Tips for Success | Better Buildings Residential Program Solution Center

Adapt messages to your primary target audience’s needs

This is a Tip for Success

Adapt your business model to fit your external environment

This is a Tip for Success

Aim for early wins that give the program experience and showcase upgrades as a way to attract customers

This is a Tip for Success

Ask customers about their program experience and for feedback on how your program can improve—and listen to their responses

This is a Tip for Success

Communicate with audiences at least three times; once is not enough

This is a Tip for Success

Conduct one-on-one outreach where people gather and help them take action right away

This is a Tip for Success

Connect home performance professionals to trainings focused on the skills that employers want and the community needs

This is a Tip for Success

Consider a diversity of funding and revenue sources and make selections based on local opportunities when planning for long-term program sustainability

This is a Tip for Success

Consider tiered financing or rebates to encourage deeper upgrades

This is a Tip for Success

Contractors are your sales team – educate and empower them with the skills to sell home energy upgrades

This is a Tip for Success

Design a program that provides value for contractors and considers their seasonal business cycles

This is a Tip for Success

Design your financing activities to enable long-term sustainability

This is a Tip for Success

Develop data collection and evaluation plans in conjunction with program design

This is a Tip for Success

Develop partnerships based on an alignment of goals, strong collaboration, and consistent communication

This is a Tip for Success

Develop routine reports or dashboards to help monitor the collected data

This is a Tip for Success

Directly install measures during the assessment

This is a Tip for Success

Engage media to garner attention and credibility

This is a Tip for Success

Engage with potential lending partners early, and make a clear business case for their involvement

This is a Tip for Success

Establish a clear system and process for ensuring quality work

This is a Tip for Success

Establish collaborative partnerships with contractors and communicate with them early and often

This is a Tip for Success

Establish data sharing relationships as early as possible

This is a Tip for Success

Follow through with customers

This is a Tip for Success

Foster “word of mouth” communication from satisfied customers

This is a Tip for Success

Good news is addictive – spread news about program accomplishments widely and often

This is a Tip for Success

Have clear rules and systems for identifying and remedying contractor problems

This is a Tip for Success

Help contractors enter the home performance market by lowering barriers to entry

This is a Tip for Success

Help contractors understand the program’s financing options and benefits, so they can communicate to homeowners

This is a Tip for Success

Hire staff with financing skills and knowledge

This is a Tip for Success

Incentivize the action you want your customer to take

This is a Tip for Success

Invest in information and communications technology

This is a Tip for Success

Keep the program simple for your contractors

This is a Tip for Success

Keep the program simple for your customers

This is a Tip for Success

Language matters – use words that resonate with your target audience

This is a Tip for Success

Leverage financial sector marketing channels

This is a Tip for Success

Leverage the many complementary benefits of energy efficiency programs to broaden your organization’s reach and partnership opportunities

This is a Tip for Success

Maintain a sufficient workforce from program launch into program maturity

This is a Tip for Success

Make sure there are enough customers in your target market to meet your goals and attract partners

This is a Tip for Success

Make upgrade benefits visible by showcasing completed projects and actual results

This is a Tip for Success

Make upgrade options clear and concise for customers

This is a Tip for Success

Measure and evaluate performance at key points in the process

This is a Tip for Success

Motivate action through financial incentives and time-limited offers

This is a Tip for Success

Offer customers a range of upgrade paths, including single measures and staging upgrades over time

This is a Tip for Success

Offer homeowners multiple types of assessments

This is a Tip for Success

Partner with organizations or individuals that customers already trust

This is a Tip for Success

Promote existing loan products when possible before developing new ones

This is a Tip for Success

Promote financing as part of energy efficiency sales transactions

This is a Tip for Success

Provide adequate time for data system development and testing

This is a Tip for Success

Provide customers with a single point of contact to help them through the upgrade process

This is a Tip for Success

Provide information to help customers pick the right contractor

This is a Tip for Success

Provide materials and training to ensure data quality, consistency, and accuracy

This is a Tip for Success

Recognize customers who make improvements

This is a Tip for Success

Recognize and reward good contractor performance

This is a Tip for Success

Set realistic expectations for launching and scaling up your program

This is a Tip for Success

Speak about financing in ways that resonate with homeowners

This is a Tip for Success

Streamline the financing process with easy loan applications and quick approvals

This is a Tip for Success

Tap into secondary market investors to provide lending capital

This is a Tip for Success

Use compatible formats for data sharing and reporting, and work with partners to implement standard data exchange protocols

This is a Tip for Success

When partnering with lenders through a request for proposal (RFP), establish a clear process and remain flexible

This is a Tip for Success