Installer guide · 13 min read
Short answer: solar telemarketing is paying someone to phone businesses for you, qualify them and book site surveys. Agencies charge by the hour, by the month, per lead or per appointment, so compare them on one number: what each attended survey with a decision-maker costs you. You can be liable for an agency's calls under PECR, so check how it screens its data before you sign.
Solar telemarketing, sometimes called solar telesales, is outbound calling done for a solar installer. A caller works through a list of potential customers, gets past the switchboard, finds the person who looks after the energy bills, checks the business fits and books a next step. For a commercial installer that next step is almost always a site survey.
Commercial and domestic telemarketing are different jobs. Calling homeowners is a volume game with its own rules. Calling businesses means talking to owners, finance directors and operations managers about a five or six figure investment, so the caller needs to qualify a roof, a lease and an electricity bill on the call. Before you hire anyone, ask which kind they do. If you want to run calls yourself instead, our guide to cold calling for commercial solar has the scripts, and commercial solar prospecting shows how to build the call list from public data.
Most installers think of telemarketing as appointment setting, but the same callers and the same rules can be pointed at several jobs. Decide which one you are buying before you talk to an agency:
| Campaign | What the caller does | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment setting | Call businesses that fit your brief, qualify them and book a site survey with the person who signs | Booked (ideally attended) surveys |
| Lead qualification | Call enquiries you already have (web forms, ads, bought leads) to check they are real and worth a visit | Fewer wasted trips |
| Reactivation | Call old quotes and enquiries that went quiet to ask what changed | Revived proposals from data you already paid for |
| Data research and cleansing | Confirm the right contact, number and decision-maker before a campaign | A cleaner call list |
| Event and webinar follow-up | Call attendees and contacts from a show or a talk | Conversations while interest is fresh |
If what you actually want is meetings, see appointment setting for solar installers for how that service is sold, and how to qualify commercial solar leads for the questions a caller should ask before anything goes in your diary.
The pricing model decides who carries the risk of a month with no surveys. It matters more than the headline rate:
| Model | You pay for | Who carries the risk | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per hour or per day | Caller time | You | Activity reports that look busy while the diary stays empty |
| Monthly retainer | A fixed fee for a team or campaign | You | Minimum terms and loose definitions of a result |
| Per lead | Each enquiry or "interested" contact passed over | Mostly you | Your team still has to call, qualify and book |
| Per booked appointment | Each meeting put in your diary | Shared | Bookings that never happen, unless no-shows are replaced |
| Per attended appointment | Each qualified meeting that actually takes place | Mostly the provider | A vague brief: agree what "qualified" means in writing |
To compare quotes fairly, turn each one into a cost per attended survey and then a cost per signed job. The solar cost per lead calculator does that from your own close rate, and pay per lead vs retainer sets the models side by side. TNW Marketing's published price is £250 to £1,000+VAT per booked appointment, set by system size and qualification, paid per qualified, attended appointment: see how pay per appointment works.
Outsourcing the calling does not outsource the law. The ICO says the organisation that makes marketing calls and the one that instigates them must both comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), and that using someone else to make calls for you can make you both responsible. It also says you should check a third party is reliable and have a written contract with them.
The core rules for live calls to businesses, from ICO guidance: do not call numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or the Corporate TPS (CTPS) unless the business has told you it is happy to hear from you, do not call anyone who has asked you not to, say who is calling, display a number they can call back on, and give a contact address or freephone number if asked. Sole traders and some partnerships register with the TPS and companies with the CTPS, so B2B data needs screening against both.
It is not a technicality. On 20 May 2026 the ICO fined Glasgow-based Energy Prices Direct Limited £160,000 for more than 700,000 unsolicited marketing calls, including to numbers on the TPS and CTPS. The ICO said the company had bought calling data without establishing whether the numbers had been screened. The full rules, with what to check on bought-in data, are in our guide to B2B cold calling rules in the UK.
A telemarketing campaign is only as good as the brief. Agree in writing what a good appointment looks like before the first call is made, so neither side is guessing later. Cover these:
| What to agree | |
|---|---|
| Who to call | Sectors and site types that fit (warehouses, manufacturing, farms, cold storage, hotels and care homes), and any you will not do |
| Where | The area or radius your surveyors will travel |
| Minimum job | A minimum system size or energy spend, so small jobs are not booked into a long drive |
| Must-haves | Building ownership or landlord consent, a roof or land that can take panels, a reason to look now |
| Who must attend | The person who signs off the spend, not only whoever answered the phone |
| Diary | Which days and times your surveyors can attend, and how much notice they need |
| What counts | What makes an appointment chargeable, and what happens if it cancels or does not show |
Ask for the same five numbers every week, whoever does the calling. They show where a campaign is losing prospects, and they stop a busy activity report hiding an empty diary:
| Number | What it counts | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Dials | Every call attempt | Is the work being done? |
| Connects | Somebody answered | Data quality and calling times |
| Conversations | A real conversation with the decision-maker | Switchboard skill and targeting |
| Surveys booked | A qualified site meeting in your diary | Opening, qualifying and objection handling |
| Surveys attended | It happened, with the person who signs | Confirmation and honest qualification |
Then put your own booking and close rates into the lead calculator to see how many surveys your install target needs. Once surveys are booked, the solar lead follow-up guide covers confirming them so they happen.
For how named UK suppliers answer some of these (lead type, price, contract and no-show terms), see our comparison of solar lead providers in the UK and the guide to exclusive vs shared solar leads.
| In-house telesales | Telemarketing agency (time or retainer) | Booked site meetings from TNW Marketing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who calls | Your own telesales hire | An agency paid for its callers' time | TNW Marketing, using outbound calling, email, LinkedIn and paid ads |
| Data and screening | You buy, build and screen it | Usually the agency; check how | Handled for you |
| Qualification | Your script and caller | Their script and your brief | Ownership or landlord consent, energy spend, roof or land and buying intent checked before booking |
| What you pay for | Salary, data, tools and management, whatever the result | Hours, days or a monthly fee, whatever the result | Each qualified, attended appointment (£250 to £1,000+VAT per booked appointment); no retainer, no minimum spend |
| No-shows and poor fits | Your cost | Usually your cost | Replaced or refunded rather than charged |
| Show rate | Depends on your confirmation process | Depends on the agency | 60%+ |
In-house calling gives you full control and keeps the knowledge in your business, but you pay the salary, data and tools whether or not surveys land. The line-by-line cost of a setter is in in-house vs outsourced solar lead generation. An agency paid for time moves the work but not the risk. Paying per attended appointment moves both.
Word for word, from installers interviewed for our case studies:
More interviews are on the case studies page.
See available projectsSolar telemarketing is phoning potential customers on behalf of a solar installer to qualify them and book a next step, usually a site survey. For commercial solar it means calling businesses that own suitable buildings and pay large electricity bills, checking they fit the installer's brief, and booking a survey with the person who signs off the spend.
Not quite. Telemarketing describes the activity: calls made and conversations had. Appointment setting describes the outcome: a qualified meeting in your diary. A telemarketing campaign can be used for appointment setting, but also for qualifying leads you already have, reviving old quotes or cleaning data. When you buy it, pay for the outcome you need rather than the calls.
Agencies charge by the hour or day, by monthly retainer, per lead, per booked appointment or per attended appointment, so prices are not comparable until you know which. The real comparison is cost per attended survey. TNW Marketing charges £250 to £1,000+VAT per booked appointment, paid per qualified, attended commercial solar appointment, with no retainer and no minimum spend.
Yes, live marketing calls to businesses are allowed under PECR, but not to numbers registered with the TPS or the Corporate TPS (CTPS) unless the business has told you it is happy to receive your calls, and not to anyone who has asked you not to call. You must say who is calling and display your number. This is a summary of ICO guidance, not legal advice.
You can be. The ICO says the organisation making the calls and the organisation instigating them must both comply, and that using someone else to make calls for you can make you both responsible. Check the agency is reliable, have a written contract, and ask how it screens its data.
TNW Marketing books pre-qualified, exclusive commercial solar site meetings for UK installers using outbound calling, email, LinkedIn and paid ads. It is paid per qualified, attended appointment rather than for calling time, and bookings that cancel, do not show or do not match the agreed brief are replaced or refunded rather than charged.
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.
Solar installer leads for sale in the UK: 12 providers compared on lead type, price, contract and no-show terms, and pay per appointment from £250.
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.
Why businesses and SPVs can't use it, how mixed-use farms, holiday lets and landlords can, and what to tell a business customer who asks.
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.
PECR, TPS and CTPS screening, the 28-day rule, bought-in data, named contacts and UK GDPR, agencies and ICO fines, with a compliance checklist.
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.
How solar leads are priced: per lead, per booked or attended appointment, retainer or revenue share, and shared vs exclusive.
Cost per lead vs cost per booked meeting, what drives the price, and how to work out what you can afford to pay.
Call new leads within minutes, a first-week follow-up plan, confirming the survey twice and the five reasons booked surveys don't happen.
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 projectsThis page summarises ICO guidance. It is not legal advice.