AMA: “I’m An Energy Advisor, How Can We Work Together?”
Ask Me Anything Series #2
My name is Dakota Malone and I co-founded Community Solar Authority.
For the last half-decade, we’ve been building a commercial solar company that helps large electricity users enhance sustainability & improve operating profit.
Within our mission to streamline the deployment of renewable energy- strategic partnerships have helped us scale & we’re always looking for top advisors to partner with.
The top questions we get on strategic partnerships are:
- How Does It Work?
- How Can I Use This to Grow My Biz?
The purpose of this AMA is to address both of these questions.
How Does Our Strategic Partnership Work?
We partner with ESCO’s, energy companies, & consulting firms to deliver turnkey access to additional value for their clients.
The reality is that your clients have additional needs & many more problems than just the ones you solve for.
We’ve found a common theme with top energy advisors being the willingness to delegate value-add outside of their offer.
If you can become known as the person who helps your client solve their problems by introducing them to the right people- then you look like a hero, keep their business longer, get referrals from them- and grow.
We found that the energy advisors who were helping our ICP (large electricity users) could introduce us over Zoom to their client, & we could solve additional problems with turnkey access to community solar- and everyone won.
The client got enhanced sustainability practices implemented & access to lower electricity costs, we filled our solar projects- and our strategic partner got paid for making an introduction.
Our strategic partnership leverages the trust that our partners have with their clients, which can take years to build- and we use that as a bridge to deliver our value straight into their business in <90 days.
Our thinking was, because the trail was already blazed with a great client relationship, when they recommend us to their clients to help them solve for hedging electricity inflation; it would be an easy sell.
For the energy advisors we partner with, the path forward is simple:
- we sign an MNDA & partnership agreement
- we find the best-fitting clients to serve in your book of biz
- you introduce us to them via zoom & we close them on our process
- we run our Community Solar Fast-Pass® turnkey & deliver all the work
- your client signs an agreement, and we split the revenue together
- rinse & repeat
Ready to go? Book a time to discuss at communitysolarauthority.com/partner
How Can I Use This To Grow My Biz?
Besides earning a revenue share from introducing their clients to us, there is a massive opportunity to use this model to grow your book.
There are many strategies that we pull out of our playbook together where we teach you to use our partnership as a way to win more deals, keep clients longer, generate more revenue, and get more referrals.
Here are just some examples of exactly how you can grow your business with our strategic partnership:
Add Community Solar to Your Bid to Win Biz
→ energy brokering is a competitive market. Most brokers are fighting over who can score their clients the cheapest price. When you add community solar rollouts to your bid, all of a sudden you have an offer that stands out. Use this to win more business & separate yourself from the competition.
Use Case Studies From Client Wins to Share to Referrals
→ with our partnership, we create case studies for you to go earn more business. Now, you can flex the work you’ve done to help clients with their energy needs, AND showcase our community solar partnership. Bonus points is when you ask for a referral from your client you built the case study from, and then send the case study to the person they referred you to.
Build Your PR Work for Free Advertising
→ we do press releases for all of our work. You can now be featured in the news for the work we did in partnership together, can add things like “as seen on,” & showcase our work on your social media. This puts attention on the work you’re doing in the industry and separates you from the average Joe.
Like these ideas? We’ve got a million more on the other side of our partnership. Get started by visiting our website and booking a call.
communitysolarauthority.com/partner
Conclusion
I love answering questions for our potential partners to help them understand our strategic partnership & the massive potential it has to grow their business.
For the last six years, it’s been a priority for us to keep our clients educated so that they can unlock these incentives while they are available- working closely alongside energy advisors to ensure it goes smooth.
Seeking to get more information on community solar? You can get started by booking a complimentary strategy call on our website.
communitysolarauthority.com
