How to ask for solar referrals

Most referral asks fail for the same reason most review asks fail: the timing is wrong and the request is too vague to act on. Both are fixable in an afternoon.

Why does the usual ask not work?

If you know anyone who needs solar, send them our way. Said warmly, on the last day, and it produces almost nothing. Three reasons.

• Anyone is too broad. Asked to think of anyone, people think of nobody. It is a memory problem rather than a willingness problem.
• The timing is early. The customer has panels and no evidence yet. They cannot recommend an outcome they have not seen.
• There is nothing to pass on. The customer has to remember your name, find your number, and compose an introduction themselves.

When should you ask?

1. 01

   At commissioning, verbally, from the crew

   Not a pitch, a plant. Most of our work comes from people mentioning us to a neighbour. If anyone asks about the panels over the next few weeks, we would be glad if you pointed them at us. Ten seconds, from the person who did the work.

2. 02

   After the first lower bill, in writing

   This is the real ask, and it fires automatically a few weeks later alongside the review request. The customer now has a number, which is what makes them able to recommend rather than just willing.

Be specific about who

Replace anyone with a description the customer can picture. The difference in response is larger than it sounds.

The right-hand column works because it names a specific person the customer can actually picture. The left-hand column asks them to search an entire mental address book, and nobody does.

What message should you send?

Hi Sarah, hope the first bill was a pleasant surprise. Quick ask: if anyone on your street asked about the panels while we were there, would you mind passing this on? [link] We pay $X when a referral goes ahead, and I will tell you if it does. No pressure either way.

Then, on its own, the thing they can forward. This is the part almost everybody omits and it is the part that decides whether anything happens.

Hi, we had solar fitted by Volt Solar a few weeks ago and it has gone well. If you were thinking about it, they will tell you straight whether your roof is worth doing. [link]

The forwardable version, written for them

After the referral

1. 01Tell the referrer you have been in touch. Within a day, so they know the introduction landed.
2. 02Tell them the outcome, either way. A referral that went nowhere still deserves an answer, and it keeps the next one coming.
3. 03Pay within a week of the job completing. Slow payment ends referral programmes faster than a small reward does.
4. 04Thank them visibly. A short handwritten note is unusual enough now to be memorable, and it costs almost nothing.
5. 05Ask again at twelve months, with their annual savings figure attached.

All of that sits inside a wider structure covered in solar referral programme ideas, and it works best when the asks fire off the job rather than depending on anybody remembering. See also how to get more reviews for solar installers, which uses the same moments for a different purpose.

One final thought on why this is worth the small awkwardness. A referred prospect arrives having already had the trust conversation with somebody they know, which is the conversation your website, your reviews and your first phone call all exist to have. They arrive past it. That is why referral leads close at rates no paid channel gets near, and why an ask that takes ten seconds is worth building into the job properly.