Hi team, welcome to Solar 101. I'm going to go through a quick presentation, diluted a little bit. It's going to be basically just for you guys. It's not going to assume that the customers are speaking back.
It's just going to show you a simple process of what we're going to be doing and give you a little background on solar and what this process looks like. So let's go ahead and jump into it. My name is Michael Scorby.
I'm the CSO at ProGo Solar and excited to work with you guys. So let's jump into it here. So we have a handful of different installers. And the reason that people are going solar mostly is just the straight up savings. There are a couple other factors involved in terms of environment, helping the environment, because it's much cleaner, as opposed to all the other energy options that they have.
But ultimately, the main reason why people go solar is the savings. So they're going to be really interested in that. And whether you're calling the customer initially to collect usage, or you're creating a proposal, or you are actually closing the sale, just keep that in mind as you always want the customer in that mindset that they're going to save money right off the bat, and most importantly, long term. So the reason for that is solar will generally, in every single market, there's going to be a handful that it doesn't quite make sense, but we will work that out.
But most markets that we're talking about here, without any money out of pocket, the customer can save money right off the bat without spending anything. So how this works is they won't put anything down for the solar panels themselves or the installation or the site survey or any of that. So we'll actually install a whole solar system on the roof.
And from there, we will get all of their energy from. getting their energy from the utility to getting it from solar. And so they actually own the solar system or they're just buying the power. So there's a few different options there.
But essentially what they're going to be doing is creating their own energy at a lower cost. And that cost, they're going to know what that is. Whereas the utility, their energy provider, the energy provider continues to increase their prices every single year.
And so not only is it more expensive immediately to stick with what they're doing, But every single year it will increase and they don't have any power over that. It's basically like renting their energy. And when they rent, the rent keeps going up every single year versus buying, in this case, is actually less expensive and it stays at that price. So over a long period of time, really, even a couple of years, they're going to see a bigger and bigger margin.
So let's say that, well, we'll get into the numbers here in the end. But just keep things in mind that it's all about the savings. Ultimately, other people have different perspectives as to why they want to go solar, but it's going to be about the savings.
So when they ask you these questions, no matter which position you're in, just kind of push that off a little bit because we're not going to know that until we get to those numbers. So whenever somebody asks, well, how much can you save me? Say we usually save anywhere from 10 to 15 percent, sometimes a little bit more. And that's. that's what we're here to do is collect this information so we can tell you exactly what this customized proposal is going to look like for you and your family or you and your home and see how much we can save you.
And so that's what we're trying to do here is collect this information and push them down the road here to the next step. All right, so let's jump into this and I'll go pretty quickly here. So we're not doing an entire presentation, but at least we get the gist of it. So we show Thomas Edison, this is the presentation and the slide that we would show a customer.
And we're going to add in some extra questions and things of that nature, just to in terms of the sales process. But again, this is just for your initial knowledge of Solar 101 and our process. So I put my money on the sun and solar energy.
What a source of power, says Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison actually created the first electric grid that the utilities still use these days. They're still using that old way to get energy to people. That was created in 1882. So a crazy old antiquated process. So here's how most people get their energy currently.
This is the old way. And unfortunately, the current way that most people are getting energy. There's a power plant. So it gets generated generally hundreds of miles away from your home, Mr. and Mrs. Customer.
Now this power moves through the grid and to power transformer. And then transmission substation so it gets distributed into different cities and then from there on a lower portion in terms of neighborhoods and whatnot there's another distribution center and that will move to a local transformer and then finally to the customer's house. And this is why the utility is so expensive, because they have to maintain all of this grid, hundreds of miles of grid, substations, distribution centers, transformers, all kinds of craziness. And so their price actually increases because the longer that the utility, that this grid has been here, the more maintenance it's going to need.
So it costs a lot and they continue to increase their prices. So that's the old way. or unfortunately the customers we're talking to the current way that they're getting energy. And so let's look at how to get energy the right way.
So we will install solar panels again at no cost unless they want to pay cash. And generally we talk them out of that, but sometimes they want to do cash. So that is an option, but we have dozens of different options for them. They're all no money out of pocket and it will lower their electric bill right off the bat. So we put panels on their roof and then they create their energy and use their energy right there.
So there's not all that crazy hundreds of miles of grid or anything like that, but every single time that they're getting their energy it's theirs. So they get to do what they want with it. Generally they use it immediately and then if they have extra it goes back to the utility or the grid and then they'll get it back later.
So that's called net metering and we'll talk about that in a little bit here in a couple slides. But it's a very simple process. Put the panels on, they create energy, and you get that energy versus all those other steps we talked about. Now, here's just a brief hint at what, and it's very generic, so it's not customized to each customer or anything like that.
But this shows their utility costs. So if they don't go solar, it continues to increase every single year. And so, yes, we're going to see savings immediately.
So this is what happens when we switch to solar. The solar's in green. They see immediate savings. As time continues, their savings will increase because solar stays nice and low and eventually is completely paid off. So they won't have anything whatsoever that they pay for solar.
But all of this will be savings. So if they don't go solar, they're going to pay this money anyways. Unfortunately, they don't get a lot for it. They have to pay the utility, they get some energy, and then they continue to do that. In this case, And in most cases, at least in terms of all the different options that we have, they don't spend anything out of pocket.
They get a lower locked in monthly payment that every single time they pay, they're getting all the energy they need, but they're also paying something off. So eventually it's completely paid off and they don't have to pay anything and they get free energy. So it works out really, really well.
Now, this next step is just talking with the customers about our process. So zero dollars down for the survey. We need to get on their roof, make sure the measurements look good.
We're going to design a system for them, just so you know. So the kilowatt collectors, you guys will be responsible for essentially getting all of the usage and the bills and initial information, making sure they're a homeowner, seeing their tax liability to figure out which program we're going to go with, and a couple other questions that are essential to make sure they're qualified initially. build and design this system.
And what we're trying to do here is we're trying to create all of the energy that they need in the last 12 months. So anything they used in the last 12 months, we're going to try to create that through solar. And so from there, we'll be able to figure out which program is going to be best and present that to the customer. So as we're presenting here, this is going to be pretty general information.
We mentioned that this program is zero down for the survey. For somebody to come out and take measurements, make sure that everything can fit on the roof and everything looks good. Zero down for install, straight up zero down.
It's one flat monthly payment when we switch over to solar. And they generally ask, well, I mean, ultimately, what does that look like? You know, what's my payment?
Well, we'll get to that a little bit later. So we don't show them the numbers until the end. We want to build as much value as possible until the end.
And most importantly, it never goes up. whereas your utility, which we just told them in the last slide, continues to increase. Now, a good company, I need to switch some of this around, the format is a little weird here, but a good company has a 25-year warranty and we talk about why we're different than other solar companies.
A kilowatt hour is a unit of measure just like a gallon of gas. You buy gas in gallons, you buy energy in kilowatt hours. So let's say this customer used 10,000 kilowatt hours and we're going to produce 10,000 kilowatt hours.
Well, all that means is that if they use 10,000 kilowatt hours last year and we're producing 10,000 kilowatt hours this year, then they don't need to buy any extra energy from the energy company, from the utility. Now, other companies, they don't give warranties and things of that nature. This is simply one of our installers options.
They give a 25 year money back production guarantee, which essentially means if anything goes wrong with the system, let's say one of the panels isn't working and the system. doesn't produce what we say it will, we will fix or replace it at no cost. So essentially, we guarantee that the system produces what we say it will.
And if it doesn't, not only will we come out and fix it, but we'll also give them money back. So a lot of our installers offer something very similar to this. This is just a simple example of one of our installers and what we offer that separates us from other solar companies.
Typically, a solar company will give the solar panels in terms of zero down and then one flat monthly payment, but the equipment is different and the warranties are different. So the installers that we use and the offer that we have here is going to be pretty substantial compared to all the others. Not to mention the pricing. We generally beat everyone's pricing and we have a price match guarantee which works really well, a couple other promotions, so there's really no reason for them not to do it as long as they qualify. So does my solar cover my whole electrical usage?
Well, sometimes it doesn't, right? And so there's multiple different roof types, and there's sometimes trees, and sometimes they have a ridiculously large bill, and they need an insane amount of energy. So it's going to take 100 panels to produce all of the energy they need. Well, let's say their roof isn't big enough for that, and they can only fit 50 panels, right? So, well, if I can't get all of my energy from solar, then...
Why would I do it? That's a great question, and this answers that. So does my solar cover my whole electrical usage?
Our goal is to do 100% offset. What that means, again, is that anything they used in the last 12 months, we want to create that. So if they use 10,000 kilowatt hours, we can create that. If they want to use more, we should certainly have that conversation with them. Are you planning on getting an electric vehicle anytime soon?
If so, we're going to need to boost that up. because that means their electrical usage will go up. Or some of the time they said, you know what, I just had three people leave my home.
They went off to college, right? We have triplets and they just went off to college. So we think our energy is going to go down a little bit.
So we can change this depending on, again, a couple of variables, which would mostly be roof size and how many panels we can fit. Again, I'm not going to explain this all to the customer every single time. Every single customer is a little bit different. But just for your general knowledge, our goal is to have 100% offset, so we produce 100% of the energy that they need, and they're not getting any energy from the utility company, which is great, so fully sufficient there. But let's say that we come out and we do a site survey, and we actually take measurements on the roof, and we thought we could fit 50 panels, but turns out we can only fit 45 panels up there.
Okay, well, we come back and it only does 80% offset, or let's say it's only 50% or 20%. What does that look like? Why would they go solar?
Well, the reason is, is let's say that there was a code, a little discount code, where every time you went to go fill up your tank of gas at the gas station, you entered this code in and the first 80% of your gas was at a locked in lower price. You could lock it in today. Let's call it 20% less than what you're currently paying. Would you enter that code in every time if you could save?
20% of the cost for your gas. And moving forward, it doesn't change. It's always going to be locked in at this price. So as the gas increases over the years, you're still going to be locked in. You'd enter that code in every single time at the gas pump to make sure you have savings.
And so that's the same with solar. Whether it's only 20%, 50%, 80%, 100%, it's going to be at a locked in lower price. So they're going to see a discount. And so that's why people go solar even if it's not 100% offset.
In fact, we just had a job last week that was a 22% offset. And this person went forward with it because they want to lock in solar for that 22%. They're still saving money.
A great question with homeowners, most homeowners stay in their home anywhere from five to seven years on average. Of course, you have different variables. Some people move more than that. Some people, they're there forever, right? They're forever home.
So what happens when I sell my home is an important question that they ask, and it's pretty straightforward in terms of, let's say, House A has $350 a month in electric bills. It's a pretty decently high electric bill, but just a simple example. So what happens when house A, without solar, gets sold?
The next customer will take over the bill, and the bill continues to increase. Now, let's say house B has solar on it, and it's only $150 a month. Well, why such a drastic difference?
Well, if somebody puts solar on their home, they're probably not selling it immediately, right? So do they see savings? Sure.
but they're probably going to sell it in a couple years. So this bill has been locked in with solar, but years from now the utility will have increased. So that's why there's such a drastic difference here. But house B with solar, what happens when you sell that home?
You transfer the name on the bill, same thing as before, so their name comes off of it or your name comes off of it, their name goes on, the new homeowner, or you could pay off the rest of the system. and this house comes without an electric bill. So let's say instead of continuing to make payments, they pay the whole system off and so there's zero electric bill for this house at that point. So both of those are really great options. Everything just transfers, nothing needs to happen, or they pay it off and there's no electric bill.
So it works out really really well. Can you imagine if you're looking at two houses and one of the houses has a locked in lower payment versus this high payment that continues to go up? This house will be worth more. And so on average, they're seeing a substantial increase, anywhere from 4% to 6% of the value of the home for homes that have solar. So it increases property value.
How solar power works, and we're almost finished here with this initial presentation, and then we'll go into some of the numbers and show you what a proposal looks like. But how solar power works? Well, the sun hits the panels on the roof, and that creates energy.
That energy moves down a wire into a box called an inverter. That inverter turns it into energy you can use. So anything powered by electricity on the property is now powered by the sun. Next time they make popcorn, it's solar powered popcorn.
So pretty cool process. Now they'll use a lot of that energy immediately, whether it's for their fridge or lights or anything else, they will use that. But what happens to the extra energy that they don't use? Let's say they're all on vacation or they're working or at school or what have you.
That energy needs to go somewhere and if they're not using it, well they can buy a bunch of batteries, which we do offer, but we generally recommend against that because the utility will actually do that for them. The extra energy goes to the utility and their meter runs backwards, kind of like your mileage, your odometer on your car running backwards would be pretty cool. So that's the same thing here. When they give energy to the utility, they will actually get a credit or a payment. So that don't necessarily tell them which is which because our solar closers will do that.
Each utility is a little bit different, but this overall is called net metering. So I mentioned before about net metering. This is one of the most important parts about solar, not something that you talk about right up front.
This is something that we talk about in the close to make sure that they understand. So net metering, that means that the excess energy goes to the grid. and then they give it back to you so you don't lose out on that. So what happens with net metering? Well, let's say this is 24 hours.
For about six hours of the day, the sun will be shining and hitting the panels to create energy. Now, in that six hours of sun hitting the panels, it will actually generate about 24 hours worth of energy. So six hours of sun generating 24 hours worth of energy, which means...
you will actually have an excess of energy that you give to the grid during the day. Now, what happens at night when the sun is not out? You will use that energy back.
It's yours. Imagine that the grid or the utility is your bank account. Any extra energy you give them, you get that back. Now, this also happens on a monthly basis. And this is true with almost every utility in terms of net metering, where you, the customer...
will actually see a positive in terms of that's they're giving extra energy to the grid. And so their electric bill will actually be negative. They'll see a negative electric bill. In this example, let's call it $50 in negative that they, so I've given $50 worth of energy to the utility this month. And so my electric bill is negative $50.
They owe me $50 worth of electricity. The next month is another 50. So that's a hundred. then 150, then 200. Let's say I have $200 in credits.
And then the summer comes. It's hot. I'm using my AC all the time and my electric usage really increases. So I'm using a lot more energy. I'm going to use all of my solar power, but I'm also going to start using these credits.
So not only do the credits and debits happen on a daily basis, but it also happens on a monthly basis. So I use all my credits during the summer and then I start building it back up in the winter. So when all said and done at the end of the year.
everything averages out to zero, right? And so that's how that works. It's a pretty phenomenal program. Again, that's called net metering.
And then we go into the referrals that we offer customers and what that looks like. So that's an initial presentation. If you are a kilowatt collector, your job here is to ensure that you are collecting the information that's needed. in order for us to create this presentation for the customer.
Because the next step is for us to go into their proposal. And so in order to create these proposals accurately, we need to make sure that we have the right information. And that is all done on that initial call. So make sure that you collect as much info as possible. Ask all of those questions so we can build the customer the right proposal.
If you miss some of that information, and we'll go into all of that, what that looks like. But if you miss some of that, we may need to go back and forth with this proposal. We'll generate the proposal, talk to the customer, and then realize something was off. And we have to reset that appointment, recreate a new presentation, and then go back to them.
So to avoid all of that, try to collect that information right up front, make everyone's lives, especially the customers, that much easier. But this is the next step in the process. And what this would look like is have all the customers information, which you make sure is accurate. We would have the specific installer, which, again, we're just using Freedom here as an example.
But we do have other installers in multiple different states. It will show their payment. This is their utility. Let's say this is their current bill, right, their utility bill.
It's $182 a month. And we drop down to $117 without any money out of pocket. There's no reason for them not to do this.
The cost of doing nothing, if they don't go solar, they're going to spend $91,000 on electricity over the next 25 years, assuming they're paying $182 a month. And it only goes up 4% a year. Really, really low amount for the U.S. here.
So $91,000. And what do they get for that $91,000? Just energy.
That's it. So it's not logical for them to stick with their utility payments. Now with us, this is a loan option. And so no money out of pocket. They need a 650 credit score for this option that we're showing here.
But the loan is for $31,000. In the U.S., they still have a tax credit of 22%. So no matter what position you're in, the tax credit is really important to know about.
That comes back on their taxes. So if there are any incentives or anything like that that they ask you about, the answer is yes. There are incentives through the federal government. That's 22%. So I don't get into specifics in terms of what these numbers look like.
I just said, yes, there are incentives for you to go solar, and they're pretty substantial. And that is what our solar closers will talk to you about. That's what the appointment is for, is to go over what those numbers look like.
So I want to pique their interest and make sure that they're really excited about moving forward and getting this appointment so they can find out what these numbers are. Most people that you'll talk to initially on the kilowatt collector side, they're going to ask you, well, how much does it cost and how much can I save and what incentives are there? Those are all great questions because you want to pique their interest and say that's exactly why we're collecting this information. So we can set up that appointment and have one of our experts speak with you and share with you that information.
Well, what's what's a general number like what's the average? Every home is different. And the reason for that, as I mentioned before, was multiple different variables. but it's all based on your electric bill. So if you have a low electric bill, high electric bill, and then we have to look at the roof and create the design.
So unfortunately, I don't have that information now. That's why I'm collecting your info so we can create your proposal and get those numbers to you. Does that seem fair? Well, of course that seems fair.
So if you want to write down a little comment, does that seem fair? Whenever you're speaking with a customer and you ask them about... about moving forward with something, does that seem fair is a great question because yes, the answer is always yes with what we're talking about. Everything we're talking about seems fair.
No money out of pocket, save money immediately, get a tax credit. There's nothing that's unfair about that. All right.
So nonetheless, this is a quick proposal. And we will dig into this a little bit further in terms of the solar closers and the proposal, the processors for the kilowatt collectors. Just make sure that you're collecting as much information as you can, because this information is vital.
This is all that we show the customer. But on the back end, this is the initial information. And a couple other questions that we'll need, as well as the utility bill from the kilowatt collector side.
On the processor side, we'll make a design and the different types of panels production, which option we're going with, all kinds of good stuff. So each one of these jobs is super vital and important that we make sure to hit all of the things that we need to do in order to generate the right proposal. So again, this is a...
quick overview, kind of a solar 101 in terms of our presentation and how this works. Just in conclusion, if you want to jot down some more notes, if you already haven't filled up your page so far, the main reason people go solar, no money out of pocket. They're going to save money immediately and long-term because they're avoiding the high rates that the utility are charging, as well as the continued increase in rates. We generate as much power as we possibly can for them.
And the excess energy goes back to the utility. And then they get it back later on. There are some great incentives still available.
And your job is to not tell them the specific, on the kilowatt collector side, their job is to not tell the specific numbers, but just pique their interest enough to get them to that next step, which is an appointment, and collect this information. So we have... accurate proposals here.
So that's Solar 101. Great process that we have in place right now. We're always improving, creating efficiencies, and we would install the panels for them, again, at no cost and save them money. There's really no reason for them not to do it.
The only reason that people don't go solar is because they have terrible credit, ultimately. Their credit isn't what it should be, is how I should actually phrase that. We generally need a 650 credit score.
We do have some options for people who don't have the 650 credit score. So it works out pretty well. We're going to do everything we can to help these customers save money.
And our job is absolutely phenomenal. We're helping the environment by avoiding these coal power plants and all these other different types of power sources that are out there and switching that to a clean, renewable option. We're saving customers money.
We're improving property value. And it's just an all around. excellent, excellent industry to be in.
I recommend doing as much research as you can about the solar industry, about its growth, about everything that the industry has to offer, but it's absolutely incredible. So I'm really glad you guys are here. We'll continue this training in terms of details as to what we'll be doing, different scripts, different processes, and just really excited to work with you guys. So I'm hoping that you're having a great day and reach out to us at any point in time. Looking forward to talking with you more.