Solar appointments vs leads: what should you buy?
Published
Two installers can buy from the same provider, spend the same money, and get completely different results, purely because one bought leads and the other bought appointments. Neither format is better. They suit different teams. Buying the wrong one is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes in solar sales.
What you are actually buying
A lead is contact details plus some level of qualifying information. You call it, qualify it, and try to convert it into a survey and then a sale. All of that work is yours.
An appointment is a confirmed meeting or survey slot in your diary, with a prospect who has already been qualified and has agreed to the meeting. The provider does the calling, qualifying and booking. You turn up.
The difference in price follows the difference in work. Commercial leads typically start from around £150, while booked commercial appointments start from around £250. You are paying for the phone hours and the qualification you did not have to do.
Leads vs appointments, side by side
| Leads | Appointments | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical commercial price | from around £150 | from around £250 |
| Who does the qualifying | You | The provider |
| Who does the chasing | You | The provider |
| Speed of follow-up needed | Immediate, minutes matter | Not applicable |
| Main risk | Never getting hold of them | No-shows |
| Suits | Teams with phone capacity and process | Teams with survey capacity but no phone time |
When leads are the right buy
Buy leads if you have people who can call, and a process that guarantees they do. Specifically:
- You can respond within minutes, not hours. Speed to lead is the whole game.
- You have a CRM and follow-up discipline, so nothing falls through the cracks.
- You want control over qualification, because your criteria are specific.
- You want the lower unit cost and are prepared to earn the difference with your own hours.
Leads reward operational discipline. If your team already chases well, leads will usually give you a better cost per install, especially exclusive ones. That is closely tied to the exclusive versus shared decision, since a shared lead punishes slow follow-up hardest.
When appointments are the right buy
Buy appointments if the bottleneck is phone time rather than survey capacity:
- Your surveyors have gaps in the diary but nobody has time to prospect.
- You have no dedicated sales or call team.
- You would rather pay a known cost per meeting than manage a chase process.
- Predictability matters more to you than the lowest unit cost.
The trade-off is control. You are trusting someone else's qualification standard, so you must agree it up front. Tell the provider exactly what counts as a qualified commercial opportunity, using something like the commercial qualification checklist, and get it in writing.
The no-show problem
Appointments have one failure mode that leads do not: the prospect does not turn up, or was never really interested. A no-show costs you a wasted slot and sometimes a wasted journey, which is far more expensive than a lead you could not reach.
Before you buy appointments, ask three things:
- What is your no-show rate, and how is it measured?
- What is your replacement or refund policy for no-shows?
- What exactly do you qualify against before booking?
A provider who cannot answer all three should not be booking your diary. Also insist on confirmation calls or messages ahead of each meeting, since that alone removes a large share of no-shows.
Comparing them honestly
As always, ignore unit price and compare cost per install. An appointment at £250 that converts at 30 percent costs roughly £833 per install. A lead at £150 that converts at 20 percent costs £750 per install, but only if your team actually works every one. Factor in the enquiries a stretched team never calls and the lead figure quietly gets worse. Run both on your real conversion rates and your real capacity, not your intended capacity. The wider cost picture is covered in what commercial solar leads cost.
What Radiant offers
Radiant's C&I Marketplace sells exclusive commercial leads, priced by the size of the opportunity, with qualification detail already attached. We do not currently sell booked appointments. If a set diary is what your business needs, an appointment provider may suit you better, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong format. If you have the phone capacity and want exclusive commercial enquiries at a lower unit cost, that is where we fit.
Frequently asked questions
Are solar appointments better than leads? Not inherently. Appointments suit teams with survey capacity but no time to prospect. Leads suit teams with the discipline to call fast. Choose on where your bottleneck is.
Why do appointments cost more than leads? Because the provider has already done the calling, qualifying and booking. You are buying those hours as well as the opportunity.
What no-show rate is acceptable? There is no universal figure, but any provider selling appointments should measure it, tell you it, and offer a clear replacement policy for no-shows.
Where to go next
- Price both formats properly: what commercial solar leads cost
- Choose the right lead type: exclusive vs shared solar leads
- Set your qualification standard: how to qualify a commercial solar enquiry
- Compare the main UK providers: our comparison of UK solar lead companies
Or see exclusive commercial enquiries on the C&I Marketplace.