The solar industry faces unique challenges, one of which is that sales representatives are often scattered throughout multiple big-box retail locations and door-to-door sales routes. Because of this particular dynamic, efficient and seamless communication and scheduling are critical.
Solar providers require a more real-time scheduling method to ensure sales leads don’t fall through the cracks. Mobile workforce management can help keep potential customers in the sales funnel and provide the necessary tools for better customer service through simple, transparent scheduling.
The Growing Demands for Residential Solar Power
As we charge into the new decade, more people realize the benefits of shifting to residential solar power. In fact, in 2019, 46% of Americans said they’ve given serious consideration to installing residential solar panels. Some states will potentially require new homes to include them in the near future. This increased interest doesn’t come as a surprise, as people become more conscious of our environmental impact. Coupled with the benefit of saving money on electricity, it stands to reason that solar companies will need to scale—and quickly—in the coming years to remain competitive.
When sales reps don’t have real-time availability to scheduling data, their conversion rates significantly drop. But mobile workforce management can help.
Schedule Resources Intelligently
So how does mobile workforce management actually lead to an increase in sales?
Traditionally, for door-to-door or big-box store sales, customer contact typically drops off prior to even scheduling an in-home consultation. The sales rep has to take the customer’s phone number, check the constantly changing schedules of other deskless workers, and then call the customer to schedule the appointment. If you’re lucky, the call doesn’t go to voicemail and the appointment is scheduled. More often than not, though, it’s never scheduled, which leads to major leaks in the sales funnel.
Customers have myriad choices for a solar provider. They’re also signing up to allow a stranger in their home for installation, so the entire process must be extremely buttoned up and seamless. If the solar provider fumbles the initial scheduling process—such as needing to collect customer information to contact them at a later time to schedule the consult, or dropping the ball on a reschedule—it means the opportunity to sell could be lost. Proper funnel management is absolutely essential.
Ensuring efficient scheduling doesn’t need to be a challenge. Using one centralized platform means sales can schedule appointments on the spot, increasing the chances of making a sale that could otherwise be lost altogether.
A great mobile workforce management platform allows your team to:
- Optimize scheduling: Use intelligent scheduling to book onsite consultations before the customer even leaves the store or closes the front door on representatives. Real-time scheduling means workforce visibility to all workers, which helps your team avoid double-booking, cancellations, and rescheduling errors.
- Match customer needs to resources: Quickly and easily select the right deskless worker for the right job at the right time. This can be based on experience, qualifications, location, or other factors, depending on what’s most important to your business.
- Capture customer data and automatically sync: One platform means customer details, job notes, billing information, and more are all stored in one secure place.
- User-friendly platform for fast scheduling: An intuitive mobile app works on any mobile device, so your sales reps scheduling in big-box stores or doing door-to-door sales can access the system at any time and get updates automatically.
