The short answer is that those platforms are built for multinational sales teams by people who have never installed a solar panel in their life.

Caroline Douthwaite, founder of The solar app, is also the founder of an Australian solar company, Supreme Power, which had a head office at the Gold Coast for 8 years from 2010 to 2018.

This puts Caroline in a unique position by both understanding the Australian solar industry and owning a SaaS company, so she understands the step-by-step process from start to finish.

Large companies such as Salesforce, Monday, or Pipedrive don't understand the Australian solar industry, which makes it very difficult to get anything built that works well.

The Solar App is configured around every stage of the Australian solar customer journey—from the moment a lead enquires through to the final sign-off and review request.

That's the difference. They sell software. We built a system — by someone who's lived the job.

The simplest way to explain it is the Solar App manages every stage of a solar job from the moment a customer enquires to the moment they make their final payment and everything in between.

It's a pipeline that tracks every stage the lead is in, from auto-assignment to the correct appointment setter or salesperson to booking in onsite assessments, designs and installations.

The solar app prompts when a grid-connect application needs to be done, informs customers throughout the process and even sends automated review and referral requests for selected customers after the install is complete.

Many customers use the Solar App along with Pylon or Nearmaps, which is great for sending quotes, but the Solar App does exactly what it says on the tin. It simply tracks the individual leads and customers through each stage of the process from start to finish, doing all the heavy lifting.

It even includes pre-start assessment forms, test and commissioning forms and provides a monthly report with easy-to-read pie charts for the business owners so they can see exactly what is working and what needs improving, helping them increase revenue with less stress.

One system. Every stage. Nothing falling through the cracks.

About one to two weeks. It can be longer with some custom additions, but 90% of the time it can be configured within this time frame.

The Solar App is built around how your team already works, not around how a software company thinks they should work. Salespeople are allocated leads based on postcode even if there are 2 or more people working the same area.

Admin sees their tasks. Installers see their jobs and forms. Nobody has to learn a complicated interface or dig through menus to find what they need. One job and one action for each staff member. It's very easy to use.

We also provide training for every member of your team as part of the setup, and because the workflows are automated, a lot of the steps your team used to do manually simply don't exist anymore. Less for them to remember means fewer mistakes.

It comes with you. Part of our setup process is migrating your existing contacts, leads, and customer records into The Solar App.

We've done this for businesses with over 100,000 contacts. You don't lose your history, and you don't start from zero. Each contact is tagged so you can find staff (in case you want to send them a bulk email), subscribers, leads, previous customers, etc. You can find exactly what list you want with just one click.

We map your existing data to the right fields in the system during the setup phase, so by the time your team logs in for the first time, your lists are already there, ready to go.

That's exactly the right question to ask — and the honest answer is it depends on what your current system is actually doing for you and if the Solar App would help you make more money in your solar business, reduce stress or make your business simply easier to run.

If the answer is yes, chat with Caroline to learn more so you can make an educated decision on what's best for you. If the answer to these questions is no, then you can either learn more in case you have missed something or, no hard feelings, it has to add value to your business to make it worth it for either of us.

Remember, this isn't just a CRM; it's a business suite. CRMs don't have an option to build a website or sales funnel to capture leads. Many require more software for two-way SMS, outbound calling that records the calls, missed call text-back, and social media planner.

The Solar App also has everything in one place and even includes live chat widgets, QR codes and an AI agent to take your social media messages and calls.

The main difference is a CRM needs other software a business requires; the Solar App has everything built into one app.

If your CRM is tracking your contacts and deals but your team is still manually sending follow-up texts, chasing Grid Connect approvals in email, and trying to remember which jobs need a review request — then it isn't really managing your business. It's just storing data.

Is your current CRM easy for new staff to jump in and start using with limited training, or do they have to remember stuff?

Does your current CRM track every stage of the process on one screen? Does it have the option to run your website, SMS or social media planner? If not, you will need to buy other software or do it manually, which is even more expensive.

The disruption of switching to a system that runs the workflow for you is a two-to-three week process. The disruption of staying with a system that doesn't — that's every single day.

The platform is $897 per month — and that covers your entire team. Unlimited users as opose to regular CRMs that charge for more users. This can save you thousands straight off.

Whether you have 5 staff or 50, the monthly cost doesn't change. There are no per-seat fees, no licence upgrades, and no surprise charges when you hire someone new or a new service is released.

Most CRMs charge per user. A 10-person team on Salesforce or HubSpot can cost $1,500 to $3,000 a month before you've added a single automation or integration. With the Solar App, your whole business is on one platform for $897/mth.

There is a one-off configuration fee that varies depending on the size and complexity of your business. We discuss that before you commit to anything – there will be no surprises.

What I can tell you is that every business we've worked with has recovered the configuration cost within three to six months — through closing more deals, making fewer admin mistakes, keeping customers informed at every stage, and generating more reviews and referrals from completed installs.

The system pays for itself. The $897 a month after that is profit protection.

You get direct access to support — not a ticket system, not a chatbot, not a call centre in another country.

We're an Australian business, and we understand the solar industry. If something isn't working the way it should, or your team has a question about how to handle a specific scenario in the pipeline, you get a real answer from your account manager in minutes who knows the system inside and out and is very familiar with the solar industry.

Ramselec Solar — a solar electrician in Melbourne — went from 30 reviews to over 120+ 5-star reviews in 3 months, dramatically increasing revenue.

Probec Solar – A solar installer in Sydney went from just 3 staff to over 12 staff in just 10 months due to a sudden surge in revenue.

OzEnergi – A Queensland solar installer that was missing opportunities now has a system in place to close hundreds of leads and gets their leads automatically allocated to each salesperson on autopilot, saving time as well and money.

The results vary by business — but the pattern is consistent. When leads stop falling through the cracks and admin stops being done on memory, revenue goes up and stress goes down.

The Solar app is built for Australian solar companies with between 5 and 100 staff — businesses big enough to have a sales team, admin, and installers working across multiple jobs at once, but not so large that they have a dedicated IT department managing their software.

If you've got one salesperson doing everything on a phone and a notepad, you might not need this yet. But if you've got people in different roles who need to hand jobs off to each other smoothly — and right now that handoff is happening by text message, phone call, or hoping someone remembers — then the Solar App is exactly what you need.