Have you been considering solar energy as an option for your home, but perhaps have shied away from it merely due to the quantity of inauthentic sales calls you receive from telemarketers regarding solar sales? Maybe you’d been drawn in by ads on social media promising “free solar” or “free Tesla” products – only to come to the realization that these offers are scams. Let’s shed some light on the dark side of solar sales calls.
Harassing Telemarketing Calls
We’ve all been there, it’s 7pm and we’re finally settling down to a meal with our family – only to have one of our cell phones start ringing incessantly and interrupting our peace. So you pick up, because you’re not a rude person, and you realize its from so-and-so solar company calling you with an “exciting new offer”. The problem with this, as you try to kindly explain to this representative, is that 5 other solar companies have called you with the same “exciting new offer”, with maybe a slight variation. How are these people getting your information, and why won’t they stop bothering you?
“See if You Qualify” Ads
This is how your information is being spread to various different companies – through advertisements like this. Let us explain. Many businesses, regardless of industry, find themselves in a situation where they are in need of “fresh new sales leads” to generate more sales, obviously, for whatever it is they sell. Solar is no different in that regard. It should be noted as leaders in this industry, we understand how this works from a marketing perspective and can walk you through it to clear up any confusion you may have… and that is their goal, to confuse, as you’ll see below. So anyone can view an ad (maybe on Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram usually) that says something to the effect of “enter your information here to see if you qualify for FREE HOME SOLAR” or “GOVERNMENT SOLAR REBATE” or something that sounds great on the surface, so it would seem a no-brainer to click on that and enter in your information. The problem is, you are usually redirected to some other place after you do enter in your address and phone number to “SEE IF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD QUALIFIES” or even your annual income to see if you “QUALIFY FOR TAX REBATES” and things of the like.. and these things say, “Great news (your name), you qualify for (whatever it is they said you’d get) and a representative will be in touch with you soon!”. Well at least that last part they aren’t lying about!
These are not actual solar companies. That needs to be stated outright. They may have names that sound like they are real, but they are not. These are advertising and marketing firms that generate sales leads through what are called “drip campaigns”. Without the technical jargon – it means that they get you to enter in your information so they can sell it to hundreds of different solar companies(the ones that bombard you with solar sales calls). You might think you’re dealing with a single company, and you are – the company that is selling your information. Whatever the company is, we can guarantee they have not installed a single solar panel in their existence as an entity. We even have proof of this to show you. We have blurred out and cut off the company names for several reasons; primarily it is not our design or goal to smear the reputations of other businesses. These are from an advertisement we found on Instagram a few days ago – so you can see this plague is running wild and rampant right now in 2022 and has been for some years!
Above on the right, we entered in a completely fictional address that does not exist. Notice in the image on the right, it generated a map that can’t be found anywhere in the zipcode we entered and a fake calculation of our “savings”. We had entered in zero information about what our present “electric bill” was, or anything pertaining to what type of solar setup we would be interested in – both things are necessary for these numbers to be calculated.
So while this was “calculating” – we went ahead and read the Privacy Policy, which is something many folks understandably don’t do, because the information we’re after regarding our “eligibility” wouldn’t be found there. Completely understandable. Here is what we found though; this lead generating service (a company that exists to sell your information to everyone who wants it) openly admits in the Privacy Policy that they do this. They legally have to say that they do this, but many advertisements do not even include this information as part of the ad; you usually have to go to the homepage on the website for that company to find it, making it extremely difficult for the average consumer to catch on to the scam they’re running. See below what the company has to say about how they treat your private information.
So they’re openly admitting that the information you share is not possible to opt-out of, and that they share it with 3rd parties.
Again, in a different part of their privacy policy, they try to use words like “plugins” to confuse anyone who may care to look. Essentially it is saying the same thing – they are going to share the information you’ve given them because you entered it in on their online form, and because you can’t opt-out (above), there is nothing you can do.
Why This is a Huge Problem for Solar Companies
So why would we openly share information about where most solar companies get their information, wouldn’t that hurt us? No. It does not. We rely mainly on word-of-mouth referrals, and our sales representatives have integrity enough to only speak with folks that have a genuine interest. We at ASG do not condone this bait-and-switch method of typical solar sales calls. Our goal by putting this knowledge out there is to inform everyone in the solar community as to what is happening; why you’re getting dozens of calls and more importantly, why you haven’t yet received a free (anything)! You were promised a free (whatever the advertisement said) and you want it! We understand. These ads are designed to mislead you, and it is unfortunately a waste of time for everyone. You’ll get a call from a real solar company(that has purchased your info) that maybe didn’t even know this is how your info was obtained, and when you mention the “free” item you were supposed to get, they have no idea what you’re talking about – or worse – they’ll lie and say you didn’t qualify for the free item after all. It may discourage you from having a genuine conversation with a real solar professional about making what you know is a great choice for your home and the environment. Nobody likes to be lied to. We’re all human, we want to be treated fairly!
How ASG is Different
As previously mentioned, ASG simply does not employ these tactics when it comes to reaching out to potentially interested customers. We have heard feedback from our customers, as well as other solar companies, that folks are just baffled when they get calls like this, maybe even angry, and we wanted to share the information with you so that we can reach a common level of understanding. There is no such thing as free solar. There is no government program that will provide free solar(otherwise everyone would have it, and solar companies would quickly go out of business). You won’t be getting a free Tesla anything(at least not from a solar company!), and ultimately the only thing you do get with these ads is harassed by (likely) unknowing solar companies that just want to make a sale.
ASG offers honesty, integrity, and authenticity when reaching out to potential solar consumers. It would be a waste of time for us to repeatedly call people that only want a free (whatever it is), because ASG does not provide that – nobody does. We are not going to lie and say that you might qualify for something we know you won’t just to get you to sign a contract with us. That has never been, and never will be, how ASG conducts ourselves. We provide quality service, and want to be a company you can trust and rely on to be up-front and honest about everything to do with your existing and new solar systems. We have over 20+ years of experience in this industry, and our sales team is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of solar, roofing needs(when it pertains to solar!), and even about the trees in your yard! If you have 15 minutes to chat, we can guarantee that it will not be a waste of your time.
If you’re interested in speaking with an ASG representative about possible options for your home, you can either schedule a call with us by clicking here, or you can email us at care@advisorssolar.com or call us directly at (800) 949-6089.
We look forward to hearing from you!