Customer Interviews

The lead list is the engine of Stage 4. Without it, outreach is ad hoc and untraceable. With it, every call is deliberate and every contact is logged against a specific tier and persona.

What to prepare:

• Export installer contacts as CSV from any existing source (phone contacts, email, LinkedIn, Tradezone records)
• Upload to a new Google Sheet — CurrentFlow Stage 4 Lead List
• Required columns: Name, Business Name, State, Tier (1/2/3), Phone, Email, Install Volume (estimate), Status, Notes

A bookable link removes friction for interested contacts who cannot talk right now. Set up one 30-minute event type before outreach begins.

• Name: Solar Business Research Chat
• Duration: 30 minutes, with a 15-minute buffer after
• Description: A short research conversation about how you currently manage quoting, scheduling, and customer follow-up. No product pitch.

Do not label it a demo or a product conversation. It is research. That framing gets more bookings and produces better interview data.

Outreach approach is determined by relationship strength, not convenience. The Spam Act (Cth) applies to unsolicited commercial electronic messages — calling first keeps every contact compliant and personal.

Five is the minimum. Fewer than three and Stage 5 does not open. Each interview follows the Stage 3 scripts with persona-appropriate adjustments.

This establishes total current software spend per customer — the real pricing ceiling. More valuable than asking willingness to pay for a hypothetical product.

Interview checklist:

• Verbal consent at the start: "I would like to record this conversation for my notes, is that okay?"
• Otter.ai recording started before the conversation begins
• Stay in discovery mode — do not pitch CurrentFlow
• Let the interviewee do at least 70% of the talking
• Note any spontaneous mentions of specific software tools or dollar amounts

Process each transcript immediately after the interview. Patterns that emerge early should sharpen questions in later interviews. Do not batch all five at the end.

Otter.ai sometimes struggles with solar industry terminology (STC, CEC, inverter brand names). Flag any garbled sections when pasting and Claude will interpret from context.

Marcin (Volteam), Daniel Lake (Sure Solar), Nick Scafidi (Surge It), Scott (Waysco), Paul (Adapt), and Gary (Halcol) are on the interview list. Their insights carry double weight — they validate the problem and signal investor interest at the same time.