Solar Business & Sales Training | Fremont, CA

Dates Pending

We're currently organizing dates for this course. Check back here soon!

Special Offer:

Purchase any Live Course and receive a 10% discount on any Online Courses! Online Courses must be purchased in the same order as a Live Course.

Solar Business School Fremont

A "crash course" on the ins & outs of Solar Sales Processes, intended for experienced Sales Professionals moving into solar from other industries. The course covers most of the design & estimation topics from our 6-Day Solar PV Boot Camp, with additional content specifically for Sales Reps: customer relationship management, lead generation and closing, financial analysis of customer ROI, and the consultative sales approach for solar. At the end of class, students will be tested on the completion of a mock solar project estimate & bid.

4-Day Class: Solar for Sales Professionals

• Intro to Solar Industry, Equipment & Technologies
• System Design & Sizing Recommendations
• Calculating ROI & Energy Savings
• Customer Qualification & Sales Tracking
• Quotes, Estimating, & Deal Closing
• Using State & Federal Incentives

Using a blended learning approach of instructor-led training, hands-on labs, and computer-based software tools, this class is a "crash course" on the ins & outs of the PV Systems Sales Process. It is intended for experienced Sales Professionals moving into solar from other industries. The course overlaps most of the non-hands-on content from our 6-Day Solar Boot Camp, with additional information specifically useful for Sales Professionals: customer relationship management, lead generation and closing, deeper financial analysis of customer ROI, and using the consultative sales approach for solar. At the end of class, students will be tested on the completion of a mock solar project estimate and bid.

Solar Business Training Outline

DAY 1

• Industry, Equipment and ElectricityCourse & Resources Overview
• Instructor and Student Introductions & Backgrounds
• The Grid, Distributed Generation and Renewable Energy
• Intro to Solar Energy Systems, Types, Applications & History
• Solar Radiation & the Sun Earth Relationship
• Solar Panel Components, Cells, Panels, Array, P&N Junction, Bypass Diodes.
• DC Electricity - Volts, Amps, Watts & Effects of Temperature
• Lab - IV Curves, Parallel and Series Wiring, Radiation, Irradiance
• Solar Equipment types and Configurations
• Group Exercise 1 - System Component Choices for Customers

DAY 2

• Inverters, Electrical & Mechanical Integration && Design ToolsInverters - Operation, Efficiency, Sizing, Types, DC to AC Conversion
• Electrical & Utility Integration
• Mechanical Integration & Roofing Solutions
• Maintenance, Trouble Shooting, Monitoring
• Solar Site Surveys, Sun Path Charts & Shading Effects on PV Generation
• Tools - Solar Pathfinder, Solmetric Sun Eye, Compass, Angle finders
• PV Solar System Design - Online System Sizing Tools & Google Earth
• System Sizing Grid-Tied Systems and Average Sun Hours by Location
• Lab - Input Shade Calculations into the CSI EPBB Calculator
• Group Exercise 2 - DC to AC Efficiencies, STC, PTC, AC - CEC

DAY 3

• On Line Quoting Tools, Financing, Monitoring, System CostsOn Line System Sizing, CRM's, Quoting Tools, Contract Preparation
• Presentation by Clean Power Finance
• System Costs, Economics, ROI & IRR Calculations, Incentive Types
• Utility Rates and Effects of Time Of Use Metering
• Environmental Benefits of Renewable Energy, Solar & Plug-in Hybrids
• Energy Efficiency, Grid Peak Power and Peaker Plants
• Group Exercises 3 & 4 - PV System Sizing Exercises

DAY 4

• The PV Market, Sales Process, Closing the Deal, CompetitionEffective Marketing - Who Buys, How to Reach Them, Why They Reach Out

• The PV Sales Process - Best Demonstrated Practices, Dealing with Objections and What Those Are, Identifying Clients & Their Specific Needs
• Making the Sale - Building Rapport , Closing, Case Studies & References
• Successful Solar Business Plans Explored
• Incentives and the Target of Grid Parity
• How to Differentiate Yourself from the Pack
• The Ethics of Selling Solar
• Relationship Between Sales, Engineering & Installation

• Group Exercise 5 - Complete System Quote, Contract & Presentation

All students receive a course completion certificate on the last day. Students who pass the certification exam on the last day are also awarded the Certified Solar PV for Sales Professional certification.

Before coming to class, students should be comfortable with:

• climbing ladders / heights (for customer site surveys)
• technical calculations
• B2B and B2C sales
• "coffee table sales" with customers or C-level executives