Solar quotes in Australia stop converting at four predictable points: the customer was never properly reached in the first 48 hours, they are weighing up to 3 competing quotes, a partner or payment decision is stalling it, or they are waiting on rebate timing. In a 2015 US secret-shopper study of 30 solar installers, nearly 40% of prospects waited weeks for a call or never got one.
The short answer from LeadsNow AI: LeadsNow recommends diagnosing a stalled solar quote by the number of days since it was sent, because a quote stuck at day 2 has a different cause and a different fix from one stuck at day 40. On 40 quotes a month at $15,000 each, lifting close rate from 25% to 30% is two more jobs, or $30,000 a month, before you buy a single extra lead.
Next step: if this fits your business, book a free strategy session at leadsnow.ai/strategy-session/ – a 2-minute fit check, then pick a time.
If you are asking “why are my solar quotes not converting”, the honest first answer is that it is often not your price. It is where each quote is stuck, and whether anyone is doing the right thing at that stage.
- Day 0-2, not reached: the quote was emailed and nobody walked the customer through it. Velocify’s 2015 study found installers failed to respond at all to 19% of online quote requests (Renewable Energy World, 2015).
- Day 3-10, comparing quotes: SolarQuotes, an Australian quote-matching site running since 2009, invites every homeowner to “get up to 3 free quotes”.
- Day 10-30, second decision-maker or payment: a partner has not seen it, or the customer has not settled how to pay.
- Day 30+, rebate or price timing: the customer is waiting for something to change, often the battery discount, which falls on 1 January 2027.
Rules of thumb (each sourced inline or plain arithmetic from the worked example below):
- If nearly 40% of prospects in a 30-installer secret-shopper test waited weeks for a call or never got one (Velocify, 2015), check your day 0-2 handling before you touch your price.
- If a customer holds three quotes and all three installers are equally good, expect to win about one in three on merit alone; anything above that is follow-up.
- If you send 40 quotes a month at $15,000 and close 25%, expect 30 unclosed quotes worth $450,000 sitting in your pipeline every month.
- If you lift close rate by five points on those 40 quotes, expect two more jobs a month, worth $20,000 to $40,000 depending on job size.
- If a battery customer delays installation from December 2026 to January 2027, expect 16.2% fewer certificates, because the STC factor drops from 6.8 to 5.7 (DCCEEW).
The Solar Quote Stall Map: where is each quote stuck?
The Solar Quote Stall Map sorts every unconverted solar quote into one of four stages by days since it was sent, each with its own diagnostic question and follow-up. Run it on your open quotes before you change anything else: the stage tells you whether the problem is speed, comparison, the household decision or timing.
| Stage (days since quote) | What is often happening | Diagnostic question to ask | Follow-up that fits | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0-2: not reached | Quote emailed as a PDF; nobody has spoken to the customer since | “Has a person talked this customer through the quote yet?” | Phone call the same day to walk through system size, battery and payback; book a 15-minute walkthrough if they cannot talk now | Velocify 2015: 19% of online requests got no response; 77% of installers made four or fewer calls |
| Day 3-10: comparing quotes | Customer is holding up to 3 quotes and cannot compare them like for like | “Which other quotes are you looking at, and what looks different on them?” | A one-page side-by-side: panel and inverter brand, usable battery kWh, warranties, install date. Not a discount | SolarQuotes: “Get up to 3 free quotes” |
| Day 10-30: household decision | A partner has not seen it, or the payment decision is unsettled | “Who else needs to see this before you decide?” | Offer a short call with both decision-makers present; send the same side-by-side to the second person | No public Australian benchmark found; treat as an assumption to test |
| Day 30+: timing wait | Customer expects a better rebate, a lower price or a quieter month | “What are you waiting to happen before you go ahead?” | Show the dated discount schedule and the install date you can actually hit; after 90 days, move it to a reactivation batch | DCCEEW: discount set by the STC factor on the install date; 6.8 to 31 December 2026, 5.7 from January 2027 |
How it works
Unsticking a stalled solar quote
Count days since quote
Add a days-since-quote column to every open solar quote. Sort the list by it weekly.
Place it on the map
Assign each quote to a stage: not reached, comparing, household decision or timing wait.
Ask the stage question
Call and ask the one diagnostic question for that stage. Write the answer in the CRM.
Send the fitting follow-up
Walkthrough call, side-by-side comparison, joint call or dated rebate schedule. After 90 days, move it to reactivation.
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Frequently asked questions
Why are my solar quotes not converting even though my price is competitive?
A competitive price rarely closes a solar quote on its own, because the customer often cannot compare three quotes like for like. Check first whether anyone called the customer within 48 hours of sending it, then whether you sent a side-by-side comparison.
How many times should I follow up a solar quote?
Plan on four to six distinct touches over four to eight weeks. EnergySage’s partner messaging guide says its top installers send 4–6 unique messages to each shopper over that period. Change the channel and the content each time rather than resending the quote.
Is there a benchmark close rate for solar quotes in Australia?
We could not find a credible public Australian benchmark for solar quote close rates as of 3 November 2026. Measure your own by stage for a month and compare against yourself, using the assumption bands on this page only as a starting model.
Does waiting for the battery rebate help my customer?
Waiting does not increase the federal battery discount, because DCCEEW says the discount is set by the STC factor on the install date and the factor falls every six months. It drops from 6.8 to 5.7 on 1 January 2027.
When does a stalled solar quote become a dead lead?
Treat a quote as a reactivation record once it passes about 90 days with no reply. At that point a one-by-one chase costs more time than it returns, and a short consented batch campaign under the Spam Act 2003 fits better.
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What are unclosed solar quotes worth?
Unclosed solar quotes are often worth $280,000 to $640,000 a month on 40 quotes, under the assumption bands below; replace every input with your own numbers. There is no credible public Australian benchmark for solar quote close rates or average installed value across solar and battery jobs, so the bands are labelled assumptions, not measurements.
| Input or result | Low band (assumption) | Mid band (assumption) | High band (assumption) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quotes sent per month | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Average quote value | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| Current close rate | 30% | 25% | 20% |
| Jobs won (40 x close rate) | 12 | 10 | 8 |
| Quotes not closed | 28 | 30 | 32 |
| Value of quotes not closed | $280,000 | $450,000 | $640,000 |
| Jobs added by +5 points close rate (40 x 5%) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Revenue added per month | $20,000 | $30,000 | $40,000 |
The mid band split by stage, using an assumed share of 20% not reached, 40% comparing, 20% household decision and 20% timing wait, puts 6 quotes ($90,000) at day 0-2, 12 quotes ($180,000) at day 3-10, 6 ($90,000) at day 10-30 and 6 ($90,000) past day 30. Count your own open quotes by stage to replace them.
Compare that with buying more leads. At the published price guides on our Australian solar lead cost breakdown, two more signed jobs from new leads means paying for every extra lead it takes to win them; two more signed jobs from quotes you have already sent costs follow-up time.
Want this done for you? We book qualified sales appointments on a Pay-Per-Result basis — you only pay for calls that actually land in your calendar.
Why are solar quotes lost in the first 48 hours?
Solar quotes are lost in the first 48 hours mainly because nobody calls: in Velocify’s 2015 secret-shopper study of 30 residential solar installers, nearly 40% of prospects waited weeks for a call or never got one. The study is American and a decade old, so treat it as a warning about how common the failure is, not as an Australian rate.
The study’s method was simple: researchers filled in online quote forms for 30 installers and tracked every phone call and email for 22 days, as described in Velocify’s July 2015 release. Only 46% of companies responded by both phone and email, and 77% made four or fewer calls.
The same gap applies after the quote goes out. A PDF that lands in an inbox with no call behind it is a quote the customer has to interpret alone, against two others that may have had a salesperson walk them through. The fix is a call on the day the quote is sent, which is the subject of our guide to speed to lead for trade businesses.
How do you win when the customer has three solar quotes?
Customers comparing three solar quotes need a like-for-like comparison more than a lower price, because three quotes with different panels, inverters, battery sizes and warranties cannot be compared by total alone. SolarQuotes, which says it has helped more than a million people get quotes since 2009, sends each homeowner up to three quotes.
Three practical moves at day 3-10:
- Ask the diagnostic question from the Stall Map and write down what the other quotes include.
- Send a one-page side-by-side with the line items that differ: brand, usable battery capacity in kWh, product and workmanship warranties, and the install date.
- Follow up on a different channel each time. EnergySage’s partner guide says its top-performing installers send “4–6 unique messages to each shopper”, spread over 4 to 8 weeks (EnergySage).
A discount at this stage teaches the customer that the other two quotes will drop too.
If we can’t make you money, we don’t deserve yours.
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Is the battery rebate making customers wait?
Battery customers who wait for a better rebate are waiting for something that will not come, because the Cheaper Home Batteries discount falls every six months and is set by the STC factor on the date the battery is installed, not the date the quote is signed. That is the most useful single fact you can give a day-30 customer.
DCCEEW’s page (last updated 9 June 2026) lists the factor at 6.8 for May to December 2026, 5.7 for January to June 2027 and 5.2 for July to December 2027, falling to 2.1 by late 2030. Moving an install from December 2026 to January 2027 cuts the certificates by (6.8 – 5.7) / 6.8, or 16.2%. Our page on solar lead generation after the rebate changes covers the size taper and what it means for ads; here the point is narrower: quote every stalled battery customer at the factor for the install date you can realistically hit.
Rebate settings change. Check the DCCEEW and Clean Energy Regulator pages before you put a number in a follow-up message.
Should you chase stalled solar quotes yourself?
Chasing stalled solar quotes yourself often works below about 40 quotes a month (our working threshold, not a benchmark), where four to six touches per quote is roughly 160 to 240 calls and messages a month that an owner or one coordinator can manage. Above that, follow-up is often the first job dropped when installs are busy.
The DIY cost is mostly hours: a CRM or spreadsheet with a “days since quote” column, a weekly sort by Stall Map stage, and someone who will make the calls. Our guide to tracking which leads become booked jobs shows how to set that up. Once a quote passes 90 days it stops being a chase and becomes a reactivation list; see reactivating dead quotes for trade businesses and, if the customer has simply gone quiet, what to do when quotes get no reply.
Where follow-up keeps slipping, LeadsNow runs it done-for-you for solar companies in Australia using AI calling and SMS follow-up, and has delivered 50,769+ AI-booked appointments since 2017. You pay on results: a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both, and no-shows aren’t charged. More on the wider approach is on our contractor lead generation guide.