My first job in high school was working as a page at my local library. I shelved books either alphabetically or numerically according to the Dewey Decimal System. I picked up discarded DVDs and put them back in their place. I “shelf-read,” taking down entire sections of books to make sure they were in the correct order. I ate bags of potato chips and cookies from the break-room vending machine every day because I had a 16-year-old’s metabolism. I loved that job. I miss that job.
Though I’ve cut down on chips, organizing and making sense of data will always thrill me. I actually enjoy going through hundreds of applications for our Top Solar Contractors list, matching installation records across multiple platforms. My life every March through May is a blur of Excel formulas, and I couldn’t be happier―especially because I know the work I’m doing is important to recognizing your installation efforts in a fair and complete way.
I wish everyone else felt the same.
In response to requests for more vetting to verify the integrity of submissions, we listened and decided to require proof of projects to support kilowatt claims this year. Though many companies praised this move and easily abided, some seemed to be sent into panicked frenzies. “You want what? How do I figure this out?” they asked when faced with providing project sizes, locations and completion dates―seemingly basic information. “We don’t keep records like that because we’re far too busy installing solar,” said others who only work on three residential projects a month.
The large majority of you pulled together project information quickly and easily, and I want to say thank you, and ask, when’s the next Organized Professionals meeting? I’ll bring the baked goods.
For those solar companies that were thrown off and had a tougher time, I’m honestly concerned. Besides just pleasing us each spring when it’s Top Solar Contractors season, having organized records is essential to billing, scheduling site visits and operating as an efficient, profitable business. And you don’t have to spring for an expensive CRM platform to get organized. Pickett Solar (No. 101 on the 2018 Top Solar Contractors list) inputs data like permit numbers, NEM inspection dates, project locations and kilowatt sizes into its own Excel sheet that is accessible to all employees. This allows everyone in the company to see each project’s status and know what still needs to be accomplished.
“The challenges of navigating through utility interconnections and municipalities constantly changing requirements is tougher than ever,” said Jeff Gatzka, solar department manager for Pickett Solar. “Whether we’re building a small residential system or a multimillion-dollar commercial array, it still needs to be managed in an efficient and thorough manner.”
For those looking for a little more guidance, Salesforce is a common CRM platform used in many industries, including solar. Leslie Gaynor, director of marketing and inside sales for Clean Solar (No. 227 on the 2018 Top Solar Contractors list), said the company uses Salesforce to help move decisions forward internally, like when to follow up with a prospect.
“It basically serves as our data repository,” she said. “We enter all client information into Salesforce, and because Salesforce is broken into fields and you can run reports based on fields, that makes it easy.”
When C-TEC Solar (No. 111 on the 2018 Top Solar Contractors list) started in 2011, the company used a free CRM program that had limited functions. Jeff Pipeling, director of business development, said after C-TEC’s first 50 projects, they quickly found that a more advanced program like Salesforce would help move projects along more accurately.
“Everything we do is in Salesforce, organized step by step so nothing gets missed,” he said. “It is essential to our business and responsiveness with accurate information which ultimately gives a good customer experience.”
C-TEC uses Salesforce’s Enterprise edition (advertised online at $150/month) which provides logins for everyone on the sales team and even subcontractors. Each project is tracked, and plug-ins keep record of contracts, permits, billing, sales reports, operations and more.
“We use it for every step of the sale from proposal generation, site survey scheduling, automatic email reminders for appointments, updates on when documents are submitting, to creating and signing contracts, interconnections and applications for state incentives and permits,” Pipeling said.
I’m not asking everyone to go out and purchase an expensive organizing platform (we use free Google documents here at Solar Power World to track our editorial progress). I just would like to see installation companies get organized the best way they can. Even if you don’t share my passion for sifting through data, staying organized will help you fulfill yours―successfully growing your business and the solar industry at the same time.
This commentary piece was featured exclusively in our 2018 Top Solar Contractors issue. See the issue and full list of top U.S. solar installers here.
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