UK schools spend around £85 billion EVERY YEAR!  The education market is a dynamic, innovative sector that loves new technology and ideas which have a genuine impact on young people’s lives.  So why are schools so difficult to sell to?   How many of these frustrations have you felt:

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• If there are 30,000+ schools in the UK alone, why aren’t more of them buying my product?
• The market’s completely saturated; there are tons of competitors with lower-priced products and the big companies take all the market share
• If schools only knew about my company they’d definitely buy – the product sells itself
• The schools who use my product think it’s good, why don’t the others understand?
• Why am I not further ahead by now?  What am I missing?

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My guess is you may have felt most of the above as almost everyone selling into education does!

The truth of it is, selling to schools is VERY different to business and consumer selling.  Schools are under enormous pressure to perform from the government and parents alike while, at the same time, managing a complex and usually dwindling budget.

Add to that the fact that they are being sold to by everyone and receive literally hundreds of pieces of sales literature (emails, letters, brochures, phone calls) every week.  Your message will really need to resonate to cut through all the noise.

To successfully sell to schools you need to have the following:

• A value proposition which genuinely articulates what problem it is you’re going to help that school solve. No wishy-washy language here – get straight to the point.
• A good idea of exactly which schools, and which people within those schools, are your ideal customers. Trying a scattergun approach such as a national telesales or email campaign is unlikely to work – you’re simply throwing money away.
• A compelling reason for schools to talk to you. What are you providing them with which is of value to them?  Why should they give up their time to talk to you?

There are more tips in my blog 3 mistakes nearly everyone makes when selling to schools.  It’s not easy cracking the education market but it’s a genuinely innovative and rewarding market when you do  ?

Following on from my last post on the importance of Product Partners and how they help software organisations increase revenue, I was asked what to do once you’ve identified a potential software partner.  How do you make that partnership work?

There are no hard and fast rules and every Product Partnership will be different.  However, here’s my checklist for getting a successful partnership off the ground:

1. Business Alignment

You need to define a strategic mutual vision of success for the parties involved outlining how each can leverage the strengths of the other.  You have to be brutal here though and include looking at how any partnership might adversely affect your business in the future.

2. Business Planning & Governance

A business plan that clearly states missions, objectives and revenue goals is essential, and must be reviewed at set time intervals to make sure this strategy remains relevant and in line with your company’s priorities.

 3. Contracts

Contracts should be put in place to agree the type of relationship, responsibilities, mutual risks, rewards, payments, service level agreements, branding guidelines and rules of engagement.

 4. Technical Interoperability

Customers need to feel confident about the commitment of both companies behind their joint solution, so you’ll need to work with your Partners to ensure and communicate that both products and/or services work seamlessly together.

5. Executive Engagement

Senior Executives within partner companies are key influencers so it is imperative they are on board with the partnership vision and regularly communicate the overall alliance goals.

6. Marketing

Strategic consistent communications, internally and externally, will need to be conveyed throughout the alliances. Your partnership should create a joint Value Proposition unique to customers which will be promoted through marketing content.

7. Sales & Compensation

When working with Partners, each party involved will need to determine who in the sales teams gets rewarded and how they get compensated.  Your sales teams need to be well-versed on the collaboration with a consistent message; they need to be equipped with the necessary tools to effectively verbalise and demonstrate the partnership.