Installer guide · 11 min read
Short answer: call every new commercial solar lead within minutes, plan several attempts over the first week at different times of day, qualify on the first conversation, book the survey with the person who signs and confirm it twice. Most leads that "went nowhere" were lost between the enquiry and the site visit, not at the proposal.
Speed to lead is the time from an enquiry arriving to your first real attempt to reach the person. Whether the lead came from your website, an ad, a lead supplier or a referral, it is at its warmest the moment it lands. The business owner has just been thinking about their energy bill, is often still at their desk, and may have asked two or three installers at once.
This is not a new finding. A 2011 Harvard Business Review study of online sales leads, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", concluded that most companies were not responding nearly fast enough. Shared leads make it sharper still: if the same enquiry went to several installers, the first one to have a proper conversation usually gets the survey. See exclusive vs shared solar leads for how that changes what a lead is worth.
Speed to lead is a cover problem, not an effort problem: leads arrive while surveyors are on roofs. Decide who answers new enquiries at each time of day, including lunch and holidays.
The aim of the first call is a booked survey with the right person, or an honest no. Check the basics before anything goes in the diary: does the business own the building (or have the landlord's consent), roughly what does it spend on electricity, what condition is the roof or is there land, when would it want the system, and who signs off the spend? Our guide to qualifying commercial solar leads has the full checklist and the questions to ask.
Few people answer the first call. Persistence over the first week, at varied times and through more than one channel, is what turns an enquiry into a conversation. Adapt this plan to your own team:
| When | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Within minutes of the enquiry | Call. If no answer, send a short text or email saying who you are, what they asked about and when you will try again | They are still thinking about it and may have asked other installers too |
| Same day, a few hours later | Second call at a different time of day | Business owners are often out in the morning |
| Day 2 | Call, then an email with one useful thing: what a survey involves and what to have ready (bills or half-hourly data, roof access) | A reason to reply |
| Days 3 to 5 | One or two more calls at different times; try the main switchboard and ask who looks after the energy bills | The enquirer may not be the person who signs |
| Day 7 | A last, polite email: "Shall I close this off, or is there a better time?" | Gets a yes, a no or a date |
| After that | A dated reminder in your CRM for the timescale they gave, or close it with a reason | "Not now" often means "next quarter" |
For example wording, see cold calling scripts for commercial solar and cold email for commercial solar.
A booking is not a meeting until it has been confirmed. The steps below take a few minutes each and stop most wasted trips:
| When | What to do | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| While booking | Offer two specific slots and book it on the call. Name who will attend, and ask for the person who signs off spend. | A meeting agreed "sometime next week" rarely happens |
| Straight after | Send a calendar invite with the address, parking or site access, who is coming from your side and a direct phone number. | It is now in their diary, not just yours |
| A few days before | Ask for the last 12 months of electricity bills or half-hourly data, and roof or land access details. | A prospect who sends bills is far more likely to be there |
| The day before | Call or message to confirm the time and who will be present. If it no longer suits, rebook there and then. | A rebooked meeting is better than a wasted trip |
| On the day | Message when the surveyor sets off, with an arrival time. | Last chance to catch a clash before the drive |
For what your surveyor should check before, during and after the visit itself, see the commercial solar survey checklist on our sister site, Solar Surveys UK. For following up after the survey and the proposal, see how to sell commercial solar.
A site meeting that falls through usually traces back to one of five causes:
| Cause | What it looks like | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Slow first contact | The enquiry went cold, or another installer booked first | Call within minutes, every time, and log the response time |
| Wrong person booked | The office manager agreed; the owner never knew | Ask who signs off spend and invite them by name |
| Not really qualified | Tenant with no landlord consent, or a roof that needs replacing first | Qualify ownership, energy spend, roof and timescale before booking |
| No confirmation | The meeting was forgotten or double-booked | Calendar invite, bills request and a day-before call |
| Long gap to the survey | Plans or priorities changed in the meantime | Book as soon as your diary allows and keep in touch in between |
Four numbers, reviewed weekly, show where leads are being lost: response time (enquiry to first call), contact rate (leads you actually spoke to), booking rate (conversations that became surveys) and show rate (surveys that happened with the decision-maker). If contact rate is low, look at speed and cadence. If show rate is low, look at qualification and confirmation. Then put your own numbers into the lead calculator to see how many leads your install target really needs, and the cost per lead calculator to see what each signed job costs once lost leads are counted.
A summary of ICO guidance, not legal advice:
| Following up leads in-house | |
|---|---|
| Who does it | Someone free to answer and call back during the day, not a surveyor on a roof |
| Hours | Short bursts all day, every day: speed to lead depends on cover, including lunch and holidays |
| Tools | A CRM that logs every attempt, sets reminders and shows response times; a shared calendar |
| Skills | Enough knowledge to qualify a business, a roof and a bill on the first call |
| Management | A weekly look at response times, contact rate, bookings and show rate |
For the full line-by-line cost of a person doing this, see in-house vs outsourced solar lead generation.
| Buying leads and following up yourself | Booked site meetings from TNW Marketing | |
|---|---|---|
| First contact | Your team, whenever someone is free | Done before the meeting reaches you |
| Qualification | Your questions and your caller | Ownership or landlord consent, energy spend, roof or land and buying intent checked before booking |
| Confirmation | Your process | Booked with the decision-maker and confirmed |
| What you pay for | Leads or ad spend, plus the time to chase them, whether or not a meeting happens | Each qualified, attended appointment (£250 to £1,000+VAT per booked appointment); no retainer, no minimum spend |
| No-shows and poor fits | Your cost | Replaced or refunded rather than charged |
| Show rate | Depends on your follow-up and confirmation | 60%+ |
If you already have someone who answers every enquiry within minutes and confirms every booking, buying leads and following them up yourself can work well. If follow-up falls to people whose days belong on roofs and in proposals, paying only for meetings that actually happen is the simpler route. TNW Marketing books pre-qualified, exclusive commercial site meetings with the decision-maker and is paid per qualified, attended appointment. See appointment setting for solar installers, how pay per appointment works and pay per lead vs retainer, or hear from installers in our case studies.
See available projectsSpeed to lead is the time between an enquiry arriving and your first real attempt to contact that person. For a commercial solar installer it is the gap between a business filling in a form, or a lead supplier sending you a lead, and someone from your team calling them.
As quickly as you can, ideally within minutes and the same working day at the latest. The enquiry is fresh, the person is often still at their desk and they may have asked other installers too. If nobody can call that fast, send a short text or email straight away saying who you are and when you will ring.
Qualify before you book, book a specific time with the person who signs, send a calendar invite straight away, ask for electricity bills or half-hourly data before the visit and call the day before to confirm. Rebook rather than let a meeting quietly fall through.
Following up an enquiry the business made is normal, but marketing rules still apply. Under PECR you must not make marketing calls to numbers on the TPS or Corporate TPS unless they have told you they are happy to hear from you, and you must stop if asked. Sole traders and some partnerships are treated like individuals for email. This is a summary of ICO guidance, not legal advice.
TNW Marketing’s show rate is 60%+. Appointments that cancel, do not show or do not match the agreed brief are replaced or refunded rather than charged, because TNW is paid per qualified, attended appointment.
More questions? Read the TNW Marketing FAQ or contact the team.
How paying per attended site appointment works, how it compares with pay per lead and retainers, and what counts as an attended meeting.
What commercial solar leads are, what they cost, and 12 UK suppliers compared on price, exclusivity, contract and no-show terms.
What Lead Pronto offers, from its own website, and six alternative UK solar lead suppliers compared on lead type, exclusivity, price, contract and no-shows.
What each costs and why, who carries the no-show risk, how to check a supplier's exclusivity claim, and when shared leads can make sense.
What an in-house appointment setter really costs, line by line, against buying booked appointments, with a cost-per-meeting calculator.
Cost, risk, contract terms and lead quality side by side, and when a retainer can still make sense.
Full-service agencies, lead suppliers and pay-per-booking lead generation compared, the channels that win commercial work, and what to ask before you sign.
Renewable energy marketing services compared, inbound vs outbound, retainer vs pay per booking, and why commercial solar is the one thing TNW does.
What appointment setting is, how agencies charge, in-house vs outsourced setters, UK rules on B2B calls and email, and what to ask before you sign.
Where UK solar PV tenders are published, which public sector frameworks have solar lots, what buyers ask for and how bids are scored.
How a rooftop or private wire PPA works, the parties and contract terms, which customers qualify, what funders ask for, and the alternatives.
What has closed (PSDS) and what is open now: Great British Energy solar for schools and the NHS, Salix loans in Scotland and Wales, and how installers win the work.
Hire purchase, leasing and PPAs compared, and when the FCA rules on credit broking apply: individuals, the £25,000 business exemption and introducer ARs.
Engineering, procurement and construction vs design and build, the FIDIC, NEC and JCT contract forms, typical EPC terms and subcontracting to an EPC.
The VAT rate on commercial jobs, when the construction reverse charge applies, invoice wording, and CIS registration, deductions and returns, from HMRC.
For roofers and solar installers: overclad or re-roof first, asbestos and structural checks, RC62 fire classification, the Part L upgrade, sequencing and tax.
Official UK solar statistics: capacity and installations by size band and region, growth trends, 2030 targets and business energy prices, all with sources.
Year-by-year DESNZ tables since 2010: capacity and installations by size band, the commercial bands month by month, generation and share of electricity, with a CSV.
Win commercial solar site surveys from LinkedIn: who to target, Sales Navigator vs free, example messages, LinkedIn's limits and the UK data rules.
Cold email for commercial solar: who to email, UK rules (PECR, UK GDPR), deliverability set-up, example emails and follow-ups, and what it really takes.
Book commercial solar site surveys by phone: call lists, TPS/CTPS screening, switchboard, opening, qualifying and objection scripts, and the UK rules.
Build a target list before you call: Companies House SIC codes, the EPC and DEC registers, Land Registry ownership data and SECR energy reports.
Video interviews with installers using TNW: site meetings booked, system sizes, deals closed and what changed for their business.
Work out how many site surveys and leads you need to hit your monthly installation target, from your own booking and close rates.
What each signed job really costs you, profit after lead spend, and the most you can pay per lead or booked appointment, with a side-by-side comparison.
The channels UK commercial installers use to book site surveys, what "qualified" really means and the numbers to track.
What to check before you buy commercial solar leads: exclusivity, qualification, format, pricing and replacements.
Cost per lead vs cost per booked meeting, what drives the price, and how to work out what you can afford to pay.
A five-point checklist and the first-call questions that stop surveyors driving to sites that will never sign.
Browse every installer guide on the guides hub.
Pre-qualified, exclusive, attended commercial solar appointments with the decision-maker. Pay per appointment, no retainer, no minimum spend.
See available projects