Monthly sales tripled once qualifying and closing became two separate jobs.
A residential solar installer in Clare had three capable reps, each running their own version of the sale, and no reporting to show which version worked. Over nine months we engineered one sales system around them: a defined qualification stage, a CRM with the workflow built in, and the reporting to manage it.
- Client
- Residential solar installer, County Clare. Anonymised.
- Sector
- Residential solar
- Engagement
- Nine months, ongoing
- Scope
- Sales process engineering, team structure, CRM implementation, performance reporting
The situation
Three talented reps were on the road, each operating slightly differently. There was no division between sales development and closing: the same people created interest, qualified it and tried to close it. Software played a limited part in the process.
There was no reporting on the outcomes that decide performance, so nobody could see which approach was working, where deals were being lost, or what the team should be held to.
What the audit found
Treated as a system, the sale had no defined stages, no single owner for qualification and no instrumentation. The variation between reps wasn’t a talent problem. It was the absence of a process for the talent to run on.
What we engineered
- A sales development function. We retrained an existing member of staff to qualify leads and book appointments to a defined process, so the reps’ time went to closing.
- Qualification rules. Specific language for qualifying a customer in or out, and clear markers to watch for that confirm real interest before an appointment is booked.
- A CRM with the workflow built in. We moved the team onto Solarstack, our CRM for solar installers, with pre-configured reporting and workflow, and set up the reports that make each stage visible.
- A structure that scales. With the process defined, the team could grow steadily and each new hire could be trained into the same system.
| Part of the system | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Sales process | Each rep’s own approach | One defined process, first contact to close |
| Roles | Reps generated, qualified and closed | Dedicated qualification and booking; reps close |
| Qualification | Informal | Defined criteria to qualify in or out, with interest markers |
| Software | Limited | Solarstack CRM with built-in workflow |
| Reporting | None | Pre-configured performance reporting |
| Sales team | 3 reps | 7 |
| Monthly sales volume | Baseline | 3× baseline |
What happened
Average monthly sales volume tripled under the new structure. Over nine months the team has grown from three reps to a sales team of seven. The team now converts 5–6% of third-party leads, and double-digit percentages on Google and Meta leads.
What’s next
There is more to do. This is an installer with the potential to become a nationwide brand, and the sales system is now built to carry that growth rather than cap it.