Unsure of New job in Solar Panel Sales

trashedteen

Hi, my names John, I'm new to the forum and I hope you can help.

Around 2 weeks ago I had an interview for a door-to-door solar panel salesperson for an Icon Energy Solutions Ltd. I was given the job right away and told my expected earnings to be around £1000 per month based on a minimum of 10 sales a week with a £100 commission. It's a self-employed opportunity with no basic rate, purely commission and I start training this week.

I accepted the job but have since read a lot of information about hard sales tactics and false claims. The company is not a member of the Solar Trade Association and there is not much info on the web about them. They claim that they use another company to install the panels at no cost to the home-owner, plus the panels themselves are also free. They claim that their profit lies in the current government incentive of the 41p per Kw the panels produce.

I am now very hesitant of joining this company and would just like to get the opinions of anyone who has some knowledge on the subject.

Hope you can help.


Regards,

John

saintjammyswine

"I accepted the job but have since read a lot of information about hard sales tactics and false claims. The company is not a member of the Solar Trade Association and there is not much info on the web about them. They claim that they use another company to install the panels at no cost to the home-owner, plus the panels themselves are also free. They claim that their profit lies in the current government incentive of the 41p per Kw the panels produce."

Very odd information to include in the body of a thread asking for advice about a job, seems like you may be trying to sell either the product or the idea? No, are you sure?

jj_5

Hi John,

I know the owner of Icon Energy Solutions and have worked with him in the past.

The Panels are fitted by a different firm. Icon Energy are simply a sales force, (which is why they don't need to be members of the STA)

The panels are free. Investors pay for the systems due to the government paying them a fixed feed in tariff for 25 years.

All in all you will be self-employed so whether you employ misleading sales tactics is your own choice. You certainly wouldn't need to.

If you have the confidence to knock on people's doors and give them something for free, explain things properly, I'd go for it.

If you don't like taking the odd bit abuse then don't bother!

trashedteen

Thanks very much for the info. I was just slightly concerned about the reputation some of the other solar energy companies have and when I couldn't find any information on them alarm bells rang. Do you know the name of the company they use to install the panels?

My previous job involved door-to-door sales so I am very familiar with this type of role. It sounds fantastic, but I was slightly worried it would be one of those 'too good to be true' jobs. Glad you were able to clear it up for me.


Many thanks,

John.

dseventy

I would be questioning your "self employment" status. If you just work for them and don't do sales for anyone else, I can't see how you are S/E.

See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status/index.htm#1

D70