Energy Brokers Use This One Trick to Win & Keep More Business
He Who Solves the Most Problems Is the Most Valuable
I was an energy broker- & I’m familiar with the business
Now- I partner with them & help them win more business, keep clients longer, and generate additional revenue using our community solar partner model.
My name is Dakota Malone & I co-founded Community Solar Authority. For over a half-decade we’ve been working with large commercial users of electricity and helping them unlock available commercial solar incentives.
One of the best ways that I’ve learned to grow our business is through strategic partnerships with energy brokers that already have a book, and are looking for additional ways to add value to their clients.
The secret sauce to becoming a rockstar energy broker is providing the most value to solve the most problems.
Delegating Value-Add
One of the quickest mistakes I see energy brokers make is taking core responsibility for delivering the value-add for themselves.
It’s almost as if they have a fear that if somebody else is delivering the work then they won’t get the credit- this couldn’t be further from the truth.
It’s similar in entrepreneurship when owners can’t ever scale their business because they can’t hand off tasks to others.
Energy brokers need to focus on their main thing, which is servicing their clients in the energy markets.
While they do that, they can become more valuable by being known as the go-to person who makes introductions to others to solve different problems.
As an example, we partner with energy brokers to deliver turnkey access to community solar- a way for large users to unlock enhanced sustainability & lower electricity costs.
Our strategic partners make the intro, we deliver all the work turnkey, and the client ends up with savings. Using our approach, the broker looks like a hero for providing additional value via the intro, instead of trying to control the process themself and doing a lackluster job.
This is the same case with every other problem their client may have:
- they need lower electricity costs; so you intro them to a community solar partner
- they need lighting upgrades; so you intro them to a LED company
- they’re doing new builds; so you intro them to a sustainable infrastructure partner
See the theme here? The secret is in the introduction and delegating the value-add to a company that specializes in it.
This allows you to let other people solve your client’s problems in a way where YOU’RE making the introductions.
Your client will remember who to credit upon successful delivery.
Conclusion
The easiest way to grow in the marketplace is to add more value than anyone else.
In the world of energy brokers, every person is selling the same thing- aka a commodity.
The way that you de-commoditize is not through the product but through your personal brand.
You become known as a person who solves big problems, outside of your wheelhouse, and you delegate problem-solving to your relationships.
This is how you stay focused on growing your book of business, without worrying about becoming an expert in different things- and you continue to look like a hero to your clients for solving multiple problems.
The best energy brokers I know are those that use value-add as a secret weapon to win the hearts of their clients, get referrals, and make the most money.
It’s the “forced-appreciation” of being a broker, & our company delivers the easiest next-step to starting down that path if you service large users of electricity.
Thinking about a partnership in the community solar space?
You can visit communitysolarauthority.com/partner to get started today.
