Even those with a strong sales background may find it difficult to sell educational products to schools due to the complexity of the school purchasing process as well as the limited purchase budget. If you want to sell educational products to schools, this article will outline the steps you need to take.
How to sell educational products to schools
1. Understand your market.
Before developing and selling your product, it is critical to conduct a market survey. The first step in selling educational products to schools is to identify who your potential buyers are; the market will undoubtedly be filled with a variety of customers. When it comes to selling your educational products to schools, there are various categories of schools, such as training centers, universities, and colleges, as well as schools that are either government or private.
Private schools are further classified based on the curriculum they follow, such as the ICSE, CBSE, IB, and so on. Following your survey of these various categories and groupings in your potential market, it is time to conduct a thorough count of customers in each segment, followed by a geographical analysis.
Keeping in mind that, no matter how good your product is, you will not be able to cover the entire market. It is preferable to Google for additional information and courses on the market in order to gain a better understanding of the market’s overall availability.
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2. Understand your product and solution.
Even before you begin selling your product, it is critical to understand what it can do. This will help you prepare brochures and sales pitches when you fully understand its features and functionality. You can share a quick chart with some potential customers to raise their awareness of the early product-market fit, listen to their feedback, and use it to improve your packaging and pitch.
There is nothing wrong with comparing your product to other providers on the market; in fact, it is sometimes necessary as it helps you set a competitive price as well as the right pitch.
3. Make the brochures and pitch as simple as possible.
It is important to the school customer that the pitch is simple enough; a complicated pitch should be avoided because your product is only targeting school customers; therefore, your sales conversation should be as simple as possible. And make your purchase process easy and friendly for a school customer, including a transparent tax and price, and consider having more than one payment option for school customers.
4. Understand the buyer’s personal decision-making process.
There are various types of users in schools, and it is critical to your sales that you analyze and discover who buys your products. There are administrators, teachers, principals, school owners, managing directors, and so on. And you must consider their interests in some way, whereas for some products you can avoid some of these authorities.
However, it is critical that for any sale with good pricing, you understand the various stakeholders as well as their decision processes in purchasing your product.
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5. Determine the best time for meetings and sales.
When comparing a school’s working schedule to that of other businesses, this is an important part of the process that most salespeople overlook. Because different stakeholders arrive at school at different times and on different days of the week, you must conduct research before beginning your sales pitch and work hard to improve your approach based on your first experience.
6. Prepare to travel.
There will be a lot of face-to-face meetings because selling to schools necessitates a lot of them. So there will be times when you will have to travel just to meet the customers, most likely more than once, and it may take up to ten face-to-face meetings before closing a single deal. So be prepared to spend not only time but also quality time on the road most days.
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7. Investigate government grants and incorporate them into your strategy.
Government grants are available in almost all schools and colleges in all countries, and schools use them to purchase items such as computer hardware and software solutions, as well as a variety of other items. Conduct some research, learn about these grants, and look for ways to increase your sales.
8. Be quick to welcome your first customers.
Make your first sale without hesitation or waiting for the product to be finished. Begin charting with potential customers and introducing them to your product as soon as possible. Be open and honest with your customers about the stage of maturity of your product. Having a regular customer who uses your product will provide feedback that can be used to improve the product.
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9. Resolve customer issues
Research your customers’ problems and whether your product provides the desired solution, and use this information in your sales pitch. Following the sale, assist the customer in learning how to use your product and solve their problem.
10. Some follow-up calls and calls on a regular basis.
This technique is essential for any businessman; regular follow-up is the secret mantra of successful salespeople. When it comes to the school market, there is a great need for constant follow-ups until a deal is closed.
To summarize
Recruiting a large number of sales executives is frequently required. As soon as your product arrives at the school, it is possible that sales volume begins to increase, necessitating the hiring of additional sales executives to assist in the distribution of these products, thereby increasing sales output.