Want to know the secret to developing commercial solar self-consumption proposals that convert at a 100% rate?
Unfortunately, there is no such formula. Oops 
.
Although the perfect offer does not exist, at Wattwin we have been working with hundreds of installers and energy companies for years, and we have some experience in creating convincing commercial proposals..
The idea is that, with a good commercial proposal of self-consumption, your future customer knows that you are the best option to trust for a renewable energy project and end up choosing you as a supplier. After all, he is entrusting you with his house or his company, and of course, his money... No pressure.
But don't panic! In this article we tell you the 5 key elements to make your budgets, winning offers, learning the main tricks that will make the chances of closing your sale are much higher. At the heart of any sale of solar self-consumption, there are always essential elements to catch the attention of your customers.
By the way, if you are one of those who eat the popcorn before the movie starts.You can now download the free template to create self-consumption commercial proposals here.
You can now download the free template to create self-consumption commercial proposals here.
Table of Contents
Customer profile
If you are able to adapt the proposal and the speech to your client, you will have practically every chance of winning.
Before you make any move to interact with your customer, you need to know who they are and what they are like. It may seem so obvious to you that you may want to skip the book's prologue, but we assure you that, if you read on, you will be surprised.
You already know this: it is not the same to be hired by an individual or a company. In the same way, it is not the same to deal with someone who is looking for relief on their electricity bill than with someone who wants to reduce their environmental impact and thus contribute to the transformation of the planet.
All these people will want to see that your commercial proposal is unique and different, but, above all, that it is made according to their needs. Once you know their objectives, you are more likely to close your sale.
To know what your customer is looking for, it is necessary to know him and ask him questions. One of the ideas we propose is that you can add to your recruitment formpersonalized questions to help you classify the customer profile and know what is most important to them and what they are looking for. You can also create a list of questions for you or your sales team to ask over the phone or in person.
According to the study conducted by our team of sales experts, there are five profiles that we can find, each with specific requirements.
- The advanced learner: He/she is passionate about learning new things and when he/she gets into a new project, he/she soaks up all the information available to him/her.
- The saver: This profile is most interested in reducing costs in their utility bills.
- The Modern: They are those who are always in fashion if they don't start it themselves. With this customer profile, you will always be up to date.
- The Activist: The important thing for this profile is to leave a green footprint on the planet and try to reduce the carbon footprint as much as possible from now on.
- The Cautious: The cautious client is the one who knows that betting on this type of project is a good option, but even so you need to have everything clear to invest your money there.
In summary: your self-consumption commercial proposal will include several blocks of content that we will see below. The most important of all and the one that has 80% of the weight of the decision is the first one: YOUR CUSTOMER.
In this section you will personalize your self-consumption commercial proposal as much as possible so that the customer feels that you are talking directly to him, including, of course, his name and surname.
What do you need to ensure that your business proposal is compelling?
It may seem simple but what you write in this first block has to transmit security and confidence. Here you will have to give him all the information that you know is important for him according to his profile. By explaining how you will contribute to improve their home/business you show how well you know them.
WattTip: Less is more. Get to the point, because too much text is confusing and boring. Use simple language and, above all, don't skimp on visual resources (graphs, tables, drawings, iconography...). These will help your client to land the ideas and make the information fresher.
Remember: A customized self-consumption business proposal for each customer is critical to stand out from the crowd of competitors.
Guess what the second most important element in a business proposal is?
Investment, Savings and Profit
Although each customer profile is different, most consumers are concerned about the costs or the investment they will have to make in their new self-consumption system, whether residential or industrial.
This part will be determinant in the decision making process, so you need to be as clear and direct as possible.
When your customer turns the page they will want to see how you are going to manage their installation project and how much the investment is going to cost them. This means you will need to answer some questions such as:
How much will the entire installation project cost?
How much will be saved over time?
What kind of incentives and/or subsidies are you eligible for?
Getting answers to these questions will help your client remove any financial barriers they may have, and reduce any doubts they may have when making the investment.
To this end, Wattwin recommends always including the following concepts:
- Selling price: cost of the complete installation, including the breakdown of products, materials and additional services, such as labor.
- Annual economic savings: savings produced by the proposed self-consumption system, broken down according to the purpose of the installation. For example, if it is self-consumption and surplus compensation, indicate it separately. This helps you understand the benefit you get in the short term.
- Total savings in 25 years: total savings produced at the end of 25 years. This concept helps you understand the benefit you get in the long term (As you know, the lifetime of the panels is approx. 25 years. This saving will be a good hook for your customer)!
- Payback Period: estimate of the time it will take to cover the initial costs of a financial operation.
This is an example of how your customer might visualize it in your proposal:
Remember: the main message we want to convey in this block is thatthe benefit will be greater than the investment made. And, to make this part as clear as possible, we recommend that it be very easy to read and understand visually. More image, less text.
WattTip: Showing them options with different payment methods adapted to their needs will grow the probability of your sale by 30%, especially for those consumers you can identify under the "Saver" profile.
Advantages and more advantages
Since we are talking about the benefits of investing in a project like this, take the opportunity to remind your client of all the benefits your installation offers. Emphasize the specific benefits that the client will obtain by taking this step.
For example, you can choose to compare their current bills and the expected one when they complete their self-consumption installation or even inform them of what the tax deductions and/or state subsidies are. Convince him that his decision is backed up with several advantages.
Once your client understands the numbers behind their project, it's time to show them what the installation is all about.
3. Design of the installation
Your self-consumption commercial proposal should include a customized design that adapts to your customer's needs.
This block will help you help the client understand how his installation will work, what elements it consists of, what they are used for, and what their layout will be.
Use the information gathered in your research about who your customer is and what he needs, to propose a solution that is unique and beneficial to him. To do this, it will be important to include in your commercial self-consumption proposal the exact design of the installation. Demonstrate how the design aligns with their energy needs.
Make sure this part includes:
- Brief explanation of how your renewable energy installation system will work and what its elements are for
- Proposed design (inclination, power, radiation, dimensions)
- Energy balance (energy generated and consumption)
- Annual analysis
- Product warranties
- What's included and what's not included in your installation, so that there are no doubts!
WattTip: Of course, having an accurate and intuitive PV designer will help you reduce the amount of time you spend designing the installation, automating the technical calculations and most of the parameters, as well as a breakdown of relative products and services. Doing it in a few minutes is possible, if you have the right tools.
4. Environmental Benefits
Not everything is cost and benefit.
Today, sustainability and environmental impact are equally or more important issues for the vast majority of customers, especially for the "Activist" - who will even have it ingrained in their values.
It is clear that the energy transition is the present and we are all heading there, sooner or later. Every day we are more aware of how our actions directly impact the planet. Surely your clients are people who have already incorporated several green initiatives and/or habits in their lives for a long time (recycling, indoor temperature, water consumption, food...) and installing a renewable energy system is to make the leap to a more sustainable world.
In this block you can show your customer the environmental impact of their decision to switch to self-consumption. Show them how your project will contribute to sustainability and carbon footprint reduction, in the end your client will invest a lot of money in this.
Backing up your claims with facts and/or figures will further strengthen your sales pitch in your self-consumption business proposal.
WattTip: You can rely on ideas such as the Kg of CO2 it saves the planet, the equivalent electric car km, how many trees planted would be the benefit of the installation ... Unleash your creativity!
In short, by highlighting the environmental benefits in your self-consumption business proposal, you are demonstrating that your company is not only concerned with short-term profitability, but also with the long-term well-being of the planet. This sustainability-aligned perspective can be a deciding factor for many customers.
5. Proof: you are the expert, let there be no doubt about it.
The energy sector, and specifically the world of electrical installation, has become a highly fragmented environment of competitors. And this means that in addition to having more and more competition, it is very likely that your customer will compare between several alternatives before making his final decision.
At this point what you need is evidence. Make sure you provide real evidence that inspires confidence and gives your customer the final push. Don't be afraid to show it and make sure you explain the value of your company in your self-consumption business proposal. You want your customer when they finish reading your proposal to think: "Decided. This is what I need."
WattTip: How can you provide evidence that will guide your prospect to trust you? Easy, be sure to include elements such as:
- Real testimonials from other customers
- Mention recent projects you have done near them (locally), supported by pictures of what the final result looks like.
- Guarantees and other specific benefits offered by your company
- Experience, certifications and other expertise you and your team can bring to the table
- Additional services you offer to make your life easier, such as processing, legalization, advice, etc.
Remember: This block could convince the profile of "the cautious one" whose interest is in that everything will go well and that he can rest easy leaving this project in your hands. Why... we know, you're exceptional! 😉
Now that you know the 5 key elements to turn your self-consumption budgets into a secure sale, there is only one last step left: apply these tips and start creating convincing commercial proposals in a quick and agile way, even in less than 10 minutes.
And how can you do that?
How Wattwin can help you create compelling business proposals in minutes
Wattwin is the software used by installers and marketers, among other companies in the sector, to manage the design, sale and implementation of self-consumption and electrification projects.
In Wattwin your commercial proposals are generated automatically. Yes, you read that right, automatically.
And how does it work exactly?
Unlike preparing your commercial proposals manually or using several programs at the same time, with Wattwin everything is optimized so that in a matter of minutes you have a convincing commercial proposal ready to send to your client, with all the necessary data, calculations and graphics, plus all the list of materials and additional services that are also calculated and added to the document automatically.
Thanks to the recruitment wizard that guides you step by step, you don't have to do anything else:
- Enter your customer data
- Design in minutes your customer's installation with our integrated designer
- Configure additional system settings and add supplementary data
- Click here to generate the offer
The platform already has our commercial templates pre-configured, which are personalized with your logo and data. However, if you wish, we can help you create modifications or create a new document for your company.
See how you can do it in just two minutes:
See how easy it is?
Now imagine how much time (and money) you would save in terms of proposal development alone, being able to serve many more customers and, therefore, generating more sales without the need to increase staff or saturate your processes or your employees.
Wattwin can help you sell better and sell more. With the help of powerful, easy-to-use engineering, sales and project tools integrated into our platform, you can simplify your day-to-day operations and scale your business without the hassle.
Now it's up to you. If you wish, you can schedule a demo with our experts to see how you could start creating compelling business proposals.
In short...
As the renewable energy sector becomes increasingly competitive, we need to think about how we can best communicate the value of our company to all our potential customers, starting with taking care of your commercial proposal. Incorporating these five elements into your self-consumption business proposals will help you be more successful in closing your sale.
As you have already seen, the most important thing is to know your customer well so that you can create a self-consumption business proposal that addresses all of their concerns. Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, the more personal and fine-tuned your offer document is, the more likely you are to win that sale.
And, of course, having the right technology and digital tools will help you simplify your day-to-day life and be more successful in selling self-consumption projects, automating many of the processes that you now perform manually or inefficiently.
Grow your business with Wattwin
Request a free personalized consulting session and demo. Tell us more about your business and your challenges, we will do the rest.
