#146: This is Why The Solar Industry is Dying

The Founder Podcast

Chris Lee

Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to a new episode of Next Level Pros! In this high-energy workshop, solar industry expert Chris Lee breaks down the critical strategies for building a profitable solar business. Designed for solar entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and installation company owners struggling with low margins and industry challenges, this episode provides a roadmap to transform your solar business from surviving to thriving.

Highlights:

"There's no such thing as lazy people. Only unclear people."

"Competition is only the pain that you are solving."

"Customers do not buy because of price, and reps do not work for you because of commission."

"I would much rather recruit a C player and train them up to be a B player."

Timestamps:

00:00 Industry Introduction: Solar's Current Challenges

09:50 Attracting Top Talent Through Clear Vision

13:58 Why the "Red Line" Model Destroys Businesses

20:30 The Importance of Prioritizing Company Health

22:58 Breaking Down Revenue and Margin Structures

25:22 W2 vs 1099: Building a Valuable Organization

28:02 Motivating Sales Reps Beyond Commission

29:01 The Fallacy of High Commission Rates

30:16 Recruiting and Developing Sales Talent

35:00 Leveraging AI and Technology in Business

Want me to teach you how to grow your business? Text me! 509-374-7554

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The last two years, the solar industry has been an absolute bloodbath.
0:04.0	Companies like Titan, Lumio, Solcius, ADT Solar, Sunpower,
0:09.0	and now Sinova is threatening bankruptcy.
0:12.0	They continue to shut their doors.
0:14.0	Why? Because solar businesses keep running their solar companies like sales reps,
0:19.0	allowing the tail to wag the dog and running the redline
0:22.5	model. In this episode, I am speaking live to hundreds of solar business owners where I tell
0:28.0	them their model is completely broken, why the red line model is killing the industry and what
0:33.9	you should do about it. In this presentation, I'm going to teach you exactly how to structure
0:37.4	a budget that
0:38.2	allows you to hit 25% net margins regardless of the industry that you're in.
0:42.7	You're also going to learn how to keep your sales reps motivated on a completely different
0:46.7	compensation model.
0:48.0	In addition, we're going to introduce you to the eight pillars for growth in which we teach
0:51.9	God mode.
0:52.8	So let's dive in.
0:53.8	Take it a round of applause. Come on, give me a round of applause. pillars for growth in which we teach God mode. So let's dive in.
0:58.1	Take a round of applause. Come on, give me a round of applause. Let's go. Let's get a hoot in the hog. All right. Let's go. Let's go. Okay, so here's what I know about you. So the solar
1:07.2	industry is obviously in disarray. There's a, it's been a blood back.
1:11.6	It's been a bloodbath for the last two years.
1:14.6	And so you're here because you're committed to the solar industry.
1:19.6	There's a lot of guys that aren't committed to the solar industry that have gone through the grind and they are no longer at the table.
	...

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