Solar Panel Sales - What Was the Hook?

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure.

Today's guest is Brittany Heller, Director of Program Management at HeatSpring. 

Last year, we kicked off this series by hearing from a field technician working on the installation side of the solar industry. And while there are many facets to the PV space, we couldn’t just end there. Today’s guest is a fascinating follow-up from that initial episode because Brittany’s background and experience as a female in a male-dominated field highlight a different side of the spectrum. From doing door-to-door to back office sales, solar construction, and most recently workforce development and democratizing training access to get more people working in the solar industry, she has a wealth of knowledge for women who are looking to make the switch and are not sure where to start. 

We met Brit through the Greenwork platform, and naturally invited our friend Sam Steyer to co-host the conversation. We find out how Brit felt a calling to work on something more meaningful in life and applied for a solar job on a whim, how solar policy shifts uprooted her and her now husband from Louisiana to Colorado, what it's like to transition from doing sales to doing solar construction projects, and the empathy she's built seeing both sides of the house, and ways to create a more inclusive future workforce in the skills trade arena. Enjoy! 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [3:12] Britt's background and how she found her way into the solar industry
• [6:47] Her experience with door-to-door sales 
• [8:06] Differences between outside vs inside sales 
• [10:23] The role of policy in Britt's career at Grid Alternatives 
• [14:24] Her experience working in construction 
• [17:00] An overview of Grid Alternatives and the org's revenue model 
• [20:02] Construction skills Britt gained that changed her life 
• [22:00] Learnings from working in both the sales and construction sides 
• [25:48] Inspiring stories from Britt's workforce development chapter at Grid
• [29:01] Tips for deciding on where people can focus in the skills trade side of climate 
• [30:37] The role of gender and diversity representation in the trades 
• [36:40] How Britt sees her career evolving in the future

Get connected:
Yin Twitter / LinkedIn
Brittany / Heatspring
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on October 5, 2022. 

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant