What the rep said against what the contract says
An in-home, door-to-door or retail team produces conversations nobody on your side heard. The contract is the only record, and it shows what the homeowner signed, not what they understood.
Solar sales verification
Third party verification for solar sales
Solar is sold at kitchen tables and front doors by reps you cannot hear. A verification call after the rep has left puts the homeowner's own understanding of the deal on a recording before your crew is scheduled: the system, the price, the financing, the savings they were or were not promised, and how to cancel.
The TPV Buyer's Checklist
What to measure, and what to make any TPV vendor prove, including us.
Verification call
Ended
Illustrative
Residential solar
In-home sale
SOL-4417
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Homeowner Confirmed“Yes, I’m the homeowner.”
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Price and financing Confirmed“Yes, that matches what I signed.”
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Savings Flagged“He told me my electric bill would basically go away.”
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Cancellation rights Not reached
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Authorization Not reached
Sent to review
Stopped at savings
- Reason
- Homeowner described a savings promise the contract does not make
- Recording
- Attached, full call
- Next step
- Install scheduling held until your team reviews
The problem
Where solar deals come apart after the signature
Most of the risk in a solar sale sits in the gap between what the rep said and what the contract says. You tend to find out about that gap late: after the homeowner has read the paperwork or talked to a neighbor, and often after work has started.
Disputes after install begins
A homeowner who disputes the deal before install costs you a sale. One who disputes it after the crew has been on the roof costs you the sale, the labor, the equipment and sometimes a removal.
Financing terms explained loosely
Loan, lease or power purchase agreement. The payment, the term, any escalator, who claims the tax credit. These are the terms that get rounded off at the table and come back later as complaints.
Cancellation-window exposure
Homeowners typically have a right to cancel within a window set by the contract and by the rules where they live. A homeowner who was never clearly told has a strong complaint later. A recording of them hearing it and confirming it is your answer.
The call
What a solar verification call covers
Your counsel and your financing partners set the final script, and the rules that apply vary by state and province. The shape is usually the same.
- Homeowner and address. The person on the call owns the property or is authorized to sign for it, and the install address is right.
- System size. The system they agreed to, as the contract states it.
- Total price and financing terms. Cash, loan, lease or power purchase agreement, with the payment and term from the contract, read from the order your CRM sends.
- No savings guarantees. The homeowner confirms they understand savings are estimates, and is asked whether anyone promised them a specific result.
- Cancellation rights. How to cancel and by when, in the words of the contract.
- Recording notice. Said at the start: the call is recorded.
- Rep off the line. The salesperson is not on the call and not in the room prompting answers. If they are, the verification stops.
The agent compares each answer with the order. A homeowner who says the price is different from what the rep quoted gets a rejection or a review, and that is far better heard on this call than in a dispute after install.
Measuring it
One completion rate, three outcomes, in solar terms
A single completion rate hides three different results. On a solar program they look like this.
Abandonment
The homeowner never finishes the call: busy, wary of one more phone call, or stuck in a queue. Some of these are good sales lost for no reason. You want this low, and you want to know the step where they leave.
Rejection
The homeowner says something that does not match the contract. On a solar program that can be the most useful thing verification does all week, because it surfaces the problem before the install calendar does. A rejection rate near zero means the control never fires.
False pass
The verification says confirmed, but on the recording the homeowner said “I guess,” or mentioned a savings promise the verifier moved past. It looks clean in every report until the dispute, and then the recording is evidence against you.
Operations
Running it across a distributed sales team
Verification starts from your CRM when the contract is signed, so it never depends on a rep remembering to trigger it. The agent calls the homeowner after the rep has left, or the homeowner calls in, and the result goes back to the same record. Install scheduling can wait on a passed verification.
Rejections and reviews are also a sales-management signal. When one rep's homeowners keep stopping at the price or the savings question, that is a coaching conversation you would otherwise have after the complaints arrive.
Every call comes back with the recording and the answer to each question, so your compliance team can sample approved calls without asking anyone for files.
Evaluating vendors
What to ask any TPV vendor about solar
Ask every finalist these, and ask us too.
- Who controls the verifier, and what is it paid per? A verifier paid per confirmed sale has a reason to confirm.
- Can the script read the exact price and financing terms from our order, or does it read a generic paragraph?
- What happens, step by step, when the homeowner mentions a savings promise or a different price?
- Who holds the recordings when a dispute shows up long after install, and what happens to them if we leave?
- Will you price per attempt instead of per completed verification?
Our answers: we are paid per attempt, the script reads the terms your order sends, a savings promise or a price mismatch goes to rejection or review under your rules, and the recordings and results are yours. The full list of what to make any TPV vendor prove is on our TPV page.
FAQ
Questions solar teams ask
Do solar companies need third party verification?
It depends on where you sell and how. Requirements vary by state and province and by sales channel, and they change, so check your own footprint with counsel. Some installers verify whether or not a rule requires it, because a recording of the homeowner confirming the deal is the strongest evidence they will have if the sale is disputed.
What should a solar verification call confirm?
The homeowner and the install address, the system size, the total price and financing terms as the contract states them, that no specific savings were guaranteed, the cancellation rights, a notice that the call is recorded, and that the salesperson is not on the line. Your counsel and your financing partners set the final script.
When should the verification call happen?
After the contract is signed and the rep has left, and before install is scheduled. A verification run while the rep is still at the table cannot show the homeowner's own understanding of the deal.
What happens if the homeowner says the rep promised savings?
The agent does not argue or reassure. It records what the homeowner said, and the verification is rejected or sent to your review under the rules you set. Either way you hear about it before install.
Can the verification confirm loan, lease and PPA terms?
Yes. The order your CRM sends carries the financing details, and the script reads them back in the words of the contract and asks the homeowner to confirm each one.
How much does solar TPV cost?
We do not publish prices, and most vendors in this category do not. We price per attempt, so a rejection costs us nothing and we have no reason to push a homeowner toward a yes. How to compare TPV pricing.
Free download
The TPV Buyer's Checklist
Bring it to a vendor call: the number that matters, the nine numbers to make any vendor separate, the five things to make them prove, and the two questions that sort vendors fastest.
Talk to Ryan
Talk to Ryan about verifying your solar sales
Tell me what you verify and roughly how many a month, and I will reply by email. If you would rather talk it through, pick a time on my calendar.
Pick a time on my calendar
Ryan Schuetz
Founder, Automatdo