A full diary is the best problem a solar firm can have. It is also the one that loses enquiries without anyone noticing, and not to anyone else's price.
Part of the series Managing solar enquiries: from first contact to a signed quote.
The enquiry that arrived in the busiest week of the year
It is May. The vans are out every day, the phone has not stopped, and the diary is full to the end of July. A web form comes in on Tuesday from a couple three streets from a job you finished last month. The office looks at the diary, sees nothing before August, and does one of two things.
The first is nothing. The enquiry goes on the "when things calm down" pile, because there is no point ringing someone you cannot book. Things do not calm down. In September someone finds the form and rings, and the couple have had panels on for a fortnight.
The second is a quick, honest call. "I am afraid we are fully booked at the moment." The customer says thank you, puts the phone down, and rings the next firm on the list. They heard a no. You meant a not yet.
Nobody did anything wrong in either version. But both lose a job the customer wanted to give you, and the second one loses it in under a minute.
Fully booked is not the problem. Fully booked with no date is.
Trace a lost enquiry from a busy season back and you find one of these.
- The answer felt like bad news, so nobody gave it. A wait is not a no. Silence is. The customer who is told "August" on day one has a decision to make. The customer who is told nothing has already made it.
- "Fully booked" had no date on it. On its own, the phrase means "go elsewhere". "Fully booked until 3 August, and we can pencil you in for that week now" means the opposite. Same diary, different sentence.
- The waiting enquiry went on a dead list. The moment it was not going to be a survey this month, it dropped off the list people looked at every day. Nobody owned it, nothing was dated, and it stopped being an enquiry and became a piece of paper.
- Nobody knew when a day would open. A cancellation, a DNO wait, a job finished a day early. Days opened all summer, and each time there was no list to ring, so the waiting customers stayed waiting.
None of this is about being too busy. It is about what happens to an enquiry on the day it cannot be booked.
Give every enquiry a date, even when the date is a wait
This is the routine for a full diary. It needs the diary, a list headed "waiting for a date", and ten minutes a day. You can start it on paper today.
1. Answer inside the target, whatever the answer is
Decide how quickly an enquiry gets its first reply, in working days, and keep to it in the busy months as well as the quiet ones. The reply does not need to be a survey booking. "We cannot fit you in before August" delivered on day one beats "yes" delivered in week three, because the customer is still yours when you say it.
2. Give a date and a reason
Say when, and say why. "We are installing through to the end of July, so the earliest survey is the week of 3 August and the install would be September. We do not book more than we can do properly." The reason is true, and it is a sales point: a firm that is booked up is a firm people are choosing. Then ask: "Does that work for you? I can put the survey in the diary now." A pencilled date is a customer. A promise to be in touch is not.
3. Put it on a dated list, not a dead one
A waiting enquiry is an open enquiry with a next step and a date. The "waiting for a date" list has four columns: the customer, what you promised, the date you promised it for, and who owns it. A row with no date is the "when things calm down" pile wearing a heading.
4. One fixed check-in before the promised date
The day you agree a date, put a check-in in the diary for a fortnight before it. One short call or message: "Still on for August, has anything changed at your end?" This is where you find out they have had another quote, want a battery as well, or are moving house. Better to know in July than on the survey day.
5. When a day opens, ring the oldest first
Gaps appear in every diary. Keep the waiting list in the order the enquiries came in and ring from the top. It is fair, and the oldest enquiries are the ones closest to giving up on you. The owner of the list should be the first person told when a job moves, so the gap is filled the same day it appears.
6. If they cannot wait, write down why
Some customers will go elsewhere, and a firm that gave them a straight date should not mind. Close the enquiry with the reason: "Could not wait until September." If that reason keeps appearing, the wait is too long for the market or the date is not being offered clearly enough, and you have found that out from your own list instead of guessing.
The waiting list is dropped because nothing on it is on fire
Everything on the waiting list is weeks away, and the job in front of you is today. Two things stop it slipping. One named person owns the list and reads it on a fixed day each week, the same day the diary is looked at. And the list lives next to the diary, so when a day opens it is the first thing anyone sees.
Installa keeps the waiting list for you
- Stop keeping the sheet. The home screen is the list. A waiting enquiry stays in the pipeline with a next step and a date. Any enquiry that has sat longer than its stage allows appears on the home screen as going quiet, longest waiting first, and new enquiries nobody has picked up are listed oldest first.
- Stop remembering the check-in. A call-back is a task with a date and a name on it. Set it for a fortnight before the promised survey, and the person it belongs to is told when it falls due. If the customer asks for a later date, snooze it.
- Stop guessing when a day will open. The team calendar holds surveys and installs, and the availability grid shows which installers are free on which days, so a gap is visible the moment a job moves.
- Stop being asked when it is happening. Once the job is booked, the customer portal shows the customer where it stands and the installation date, or "to be agreed with you" until there is one.
- Stop losing the ones who could not wait. Closing an enquiry as lost records the reason, keeps the history, and lets you reopen it when they come back next year.
Answer inside the target, give a date and a reason, keep the wait on a dated list, check in before the date, and ring the oldest first when a day opens. That is the whole routine. See how enquiry management and scheduling in Installa work.