Inc500 Fastest Growing Companies in America (2021): Discovering the Solar Industry with Keith Murphy, President of Astrawatt Solar

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to CEO Secrets. Our guest today was ranked number 363 on the Inc500 list of the fastest privately held companies in America. He was also on this list in 2020 and ranked number 169. That's no small feat to be a part of the list two years in a row. Let's welcome to the show, the President of Astrawatt Solar, Keith Murphy.

Keith began his career as a salesperson but saw an opportunity to do things better. After working in the industry for four years, he started his own company in January 2016, living in his sister's garage and with only $65 in his bank account. They ranked third fastest growing solar company in 2020 and eighth fastest-growing energy company in 2021. The company has 60 employees in four major U.S. cities and has made the Inc500 list.

Astrawatt Solar is extremely focused on providing value and educating homeowners. Keith advises not to look at what your competition is doing. Instead, look for what your customers want. He further stresses finding innovative ways to create efficiencies in the company, which will help save money and create a better workplace for your employees. He and his team believe that big things will happen if you dedicate yourself to small, incremental improvements.

Let us hear from Keith why he believes that the best, the easiest, the most efficient way to get new business is by creating happy customers and why you need to be very picky about where you spend your marketing dollars.

Top Takeaways:



01:20 The marketing strategy that led Astrawatt Solar land a spot in Inc500

05:22 How the solar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries

07:16 The importance of building an avatar of different buyer personas

10:34 Why educating people about the business should be one of the goals

11:36 How to find a good copywriter

13:55 Biggest differentiator for Keith's company versus competitors

14:41 How did Keith start his business

18:55 How franchisees can save more money, be more efficient and sell more

26:24 What is Net Metering?  

35:00 How to achieve a high growth rate in business?

36:35 The key to having an efficient and effective organization

37:20 The Law of Differentiation in marketing

37:45 The necessity of customer and employee feedback

To get a hold of Keith Murphy, visit https://www.astrawatt.solar/franchise

Episode Transcript:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mJFB11YqKb4eD2ELBxJzdC09Z8gl5m1ONftOOZ4CRCc/edit?usp=sharing