Book a solar appointment for the hour both homeowners can sit it, which on a weekday is usually early evening. Book a daytime slot when someone will be home and can decide, and book Saturday when that is the only hour they share.
Pick that hour before you worry about the closer's drive. A short trip to the wrong person still wastes the slot.
I sold over 250 residential deals as a rep before I ran ads. You book Tuesday at 10 a.m. because the calendar has a hole. One homeowner is home. The other gets off at 5:30. The drive goes to a conversation that can't end in a yes.
How many days out that appointment can sit is a separate question. I cover it in how far out to book a solar appointment.
Why does the hour matter?
The sit counts when the people who can say yes are in the house. A clean drive to one person who has to check with the other is a one-legger, and the closer already gave up the slot.
I would take two evening sits where both people are home over a morning full of sits where one of them says they will pass it along. Grouping houses on the same side of town is still worth doing. Do that after the hour is one they named.
Who has to be in the room, and what to do when only one person can make it, is in should both homeowners be at a solar appointment. If the house has two decision makers, that rule is yours. The hour has to follow it.
What time works on a weekday?
Early evening, once they are home from work. That is when both names on the deed are most often in the same room.
I don't publish a show rate by hour, and I won't make one up. What we do publish is the rate by meeting type. About 80% of in-person appointments show, and about 65% of virtual ones, after a confirmation text and a short call. Those are past results from our own campaigns. Another market will land somewhere else. The hour does not replace that confirmation. The steps are in solar appointment no-shows.
Offer two times inside the window they gave you. Tuesday at 6 or Wednesday at 5:30 is a real choice. "Whenever" is how the sit lands at 10 a.m. If they get home at 5:30, don't book 5:00 because it looks neat on the calendar. A sit that starts as they walk in the door starts late and ends short.
Ask before you offer times. When are you both home? Then stay inside that answer. A setter scored only on bookings will grab the first "sure" and leave the closer with 10 a.m. and one person.
When is a daytime solar appointment worth it?
When someone will be there and can decide. That might be a homeowner who works from the house, or a spouse who is home on weekdays and has said they can sign. If you hear that the other person gets home at 6, book 6.
Daytime is where a video call earns its place. A virtual sit over lunch does not pull anyone off a job site, and a miss costs minutes instead of a drive. I still want the person who can decide on that call. A video meeting with the wrong person is the same one-legger, and you only saved the gas.
Don't fill Tuesday at 10 with whoever said yes to hang up. A soft yes at an hour that only suits the closer is how a morning disappears. If they can do today at 2 and a closer can sit it, take today. A same-day sit they can keep beats a cleaner slot next week.
Should you book solar appointments on Saturday?
Yes, when Saturday is the only time both people are home. I'll take that Saturday over a Wednesday that only one of them can make, even when Saturday sits a few days out. I won't clear the weekday sits so a closer can stack the whole week onto Saturday. A packed Saturday and an empty Thursday leaves nowhere to move a cancellation, and it leaves the closer with nothing to run in the middle of the week.
Leave a gap on that Saturday. A no-show or a cancel needs a place to land. A Saturday booked solid means the homeowner who wants to shift by an hour has nowhere to go.
If a cancellation opens an earlier weekday hour they can both make, call and offer it. Moving a soft Saturday up to a tomorrow evening they already said works is worth more than another reminder on the original time.
What if the only hour they offer is a bad one?
Take it when the people who decide will be there and a closer can keep it. Turn it down when it locks in one person, or puts a closer at the door after the household is finished for the night.
A late sit runs short. The kids are down, and they want you gone. Book that hour when they asked for it and both will be there. Don't add 8:30 because it is the last open line on the calendar.
If their only time collides with a sit already on the calendar, don't double-book. Offer the next opening you can actually keep. A live transfer is a different product. It only works when a closer is free on that same call.
How do you lock an hour they agreed to in a hurry?
Text the day, the time, and the name of the person coming. Say that both of them should be there when that is the rule. Ask for a reply, then make a short call.
Someone who said "Thursday at 6" to end the call, and never replies, is unconfirmed. Mark it that way before the closer leaves. If you still don't know the other homeowner will be there, don't keep the drive. Offer two new times inside the window they already gave you.
If they cancel, offer the soonest hour you can keep inside that same window. Don't push them to next week so the closer can batch that neighborhood later. Stop when they won't pick a time.
What should a sales manager count?
Skip the share of appointments that start after 5. Count sits where both decision makers were in the room, sits that landed in the window the homeowner named, and daytime sits that ended with "I have to ask my spouse."
If evenings are full and the mornings are the ones that vanish, stop offering mornings to houses where everyone works days. If evenings sit empty because the closer wants to be done at 4, you have a coverage problem. Add someone who will sit the hours homeowners named, or slow the ads until this closer's real hours can hold the leads. More leads on a calendar that stops at 4 produce a low cost per lead and a thin week of sits.
How does Solarfunnels book the hour?
Summer, our virtual assistant, calls and texts every new lead within minutes. She books the soonest time a closer can keep, or transfers the call when someone is free. You review the script before it goes live. If your rule is that both decision makers attend, the hours she offers have to be hours they can both make.
You pay one flat monthly fee, set by your ad budget, month to month, with no setup fee. Ad spend is separate. It starts around $1,000 a month, you pay the platforms, and we don't mark it up. The details are on our pricing page. We don't sell leads one at a time, and we don't guarantee a number of sits. Your market and your calendar move the result.
If the appointments keep landing while people are still at work, book a quick call.