Sales and Marketing: Cost Effective Growth!

Transcription

1 Sales and Marketing: Cost Effective Growth! Gabe Davis Sunrun Sales Operations Manager San Diego, CA

2 SALES, MARKETING AGENDA Introductions Cost Effective Sales and Marketing Low Cost Marketing Strategies Marketing Implementation Low Cost, High Impact Sales Strategies How to increase Customer Experience as an owner Turning a great Customer Experience into revenue

3 Introduction Gabe Davis Joined the solar industry in 2002 Sales background: 250+ residential sales, commercial sales Sales training manager for large installer Sales training support for AEE Solar since 2010 Sales Operations Manager Sunrun

4 Big Picture Reduction in overall Cost Stack is a crucial step to growth and profitability Sales and Marketing makeup ~10% of overall cost stack Focused improvement on your Sales and Marketing Cost Stack is one of the easiest things you can do in Q1 to improve profitability over From the brand new start up, to the largest solar integrator in the industry, this is something everyone is focusing on.

5 Marketing Agenda 1. Current cost of Marketing? 2. Management: Tracking and Measuring 3. Low Cost Strategies to drive more leads in the door 4. Implementation: use what you have

6 CURRENT COST OF MARKETING Audit 2015, or at least Q4 Where did your leads come from At what cost If you are going to identify one thing to do more of, and one thing to do less of, what is it, and why? Low Cost, Happy Customers, Profitable Jobs, Customer close to office, Other opportunities in the area

7 TRACKING & MEASURING The main goal is to quickly determine how many sales resulted from this spend/effort? Keep it simple Ask How did you find out about us? Enter this information into excel and sum responses by type Shift time and monetary allocations accordingly Review replies and adjust efforts accordingly IF YOU CAN T MEASURE IT, YOU CAN T MANAGE IT!!!

8 LOW COST STRATEGIES Referrals!!! Website Social Media Signage on Vehicles Yard Signs Flyers and Canvass (current installs, new markets) Leverage Media and Interest on Legislative Issues, etc.

9 REFERRALS Referral Program in Place! $250 for every lead that turns into a sales Tell your customers about your referral program before, during and after the Sales Process Installed Customers are not the only people who can refer Leverage Relationships with local businesses and social members of your community to grow your business Integrate referrals into your whole business process

10 WEBSITE Key Components Contact Form Company Story Install Images & Customer Testimonials Press Coverage & Associations Basic Search Engine Optimization Use words that customers may search for throughout your site content Call out the names of your competitors on the back-end keywords section. This can be done by your web designer or on the settings tab of most sites

11 YELP Set up your page Enter information on your business If your page exists take control by claiming it as your business. You will see this link on your page. Invite friends, scan contacts, link to on your personal page and business website. Be sure to add the YELP icon for the link. Manage Content Post images of installs Encourage past customers to post reviews Review Angie s list and Google reviews regularly. Thank them personally when they do! Further Reading: Getting Started with Yelp

12 FACEBOOK Set up your page Choose category Enter information on your business Promote- Invite friends, scan contacts, link to on your personal page and business website Manage Content Ask customers if they are on Facebook and if you may post images of their finished system. This allows easy sharing of a major purchase among their Facebook network. Post projects, local news and share pictures Engage with past customers, colleagues, industry contacts and AEE Solar Drive to create group conversations Use the insights feature to track engagement Further Reading Tips

13 FLIERS, SIGNAGE, CANVASSING Good signage on vehicles Neighbors pay attention to whose in their area Flyers to have in your trucks so your installation team can share them Canvass a neighborhood prior to an installation, let other homeowners know they are great candidates for solar Canvass before, during, and after Offer a free quote if they are interested

14 IMPLEMENTATION Sales Team: They should be your best Marketers. Increase their Comp for Self Generated Leads Leverage all employees: Sales, Installation Team, Everyone Counts Create internal referral programs, create contests, Customers Everyone is a Referral Champion waiting to be engaged Customers who don t go solar can be your biggest advocates Ask, Ask, Ask Family members of your employees, their friends and their friends! Non Profit groups that advocate for solar, climate change, environmental, Chamber of Commerce, etc. etc. etc.

15 IDEAS Be aware that you are always representing your brand when your logo is present Provide exceptional customer service- treating people they way they want to be treated. This is especially important in the transparent world of social media. Make marketing a part of your sales process, send a post install to people with a link on Facebook to their system pictures. Look at attending community and industry events Be considerate and go the extra mile. It s simple, free and it matters.

16 Sales Agenda 1. Cost Effective Sales Strategy 2. Pre Sale 3. Sale 4. Post Sale 5. Appendix 7 steps to Sales Creating a Customer Experience that grows your business Overall we want to create a process that creates efficiency and momentum with our customers, and maximizes Self Generation of Sales Opportunities by our sales team.

17 STRATEGY What are the big companies doing? Doubling Down on Self Generation Retail Partnerships Canvassing Online Lead Generation Multi Level Lead Generation Partnerships PR, Social Media and leveraging industry updates, ITC, etc. What Tools are they using Sophisticated Proposal Generation Software Strong Web Presence Compensation Plans that incentive Self Gen, 2xCommission

18 PRE-SALE Strategy Maximize your output without ever leaving the office Proposal Preparation, review with lower quality leads done remotely When home sales calls are being run, maximize your time. Ask customer if their neighbors are also interested, canvass the area when you re on site, make proposals for other homes in the area and cold call. Tools Bright Path Seamless design, extremely efficient, great presentation Allows for confident remote selling Implementation Define criteria for what should be pitched remotely. If you re not sure, look at distance to site, time frame to make a decision, qualification

19 KEY STEPS FOR A LOW COST SALES PROCESS 1. Communication: Lead to Appointment Scheduled Speed to lead, call new leads back immediately! Many companies lose leads once they are in the door by not immediately responding to them Organize Call Blocks with your sales team. Call old leads, reasons to call. It s 2016, provide updates on legislation, ITC extension, etc. 2. Organization & Scheduling: Appointment Scheduled to Complete Be on time and have reminder s and phone calls that go out day before. Text can work great too! Some companies see 30% of their appointments cancel through poor execution Schedule an extra 30min for your sales rep to canvass the area once they are done. If they can t canvass, call past customers, check in with installed customers, canvass installs going on.

20 KEY STEPS FOR A LOW COST SALES PROCESS 3. Set Correct Expectations Have written outline of sales and installation process that can be shared with customers and train your sales team on what is realistic. Make your standards part of your Sales Process Companies will waste valuable profit on deals because incorrect expectations are set and we end up having to pay to fix our mistakes 4. Consultative Approach Listen to the customer and present them with options, don t force them into a decision. If you only want to present one option, make sure you explain that based on what they ve already told you, this is the best option, and don t be afraid to revise your proposal if you can tell it isn t what they want. Bottom Line. You provide solutions, coach and train your team to maximize their time with our customers.

21 POST-SALE Daily recap on every appointment run with Sales Reps: If they haven t signed, confirm a next step has been set! If they aren t going solar, did we get any referrals? If they are going, did we get any referrals? Set the expectation with your sales team that they must provide an update on every company lead provided, and leverage you as the manager, owner, etc. to help close the deal! Pipeline Management New Sale Calling Blocks. Weekly or bi-weekly scheduled time where your sales team calls on unsold deals Referral Calling Blocks Call at 30,60,90 days after install.

22 CONCLUSION You can be the only Sales Person at your company, or you can have a team of 300+ Every lead counts Build processes that require best practices to be followed Set the structure in place now at the beginning of the year

23 THANK YOU!

24 WHY DOES CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MATTER? A customer with a good experience will tell 2-3 people. A customer with a bad experience will tell Good experience = Good reviews Referrals: less competitive, higher close rate Help new customers find you Influence their decision-making process Bad experience = Bad reviews Prevent customers from ever reaching out in the first place Influence customers before they ever call

25 HOW DO WE MEASURE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE 1. Ask, Ask, Ask Informal customer feedback Formal customer surveys: Net Promoter Score Don t be afraid to wait until the end of the process ask at every step! 2. Social Media Monitor Yelp pages Angie s List Other local social review sites

26 TURN A GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE INTO REVENUE 1. Ask for referrals. 2. Ask your happy customers for ideas on how you can better market and then ask them to help you be spreading the word 3. Print out your good Yelp and/or Angie s List reviews and use them during your sales calls. 4. Encourage your potential customers to read your positive reviews (and your competitors ) as part of their research when choosing a solar company. 5. Encourage your customers to write reviews about you on social media. Put link to your Yelp page on your follow-up Check us out on Yelp, Angie s List, etc.

27 7 STEPS TO SALES 1. Build Rapport 2. Set Agenda 3. Probe for Need 4. Present Solution 5. Close the Deal 6. Ask for Referrals