The Installation

Greeting Text 

On the morning of the installation, send a text to the homeowner in order to establish communication for the day. It is best to thank them for choosing X Company and find out if they will be home for the duration of the installation. This will allow the homeowner to easily notify you if for some reason our crew is not on time or if something seems out of the ordinary. If possible, find a good time to stop by to see the homeowners in person during the installation. 

Arrive with Gifts

When you arrive to the installation it is always good to arrive bearing gifts. Try to bring a thoughtful gift like the homeowner’s favorite type of wine or a gift card to their favorite restaurant. Any gift that is genuine will be very appreciated and increase the likelihood you will get referrals.  

Use the Referral Sheet

In some cases a homeowner might only give you a couple referrals before this point in the sales process. If you arrive at the install with gifts for your homeowner, it is highly unlikely that at this point if you ask for more referrals that they would not have more to give you. At this point, your homeowner will be excited about their decision to go solar and will at minimum be able to point you to the neighbors in the neighborhood who might be interested in going solar. The only scenario where you do not get referrals is if you do not ask. 

Recanvass the Area

After visiting the homeowner at the install, it is a great time to canvass the area. It's likely that you spoke with homeowners who were skeptical or unavailable when you first went through the area and by coming back while their neighbor is being installed you are able to leverage the installation going on as social proof that other people are excited enough about your product to go all the way through with it. You will be surprised by how effective this tactic is, social proof is a very compelling reason to at least explore a product. In addition, when you recanvass an area it proves your commitment as a professional which can also sway a homeowner who may have previously been skeptical. 

Inspection 

The installation is not complete until the inspection is approved. The inspection is usually within a week, almost always within 2 weeks. However, many times it can be same day or next day!. The inspection is when a representative from the town and a representative from our install team assess the work done to make sure it was done according to the plans that we originally submitted to the town. As a salesperson you will not be required to attend the inspection. In most cases the inspection is approved on the first appointment. If the inspection is not approved the first time, it is typically a quick thing that we need to add or change in order to gain approval. 

Installation

What is an installation?

An Initiate Solar installation partner installs the necessary equipment onto the Homeowner’s roof. 

What are the stages of an installation?

A. Installing and stringing the inverter. An inverter is a white box about the size of an electrical panel that converts the electricity produced by the solar panels from a direct current to an alternating current, which is the type of power a home uses. The inverter also takes the information collected by the optimizer and outputs it to a customer dashboard that both the homeowner and Install Company have access to. This information reveals the production of the solar panel and other useful data. The inverter will be installed typically near the electrical panel and utility meter of the home. The stringing is connecting the inverter to the electrical panel of the home so that energy produced by the solar panels is transferred to the home for its use.

A. Here you can see the conduit connected to the panels on the roof. We run all the optimizer cables from the roof through a conduit (protective tubing) to the electrical panel.

B. Fixing the panels to the racking. The panels are taken up to the roof, are laid over each optimizer and are connected to them, and fastened onto the racking equipment on the roof. Another image of this is below. 

 A. Here is the conduit coming down from the roof to the inverter (B.)

     C.  This is this emergency shut off switch for the inverter.

     D.  This is the Revenue-Grade Smart Meter. This was installed by X Company (some installations require this). 

     E. This is the pre-existing electrical panel for the home. Notice that it has an older, less advanced meter attached to it.