How to grow a commercial solar business? | Commercial Solar Business Lead Generation
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What Does “How to grow a commercial solar business? | Commercial Solar Business Lead Generation” Talk About?
In this episode of the James Dooley Podcast, James Dooley and Kasra Dash dive deep into the most effective strategies for growing a commercial solar business through digital marketing. They open by discussing why commercial solar marketing requires an education-first approach, particularly because many business owners are unaware of available government grants, tax relief, and incorporation tax incentives tied to commercial solar installations. James emphasizes the importance of educational blog posts, videos, and disruptive social media advertising — especially LinkedIn outreach targeting CEOs, CFOs, and managing directors — to create awareness where organic search demand may not yet exist.
The conversation then shifts to a practical breakdown of different lead generation channels. James and Kasra weigh the pros and cons of PPC advertising, with Kasra sharing his personal experience of avoiding it due to click fraud and wasted spend from window shoppers. Instead, they advocate for building social proof through video testimonials, before-and-after content, and five-star reviews, alongside long-form SEO content and location-based landing pages. James also highlights the value of exclusive, real-time lead generation through platforms like FatRank.com as a way to get consistent inquiries while only paying on converted jobs.
A standout portion of the episode explores the concept of shoulder niches — specifically EV chargers and air source heat pumps — as complementary services that commercial solar businesses can rank for and use to build reciprocal referral networks. James explains how connecting with EV charger and heat pump companies on LinkedIn can create a mutually beneficial relationship where each business refers the other, effectively expanding lead flow without additional ad spend. The hosts wrap up with actionable advice on diversifying lead sources and the long-term value of SEO investment.
“if you can get kadash Sr heat pumps some is and you didn't do commercial solar who are you going to refer back to for commercial solar us exactly so from there then you can start building up relationships with EV charger companies or air source heat pump companies and and do what I always call as shouldering niches where I can complement your work and you can complement my work I'll give you work you give me work”
— James Dooley
Who Are the Guests on “How to grow a commercial solar business? | Commercial Solar Business Lead Generation”?
James Dooley is a digital marketing expert and lead generation specialist, best known as the founder of FatRank.com. Throughout the episode, James demonstrates deep knowledge of SEO strategy, paid media, and business development tactics for trades and service-based industries. He is particularly skilled at helping businesses in competitive sectors like commercial solar build sustainable, diversified pipelines of qualified leads, and he frequently advises on shoulder niche strategies to maximize organic reach and referral networks.
Kasra Dash is a digital marketing strategist who contributes a strong perspective on social proof, SEO architecture, and why PPC can be a risky investment for service businesses. Kasra brings hands-on experience with building out service and location pages, running social media content strategies, and helping commercial businesses convert interest into paying clients. His insights on video testimonials and before-and-after content highlight his understanding of what drives trust in high-value B2B sales cycles.
What Are the Key Takeaways From “How to grow a commercial solar business? | Commercial Solar Business Lead Generation”?
Here are the key points discussed in this episode:
- Educational marketing is essential for commercial solar because many business owners are unaware of available tax incentives and government grants, making awareness campaigns a critical first step before demand-capture strategies like SEO.
- LinkedIn outreach targeting CEOs, CFOs, and managing directors is one of the most effective disruptive marketing channels for commercial solar businesses looking to generate immediate interest.
- PPC advertising carries significant risks for commercial solar companies, including click fraud from competitors and wasted budget on window shoppers who never convert into paying customers.
- Building social proof through video testimonials, five-star reviews, and before-and-after project footage is a high-leverage way to improve conversion rates when prospective clients are comparing providers.
- Ranking for shoulder niches like EV chargers and air source heat pumps allows commercial solar companies to build reciprocal referral relationships with complementary contractors, creating a low-cost, self-sustaining lead network.
“I personally avoid I've just had bad experiences with it the the reasons for that is first of all you get what's called click fraud so you can have your competitors clicking on your ads burning your budget every single day and not even converting into actual paying clients”
— Kasra Dash
Is “How to grow a commercial solar business? | Commercial Solar Business Lead Generation” Worth Listening To?
This episode is worth listening to because it goes well beyond generic marketing advice and speaks directly to the unique challenges of selling commercial solar — a high-ticket, education-dependent service where buyers often do not know they have a problem to solve. James and Kasra bring complementary perspectives that together cover the full funnel, from awareness through LinkedIn and social ads, to trust-building through video testimonials, to long-term lead generation through SEO and referral partnerships. The discussion is grounded in real-world experience rather than theory, making it immediately actionable for business owners in the field.
What makes this episode especially valuable is the shoulder niche strategy James introduces around EV chargers and air source heat pumps. This idea of ranking for and building referral relationships around adjacent services is a genuinely creative growth lever that most commercial solar business owners would not have considered. Combined with the honest conversation about the pitfalls of PPC and the case for exclusive lead generation, this episode gives listeners a realistic, diversified roadmap for growing a commercial solar business without wasting budget on channels that do not deliver qualified results.
Who Should Listen to “How to grow a commercial solar business? | Commercial Solar Business Lead Generation”?
This episode is ideal for:
- Commercial solar business owners looking for a structured digital marketing strategy to generate consistent, qualified inquiries
- Digital marketing professionals working with trades or energy sector clients who want channel-specific tactics and lead generation insights
- Entrepreneurs in adjacent green energy industries such as EV charging or heat pump installation who want to explore reciprocal referral network opportunities
- Sales and business development managers in B2B service companies who want to understand how education-led marketing and social proof can improve conversion rates
Where Can You Listen to James Dooley Podcast?
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What Are Listeners Saying About This Episode?
“The section on shoulder niches completely changed how I think about our SEO strategy. We install commercial solar but never considered ranking for EV chargers to build referral relationships with those contractors. Already reaching out to a few local companies after listening to this.”
“Kasra's breakdown of why PPC is so risky for commercial solar was really validating. We burned through a significant budget last year on click fraud and window shoppers exactly as he described. Wish I had heard this episode sooner.”
“Really practical episode. The advice on building location-based pages and doing video testimonials after big commercial jobs is straightforward but something we kept putting off. James and Kasra make a good case for why those things pay off in the long run when prospects are comparing providers.”
Kasra Dash: so if I am looking to grow a commercial solar business and if let's say I have some marketing budget what do you recommend spending on how how can I get a consistent flow of inquiries James Dooley: so if you're looking to grow specifically a commercial solar business then I'm looking obviously not on the residential side of things I'm looking on the commercial so I know that in the UK there's a lot of government grants and tax relief available for commercial solar there's actually tax incentives that you can save off your incorporation tax and stuff like that so my first major play would be educational blog posts but also once I've done those educational blog posts or maybe even videos I would be running those social media ads everywhere because people might not know about it so it's not just this isn't just the major play for doing SEO and PPC CU people might not even know about it to be certain in for that yeah right okay so I want to be doing the disruptive marketing to get in front of potential business owners so it LinkedIn ads could be a good one are even connecting with people on LinkedIn that is the CEO the CFO um the managing director trying to connect with them people and saying by the way did you know that there's a t tax incentive here tax relief that allows you to do that that was be one of my first plays my second play would be I want leads today right now SEO I would still want to do SEO and try and educate people and try and rank for commercial solar panel installs in whatever areas that are work but that's going to be 6 months 12 months I mean you you might be able to do it within a few months but generally speaking SEO is a longer term play PPC I find to be relatively expensive um in trying to go after that from so for that reason I'd be teaming up with lead generation companies over at fat rank.com we provide a consistent flow of inquiries for commercial solar leads now what I would recommend is going over to Flat rank filling in your details and going through the qualification process if accepted you will start to get leads on a consistent basis and only pay for converted jobs the cave art to this is you should not be thrown all your eggs into fat rank.com as being the sole supplier of your lead you should be diversifying you should be trying to use some other lead generation companies but please I'm asking you to check what return investment you get from other lead generation companies and make certain you're vetting them and get and choosing the best ones because a lot of lead generation companies will resell that same lead to four or five different companies the good thing about fat rank is we give you exclusive real time leads and you only pay on conversion but away from lead generation which is going to get you a consistent FL now of inquiries what's your thoughts on PPC or social media ads or would you even do anything like traditional marketing Kasra Dash: uh PC I personally avoid I've just had bad experiences with it um the the reasons for that is first of all you get what's called click fraud so you can have your competitors clicking on your ads burning your budget every single day and not even converting into actual paying clients um or paying customers then you obviously got like sh window Shoppers so like for example somebody might could um actually fit click on three different ads and they might not even decide to go with any of them so again that that's just another wasted let's say1 12030 just for that one click um so it starts to rack up very quickly I think that a much safer strategy would be to start focusing on your social proofing so obviously your social media presence if you've just done a massive job for a commercial solar farm let's say um making certain that you've got nice video footage nice um before and afters potentially um in some cases I've also seen commercial um solar businesses actually doing like a a video testimonial with the person they've installed the the actual um solar panel for um so do doing video do testimonials with the actual client thems that can definitely help with the trust Factor again so some of these things they're they're probably going to help you convert the actual job it might not get you to actually land more clients but when people are actually checking oh is is James dly solar panels better or is KRA Dash solar panels better and if I've got the video footage obviously yours right so let's say they end up going with you because you've got all all of the the the five star reviews the video testimonials that's just going to end end up essential paying for itself so doing the actual social media front that definitely helps building an SEO optimized website I know you've just said that um SEO you shouldn't look at it from a month-to-month Roi basis it should be like more of like a okay I'm going to invest in too for the next 12 months and then I'm going to look at what what that's actually brought in so do doing SEO um that can definitely help like building out Pages for like for example commercial solar energy commercial solar battery storage um EV chargers for commercial uh properties stuff like that you've obviously got as well energy tariff optimization as well so some businesses want to optimize their energy and stuff like that so ranking for all of those keywords building out individual Pages that's that's all just on the services side but I would also do location based web pages as well so commercial Solar Company Manchester commercial Solar Company old them going after all of those definitely would help and then obviously the blog articles that you mentioned um and then running paid ads to those blog articles educating people James Dooley: yeah I mean something that you touched on there which I think is absolutely great right is you touched on EV chargers right now a commercial Solar Company might not install the EV Chargers but I would still want to rank for Ev charges even if I didn't install it he and I'd also want to rank for heat pumps so airs Source heat pumps and the reason why I want to in the reason why I would want to rank them in try to get inquiries for them is because normally when you're looking to have an air source heat pump it's expensive to run so then if you can then turn around and then say look if you are looking for an Sr seat pump we'll put you in touch with a really good contractor it's one of them with business you scratch my back I scratch yours so if you can get kadash Sr heat pumps some is and you didn't do commercial solar who are you going to refer back to for commercial solar us exactly so from there then you can start building up relationships with EV charger companies or air source heat pump companies and and do what I always call as shouldering niches where I can complement your work and you can complement my work I'll give you work you give me work and I think that the EV charges and the heat pumps are a great time for people to be looking for commercial solar I also think if someone's looking for commercial solar they might then want to upsell them EV charges and um heat pumps so it can work both ways so I think that's a great strategy I don't only mainly do that on from an SEO standpoint not really from a ppcr paid ads but from an SEO standpoint yes I would definitely want to be ranking for it if I'm a commercial Solar Company looking to grow my business I want to grow my network I would also be networking on LinkedIn to try to connect with EV charger company business owners and SRC pump business owners I think that's a great strategy what you mentioned there for how to grow a commercial solar panel company yeah definitely so if you guys do want a free um strategy call with uh fat Rank and just to make certain that you guys actually do qualify for the consistent flow of inquiries the link is down below or head over to fat rank.com
Creators & Guests
Host
James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.