Following up installers who ordered once and stopped

An installer who ordered once and stopped has not necessarily left you. The next job may simply have gone to whichever supplier's number was at the top of the phone. A short call about the installer's next project is the cheapest way to find out which kind this is. It must be about their work, and made by the person they remember. Keep a record of what they say.

Why did the installer stop?

There are four ordinary reasons. The job was a one-off with no sequel. The goods or the service disappointed. Another supplier was cheaper or quicker on the day. Or nobody from your side ever called again, so you were forgotten.

You cannot tell which from your sales sheet. You tell it by asking. The first sentence of the call is a question about their work, not about you.

How do you decide who to call first?

Not every lapsed installer is worth the same effort. Make a list and score each on two things you already know: size of the first order, and how recently they ordered.

Define "recent" by the installer's own rhythm. If installers in your trade buy in the months before a financial year closes, a gap of a few months in the middle is normal and not a lapse.

What does the call sound like?

Keep it short and about the installer.

"Namaste, this is [your name] from [firm]. You took [item] from us for your job at [site]. How did that one go? Do you have anything coming up where you will need equipment?"

Then listen. Four branches follow.

1. Jobs, but bought elsewhere. Ask what the other supplier does that you do not. Do not argue. Offer to quote on the next job for comparison.
2. A problem happened. Ask what happened, say you will find out, and hand it to someone who will answer in writing. Do not sell on this call.
3. No jobs now. Ask when the next ones might start, note the answer, and agree a date to call back that fits it.
4. No answer. Send a one-line message with your name and the project the installer bought for, such as: "Hello, this is [your name] from [firm]. We supplied the structures for your [site] job. Do you have another site coming up? I can send a rate for it." Call once more on another day.

What do you write down?

A register with six columns is enough. Note the installer and town, the first order date and item, the reason given for stopping, the next job and its expected date, and who follows up and when. Nothing in the register should live only on someone's phone. A worked row, with invented details: Nagercoil, first order 14 March, five inverters, stopped because the other supplier delivers the same day, next job expected after the rains, Priya to call in the first week of July. The reason column is the one you will read most. Our post on getting dealer orders off personal WhatsApp and into one record covers how to keep it shared.

For example: a solar distributor in Tirunelveli

Imagine a distributor in Tirunelveli (all figures invented) supplying inverters and structures to installers across the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. It had sold to forty installers once and could count perhaps twelve who bought again. The owner started by phoning the ten larger lapsed ones personally.

An installer in Nagercoil said, kindly, that the work had moved to a supplier in Madurai because that supplier's van arrived the same day. The distributor's stock came from a warehouse a day away. A discount message sent earlier, on the assumption that price was the problem, had been ignored.

So the distributor agreed to keep five fast-moving items on a shelf in Nagercoil and wrote the delivery arrangement on the next quote. The installer ordered on the next job, though for only one of the five items, and kept buying structures from Madurai. Two other installers gave the same reason, so the register showed a pattern and not an incident, and the distributor changed what it stocked.

When is it not worth chasing?

When an installer left after a dispute that you did not resolve, an apology and a clear answer come first. A sales call on top of an open complaint makes it worse.

When the installer's trade has moved away from your product, for example to a type of project you do not supply, record that and stop. Calling every season is a cost with no return.

Keep the effort proportional. A handful of good conversations is worth more than a hundred messages.

Make the first ten calls

Sort your one-time installers by the size of the first order and phone the ten largest yourself, writing down the reason each gives. Ten calls will tell you whether your problem is price, speed, service or silence. The overview of this trade is on our solar and renewable energy equipment page, and customer reactivation is the related service. If you want help with the list, tell us what you need.