How to Use Your Solar ROI Calculator and Live Screensharing to Drive Sales

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Your solar company provides the ROI calculator, CrankWheel makes it come to life. By screensharing your calculator and giving prospects optional remote control, you let them test real utility rates, system sizes, incentives, and financing scenarios live. This builds trust, eliminates confusion, and turns a static tool into a collaborative buying experience. Customers understand their savings better, feel more confident in the numbers, and move through the decision process faster. Real-time calculator exploration = higher engagement, higher trust, and higher close rates. Read on to learn how. 

Homeowners considering solar want one thing above all else: clear, transparent proof of their potential savings. They need to understand the long-term return on investment (ROI) of their switch to solar, not just the upfront system price. Your company likely provides a solar ROI calculator or pricing tool, but the real magic happens when customers can interact with it live, guided by an expert. Hint, that’s you!

This is where tools like CrankWheel come in. By combining your powerful calculator with instant screen sharing and optional remote control, you can transform a confusing, self-guided process into an interactive, trust-building experience. Prospects can adjust the numbers themselves, see the results update in real time, and gain a deep understanding of their investment.

By the end of this guide, you will know exactly how to use your solar calculator during a live screen share to clearly demonstrate long-term ROI and close more deals.

Why Solar ROI Matters More Than System Price

Many solar buyers initially fixate on the total system cost, but the most successful sales conversations shift the focus to ROI. The long-term value of a solar installation is what truly matters, and your calculator is the key to unlocking that understanding.

A good solar ROI calculator helps customers visualize how various factors come together:

  • Current and future utility rates
  • Federal, state, and local incentives
  • Optimal system size and production
  • Long-term reductions in their electricity bills

The main challenge is that homeowners rarely grasp these interconnected variables on their own. They see a form with a dozen fields and feel overwhelmed. The most effective solution is to walk them through your calculator in real time using a simple screen-sharing tool, explaining each input and output along the way.

How Your Solar ROI Calculator Works

To guide a customer effectively, you need to be an expert on your own tool. Most solar ROI calculators include the following fields, which form the foundation of your interactive demonstration.

A. Customer Energy Inputs

  • Current bill: The starting point for calculating savings.
  • Utility price per kWh: The rate the customer currently pays for electricity.
  • Rate structure: Whether they are on a flat-rate, time-of-use, or tiered plan.

B. Solar System Inputs

  • System size (kW): The total power capacity of the proposed system.
  • Panel efficiency: The performance rating of the solar panels.
  • Local production estimates: How much energy the system is expected to generate based on local sun exposure.

C. Incentives & Rebates

  • Investment Tax Credit (ITC): The federal tax credit available for solar installations.
  • State/local incentives: Any additional credits or rebates offered by state or municipal governments.
  • Utility rebates: Rebates offered directly by the customer’s utility company.

D. Financial Inputs

  • Cash vs. financing: How the purchase method affects the overall cost and savings.
  • Loan terms: The interest rate, loan duration, and monthly payments if financing.
  • Utility inflation: The projected annual increase in electricity prices.

E. ROI Output

  • Payback period: How long it will take for the savings to cover the system’s cost.
  • Lifetime savings: The total estimated savings over the life of the system (typically 25 years).
  • Net system cost: The final cost after all incentives and rebates are applied.

These are the typical inputs most solar ROI calculators use to generate a personalized savings report. A tool like CrankWheel simply provides the bridge to help customers interact with it confidently.

The Problem With Static Calculators

Many solar companies embed a calculator on their website and hope for the best. Unfortunately, these self-guided tools often create more confusion than clarity. Customers don’t know which inputs to adjust, what assumptions to make, or how to interpret the results.

When they feel overwhelmed, they abandon the process.

Static calculators and downloadable PDFs fail because they don’t allow your sales representatives to guide the customer through the assumptions. Most importantly, homeowners want to experiment with real numbers, but they need an expert to explain the context.

Bring Your Calculator to Life With Screensharing

This is where the combination of your calculator and an instant screen-sharing tool becomes a powerful sales asset.

What CrankWheel Does for ROI Calculators and Solar Sales 

CrankWheel is designed for simplicity. It allows your sales representative to instantly share their screen with a prospect without requiring any downloads or account creation from the customer. With a single click, you can also enable optional remote control, which allows the prospect to adjust fields on your calculator in real time. This gives the customer a hands-on feel while you provide expert guidance.

Why This Works for Solar Sales

  • Builds trust: Transparency is everything. When customers see the numbers change live as you adjust inputs, they trust the results.
  • Eliminates confusion: You can immediately clarify complex topics like utility rate structures, system sizing, and incentives.
  • Empowers customers: Letting them “test-drive” the calculator makes them feel in control of their decision.
  • No tech hurdles: Prospects join instantly via a link sent by text or email. It works on any device, in any browser.

Imagine a customer asking, “What if utility rates go up faster?” 

Instead of just telling them, you can grant them remote control and let them change the utility inflation rate from 3% to 5% and watch their ROI increase instantly.

Step-by-Step: An Interactive Calculator Session

Here is a walkthrough of what a sales experience using your ROI calculator with CrankWheel looks like.

Step 1: Open Your Solar ROI Calculator Have your calculator ready on your screen before the call. Your representative always controls which application or browser tab is shown.

Step 2: Start a CrankWheel Screenshare When you’re on the phone with the homeowner, send them a link via text or email. They click it and can see your screen in seconds. There is no installation and no friction.

Step 3: Enable Remote Control (Optional) With their permission, grant them remote control. This allows the homeowner to type different values directly into your calculator’s fields.

Step 4: Explain Each Variable As they explore, guide them. Explain what each variable means, from the ITC to production estimates, ensuring they understand the “why” behind the numbers.

Step 5: Watch the Results Update Instantly As they change an input, your calculator will update the payback period and lifetime savings. This real-time feedback is powerful and builds immense confidence.

Step 6: Save or Export the Scenario Once you’ve landed on a scenario they are happy with, use your calculator’s built-in function to save or export the results. CrankWheel is just the viewing method; your tool handles the output.

Numbers Customers Should Experiment With

Encourage customers to test different scenarios inside your calculator. This helps them understand the variables and feel confident in their final decision.

  • Scenario 1 (Energy Price Increases): Let them test different utility inflation rates, from a conservative 2% to a more aggressive 10%.
  • Scenario 2 (Different System Sizes): Show them how a smaller system has a lower upfront cost but also lower long-term savings.
  • Scenario 3 (Cash vs. Financing): Compare the lifetime savings of a cash purchase versus the cash flow benefits of a loan.
  • Scenario 4 (Adding a Battery): If your calculator supports it, model the cost, incentives, and backup power value of adding a battery.
  • Scenario 5 (Long-Term Production): Adjust the system’s degradation rate over 25 years to show how performance changes over time.

Your calculator runs these numbers. CrankWheel just makes the collaboration seamless.

Boost Your Close Rates With Interactive Sessions

Integrating interactive calculator sessions into your sales process can significantly increase your close rates.

  • Clarity: Customers who clearly understand their savings are more likely to buy.
  • Trust: They trust your numbers because they saw them calculated live.
  • Efficiency: It removes bottlenecks like, “I’ll email you the proposal later.”
  • Engagement: An interactive session is far more engaging than a static pitch deck.

This approach is perfect for virtual solar teams and national sales models where in-person meetings aren’t feasible. CrankWheel makes your sophisticated calculator feel personal, guided, and interactive, turning a complex financial decision into a simple and transparent conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who provides the solar ROI calculator? Your solar company provides the calculator. CrankWheel is the screen-sharing and remote-control tool used to showcase it interactively.

Can customers adjust the numbers themselves? Yes. Using CrankWheel’s optional remote control feature, customers can interact with your calculator’s fields directly during a call.

Do customers need to download anything? No. CrankWheel works instantly in any browser on any device. The customer simply clicks a link.

Is the remote control secure? Yes. Customers can only see and control the specific browser tab or application window you choose to share. They cannot access anything else on your computer.

Can we save the results from the session? Yes. Your calculator’s existing save or export functions will work as normal. CrankWheel is simply the tool for sharing the screen. You can also use CrankWheel to record the meeting to share with the prospect after the call. 

What if the customer enters incorrect numbers? The sales representative maintains full override control and can pause or stop remote input at any time, ensuring the demonstration stays on track.

See Your Savings in Action

Ready to show your prospects their solar savings in a way that builds trust and closes deals faster? Book a live session with us, and we can walk you through a personalized solar savings estimate using this exact interactive method. Experience for yourself how a frictionless, guided demonstration can transform your sales conversations.