Your solar business,
the next 30 days.

Solar has something most industries don't: a date, twice a year, when the main selling point changes price. Any plan that ignores it ends up with old numbers in the ads and a December rush nobody prepared for. So this one counts down to it.

The order follows the money. Wrong figures cost you trust and can cost you a complaint, so they go first. Slow call-backs waste every lead you already pay for, so they're second. Tracking tells you which spend works. And the step-down plan goes last because by then you'll have the numbers to plan it with. The CER's message to retailers before the last change was to be honest about availability when quoting, and you can't be honest about availability without counting it.

Tick as you go, and use the tags to hand tasks to whoever does them.

Search your own site, ads, social posts, Google Business Profile posts and quote template for every rebate figure. For batteries installed in November and December 2026 the factor is 6.8, and from 1 January it's 5.7; the CER’s calculator gives the certificates for any size and date. Write the date next to every number. The battery rebate page has wording that stays true.

Delete any offer of a 'NSW battery rebate' for installing a battery. The installation incentive is suspended and can’t be combined with the federal program. The NSW incentive for connecting a battery to a virtual power plant is still available.

While you're in the ads, check the licence. NSW requires the licensee's name and licence number in all advertising for electrical work, online ads and social posts included. Put it on the quote template too, next to the install window.

Set a rule: every new enquiry gets a call or text within the hour, and an automatic text in the first few minutes if nobody can call. In the research most quoted on lead response, firms that called within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead. On shared quote-site leads, it's usually the difference between booking the first site visit and being the third.

Then check where your leads come from, and what people agreed to. Buying a list doesn’t move consent responsibility off you, and marketing texts and emails need consent and a working unsubscribe. Ask every lead seller in writing.

If you install in NSW, check whether you can offer the Home Energy Saver loans: up to $15,000 at zero interest for eligible owners, through lenders whose vendors need NETCC accreditation. It's a reason for a hesitant buyer to say yes, and a list of approved installers that buyers will look at.

Count calls from ads as conversions with a minimum call length, so hang-ups don't look like leads. Add stages to your CRM: lead, site visit, quote, signed, installed. Those stages are what you send back to Google and Meta later, so they learn which leads become jobs.

Add 'ChatGPT or another AI tool' to your 'How did you hear about us?' question. Since October 2026, many ChatGPT clicks reportedly reach GA4 with no tag and no referrer and show up as direct visits, so asking is the most reliable count you'll get.

Write down last month's leads, site visits and signed jobs by source. Rough is fine. That's your starting line.

Count the install slots left before 1 January: installers, working days and jobs already booked. The CER caps claims at two installs per installer per day, and most crews do fewer. The solar budget page turns those slots into leads and a daily budget.

Write the January ads and pages now, at 5.7, and schedule them to start on 1 January. Put an end date on every ad that quotes the current figure. In Google Ads, a countdown customizer stops the ad showing after its end date, which is a handy safety net over the holidays.

Go through the copy one more time for 'ends'. The discount gets smaller on 1 January, it doesn’t end, and buyers are reading guides that call out the difference.

Put two dates in the calendar every year: 1 January and 1 July. On each, repeat week one, check the new factor, and swap the copy. The factor keeps falling every six months until the end of 2030, so this becomes routine.

Once a month, look at four numbers by source: leads, site visits, signed jobs and cost per signed job. If leads rise and signed jobs don't, the problem is call-back speed or the quote, not the marketing.