16 Questions Every Profitable Solar Startup Should Be Able to Answer

We recently installed a chat feature on HeatSpring so that we could better assist visitors and customers with any questions they may have. Last week, I had a great conversation with a fellow from New Jersey who was looking to start a new company installing solar. He asked me if he could install solar if he took our training. I respond, “Yes, absolutely!” and forward him to an article I wrote on the subject: With this Training, Can I Install Solar? We then began a longer 30 minute conversation that touched on everything from design, branding, sales to what specifically he needs to do to get his new venture going. Based on this conversation I assembled a checklist that every solar startup can run through to help them with their market entry strategy. This is by no means a complete list, but its getting there. If you’re looking for direction and don’t know where to start. This will help.

Remember first things first. First, we’ll discuss getting going, positioning and business strategy, next sales and marketing and last design and installation.

A couple principles I adhere to are, small businesses are all about cash and momentum. Second, be patient about growth but not about profitability. Read past the break for full details and join HeatSpring on facebook to keep the most up to date on free courses, events, tips, resources and news. If you’re a clean energy professional and looking to connect with other solar professionals to collaborate on jobs or best practices, request to join HeatSpring’s linkedin group for Clean Energy Professionals

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The IREC 2010 US Solar Trends Report, 3 Things It Means for Solar Contractors.

A few week’s ago, I wrote about SEIA’s solar market research and what this means for you,  the solar contractor. Recently, IREC released their annual solar market report with the optimistic title: “Solar Markets in the US: Big, Booming, And Oh So Bright”

I wanted to share with you a few highlights directly from the report, feel free to read it all if you want, and digest some of the information into what you should walk away with 3 critical takeaways.  Read past the break for full details and join HeatSpring on facebook to keep up to date on events, tips, resources and news. If you’re a clean energy professional, request to join HeatSpring’s linkedin group for Clean Energy Professionals

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July 1st, 2011|Categories: Solar|Tags: , , , , , |

Five Key Items for Writing a Solid Renewable Energy Sales Proposal

If you’re currently a contractor and interested in entering or expanding your business into the renewable energy industry, there are four main hurdles you will face.

Understanding the technology. See this free course to learn more about the technology basics.
Filling out a vast amount of government paperwork, and maneuvering around solar and geothermal permitting and incentives.
Marketing: Getting the attention of potential customers to sign your first project. Here are some tips on bringing customers to you.
Sales: Needing to convince property owner to purchase geothermal or solar AND buy them from you.

Today, lets focus on number four. Like it or not, investing in renewable energy is NOT something that property owners MUST do, and they have other options to choose from. With that in mind, having good sales skills is key to convincing a potential customer that investing in renewable energy will be both profitable and attractive for their home or business. So, you must convince them to invest into solar pv, geothermal, solar thermal or energy efficiency and then convince them to pick YOU as the contractor.

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6 Ways to Not Waste Your Money on Solar Training

BUYER BEWARE; when purchasing training, there are a lot of training providers coming into the market. Some are good, but some are bad. You’re smart–just do your homework.

Everyone looking to get into solar industry should take some quality technical solar training so they understand how the systems work, how they are designed, solar code and some basics of sales and incentives. It doesn’t matter if you are going to be selling, installing, managing, or designing–everyone will benefit from quality training about solar.

Here’s a list of the top six characteristics of quality training that every contractor should look into when purchasing training to make sure you don’t waste your money.  My goal with those post is not to sell HeatSpring training, but to make sure you get the best training that fits your needs.

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“With this Solar Training, Can I Become an Installer?”

Here’s a question that we get a lot:

After taking your course, will I have enough knowledge to install a complete solar pv system?

It’s one of those questions that is difficult to answer because it’s such a loaded question and there are so many variables.
Here is my response:
It depends.

Here are some things to consider when you’re looking into the installation business. These are relevant whether you’re starting a company, expanding an existing company or if you’re a professional working within a company.
What is your background?
Whether or not our training will prepare you to install a complete solar pv system will depend on your background. What business are you coming from? If you have been a general contractor, electrician or roofer for the past 20 years and now want to do solar, then the answer is most probably yes. It will give you enough information so you’ll know how to design systems. With your background, you’ll most probably have the relationships needed to get subs, pull permits and bid a job. Basically, if you’re coming from the construction business, either residential or commercial, or in a related field, you’re almost 90% there. You just need to learn the solar specific information.

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