In this episode, Aaron talks with Sonny Sacks, a Database Reactivation Specialist who works with home service companies. Sonny explains how solar companies can stop burning cash on new leads by unlocking the hidden value sitting in their (often neglected) CRMs. You can connect with Sonny on LinkedIn here. Listen to this episode here, or on: * YouTube * Apple Podcasts * Spotify Expect to learn: * What “database reactivation” actually means and looks like day-to-day. * The critical lessons solar installers should steal from the HVAC industry. * How to build recurring revenue through Operations & Maintenance (O&M) memberships and move beyond the “just call me if it breaks” mindset. Quotes from the episode: “Reactivating that database is... reaching back out to those people so that number one, you can stay top of mind... and you can decrease your cost of acquisition because there’s no cold source ads going on.” - Sonny Sacks Transcript: Aaron Nichols: Sonny, on LinkedIn, you list your job title as database, database reactivation specialist. What does that mean and what does that look like day-to-day? Sonny Sacks: Great question. So, database, let’s just start there. Most companies, established companies, they have a CRM, right, customer relations manager, which is, you know, how they track their incoming leads, their prospects, how they follow up, you know, jobs that are in the pipeline and where they’re at in the pipeline, and so on and so forth. So, reactivation is kind of like how it sounds, right? Reactivating that database. A lot of, and I consider myself a specialist because this is what I do, but a lot of companies have thousands and thousands and thousands of leads that have gone cold, people that have expressed interest and they never heard from again, you know, appointments that were made or estimates that were given that were never followed up with or sold and a lot of, you know, past customers who, you know, company didn’t hear from and hasn’t heard from in a year to three. So with The database reactivation is reaching back out to those people and kind of nurturing that list of people so that number one, you can stay top of mind number two. You can generate business number three. You can expand the lifetime customer value in number three. You can decrease your cost of acquisition because there’s no cold source ads going on. We’re just reactivating what you already have. And I mean, it’s an incredibly cost effective way to increase revenue quickly without having to replace anything. Right. That’s my answer. Aaron Nichols: Okay. And so when we talked before the show, you said, I’ve been working in the HVAC industry and I’ve seen how solar shops could seriously take a note or two from HVAC. Now, before we jump into that. I want to talk about your recent shift that you told me about before we started recording, where you said that you had almost like an awakening, where you realized that you wanted to work in clean energy. Sonny Sacks: Yeah. Okay. I’m going to try to not get too hyped. Okay. I’m excited. So, the question, let me just make sure, the question is you want to hear more about my recent awakening. Aaron Nichols: Yeah. Absolutely. Sonny Sacks: So yeah, like you said, you know, I’ve the most of my business has been with the HVAC industry plumbing, other contractors, things like that. But mostly HVAC and plumbing. And I was reflecting on it was December last month. And I know this isn’t going to publish until like April or whatever. But it was in December 2025. And you know, reflecting on my year and I’m thinking about, you know, where I want my life to go and I had this moment of like I could die two day and my life will be over. The end of the chapter will be gone and the book will be a wrap. And you know, I thought about what I’ve been doing as far as my personal life, which has been completely separate from how I make money and I really try to serve God and man in my personal life. But when it comes to my business, I, you know, I help HVAC companies and that helps people be comfortable and that’s great and I help plumbing companies and that helps people with, you know, that, that kind of stuff. And that’s great. But it’s, it isn’t. It just, it just, there was, there was a feeling that I had that felt like I could do more that like I didn’t want to be on my deathbed thinking about if there was a more impactful way I could have conducted my business and applied my skills. And I started really going on, you know, a rabbit hole about that and really starting to think like, what are the issues facing humanity right now? What’s happening in, you know, 2025, 2026 for people and not just where I live in my community, but all over the world. And I started thinking about, of course, you know, AI, AI, this AI that and data centers this and data centers that. And I, I, I started going really deep into thinking about the, um, clean energy because going from AI and data centers, what powers those things? What’s the fundamental layer that powers these world changing shifts that are literally happening before my eyes that like by the time, like I’m my grandchildren are going to ask me what it was like to live in 2025 and beyond, you know? And that’s when I got down to the fundamental layer of electricity of the kilowatt. And I started to really think about, well, how’s that look in these days? And I started going on a really, really deep, you know, rabbit hole on how it’s not sustainable the way we do it. the way we dig things up and set them on fire and how it’s destroying our planet means that by the time my grandchildren or adults, they’re going to inherit a planet that I mean since I was in middle school, I’m 33 years old and since I was in middle school maybe even before that, I remember climate change being a topic. I remember like when Al Gore made that one documentary and I remember thinking about these things and you know them talking about it in school but it was It was always just like, yeah, whatever. Yeah, I want to make money. That doesn’t matter. I don’t want to make money. Right. And it’s over time. It’s become, it’s always been a topic in my life. Like whenever I look at the news or politics or whatever, it’s always been a topic. And like finally, I was, I was, I think I heard Elon Musk say it on X. He said something like there is no, like, more impactful thing happening for our humanity on the planet, other than space colonization and AI, the thing that’s going to power these two, these two amazing things is clean energy. We have to figure out a way to harness the power of the sun, specifically, and use it in a sustainable way that can basically allow humanity to power forward in a sustainable way without, you know, having a net loss going down, you know. Yeah. So, um, that’s, so I once I realized this and like it dawned on me, it was just like, I, I thought like, okay, how do I help? How do I contribute? How do I help? And I was going to go volunteer to like, uh, for, well, I was going to like start working for grid and like do those like you know volunteer work around the world setting up solar panels and stuff. And I was like well maybe I should just go get a job at a solar company. And I’m like I’ll just sell solar and start door knocking. And now I like started like really thinking like how do I build something? Can I build something and let’s just like wait a minute. This is my skill set. I know how to do this, you know. I’m already doing things. Exactly. And it’s just like I can help do I can transfer this over here. And that’s that’s I think that answers your question. That’s my, that’s a long rant. Aaron Nichols: Sorry, it’s amazing. And it’s much needed within the solar industry. And just a quick sidebar before we keep going, there’s a company called Twin Day Solar. You should look up. T-W-E-N-D-E. It’s a non-profit run by a woman named Robin Swan Heiser. I’m going to say her name wrong and she’s going to make fun of me. But they handle Solar around the world, they really just do one project at a time. They’re a very small nonprofit, but they build solar projects in places where electrification is the primary need. The next one they’re going to build is an Ecuador in like an off-grid school or something. So incredible use of remote, volunteering time, if you ever want someone like that. Sonny Sacks: Twin day. Yes. Twin day solar. Aaron Nichols: Now going back to HVAC, and HVAC being a more established industry, you said that solar could take a note or two from HVAC. So is HVAC much better generally at using their old databases? Sonny Sacks: Okay, that’s a great question. So the thing about the HVAC industry or the plumbing industry or any of these home service industries is the variance, right? And when I say variance, I’m talking about the variance in the sophistication of business practices for example. Aaron Nichols: Totally. You know what I mean? Yeah. It’s Jim with a truck or it’s the company that covers 30 states. Sonny Sacks: Exactly. It’s Jim with a truck, no CRM, and when I, you know, reactivate his database and send him a lead, he answers the phone, like, yeah, it’s Jim. It’s like, oh my gosh. But yeah, so, but generally speaking, like if we can, you know, when Jimmy decides that he wants to, you know, kind of step his game up a little bit, right? The first thing he’s got to do is get a CRM. Like I’m, I’m as a database reactivation specialist. I’m shocked at how many companies don’t have a CRM. like baffled, like you’re not even, there’s nothing for me to reactivate. Aaron Nichols: Yeah, without a database. Sonny Sacks: Yeah, I mean, their CRM is like a couple of cell sheets. It’s just like, oh my god, you know? So the first thing is they gotta have a CRM and the people, the companies that have the CRM and that
