$718 Spent, 0 Leads: What This Solar Business Did Wrong

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]I uh we did 560k in rev last year. Huh?

[00:00:04]But the issue is we lost it on 90% of our leads. Um 70% came from lead generation companies. The other 20% came from door-to-door. Other 10% was referral based. What do you sell?

[00:00:19]What do you sell? What do you sell? What do you sell? What do you sell?

[00:00:20]>> Google PPC.

[00:00:23]What do you sell?

[00:00:23]>> We do solar and battery storage systems to anybody that basically makes over 150k in income. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw your comment in the group. I think I responded. Um Yes, you did.

[00:00:34]Okay, good.

[00:00:35]What did I say?

[00:00:36]>> [laughter] >> Okay. So, five >> Something that helped a little bit.

[00:00:39]>> Oh, good. That's helpful. I'm glad to hear that. Okay. So, 70% of the uh 70% of your leads are coming from leads you buy, right? So, you got brokers. And then And then you've got door-to-door for 20.

[00:00:51]Yes, but we we were funneling through so many sales reps for the last 24 months.

[00:00:55]We went through like 15. So, we just dropped that and we tried to start doing the Google PPC because the lead generation companies we were using went out of business. Oh, word.

[00:01:04]Oh, [ __ ] Well, did were were the leads good? Was it fine?

[00:01:08]Uh from the lead company, yes. Okay. But we got some insight from a company that we're actively competing with that's a lot bigger than us. They're like the behemoths.

[00:01:22]And they told us that Google PPC would work and kind of like the intermingling content and stuff together, but I don't know if our offer is right.

[00:01:31]We've been running ads for 10 days. We've spent like 718 bucks. No leads. 2,000 impressions. 115 clicks.

[00:01:40]Well, yeah, something's wrong.

[00:01:41]>> I don't know where to go.

[00:01:42]>> Yeah, so but let me before I jump into that the business that went out of business that was giving you leads what happened to the team?

[00:01:52]Um I don't know. They were all virtual. So, I I I think they had nearshore people, but I don't I don't know where to find those guys. I mean, you had a rep there, right? I'm sure you got a couple people's phone numbers cuz if it was small enough to go out of business, right?

[00:02:06]>> I think that the guy started another lead generation company, but their uptick in lead volume has been very slow.

[00:02:13]Okay. Well, I'll tell you if I were in your shoes, I would reach out and try and get a hold of everyone in that company and try and find the person who was actually running the stuff for your account and offer them a job today.

[00:02:25]Okay. And then Cuz he obviously was getting you leads that was actually working. So, I'm like, let's go get that guy. One.

[00:02:32]Yeah, the issue is that we saw is that they're all pushing the free solar narrative and solar's not free. So, it brings in a ton of unqualified people.

[00:02:41]You mean because the R&D credits expired?

[00:02:44]I mean, I guess, but this it just brings in people that are just BSers.

[00:02:51]Nah.

[00:02:52]Nah.

[00:02:54]Nah. We we So, so solar is super custom.

[00:02:57]Mhm. And it has been, but the narrative has been get in home, we can't give you a price till we get in home. So, our thought is we design free packages, run Google PPC to those packages, and just try to get people that way.

[00:03:12]Well, >> But I don't know.

[00:03:13]>> say your current way isn't working that well, right?

[00:03:16]No, I mean, we started it 2 months ago.

[00:03:19]So, whenever I'm going to get into like if there's a behemoth in your space, I replicate before I iterate. So, I would copy the existing thing before I get cute because like new always sucks.

[00:03:32]Yeah.

[00:03:35]No, seriously. Like, think about think about the the apps in the App Store. They've been the same for like 20 years cuz like new sucks always. So, it's like we don't earn the right to do new things until we are until we replicate what already works.

[00:03:50]Also, I think I would check what they're dealing with, okay?

[00:03:54]The behemoth is called Good Faith Energy, but they are $30 million company, and they pride themselves on number one solar company in Texas. Okay.

[00:04:03]Tesla Powerwall. It's really it. They really cling to Tesla heavily. Okay. So?

[00:04:11]So, where do I go? Do I just tell them that we're going to run with them and run with it?

[00:04:15]>> Yeah. I mean, you sell batteries, right?

[00:04:17]You sell the same deliverable, correct?

[00:04:20]Yeah, we're we're certified with all the same people. Is the product better?

[00:04:25]No, it comes from the same place.

[00:04:27]Okay, so it's the same?

[00:04:30]Yes. Okay, so if you have the same thing, how do you beat somebody?

[00:04:35]More money. No. No, no, it's a real question. If you have the same If you have Every dude, if you've learned anything from my content, every player on the field always has an advantage.

[00:04:43]So, what are your advantages?

[00:04:46]We can install anyone with under 60 days. Speed. So, you're faster than them?

[00:04:52]Mhm. Okay, so you got speed, number one.

[00:04:54]What about ease? Can you do anything for them that's a little bit white more white glove than they do?

[00:05:01]Mhm.

[00:05:05]I would say communication. That's been a big thing in solar.

[00:05:07]>> Yeah. Can I give you a hint?

[00:05:10]Yes. You can have my cell phone. I'm the founder. These guys are these big behemoths, they don't care, you're just a number.

[00:05:17]So, like you should always be able to beat these guys cuz you're not actually competing against the behemoth, you're competing against account rep number seven.

[00:05:24]Yeah, that's very true. Right?

[00:05:26]So, you'll beat them on speed, you'll beat them on service. What else?

[00:05:33]I mean, price, but I don't want to I don't want to I want to I don't want you to win on on price, man.

[00:05:40]Just do it on speed and do it on service, and I would replicate the offer that we already know works.

[00:05:47]Okay. I mean, I think we have a good base. We got 65 reviews on Google. Good.

[00:05:51]I've got 15k followers on Instagram, 200 on TikTok, so I figured I could do something with it.

[00:05:57]Yeah, I do think that long-term it makes more sense for you to use the Instagram to go attract door-to-door guys, personally.

[00:06:03]I think it's higher leverage. One sales guy's going to make you a million bucks a year. One uh you know one uh one lead's not going to be worth very much, right? From a house house owner's perspective.

[00:06:15]No, I mean, revenue you're looking at something like 40 to 70, but Say it again? Gross profit before it.

[00:06:21]Um average ticket is like 40 to 70k, but that's before paying for everything.

[00:06:25]Yeah. And that sales will be like 10.

[00:06:28]Yeah, per sale. Right. So, it's like I'd rather go get a node that generates sales, which is a sales person, who consistently can bring me give me people. Now, you said you shut your door-to-door down, which um I'm not even going to touch for now, but as I see this here are my steps. Step number one is we got to get the to the greatest degree possible, job offer the people who used to work your account that were getting you leads that were working. Thing number one. And just like just do whatever you can to go get in touch with these people cuz whenever I have something that works, I never want to let it go, right? Once you have a flow, never let it go. Ooh, that rhymed. There you go. There you go. Little Savant, little little rhyming action. Okay. So, job offer that guy, number one. Number two is we got to replicate the existing offer from a lead gen perspective.

[00:07:10]Now, when we win in the paint, we're going to win on the things that we have, which is going to be speed and service.

[00:07:16]Mhm.

[00:07:17]Now, what I would do is do you have a manager who comes by and does like the the the tour walk-around once the person um uh gets the stuff installed, the battery installed?

[00:07:29]Oh, yeah, like a like a post-sales survey kind of thing.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah. So, what I would do when that person >> it. Well, actually what I want you to do is actually have your manager or like the the the crew runner, whatever. Have that guy go >> director? Yeah, exactly. Have that guy swing by and say, "Hey, how is the service?"

[00:07:46]They're going to you know, "How is the How are the guys?" They're going to say great or whatever. And then you're going to say, "Hey, you know, ownership gives the guys a little spiff if you leave a review. I know it would mean the world to them."

[00:07:57]Uh and so people are more likely to give a review because the people were there and they know that it's going to help those guys out. It's like, "Hey, you know, John and Dan, you know, they got families. It helps them out if if you think they did a good job if you leave them a review and put their name in it and it would mean a lot. The owner spits them a little extra."

[00:08:14]Okay. And then what if And just have that guy give a thank you crew thank you gift from the crew before asking for it.

[00:08:21]Say, "Hey, the crew got together said you guys were an awesome homeowner.

[00:08:24]Here's a $50 thing, you know, just thanks for being a you know, we get a lot of crazy people so you were awesome. Thank you."

[00:08:31]Yeah, that'd be great. That's a good point.

[00:08:33]Okay. My last question would be to your first point where you said hire the person. If I can't hire them and they they started another company, if their up-tick is lower, should I just try to beat everybody out to buy those leads? Yeah.

[00:08:48]Make a commitment. Say, "Listen, you're starting your business. I'm a small business owner, too. We're in this together. If I succeed, you succeed. The more good leads I get, the more I can buy from you."

[00:08:57]Okay. You're too small for these guys.

[00:08:59]They're not taking you seriously, but you're just big enough for me.

[00:09:02]Yeah, no, cuz they funnel all their traffic >> what she said. Okay, can we go? Sorry.

[00:09:07]No, I was just saying the behemoth they do funnel all their traffic funnel to their Yeah.

[00:09:12]contact page on their website based on their thousand reviews that they get.

[00:09:16]>> Yeah. So we got to get your reviews up, but you always have the best position, which is the like, "Listen, you're at at the behemoth you're going to be you know, house number 278. With me, you got all my attention. I'm here. Something breaks, call me."

[00:09:28]Like every single one of these reviews makes a huge difference in my life and my family's stuff. I'm going to make sure I'm going to take care of you.

[00:09:33]Okay. So actionable steps is Mhm. hire that person or go in with them. Mhm. Get all their volume.

[00:09:41]Step two is Replicate the offer.

[00:09:45]Replicate the offer.

[00:09:47]Number three is win on speed and service.

[00:09:50]post install. Yes, and win on speed and service. That's your angle.

[00:09:55]So you don't compete on price. Cool.

[00:09:57]Dude, you are awesome. You're awesome, dude. I appreciate you.

[00:10:00]Thank you so much for everything you put out, man. It's great. You bet, dude. Let me know how it goes. I'll see you in the group. All right, sir. Take care. All right, see you, bro. If you are a business owner and you are not growing as fast as you'd like, I'd like to give you a free gift. So, my team and I put together the $100 million scaling road map, which is basically 200 hours of us looking over all the portfolio companies we've had and what stages of growth they went through and more importantly, where they got stuck and how they got past it.

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