You get paid on what you close. The company hands you a few leads a week, some of them have already talked to another rep, and you're wondering how to fill your own calendar without knocking doors until dark or spending money you haven't made yet.
You can do it. I sold over 250 residential solar deals as a rep, and the cheapest deals a rep ever closes come from sources that cost nothing but time. That's the catch in "free": you pay in hours. Below is what works for a rep and what each source takes out of your week.
How do you get solar leads for free?
Work the people who already trust you, then the people who trust them. That means past customers, their neighbors, local groups, your Google profile, and trades who are in homes every day. None of it needs an ad budget. All of it needs you to keep showing up for a few months before it pays.
Past customers and referrals
The best free lead you'll ever get is a past customer's brother-in-law. Referred homeowners close faster and shop around less, because someone they know already did the homework.
The mistake I see reps make is asking once, at signing, when the customer hasn't seen a panel yet. Ask again on install day. Ask again when the first lower bill arrives, because that's when they're telling people about it anyway. The time cost is a few texts and calls a week. Start here.
The neighbors on install day
A crew on a roof is the best ad on the street, and the neighbors are already looking at it. Walk the houses on either side and across the road, tell them what's going on, and leave your number.
Yes, it's door knocking. But you have a reason to be there, and it's the one kind I'd tell a rep who hates knocking to keep doing. It costs part of an afternoon per install.
Local Facebook groups, without spamming
Groups work if you act like a neighbor first and a rep second. Answer questions about power bills and panels when they come up. Post a finished install now and then, with the homeowner's OK.
Don't paste your pitch into every thread. Admins remove it and people remember who did it. This one costs a few minutes a day and it's slow. Expect weeks before anyone messages you.
A Google Business Profile
If you sell under your own name or your own company, set up a profile and ask every customer for a review. Homeowners look you up before they call you back, and a profile with real reviews and install photos gets the callback. If you only sell under an installer's brand, check with them before you set one up.
Setup takes an afternoon, then one review request after each install. It won't bring many leads by itself. It makes every other source convert better.
Roofers, HVAC techs and other trades
Trades are in homes every day, and they hear about high electric bills before you do. A roofer who just finished a new roof is talking to a homeowner at the right moment for solar.
Find two or three trades you'd be comfortable sending your own customers to, and send them work first. Referrals come back once you've given some. It's slow to start and steady once it runs.
Can you get solar leads without door knocking?
Yes, but you trade the doors for either time or money. The free sources above replace knocking only after they've had months to build. If you need appointments this month and you won't knock, what's left is paid: your own ads, or leads someone else generated. I rank all of them in how to get solar leads.
I'd skip the free lead lists that lead sellers hand out. Those are usually old leads that other reps have already called. We don't work aged leads either. Real-time only, for compliance.
What does free cost you?
Your hours, and hours are what a commission rep is shortest on. Every evening in a Facebook group or driving out to meet a roofer is an evening you aren't in front of a homeowner. Early on that trade is fine, because you have more time than deals. Once you're closing consistently, an hour in an appointment is worth more than an hour looking for one.
Free sources also have a ceiling. Referrals and neighbors grow with your installs. They can't double next month because you want them to.
When does paying for your own leads make sense?
When you can close what you sit with and your calendar is the limit. If you're still learning to close, more appointments mostly means more lost deals, so stay on the free sources and get the practice in.
For comparison, the paid math from our own campaigns looks like this. A new campaign with a calculator funnel usually runs $18 to $25 per lead. About 15% of leads book. About 65% of virtual appointments and 80% of in-person ones show. Our most recent solar campaign came out to just under $200 per appointment that showed, which is a past result and not a promise. Hold that against your average commission and your close rate and you'll know quickly whether it works for you. The full breakdown is in how much solar leads cost.
That's the work we do for reps and consultants: your own ads and funnel, every lead called and texted within minutes, appointments booked on your calendar. It's a flat fee from $750 a month, with ad spend separate and starting around $1,000 a month. The leads are exclusive to you, and we limit how many reps we take in each area. We don't charge per lead and we don't guarantee a number.
Keep working the free sources either way. A rep with referrals coming in and paid appointments on top has a calendar that doesn't depend on the company's lead list. If you want to see whether your area is open, book a 15-minute call.