The short answer
A solar sales follow-up sequence should run at least eight touches over three weeks, then continue monthly for a year. The first hour carries an instant text and a call attempt, the first week carries four more attempts across text, call and email, and the long tail keeps a light monthly touch going until the lead buys or asks you to stop.
- 01Eight touches in three weeks, then monthly. Most companies stop at two.
- 02Vary the channel. Four identical voicemails is one attempt repeated.
- 03Every touch should carry something, not just check in.
- 04The long tail is where a third of eventual sales come from, and nobody works it.
Solar has a long decision window. A homeowner requesting a quote today may sign in nine weeks, after a bill, a conversation with a spouse, a financing decision and two competing quotes. The company still present at week nine wins, and presence is a sequence rather than an act of will.
What happens in the first hour?
- 01
Minute 0: automatic text
Fired by the form submission or the missed call. Names a person, acknowledges the enquiry, promises a call with a time on it, and asks one easy question. See missed-call text-back for solar.
- 02
Minute 0: automatic email
Slightly longer. What happens next, roughly how long a survey takes, and one piece of genuinely useful information such as what affects payback locally. No brochure.
- 03
Minute 5: first call attempt
A person. If no answer, no voicemail on the first attempt: a missed call from a local number gets returned more often than a voicemail gets listened to.
- 04
Minute 30: second call attempt, with a voicemail
Short, names the enquiry, gives a direct number, and says you will text as well. Then text.
The first week
| Day | Touch | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Call, then text | The two attempts above, plus an evening text if nothing |
| Day 2 | Call at a different time | If you tried mornings, try after five |
| Day 3 | Email with something useful | A relevant install nearby, or the local incentive position |
| Day 5 | Text | One line, one question, no pitch |
| Day 7 | Call and voicemail | Reference the original enquiry date |
That is eight touches across four channels inside a week. It sounds aggressive written down and does not feel aggressive to the recipient, because each one is short, each one is different, and the whole thing is about the request they made.
Weeks two to four
Slow down, keep going, and change what you are asking for. After a week of unanswered attempts, stop asking for a survey and start asking for a decision about whether they are still interested.
- Day 10. Email: a short case study of a similar roof in a nearby town.
- Day 14. Call, then text. Ask directly whether now is the wrong time, and say you will stop chasing if so. A surprising number of replies come from this one.
- Day 21. Email: the practical stuff people actually worry about, such as what happens to the roof warranty or what a power cut does.
- Day 28. Final active touch. Say plainly that you will stop here and leave the door open.
The day fourteen message is the highest-performing in most sequences, which is counter-intuitive until you send it. Permission to say no is the easiest thing in the world to respond to.
The long tail, which is where the money is
After a month, the lead moves from active follow-up to a monthly touch. Not a chase, a broadcast: one genuinely useful message a month to everyone in the not-yet bucket.
- 01A utility rate change. The single strongest reactivation trigger in solar.
- 02An incentive or scheme deadline, only when real.
- 03A completed install in their area, with the system size and what it cost roughly.
- 04A seasonal note, such as what winter output actually looks like locally.
- 05A straight check-in, twice a year, asking whether anything has changed.
Keep this running for twelve months. It is the cheapest pipeline a solar company has and almost nobody works it, which is also the subject of how to reactivate old solar leads and solar lead nurturing.
How do you make it survive a busy week?
Every part of this sequence is easy in week one and impossible by week six, because the crews are behind and somebody is on holiday. Three rules keep it alive.
- Automate every text and email. They should fire on a timer without anybody choosing to send them.
- Put only the calls on a person, in a queue that shows who to ring today and nothing else.
- Never let the sequence depend on remembering. If a human has to decide to start it, it stops the first busy week.
The sequence, running whether anyone remembers or not
Automated lead follow-upStop reading, start booking
Volt builds and runs the system this article describes: the site, the follow-up, the inbox and the review funnel, for $297 a month.
No contracts. Cancel anytime.
Common questions
- How many follow-up attempts is too many?
- Aggression comes from repetition and tone, not from count. Eight varied, short, useful touches in three weeks reads as attentive. Four identical voicemails reads as harassment. Stop immediately when asked.
- Should follow-up be automated or personal?
- Both. Texts and emails automated so they never get skipped, calls personal because that is where the sale happens. The automation exists to make sure the human attempts actually occur.
- What do I say after the fourth attempt?
- Change the ask. Stop requesting a survey and ask whether the timing is wrong, offering to stop. It is the highest-response message in most sequences because it is easy to answer honestly.
