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Solahart Dealer Survey

Steven Cranch

The 2025 Dealer Survey has been an invaluable exercise, and we are truly appreciative of your responses. As expected, there is strong loyalty to the Solahart brand and a real appreciation for certain staff members and initiatives, however, there are many dealers who expressed frustration with systemic issues that affect day-to-day operations and customer experience. There are calls for agility and a more collaborative relationship between head office and dealerships.

Given the timing of the survey there were strong themes of stock availability, support infrastructure, and lead generation.

The reason we decided to go so in-depth with our questions, was to ensure that we captured as much feedback as possible to better understand what we are doing well and what we need to improve. We have broken down the responses into key areas and in this edition of Solahart News the focus is on Marketing and Lead Generation. We are already incorporating your feedback into our thinking.

Marketing

Strong sentiment that national marketing lacks impact, is "corporate" and not customer focused.

Response: We will be refreshing our creative in 2026, and this will be an excellent opportunity to ensure the brand message is relevant, impactful, and future-focussed. Themes like electrification, reduced reliance on the grid, and taking control of energy bills will be emphasised. We have shared early feedback with Elevencom, the timing is perfect before anything is locked down. 

Local marketing is often more effective but underfunded. Dealers want:
  • More funding autonomy via LLGs.
  • Targeted, localised campaigns instead of generic national ones.
  • More promotions for HW, not just PV.
  • Better visibility and advanced notice of promotional activity.

Response: We believe the local lead generation fund is substantial and we strongly support the cooperative nature of the fund. We also believe Dealerships can learn from each other, combine resources, and take a more strategic approach supported by data – to make the fund even more effective. 

The Sep-Nov national campaign highlights the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, and it is also about local state-based campaigns promoting hot water. We encourage all dealers to use these state-based campaigns as part of their local lead generation programs. 

Based on the late notice of the Sep-Nov campaign, we have still not achieved advanced notice of the activity; this will be front-and-centre for Q1 2026. However, we have put more effort into communicating the campaign message to improve visibility. 

Dealers appreciate the brand’s 70-year legacy but say this message has become stale without innovation.

Response: There is a shift coming to our message. We continue to respect our past as this sets us apart from everyone else and builds trust. However, we will pivot towards more of a forward-looking brand with the widest range of renewable energy solutions, an installation network like no other, and the most innovative products around. We will continue to highlight our national footprint, with a greater emphasis on Solahart Expert’s in every local community. 

Lead Generation

  • Many say Solahart-generated leads are poor in quality and volume.
  • Dealers are investing in their own local lead gen to survive, with one reporting 90% of leads now coming from local efforts.
  • There's strong demand for better marketing analytics and more strategic digital campaigns.

Response: The lifeblood of Solahart is lead generation. At the same time, we are building a business for the long term, and this requires substantial investment in the brand.  Our advertising budget is split between brand-building and lead generation. Brand-building is about creating memory structures over the long term, not necessarily leading to an immediate response. This is why local lead generation is so important. Greater awareness of the Solahart brand helps make local marketing efforts even more effective. We are still mindful that we need to improve our national leads which is why we moved our media buying to Multi Media in July. With this change comes a much more coordinated approach across both online and offline media. Improved analytics will be used to make the better decisions, watch this space! 

Although this is a higher-level overview, we will also consider the detailed responses as part of our marketing evolution. Exciting times ahead, we all know Solahart has so much upside!

Stephen Cranch

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