When the other quote is cheaper, change what they’re comparing.
When a competing quote comes in €2,000–€4,000 lower, reps lose those deals by defending their price. The deals are won by changing the comparison: the install today against owning the system for 25 years.
Stop defending the price. Move the timeline.
Put two quotes side by side on install day and the cheaper one wins. That’s the comparison the customer arrives with, and arguing inside it only makes the price louder.
A €2,000 saving means nothing if there’s a fault in year three and the cheaper company is gone. That repair runs into thousands, with no warranty behind it. The rep’s job is to move the conversation from day one to year 25.
The same €2,000, seen over the life of the system
Illustrative. The point is the order of events, not the exact figures.
It’s also a safety call.
A solar install means people working at height on the customer’s roof and live electrical work inside their home. Corners cut there aren’t a matter of taste.
They mean fire risk, roof damage, and uncertified work that can trip the homeowner up later, when they come to sell the house or make an insurance claim.
- Fire risk from rushed or uncertified electrical work
- Roof damage and leaks from poor fixing
- A sale held up by missing certification
- An insurance claim questioned after a fault
- Nobody on site trained or insured to work at height
What can go wrong, and what it could cost.
System downtime
Slow or no support means days or weeks of lost generation.
€300–€1,000+Poor-quality install
Leaks, roof damage or rework caused by cutting corners.
€500–€2,000+Inferior components
Lower output, faster degradation, earlier replacement.
€1,000–€3,000+Company not around
Nobody left to honour the warranty or fix the fault.
The full repairStress and hassle
Time, frustration and uncertainty nobody budgeted for.
Hard to priceIllustrative ranges for a typical residential install. Real costs depend on the fault, the system and the house.
Ask it. Don’t lecture it.
Customers believe what they say more than anything a rep tells them. These five questions get them to the difference on their own, in order, from priorities to regret.
“When you’re spending this kind of money on your home, what matters most to you?”
Surfaces: Their priorities, in their words“How important is it that the people on your roof are qualified, insured and working to proper safety standards, and that the electrical work is certified and signed off?”
Surfaces: Safety and certification“How much do you care about aftercare: someone who answers and turns it around fast if something goes wrong years down the line?”
Surfaces: Aftercare“Do you want the company you hired doing the work, neat and respectful of your property, not subbed out to whoever’s cheapest?”
Surfaces: Workmanship and accountability“If there was a problem in year two or three and the cheaper company didn’t answer or call back, how would you feel about that decision then?”
Surfaces: The cost of being wrongLet it sit.Close on their own words.
What the rep saysYou told me safe, certified work and long-term support matter most. That’s the difference: about €2,000 more, under €7 a month over 25 years, for a tier-1 system, certified electricians, a full warranty and a local team that answers.
Every point lands harder in the customer’s words than in yours.
The gap shows itself once the customer has named what matters.
Silence after question five does more work than anything said next.
What to check this week
Why deals were lost
Go back through last quarter’s lost deals. How many were logged as “price”, and in how many did the rep actually move the comparison beyond install day?
The number, per day
Ask each rep what your typical price difference works out at per month and per day over 25 years. If they need a calculator, they won’t use it in the room.
Talk time after the question
Listen to two recorded price conversations. After the last question, who speaks first? If it’s the rep, the question didn’t get the chance to land.
Common questions
How should a solar rep respond when a competitor’s quote is cheaper?
Don’t defend the price. Change what the customer is comparing: the cost of the install today against the cost of owning the system for 25 years. Then ask questions that let the customer say for themselves what matters, and close using their own words.
Should we match or discount to win the deal?
Not as a first move. A discount accepts the customer’s comparison on price alone. If the difference is safety, certified electrical work, warranty and aftercare, the job is to make that difference visible and costed, not to remove it.
How do you make a €2,000 difference feel smaller?
Spread it over the life of the system. €2,000 across 25 years is €80 a year, under €7 a month or roughly 22 cent a day, set against the cost of a fault, a failed warranty or uncertified work.