Bretou Énergies: better manage your company's growth with Revolt.eco

Bretou Energies is a photovoltaic panel installation company based in Castin, in the Gers department. Set up in early 2023, this small structure is made up of two people: Mathieu Bretou, founder and manager, and his work-study student. A few months ago, Mathieu Bretou chose Revolt.eco, the leading platform for solar professionals, to help him manage the rapid growth of his business. This craftsman tells us all about this collaboration and how it is contributing to the success of Bretou Énergies.

Recognized by his customers for the quality of his services, Mathieu Bretou, a self-employed photovoltaic installer, was surprised by the rapid growth of his business:

A successful craftsman

"I set up my business at the beginning of 2023. My initial goal was to work alone, with a pretty cool schedule, few worksites and time for my family. That goal has changed, because I try to work well, customers recommend me to their friends and family and the workload has caught up with me. I carry out 50 to 60 installations a year, mainly small residential installations, up to 12 kWh."

Rapid growth

"To meet demand, I took on a work-study student in January. My schedule being full for the next 8 monthsI'm thinking about hiring a second person, I'm thinking of hiring a second person. I'm also thinking of developing a business in larger installations, up to 36 kWh."

Despite the success of his business, Mathieu Bretou had to optimize several aspects of his activity to grow without sacrificing his personal life:

Facilitate customer file management

"Before working with Revolt.eco, I was working with several software programs AutoCalSol for dimensioning, the Esdec calculator to see what would fit on the roof, and my Excel spreadsheet for the economic study. I had to collect information from customers, enter it into one tool, then retype it into another. This increased the risk of data entry errors.. It was also time-consuming. Always having to navigate between tools was therefore problematic."

Produce customer studies faster

"Before using Revolt.eco, it was quite complicated to carry out a solar study on the customer's premises.. I'd go to the site, collect all the necessary information, then do the study when I got back to the office. I took time off in the evenings and at weekends to do the studies, but the job was done.

Simplifying administrative procedures

"For me, dealing with the paperwork was a lot of fiddling. In particular, I had to modify the basic PDF documents to add new information. Editing the preliminary building declarations was impractical.. "

While Mathieu Bretou uses almost all the features of the Revolt.eco platform, certain aspects of the software have particularly helped him to optimize his business:

Centralized information and tools

"Revolt.eco eliminates the need for multiple tools. What's really interesting about the solution is the way it manages files, and in particular the fact that you can have all your data and software in one place. to have all data and software in the same place to carry out a study. It's very practical, especially when you're working with several people. My apprentice, for example, can access files without coming across confidential information.

Automated sales and administrative processes

"The other big advantage of Revolt.eco is its ability to automate certain processes. For example, we no longer for example, we no longer need to think about including photos of the job site or the general terms and conditions when we send a quote to a customer. With Revolt.eco, these elements are added automatically. Administrative declarations are also faster. We no longer have to fiddle with PDFs and copy and paste.. "

Sexy, professional, live-generated studies that sell

"The study generated by the Revolt.eco platform is very well presented. It is much much more salesy and sexy than what I was offering before. From the customer's point of view, it makes them want to buy. My perception is that my customer presentations are more professional than before, and that less time-consuming. Now with Revolt.eco, I carry out the study directly with the customer. I can give them an idea of the return on investment for their photovoltaic system right away, show them figures and provide them with sketches. So the customer already has an idea of what the project could deliver."

Initially reluctant to add a new tool to his arsenal, Mathieu Bretou decided to give Revolt.eco a try, a partnership he has not regretted. Several aspects of the Revolt.eco solution won him over:

A structure on a human scale

"We discovered Revolt.eco by chance. Through friends, we met Fabien, one of the founders of Revolt.eco. As we chatted, we realized that Revolt.eco was launching software that was exactly what we'd been looking for. exactly what we were looking for. The team was proposing a new idea that could be the competition.. As we exchanged ideas, I sensed that the team was in the same same agile mindset as us. The human contact was also good. They're young people like us. All that made us choose this adventure.""I wanted to deal with a human-scale structure. I was approached by competitors of Revolt.eco. What I didn't like about these much bigger companies was that they didn't respond quickly to requests. I once put a question to a company that had approached me, and didn't get an answer for two weeks. With Revolt.eco, I get an answer immediately. I can use WhatsApp to communicate with the team. It's very practical, it avoids the formalism of emails and it goes faster."‍

A team always ready to listen

"The Revolt.eco team always listens to our needs and is very responsive.which I think is great. As soon as I have a problem or a bug, I let them know. Yesterday, for example, I had a problem. I wrote to Guillaume, one of the founders of Revolt.eco, and he immediately told me when the bug would be fixed and explained how to work around it in the meantime. I'm very pleased. Today, even if a big company offered me a cheaper tool, I'm not sure I'd switch."

A tailor-made platform for photovoltaic installers

"What I liked from our first exchanges was that the Revolt.eco team wanted to know what tools I was using, why and how their product could meet my needs. They weren't just trying to sell me their platform, and that was very much appreciated. Then, when I started using the software, I was able to feed back any updates that might be of interest to me. The Revolt.eco team took my feedback into account when developing the product. This benefits me and other customers too. For example, I needed to be able to enter my customers' unique identification numbers in the software. This is an identifier I use to simplify my customer relationship management. This has been integrated. Today, the software offers a field for entering the customer number.

Mathieu Bretou's experience with Revolt.eco has been very positive. And with good reason, the founder of Bretou Énergies has reaped several notable benefits from this collaboration:

One to two hours saved per customer file  

"Revolt.eco eliminates the need for multiple tools. Thanks to the platform, I can carry out my studies much more quickly. Even if it's complicated to quantify, I'd say I've saved about one or two hours per study. In the end, I don't have much more time for my personal life, because I've got a lot of work to do, but I'd have even less time if I didn't have Revolt.eco. In my opinion, any professional who wants to do quality work needs a tool like Revolt.eco. Such a solution will automatically save time.

A positive impact on customers

"Since Revolt.eco, I've maybe had a few more customers. But it's hard to say exactly why. Certainly, with Revolt.eco, it's much easier for customers to present their studies. It's a professional tool that looks professional. Vis-à-vis customers, this has an impact.

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