Riding the Wave of Trust: How Integrity Fuels Growth in the Solar Industry

In an industry where buzzwords like transparency and integrity are thrown around without much concrete meaning, one company is quite literally putting its (and their) money where its mouth is. Independent Solar is a rapidly expanding company led by their founder CEO Randy French, who focus on three specific tenets: integrity, honesty, and doing business the right way. Let’s look into how Independent Solar has become an industry leader whose business model is the very definition of integrity.

THE CHALLENGE OF TRUSTWORTHINESS IN SOLAR

The choices that the industry makes in the next few years will shape it for a generation and, for better or worse, whether it succeeds or fails, they will end up shaping consumer trust along with it. Anyone who’s been in the solar biz for 20 years has seen the kind of times Randy French has seen over the past two decades – from the golden days of Silicon Valley-led dotcom solar to the flattened backwaters of a few years later, to today, when customer suspicion about the industry borders on cynicism, based in part on their own experience of the companies. If there’s one thing French has a problem with, it’s the disconnect between the sales and the installation. ‘We have a huge issue in the marketplace where the customer is being misled about what solar can do by salespeople and solar companies,’ he says.

CULTIVATING CREDIBILITY: INDEPENDENT SOLAR'S METHOD

How is the Independent Solar going to thwart this trend? With a barrage of credibility through rock-solid integrity and transparency. This spiel isn’t about closing a sale, but about setting a precedent. By educating and empowering customers in the clearest way possible, Independent Solar is in the business not only of building his business, but of building the industry.

Ensuring Consumer Satisfaction through Transparency

A hallmark of Independent Solar’s model is regulatory transparency and communications with customers. ‘If you’re keeping your customers in the loop, and they feel they’re a part of the process, then you’re going to have satisfied customers for the next 20 years,’ Randy explains. His secret to successful installation of quality systems is active communication with customers, not just in the initial consultation but throughout the entire process and beyond, even long after the installation is done. He says this communication process is very easy thanks to digital tools, such as the Positive Synergy aftercare app that customers can use to keep abreast of their installation process and even throughout their lifetime with the system.

TACKLING MISINFORMATION HEAD-ON

Independence is one of the key things that differentiates Independent Solar from other companies. If you are a solar customer, you are likely to encounter some of the issues Randy pointed out with some solar companies, particularly now that legislative changes in Connecticut will shift solar incentives away from rebates towards a system based on the value that solar creates for the power grid. ‘Most of the time, that’s what they keep from you,’ said Randy. ‘They don’t tell you that.’ If you get any other rates, or any other experience or performance with solar, he explained they ‘keep it in the dark’. The company philosophy is: ‘Come to the light, we’ll tell you what to expect, you guys buy it, we stick to the contract. Because we’re all doing it based on the honesty of everything.’

A Bright Future Lit by Integrity

Independent Solar’s breakout of credibility is not just the story of one firm. It is a beacon for the industry as a whole: growth does not have to come at the expense of propriety. Those ethos the firm has adopted – honesty, transparency, consumer education – will endure as the industry evolves in the coming decades.

EMBRACING THE WAVE: THE POWER OF HONESTY IN SOLAR

The history of Independent Solar suggests a key lesson: integrity is a wise business strategy as well as a moral one; it can be your competitive advantage in a market where trust is scarce. Radiant transparency can clear the channel, showing that the way ahead is brightly illuminated by the values that shine today.

UNDERSTANDING THE WAVE

Indeed, this wave is more than a strategy, it’s a movement toward a more transparent and trustworthy solar industry. Integrity, compliance, transparency – all those things improve the reputations of companies such as Independent Solar, as well as the solar industry’s future potential, not to mention the potential of each and every one of us. The wave these companies are riding will have a huge effect on that future, because it will be built on trust. Independent Solar isn’t just harvesting a ray of sunshine – it’s harvesting a ray of integrity, and in the process setting a shining example for others.