Empowering Energy Independence: How MSS combines Solar with Storage
Achieved 98% proposal accuracy in production estimates, building trust through conservative estimates.
MSS has a 45% storage attach rate, compared to the industry average of 14% in 2023.
Experienced a 70% reduction in design time using Aurora AI and automated simulation features.
Introduction
In 2007, Mark Hagerty founded Michigan Solar Solutions (MSS) with a clear vision: to empower homeowners with energy independence through innovative solar solutions. From its humble beginnings, MSS has grown into a leading full service solar installation company with multiple offices covering Michigan’s lower peninsula. As both an electrical contractor and licensed builder, MSS offers a comprehensive range of services, including solar installations and battery backup solutions. With a dedicated staff, an outstanding BBB rating, and a full-time service department, MSS ensures top-notch customer support and ongoing maintenance for solar arrays.
MSS’s mission is simple yet powerful: to provide quality products and services in a timely and professional manner, emphasizing exceptional workmanship combined with various warranties and guarantees.
The Challenges
In the highly competitive solar industry, building and maintaining trust with customers is paramount. MSS understands that trust is earned through education and accuracy, ensuring homeowners are well-informed and confident in their investment. The following challenges highlight the importance of accuracy, homeowner education, and sales representative enablement in their operations:
Educational Needs
Educating homeowners is crucial for building customer confidence, especially in the high-cost, one-time sales typical of the solar industry. MSS needed to be able to enable reps with the tools and training to provide accurate, trustworthy information, helping each homeowner make informed decisions about their energy future.
Understanding Storage Solutions
With high utility rates and frequent outages in Michigan, MSS recognized the importance of understanding their customers' specific wants and needs. MSS knows that the grid can be unreliable, and many homeowners have a perceived or latent desire for energy independence and financial stability. To address these concerns, MSS needed to effectively demonstrate the benefits of storage solutions. Transparent and accurate storage modeling was essential for providing peace of mind to homeowners, ensuring they felt confident in their investment towards a more reliable energy future.
Accuracy in Projections
Accurate projections of solar savings are essential for boosting sales representative confidence, establishing a strong reputation, and, most importantly, ensuring customer satisfaction. Competing proposals often failed to account for factors like shading and panel directionality, leading to inaccurate savings estimates and unhappy customers. MSS sought to set a new standard in accuracy to build long-term customer relationships and a trusted reputation in the community.
Interconnection Standards
Navigating strict interconnection standards to avoid denials required precise designs that comply with safety and regulatory standards. MSS needed to ensure their installations were not only effective but also compliant and safe.
The Solution
To overcome these challenges, MSS leveraged Aurora’s advanced tools and processes that ensure precision, efficiency, and customer trust. By integrating cutting-edge technology and streamlined workflows, MSS has enhanced its service offerings and maintained its competitive edge.
Advanced Storage Modeling
Aurora’s battery modeling features enable MSS to tailor solar-plus-storage proposals based on a homeowner's specific wants and needs, such as peace of mind or grid independence. Equipped with detailed energy usage charts and bill comparisons with and without storage, reps can support homeowners to make informed energy decisions, showcasing the potential savings and backup capabilities of battery solutions.
By automating pricing and savings calculations for battery storage within proposals, MSS increases efficiency and reduces the risk of manual errors. This flexibility ensures that MSS can offer customized solutions tailored to each homeowner’s unique needs and financial goals.
Accurate designs with Aurora AI and Automation
Aurora’s AI tools streamline the design process, allowing sales reps to quickly and accurately create designs in minutes — including precise shading analysis and production estimates. This reduces project lifecycle times and boosts sales team confidence.
The intuitive interface and AI capabilities enable reps to save significant time during the design phase, leading to faster project completion. Furthermore, Aurora’s advanced production simulations, powered by accurate, real-time data, ensure that MSS can deliver reliable projections, further building credibility.
LIDAR and Imagery
MSS uses Aurora’s integrated imagery providers, EagleView and Nearmap, to deliver high-resolution images and greater site coverage for MSS. Advanced imagery allows MSS to create highly accurate and reliable solar proposals, critical for gaining customer trust. By leveraging these tools, MSS can account for various site-specific factors, ensuring their designs are tailored to the unique conditions of each location. This level of detail helps eliminate errors and increases the likelihood of project approval.
Contract Manager
Contract Manager automates document generation, speeding up the sales cycle and eliminating manual errors. It allows MSS to keep track of document statuses in real-time, with notifications when customers view and sign documents. Fully automated contracts save 15-20 minutes per contract, enabling reps to close deals on the spot. This tool not only improves efficiency but also enhances the customer experience by ensuring a smooth and hassle-free contracting process.
"Battery modeling features have enabled us to work more efficiently. Before, we were doing manual storage calculations, but the visualizations and added calculations in Sales Mode have provided value"
Ray Myers, Residential Sales Manager
Impact and Results
2+ hours per week
MSS saves 20 minutes per contract with Contract Manager - an average time savings of 2+ hours per week
4.8 average star rating for MSS on Google, backed by over 250+ glowing reviews.
The integration of these solutions has led to significant improvements in MSS’s operations and customer satisfaction. By leveraging advanced tools and processes, MSS has not only enhanced the accuracy and efficiency of their services but also built stronger trust with their customers. The results speak for themselves:
- Proposal Accuracy: Achieved 98% proposal accuracy in production estimates, building trust through conservative estimates
- Design Time Reduction: Experienced a 70% reduction in design time using Aurora AI and automated simulation features
- Efficiency in Contract Generation: Saved 15-20 minutes per contract with Contract Manager, handling 7-10 contracts per week
- Reduced Change Orders: Saw significantly fewer design-related change orders due to increased accuracy
- Storage Attach Rate: Achieved a 45% storage attach rate, compared to the industry average of 14% in 2023