How I Helped a Solar Company Scale Lead Generation Across Five States
In 2021, I joined a fast-growing solar energy company operating in five states. I was brought on as their first dedicated marketing hire with a clear directive: drive lead generation. The company had aggressive expectations—specifically, generating 50 high-quality leads per day within two weeks.
My response? “Absolutely not.”
Not because it couldn’t be done, but because building a scalable and sustainable lead generation engine takes more than turning on a few ads. It requires strategy, data, and a clear understanding of your ideal customer—none of which the company had in place at the time.
What followed over the next five months was a transformational journey. We not only hit the 50-leads-per-day mark, but also brought the cost per acquisition (CPA) down from $125–$400 to just $30–$65 per lead, depending on the channel. This is the story of how we did it.
Laying the Groundwork: Strategy Before Speed
At the time I joined, the company was spending a significant amount on digital ads, but lacked a cohesive strategy. There were no customer personas, no audience segmentation, and no historic marketing data to inform decisions.
To change that, I began by:
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Analyzing historical performance data (what little existed)
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Identifying trends in customer behavior and buying cycles
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Developing detailed customer personas and refining target audiences
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Redesigning and A/B testing landing pages and lead forms for improved conversions
One of the smartest early decisions made by the company was pairing me with a newly hired Marketing Director. Although new to the field and fresh out of college, they had the right mindset—open, eager to learn, and humble. We hit it off immediately and spent hours each day talking through marketing strategies and testing ideas. That collaboration became a key part of our success.
Compensation and Motivation
As part of my onboarding, the company offered me a $2-per-lead bonus on top of my salary—an incentive I hadn’t asked for, but one that added a layer of performance-based motivation.
Five months later, we were each producing more than 50 leads per day. The workload and volume necessitated another hire, and the second marketer—trained using my systems and strategies—quickly ramped up to the same output.
Eventually, the company brought us both in and offered a $10,000 salary increase if we agreed to remove the $2-per-lead incentive. We accepted. At that point, the systems were working so well the bonus had become redundant.
The Tactics That Delivered Results
So, how did we get from zero to 50+ leads per day? Here are a few of the key strategies I implemented:
1. Channel Specialization
I focused on Google Ads while the new hire took over Facebook Ads, allowing us to go deep rather than broad. I also introduced Microsoft (Bing) Ads, a channel often overlooked by competitors. This brought in high-intent traffic with less competition and resulted in ROI as high as 14:1.
2. Hyper-Local Targeting
We shifted targeting from broad regions like entire states or DMAs to county- and zip-code-level segmentation. This improved ad relevance, reduced wasted spend, and allowed us to tailor messaging more precisely.
3. Lead Aggregator Optimization
When I joined, the company was using 13 lead aggregators, all competing for the same audiences with near-identical copy and targeting. This drove up CPC and CPA unnecessarily.
To fix this:
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I assigned unique geographic areas to each aggregator to eliminate internal competition.
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I monitored performance per territory, reassigning or replacing underperformers.
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This alone reduced overlapping ad spend and brought average CPA down significantly.
4. Continuous A/B Testing
Landing pages, forms, CTAs, headlines—everything was tested and refined. I optimized for conversion rate, not just traffic. By iterating quickly and using data as our guide, we steadily improved lead quality and volume.
The Results
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Over 50 high-quality leads per day per marketer
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CPA reduced to $30 on Facebook and $65 on PPC
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Company expanded into a significantly larger headquarters, formerly a Whirlpool facility
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Built a scalable, repeatable lead generation system that helped fuel rapid growth across five states
Final Thoughts
This experience reinforced a core belief I’ve held for years: growth doesn’t come from shortcuts—it comes from strategic execution, clear communication, and a relentless focus on what actually drives results.
Many companies focus on vanity metrics or copy-paste strategies from competitors. But the real wins come from understanding your audience deeply, optimizing every stage of the customer journey, and constantly refining the process.
That’s how you go from startup chaos to scalable success.