As a former solar sales rep, one of the biggest challenges I faced was properly showing my homeowners the added value of battery storage.
When discussing battery storage with customers, the obvious benefit they think of is emergency backup. However, because the concept is so abstract, it’s hard to contextualize the true dollar value. How often do they lose power? What’s the value of all the food in their fridges? What value do they place on being able to run medical equipment, lights, or appliances in an outage?
These questions often lead to using fear tactics to sell batteries – fear of the unknown and the need to protect yourself. While backup is a core benefit, driving sales through fear isn’t a solid business practice for any sales rep looking to educate and build trust with their customers
Customers today are more educated than ever and want to see the direct benefit they will receive from their investment. The solution is simple: Stop complicating your battery sales. Approach battery conversations the same way we approach solar conversations, with solutions to problems, backed by data.
Table of Contents
The Solar Sales Approach
Unsurprisingly, we’ve become really good at selling solar as an industry. While residential solar growth in 2024 has slowed due to several economic factors, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) notes that over the last decade, the total number of residential solar installations has increased by over 900%
Along with steadily decreasing equipment costs, solar sales reps have learned how to determine a customer’s main buying motivations and tailor a system to exceed those needs. When it comes to purchasing a solar system, some of the main customer motivations include:
- Energy Savings
- Peace of Mind
- Independence and Self-Sufficiency
Energy Savings
Talk to anyone who has sold solar before, and they will tell you that customers mainly want to go solar to save money. They heard from a friend or saw an ad saying they could cut money from their skyrocketing electric bill.
So how did reps adapt to this motivation? Many solar reps start off their conversations by “beating up the bill” and walking homeowners through their electric bill to drive home how much energy costs. They then show the solar solution and its cost relative to what the homeowner is paying for electricity today. For cash deals, solar reps point toward incentives and can show a return on investment as money is saved.
Peace of Mind
Homeowners want to know that if they are paying a lot of money for something that is supposed to be on their roof for 20-30 years, there are reasonable protections in place. Warranty conversations are a key piece of ownership solar conversations that calm customer worries.
Successful solar reps and companies highlight the quality of their equipment and the manufacturer’s longevity. The truly elite reps also offer high-quality independent warranties like Solar Insure’s SI-30 Solar, SI-30 Total, and SI-30 Battery to give customers even further protection against insolvency and costly labor repairs.
Independence and Self-Sufficiency
I couldn’t count the number of times homeowners used to say they “don’t want to worry about the electric grid”. Grid prices are always increasing and blackouts are common in certain areas of the country.
Solar proposals will show the longevity of equipment and forecasted energy production to excite homeowners at the possibility of taking control of their energy production. Batteries fit in perfectly with this conversation.
How Do We Apply This to Batteries?
What works about the solar sales model is that for every customer motivation, data, and numbers can be shown to prove the solution’s viability. So why not take this same approach with battery conversations?
Independence, self-sufficiency, and peace of mind are easy values to add with batteries. Adding a battery to your system will allow you to store excess energy to be used later so you are more independent of grid price fluctuations. Batteries also come with warranties that guarantee their capacity for a certain period, and solar reps who include SI-30 Total and SI-30 Battery from Solar Insure give their homeowners the longest warranty available with one battery replacement.
Energy savings are the main benefit of the solar conversation and can be for batteries as well, as long as we know what to calculate and can explain why it’s important.
Battery Added Value Calculation
When calculating the added value of a battery, it’s important to note that the calculation only applies to utilities that do not give full retail net metering credit, which is a large portion of utilities today. There are still some areas that give full retail rate metering and if that’s your case added value calculations won’t make as much of an impact because the value of energy is the same whether it’s stored in the battery or sent to the grid.
For the larger portion of utilities that do not offer 1:1 net metering, calculating the added value of a battery is fairly simple. We know that excess solar generation would be worth fractions of the retail value if sent back out to the grid, so the value of energy stored in the battery and discharged to the house later is the retail electric rate. Electric rate averages make the calculation easier, but if you want to dive into the weeds you can also play with energy prices throughout the day.
For example, let’s say the average electric rate for an area is $0.16/kWh. If a battery has a usable capacity of 13.5 kWh, and we assume the full capacity will charge and discharge to the home each day, it’s fair to assume a daily value discharged to the home of $2.16. Over a whole year, that’s $788.40 of value provided to the home. If that energy was sent to the grid instead of a battery, the value would be significantly less.
13.5 kWh * $0.16/kWh * 365 days = $788.40
The value calculation becomes even more powerful in areas with high electric rates. Being able to tell this homeowner “You will retain almost $800 per year by adding this battery as opposed to sending that power to the grid for pennies” provides homeowners with confidence that the additional investment is providing returns.
One objection you may receive here is “That doesn’t seem like much money for such a large investment”. Much like solar where homeowners are recommended to look at longer-term numbers, the long term tells a different story. See the full calculation here:
| Usable Capacity (kWh) | 13.5 | ||
| Annual Degradation | 3.00% | ||
| Cycles/Day | 1 | ||
| Utility Rate $/kWh | 0.16 | ||
| Utility Escalation % | 2.00% | ||
| Energy Value Supplied to Home | |||
| Year | Battery Capacity | Utility Rate | Yearly Value |
| 0 | 100% | $0.16 | $788 |
| 1 | 97% | $0.163 | $780 |
| 2 | 94% | $0.166 | $771 |
| 3 | 91% | $0.170 | $761 |
| 4 | 88% | $0.173 | $751 |
| 5 | 85% | $0.177 | $740 |
| 6 | 82% | $0.180 | $728 |
| 7 | 79% | $0.184 | $715 |
| 8 | 76% | $0.187 | $702 |
| 9 | 73% | $0.191 | $688 |
| 10 | 70% | $0.195 | $673 |
| 11 | 67% | $0.199 | $657 |
| 12 | 64% | $0.203 | $640 |
| 13 | 61% | $0.207 | $622 |
| 14 | 58% | $0.211 | $603 |
| 15 | 55% | $0.215 | $584 |
| 16 | 52% | $0.220 | $563 |
| 17 | 49% | $0.224 | $541 |
| 18 | 46% | $0.229 | $518 |
| 19 | 43% | $0.233 | $494 |
| 20 | 40% | $0.238 | $469 |
| 21 | 37% | $0.243 | $442 |
| 22 | 34% | $0.247 | $414 |
| 23 | 31% | $0.252 | $385 |
| 24 | 28% | $0.257 | $355 |
| 25 | 25% | $0.262 | $323 |
| 26 | 22% | $0.268 | $290 |
| 27 | 19% | $0.273 | $256 |
| 28 | 16% | $0.279 | $220 |
| 29 | 13% | $0.284 | $182 |
| 30 | 10% | $0.290 | $143 |
| Cumulative 30-Year Value | $16,799 |
Above you can see that once the numbers are expanded for a 30-year system lifetime, our example would retain almost $17,000 in value for the home. This calculation takes into account a 2% annual utility escalation and a 3% capacity degradation to match typical warranties.
Posing the number this way shows a homeowner that the battery investment would save them more money than the unit would cost on the front end.
Of course, adding SI-30 Total or SI-30 Battery to a customer’s project skyrockets the lifetime value of that battery, due to the battery replacement allowed by the SI-30 products. With a battery replacement below 50% capacity after the manufacturer warranty period, the value of the same battery as above increases by 54%.
The Battery Package Value Add
As you can see, changing the conversation to focus on value added to the home positions your battery sale as tangible rather than abstract. Sales reps can prove to homeowners that there is value in storage beyond just emergency backup and then use emergency backup and peace of mind as a cherry on top.
Wrapping up the battery conversation with a highlight of Solar Insure’s SI-30 Total or SI-30 Battery warranty also adds immense value to the homeowner. Not only have you shown them real dollar savings, but with SI-30 Total and SI-30 Battery, they are also protected from labor costs, manufacturer insolvency, and up to triple the warranty coverage on their most costly component.
The SI-30 Total Advantage
Speaking of SI-30 Total, it is one of the most powerful and impactful products that exists for your homeowners. By including SI-30 Total on your solar + storage projects your homeowners get:
- 30-year coverage on solar and battery equipment
- Labor cost coverage for warrantied repairs
- Protection from manufacturer or installer insolvency
- One battery replacement between years 11-30 when capacity falls below 50%
Replacement is a key benefit of SI-30 Total. Warranties typically state a minimum capacity of 70% at the end of 10 years and since we know the battery will only continue to degrade, SI-30 Total provides a unique opportunity to get a new battery instead of holding onto an old, less useful one.
The SI-30 Battery Revolution
SI-30 Battery is a warranty from Solar Insure aimed specifically at battery retrofits and batteries installed without solar for energy resiliency. In 2022, storage retrofits represented 23% of all new storage installs. Retrofitting storage onto existing solar systems is the most common source of return revenue for solar installers and the market is ripe for continued growth.
SI-30 Battery offers 30 years of parts and labor coverage for battery systems and related equipment, as well as battery replacement once the capacity drops below 50% after the manufacturer warranty period.
Between SI-30 Battery and SI-30 Total, consumers can benefit from industry-leading protection no matter whether they want energy storage on the front end or later down the line.
Stop overcomplicating your battery sales. Focus on providing and proving true value to homeowners through real dollar savings and the unmatched protection of SI-30 products.
For more on SI-30 Total, follow the link here.
For more on SI-30 Battery, follow the link here.
To download a copy of the calculator used above, click here.
