GDawg

VP of Sales

Personal Narrative

NEED ADVICE: Is solar really as easy as people say it is? Are these hours worth it? Burnt out and struggling to decide

Long story short, I (26m) currently head up the b2b sales division for a startup that manufactures/sells industrial parts for hvac. I have been in this position for about 2 years. Our company is run by investors and it is hard for me to get things through with them. I have closed many pretty large contracts and have been creating enoguh volume to keep everyone very busy. Howver, my job involves a lot of BS, im not paid nearly enough, and I am ready to try something else and start making big money.

I was brought an opporunity to be a solar consultant for a pretty big player in the solar game from a friend. My friend claims its the "easiest way to make $200k". they pay 150/kw for all pre set appts and 250/kw for self gen, All sales are done via phone/zoom. Full benefits, low base ~40k and the worst thing is hours are 12pm-8pm Tues-Sat. Idk if I could handle that scheudle for very long, any of yall work similar hours? Is this too good to be true? Should I send it?

🙏 Mental Wellness

🛢 Energy & Industrials

💰 Compensation

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7 comments

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hh456

Celebrated Contributor

5

sales

the hold up isn't the incentive to get solar. all states & the feddy gubment lays it on thick for home owners to get solar. the problem is the backlog of installation. its about 5-6 months from you signing a deal to them reflector bois getting pasted on the roofs domecap. if they cancel during that time (a shit ton do) then you dont get paid.

you'll make six figs easy if you can last on 40k for about 18 months.

its not too good to be true, it's just too long for most peeps to last, so the company keeps all the commish they otherwise would have paid out because starving isn't fun and you find a new job instead of wait it out.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Hi Grizz ❤🦊

Mobi85

Politicker

2

Regional Sales Manager

Red flags, purpose for hours of 12-8 is the old school days of D2D and the golden hours of selling d2d was from 5:30-8 when people would get home from work and your contact rate % would be greater.

Self Gen is going to occur in 1 of 2 ways, first way is done by door to door sales that is piggy backing off of installs that are scheduled to occur or installs that occurred within the past 2-4 weeks to try and catch low hanging fruit from neighbors with the whole “keeping up with the Jones” philosophy.

The second way will be running off of prebuilt campaigns that the company will have paid for numbers and homeowner info on. It will be a bit more of the old school telemarketer with very low contact % and low close rates and is truly a smile and dial goal.

All of that being said, with the inflation reduction bill being passed in the US and residential solar having a lower cost to market compared to years past it does have the opportunity for the right individuals to be able to make some decent money in that industry.

Make the best decision for yourself on it but also be aware that the slowest sales times within the solar industry is Q4 and Q1 due to less daylight hours and the end users ROI on installs is less than in the summer months with more daylight and so the consumer is less apt to buy in the winter months.

Sorry long ass rant on it but did D2D for years and trained people on D2D as well and it can be a rough gig.

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

too good to be true? Dawg this sounds terrible.

40k base and you have to work (what i consider) shitty hours????

PASS!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

1

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I like the idea behind solar, I just know waay too much of the negative for the industry and I just avoid it.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

I wouldn't leave my role for that one. 👀

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

0

Sales Rep

That schedule and base are pretty big red flags. Seems like it’s too good to be true if it’s the easiest way to make 200k

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