Hello Solar Squad,

How much have you already handed to an agency that promised the world and delivered a spreadsheet?

We hear the same sentence almost every week: "I just spent $20,000 with another company and got nothing."

And it's never one big blow-up. It's three months of vague reporting, a $500 cost per lead, and then a call where it suddenly becomes your sales team's fault.

Picking a marketing partner is one of the highest-risk decisions you'll make this year. So before you hand over budget, here's exactly what to look for.

🚩 No Solar Experience — Generic agencies can't handle the intricacies of solar conversion. They learn on your budget, and three months later you're at a $500 CPL wondering where it went. Solar isn't e-commerce. The objections, the finance structures, the homeowner psychology — that has to be built in from day one.

🚩 No Proof — "We've worked with solar companies" is not proof. Case studies, named clients, real numbers, screenshots from the ad account. If they can't show you contracts signed and cost per sale, there's a reason.

🚩 Long Contracts — Six and twelve-month lock-ins protect the agency, not you. A team confident in its results will go month to month. If they need a contract to keep you, they already know the work won't.

🚩 No KPI Ownership — Ask what they track. If the answer is impressions, clicks, or "leads" with no line to closed revenue, walk. Cost per sale is the only figure that matters. Everything above it is a vanity metric.

🚩 Large Setup Fees — A big fee before they've proven anything moves all the risk onto you. Unless you've seen their track record with your own eyes, don't pay for a promise.

✅ They know what you sell — PPA, TPA, cash, escalator vs no escalator. They can talk about it like a rep, because the ads only work if they can.

✅ They track sales, not leads — every deal logged, every close celebrated. Your win is their scoreboard.

✅ Your cost per sale drops — a real partner's job is to make this month cheaper than last month. If that number is flat after 90 days, something's wrong.

✅ You feel like you got more than you paid for — reporting you didn't have to ask for, creative you didn't have to chase, and someone who actually answers.

That's the difference between a vendor and a partner. A vendor sends invoices. A partner props up your entire operation.

Want to see what that actually looks like?

Book a demo call. We'll walk you through:

Last chance before August ends. I will be taking a short break from the newsletter as we visit companies in California to shoot content.

Kind regards,