Develop the procurement, outreach, and loan support resources required to perform your financing activities.

Develop a detailed plan for launching and operating your program that integrates all program components into a process that is customer-friendly and efficient for contractors and other partners.

Communicate the results of your financing activities to internal and external partners.

Focus on the continuous improvement of your financing activities by tracking and evaluating data, responding to feedback, and modifying strategies when needed.

Solidify your program strategy and decide which customers you will focus on; what products, services, and support you will provide; and how you will partner with contractors and others to deliver services to your customers.

Launch your financing activities in coordination with other program components.

Establish relationships with organizations that can help deliver your program by enhancing your knowledge, resources, capabilities and access to customers and contractors.

Establish program goals and objectives to clarify what you want your program to achieve and to guide program design and implementation over time.

Establish an evaluation plan that will allow you to determine how your financing activities are impacting the market.

Determine if enhancements to existing financing products or the development of new products are necessary to allow you to achieve your goals and objectives.

Develop a plan to implement your financing activities, with defined roles for financial institution partners, contractors, customers, and your program.

Identify and partner with financial institutions that can provide capital, underwriting, and other functions to enable your customers to access financing.

Establish goals, objectives, and timeframes for your financing activities.

Determine how your target audience currently funds energy efficiency services, to what extent upfront cost is a barrier, and whether improvements to their financing options would increase the uptake of energy efficiency measures.

Design a residential energy efficiency program that integrates marketing and outreach, contractor coordination, incentives, financing, and program evaluation to provide customers with the products and services they want through a customer-centric process.

Ensure that your program’s customers will have access to affordable financing, so they can pay for the services you offer.

Improve your program’s efficiency and effectiveness through regular information collection, assessment, decision-making, adaptation, and communication.

Develop the necessary materials, tools, and staff capacity to effectively deliver and manage your program.

Develop a strategy for communicating program impacts and benefits to key audiences to create and sustain support and engagement.

Ensure a positive customer experience with your program from launch through implementation over time.

Establish metrics and measurement strategies for understanding whether you are effectively achieving your program goals and meeting your customers’ needs, while identifying areas that can be improved.

Research and analyze the specific barriers, needs, and opportunities for a residential energy efficiency program in your community.