Solar Lead Reactivation NZ: Your Old Solar Quotes Are Warm Again
Solar lead reactivation is the cheapest job in your business that nobody is doing. Every solar installer in New Zealand has a list of people who asked for a quote in the last year or two and then went quiet. They were not tyre-kickers — they filled in a form, took a call, maybe had you out to look at the roof. Then the number came back bigger than they hoped, and they said "we'll think about it." Most of them are still sitting in your CRM or a spreadsheet, untouched, while you pay for fresh leads that are no more likely to buy than the ones you already own.
Search this topic and most of what comes up is AI calling systems promising to turn dead leads into booked installations. Before you buy anything, it helps to understand why those old enquiries are worth a second look right now, and how to run a campaign without annoying people who once trusted you with their power bill.
Your Old Solar Enquiries Aren't Dead — the Numbers Around Them Changed
A solar quote is a comparison: what you charge against what they pay the power company. When they said no last year, they were looking at last year's power bill.
Power prices in New Zealand have gone up since then, and most households have noticed it on the bill. That does not change your price, but it changes the other half of the sum. A system that looked like a long payback at last winter's rates looks different against this winter's. The customer's circumstances move too — a new baby, a heat pump going in, an EV in the garage, a retirement that means someone is home all day running the heater.
The part installers miss: the homeowner does not know their old quote is worth revisiting, because nobody has told them. Solar went in the "too dear, maybe later" box, and "later" never gets a date unless someone puts one on it. That is all a reactivation campaign does.
Why "Too Expensive" 12 Months Ago Is "Worth Another Look" Today
Think about what "too expensive" actually meant. In most cases it was not "we will never do this." It was one of:
- "We can't justify it against our current bill."
- "We were hoping to spend less and the finance didn't stack up."
- "We've got other things on this year."
- "We want to, but not right now."
Every one of those is a timing objection dressed up as a price objection, and timing objections expire. The bill has gone up, the other things got done, the finance moved, or the neighbours put panels on and the conversation started again at the barbecue. Your quote from last spring is the reference point they carry in their head — and it is your name on it, not the competitor's.
Take a composite example. Say a Northland installer had a hundred and forty quote requests over the last eighteen months and closed roughly a quarter of them. That leaves a hundred-odd households who already know the company, already had a conversation, and already have a number in front of them. Nobody has spoken to them since the follow-up email six weeks after the quote. If even a modest slice of them are now in a different position, that is a month's worth of consults sitting in a spreadsheet, and they cost nothing more to reach than a text message. Run your own figures with your own list — the shape of it is nearly always the same.
How a Text-Based Reactivation Campaign Actually Runs
A lot of what ranks for solar lead reactivation is outbound AI calling. That can work, but for old enquiries in NZ a text-first approach is usually the better fit. Nobody wants a cold call at dinner from a company they spoke to a year ago. A short text from a name they recognise is easy to ignore if they are not interested and easy to answer if they are.
The mechanics look like this:
1. Clean the list
Pull every quote request, site visit and enquiry from the last two years or so that did not turn into a job. Take out anyone who has since become a customer, anyone who said not to contact them, and anyone you know has moved. What is left is your reactivation list — people who gave you their number because they wanted to hear from you. You are not buying anyone's data.
2. Send the opener
The first message goes out in small batches so replies come in at a pace someone can handle. It reads like a person, mentions the quote, and asks a simple question. No links, no "limited time offer", no capital letters.
3. Handle the replies
This is where most campaigns die. The texts go out, twenty people reply in an afternoon, and the person who was meant to answer them is up a ladder in Kaikohe. Replies that sit for a day go cold again. The answer is either someone whose job it is to be on the phone that week, or an AI text agent that carries the conversation — answers the "what would it cost now?" question honestly, asks whether the roof or the household has changed, and books a consult straight into the calendar. We build the second kind; you can read how it works on the database reactivation page.
4. Book, confirm, hand over
Interested replies become a booked slot with your salesperson or designer, with a reminder the day before and the notes handed across. Uninterested replies get a polite "no worries, we'll leave it there" and go back to sleep in the list.
5. Follow the ones who go quiet
Some will reply "yes, interested" and then vanish. A couple of gentle nudges over the following fortnight pull a fair few back. Beyond that, leave them alone.
What to Say: Messages That Reopen a Cold Quote Without Being Pushy
The wording matters more than the tech. A reactivation text has to sound like the tradie who stood on their driveway, not a marketing department:
The straight opener. "Hi Sarah, it's Dave from [company]. We quoted your place in Kerikeri last winter for solar. Power's gone up a fair bit since then so the numbers look different now — worth a fresh look, or leave it for now?"
The changed-circumstances opener. "Hi Mark, Dave here from [company]. You had us out about solar a while back. Anything changed at your end — heat pump, EV, more people home during the day? Happy to rerun the numbers if it's useful."
The no-pressure close. "No worries at all if not — just didn't want you sitting on an old quote if it's worth updating."
What all three have in common: a real name, the actual suburb, a reason for the message that is about them not you, and a way to say no without feeling rude. What they avoid: exclamation marks, "special offer", "act now", and anything you would cringe at if your own mother received it.
Two things to be careful of. First, only text people who gave you their details and would reasonably expect to hear from you — that is both the law and common decency. Second, do not put numbers in the text you cannot stand behind. "Power's gone up" is true and safe. Inventing a payback figure over SMS is neither.
The Economics: Leads You've Already Paid For vs Buying New Ones
A new solar lead has a cost, whether that is what you pay a lead seller, what you spend on Google Ads, or the time that went into the truck signage and the referral network. On top of that, a fresh lead is a stranger — you start from zero, racing three other installers who got the same enquiry. We wrote about that race in our speed to lead piece.
An old enquiry has already been paid for. They have met you, have your quote, and are not comparing you against anyone else this time because nobody else is texting them. The only cost of reaching them is the campaign itself, and the only risk is that some say "still not for us."
Say your reactivation list has a hundred people on it and a handful book a consult. Compare that against what it would cost to generate the same handful from scratch and the maths is not close. Even a mediocre reactivation run tends to beat a good ad campaign on cost per booked meeting, because you are not paying to introduce yourself.
Solar Lead Reactivation FAQs
How old is too old for a solar lead?
Two years is a sensible cut-off. Beyond that, enough has changed — the house may have sold, the products have moved on — that it is closer to a cold lead than a warm one. Inside two years, and especially inside twelve months, they are worth a message.
Won't people be annoyed to hear from us again?
Not if the message is short, honest and easy to decline. People are annoyed by pushy sales calls and by messages that pretend to be personal but are not. A genuine "the numbers have changed, want a fresh look?" from a company they chose to contact reads as helpful. The ones who are not interested just do not reply.
Text or phone call?
Text first, phone second. A text lets the homeowner respond in their own time and filters out the not-interested without a single awkward call. The phone comes in once they have said yes — that is when your salesperson earns their money. To hear what an AI agent sounds like handling that conversation, ring 0800 452 157 and talk to ours.
Can we run this ourselves?
The sending, yes, from most CRMs. The hard part is the replies. If someone in the office can clear their week to answer texts within minutes and book consults, do it in-house. If not — and most solar companies with a crew on the roof cannot — that is the gap an AI text agent fills.
What does Elite AI actually do here?
We build the reactivation system for trades businesses: the list clean-up, the message sequence in your voice, the AI agent that handles replies and books consults, and the calendar and reminder wiring behind it. It is built inside 7 days, you get a 14-day test before committing, and 30 days of unlimited changes while it settles in. We are based in Kerikeri and build these for trades businesses anywhere in the country.
Book a roadmap call, bring your old enquiry list, and we'll give you an honest read on how many booked consults are sitting in it. Get in touch here or ring 0800 452 157.