capabilities and value proposition of most offerings on the market, and salespeople are also caught up in the excitement. Batteries aren't yet a commodity - one size doesn't fit all and tools such as PVsell can help identify which is the best option for individual customers. For more information or to order your copy of the report, visit http://sunwiz.com.au/index.php/battery-market-report-2017.html or call Warwick Johnston on 0413361534