Hire a solar appointment setter when new leads arrive while your closers are already in appointments. Someone has to call and text within minutes of the form, and a closer who is mid-appointment can't make that call.
I sold over 250 residential deals as a rep before I ran ads for solar companies. On the campaigns we run now, that first call goes out even when every closer is in a house. If the call waits for them, you reach a homeowner who has already gone back to dinner.
Why can't a closer cover the first call?
Homeowners send solar forms in the evening, which is when a closer is standing in a kitchen with a bill on the table. They aren't going to stop a presentation because a new lead just landed.
Calling in those first minutes is what solar speed to lead means. A call hours later is a different conversation, and a call the next day is close to a cold call. Asking the closer to be faster doesn't free a hand in the middle of a sit. The first attempt has to belong to someone whose job is the phone.
Send the text with the call. It should say your name, the company, and that they just asked about solar for their home. A lot of homeowners won't pick up a number they don't know. They will read that text, and the next ring belongs to a name they recognize.
What should the setter do on that call?
Keep the call short. Say who you are, why you're calling, and ask one easy question. Check that they own the home, ask roughly what the power bill runs, and ask what shape the roof is in. Answer the thing they actually asked. Offer two times a closer can keep, then get off the phone.
The closer sells the system and walks the bill at the appointment, in the house. A setter who starts pitching turns a short booking call into a long one, and the yes at the end of a long pitch is usually soft.
You still choose who is worth the drive. Set rules for power bill, roof, shade, credit and homeownership, and tell the setter what those rules are. Homeownership is self-reported, so a renter says they own the place now and then. On a small budget, keep the rules loose and book the people who clear them. Plenty of homeowners will talk before they hand over a utility bill, so leave the bill for the visit. A bad number, a renter you caught, or an address outside your area gets marked disqualified, and they don't get a sit. The public version of those rules is on our FAQ.
The setter still confirms the time. Right after it is on the calendar, send a text that says who is coming and when, and ask for a reply. If nobody comes to the door, mark the no-show the same day so the lead can be worked again while they still know the company.
When can a closer call their own leads?
A solo consultant can, for as long as the phone is in their hand between appointments. If you can see the form and dial before you drive to the next house, you don't need a second person yet.
Referrals, and anyone who asked for a closer by name, should still hear from that closer. They wanted a person. Handing them to a setter they have never heard of, who books "someone from the team," drops a lot of those conversations.
The overlap starts once ads are running and the calendar has sits on it. At the smallest budget we run, about $1,000 a month in ad spend, a calculator funnel at $18 to $25 a lead comes out around 40 to 55 leads. Some of them will land while you are in a driveway. That arithmetic is from our own campaigns, and another market will land on either side of it. The breakdown is in Facebook ads for solar companies.
A company with several closers hits the same wall on a normal Tuesday. Each closer is in a house. The forms keep arriving. One person on the phones can put those homeowners on open times. Closers who check the inbox when they remember will miss the ones that came in during the sit.
Skip a setter when what you have is a pile of old leads. We only work real-time leads from a campaign that is running now. A name from last month doesn't get better because someone new is dialing it.
What do you hand the setter on day one?
Give the setter a calendar with real open times, mostly evenings and Saturdays, unless your homeowners are home during the day. Say the hour. "Saturday sometime" doesn't hold. A Wednesday morning sit falls apart when the form came in at night.
They need the cities or zip codes you install in, the qualification rules above, and each closer's name, so the text says who is walking in. Tell them which hours a closer can take a live call, and which hours the only move is to book. If nobody picks up a transfer, put a time on the calendar before the call ends. A voicemail greeting after they agreed to talk is a wasted lead.
If two closers share a market, give the new lead the earliest open time. A closer with a gap tomorrow should get that sit ahead of someone whose next opening is next week.
Should the setter book a time or transfer the call?
Transfer the call when a closer is free and can talk now. Book a time when everyone is in a sit, and book the soonest hour you can actually keep. I compare the two in solar live transfers vs pre-set appointments.
A transfer dies when the setter leaves the homeowner listening to a ring while a closer finishes another kitchen. They agreed to talk to a person, and nobody was there. Offer two real times and let them go.
The closer's side is short. Pick up when a transfer comes in during the hours you said you would. Keep the calendar current, so the setter isn't offering a 6pm you already gave away. Show up. Mark a no-show the same day.
How do you tell the setter is working?
Count booked appointments, and count how many homeowners actually sat them. A log of dials can look busy on leads that were never going to answer.
Instant forms are where this gets misleading. On our campaigns, about 5% of those leads pick up. The form took two taps, and a lot of people barely meant to send it. A calculator lead, where the homeowner typed a bill to see a panel count, answers more often and books more often. Same setter, same speed, different source. The Facebook piece linked above puts that contact rate next to the cost. If the leads you buy are the ones almost nobody answers, a faster dialer won't manufacture conversations that were never in the form.
When homeowners do answer and almost nobody books, listen to a few calls before you blame the list. The usual misses are a setter who starts selling the system, and a setter who offers next week because the calendar software had a gap there. Offer the soonest time a closer can sit. Save the price conversation for the house.
Give a new campaign more than a month before you judge it. The first month is setup and learning, and on our campaigns the booking rate climbs once there are enough booked appointments for the ads to optimize for.
How does Solarfunnels handle the setter?
Summer, our virtual assistant, calls and texts every new lead within minutes. She answers the common questions, books the homeowner on your calendar, or transfers them to you live when your team can take the call. You look over the ads and the setter scripts before anything goes live.
You pay one flat monthly fee, set by your ad budget. Ad spend is separate, paid by you, and never marked up. Month to month, and there is no setup fee. We don't sell leads one at a time, and we don't guarantee a number of bookings. Results depend on your market, your price and your budget. The details are on the pricing page.
We work real-time leads from your own campaign, and we work residential solar. If your closers are still the first people to see a form, and they see it after the sit, book a quick call.