How to achieve a mature solar market through 7 pillars?

In the last five years the growth in the solar energy area has been huge, it is what I call a new revolution: “The solar revolution”.

With this growth, immense opportunities for gains, gains and gains open up, however in this race for this new niche, we encounter situations that we have to reflect on for the evolution and maturation of the area in Brazil.

Every evolution depends on investments, research and cooperation, so that we can respond assertively to the desires of the end consumer who purchases a photovoltaic generation system for their home or business.

We can see that all the sector's marketing messages guarantee durability and efficiency, but are we sure we can answer the questions below?

Do we have the confidence to guarantee the 25 years expected by customers? How can we identify the best manufacturer so that our projects deliver a great shopping experience to customers?

In short, questions that often due to the “solar gold rush” we do not bother to answer. I believe that all of us in the sector have a great challenge ahead of us to generate more and more: Credibility, efficiency and agility!

With this, I present to you some pillars that I believe are points that will define a solar supplier of the future that we can trust and that will certainly seek to overcome the challenges mentioned.

I believe that all the pillars not only in the solar area, but all that involve technology, processes and people, should not be static, but completely dynamic as we have to be agile in the face of all the rapid changes that occur, which is why the best way to Addressing these pillars is through verbs, verbs that indicate actions.

1) Count and create

But tell what? Tell stories! Yes, stories that position us as a company that has quality and innovation goals for the area.

Stories that certify that we have a past, and that we have the necessary pillars to be in the future.

But to tell stories we have to create our History and we must do this every day, with each project, and this creation must involve quality work for our clients, following technical standards and using the best practices, whether technical or commercial.

Creating a quality track record is difficult and requires resilience and persistence, but losing is simple, you just need to not follow the rules. In particular, I never present any budget to a client without first telling the story of the company I represent and trying to add credibility and responsibility to the client.

2) Cooperate

When we talk to international suppliers, none of them tell us “I want to sell to you”, but rather “I want to cooperate with you”. Verb to cooperate. Cooperate: 1. work with other people, achieving their own goals as part of a common goal.

When working with a distributor, a new player or even our end customer, we must seek this cooperation as much as possible, involving everything from the technical sector to the commercial sector and even seeking to directly involve the main suppliers, to seek to understand needs and search for solutions, this Cooperation will not only bring benefits to customers, but also to the entire chain involved.

What I mean by this pillar is that cooperation in the chain should not be limited only to the costs of equipment and services, but rather in an attempt to add value to each stage of the process so that the end consumer understands that we are looking for the best solution and which normally may not be the cheapest cost.

In order for us to have a mature and responsible sector in the coming years, this pillar must be encouraged throughout the chain.

3) Empower

This is the action verb that I consider to be of the greatest importance for the evolution of the entire solar chain thinking about the future but which must be started quickly in the present!

Even if there are millions in investments in technology for the safety and efficiency of a brand's equipment, everything ends up with a poorly sized and poorly installed project and I have increasingly seen this happen in the market, in the unbridled search for sales and installation, not just installers As distributors, they forget that selling well is not just about receiving the amounts and delivering the product, but about creating a great purchasing experience that will bring new sales and certainly create a great story to tell.

That's why we have to take advantage of all this strength we have among installers and distributors in Brazil and think about training as part of the cooperation we mentioned, as this is part of achieving a common result:

Which is to transform the solar area into a mature and solid market for more than 25 years.

And this can only be achieved with training!

4) After sales

More than selling well, we have to “after-sell” even better, because from this monitoring, more sales will come and not just depending on the price factor. This must be an evolution that must accompany suppliers, whether of inverters or modules, and must be combined with Research and Development, always seeking the best efficiency in Technology!

In the photovoltaic market, I see that many who are in the area think that After Sales has to be solely for the supplier and this is really not how we will have a healthy and mature market.

The best way is for the entire chain to do its part and always create a spirit of cooperation to meet the desires of a future buyer of solar energy, as it is no use just for energy to be renewable, for the market to consolidate we have to renew sales and With great after-sales this will certainly happen.

Now do you remember the first pillar of storytelling?

If we do a great post-sales service, we can prove to the customer that all the stories we tell when selling are true and with this we can ask them for recommendations for our work or product, as the purchasing experience was achieved successfully!

5) Innovate and reinvent

Innovating in the solar area should not be just a marketing proposal, but should be part of the creation of any company, be it manufacturing or services.

Before, we only talked about having quality. Today, to think about the future, we have to think about

How to innovate the quality of quality!

Only with this thought can we reach higher levels of maturation and last for many years.

Reinventing yourself is a great attribute that we must analyze in an inverter or module supplier and even in project companies, as we will always have challenges not only in the technical part but also in sales management, and having the flexibility to reinvent ourselves makes the competitive company to be on the market for several years.

But behind every innovative company that reinvents itself, we have to have people and employees behind it who carry this in their DNA day to day, and no matter how important technology is, each and every sale will involve people who believed in the promises of marketing and who believe they are investing for a better future, and this will only be possible if everyone plays their part in innovation.

6) Aggregate

If with each project, if with each training and cooperation work with a distributor, if with each project we deliver to end customers, we do not add value, we will never be able to move our market from this solar revolution to a mature market respected by all sectors of society.

Adding is bringing value to the price!

Without this there is no technological evolution! Without this there is no guarantee that the market and its suppliers will survive the promised 25 years, in short, without Adding Value we will only have poorly told stories and dissatisfied customers in the near future.

7) Endure

I firmly believe that this would no longer be a pillar but a consequence of all the action verbs we mentioned.

If within our market, we can:

• Create and Count;
• Cooperate;
• Empower;
• After Sales;
• Innovate and Reinvent;
• Aggregate.

We have a cycle of actions that really transform the company and its employees and lead us to a future that we really hope for solar energy in Brazil.

We believe that the persistence, whether of a supplier, a distributor or a solar project company, will be a natural consequence of all this journey through all these verbs that, if used well, will make the entire solar market truly become a mature market where we can work not just for more than 25 years but for a lifetime.

Therefore, when analyzing a manufacturer, a distributor or a solar project company, try to understand each of these pillars and whether they really practice it or simply use it as marketing, and think:

The future is now, and the future is solar!!!