A solar and inverter dealer strategy for a seasonal business

Home inverters and batteries usually move from the brand to distributors, then to dealers and retailers, with electricians recommending and installing. Many brands also have exclusive or preferred dealers in larger towns. Rooftop solar runs through channel partners or EPC firms who sell, design and install, sometimes buying through distributors and sometimes directly. Service centres sit after the sale and influence replacement.

Add potential: installation scans in the dealer's area show demand that may be served by other dealers today. A dealer whose area shows rising scans but flat purchases has room to grow.

A practical mix for counter dealers is a pre-summer stocking slab, a summer value or quantity slab, an exchange scheme for batteries, a combined-system scheme, and a cash discount or collection reward. For solar partners, use project or per-kW targets with milestone blocks over a quarter or half-year. Keep each dealer's view to one combined next target. The dealer scheme types guide covers milestone blocks and share-of-wallet schemes.

Summer targets set from national plans are often out of reach for some dealers and too easy for others. Project each scheme on last year's purchases by dealer before announcing it, so slabs are reachable and finance knows the likely cost. Adjust for dealers who have been added or have changed territory.

Much home backup demand reaches dealers through electricians who bring customers or buy on their behalf, and through small electrical retailers who keep a few units. Running retailer schemes proved by the dealer's invoice or a bill photo, and installer rewards on scans, means the dealer's push is supported at every level below him. It also gives the brand an outlet and installer list behind each dealer, which is useful when a dealer changes brands or a territory is split.

Serial scans at installation show where each unit was actually fitted. Units bought by a dealer in one territory and installed in another point to stock movement that can undercut neighbouring dealers. Use this in dealer reviews, and protect dealers who follow the rules.

In the last days of a summer window, sales officers should visit dealers who can cross a slab. A ranked focus list by gap and incremental volume makes this routine. See the sales officer focus list.

Installation scans and electrician activity show towns where your products are fitted but no strong dealer serves them. These are natural places to appoint a new dealer. Give new dealers a ramp-up scheme with milestone blocks rather than the full summer slab, so they can succeed in their first season without overstocking.

Pre-summer stocking stretches dealer credit, and a weak summer can leave dealers with stock and overdue balances. Use cash discounts, make part of scheme payouts conditional on collection, hold payouts for overdue accounts, and show the ledger, outstanding and overdue next to scheme progress.

A brand plans a February stocking slab for 600 dealers. Projected on last year's February and March purchases, a flat national slab would be reached by only a third of dealers, mostly the large ones who stock anyway. The brand instead sets each dealer's slab at a share of his own last-year purchases, with a cap per dealer and part of the reward released only when the stock is paid for by a date. The projection shows more dealers reaching a slab at a similar total cost, and less risk of stock sitting unpaid if the summer is mild.

Unotag's scheme engine runs 16 scheme kinds with eligibility rules, dealer-code clubbing, what-if cost projection, daily calculation from your ERP, combined next target, near-miss nudges and focus lists, with ledgers and outstanding visible to dealers. Serial scans give traceability and warranty registration. See the solar and power backup industry page.