Selling to Schools (2)

The five models of school decision making introduced in last week's post should prompt some worthwhile deliberative thinking. If your company is going to sell 3D or VR to schools—hardware, content, services, or solutions—can you see beyond the calmly mesmerizing river currents of what you may already believe about the educational market? Can you instead peer deeper and recognize the tremendous hidden complexity inherent in selling to schools? Here are some important questions you should ask yourself about selling to schools:

• ·        Do we really understand the diversity of the school market? (See this insightful infographic)
• ·     Do we have the best situational strategies in place to sell effectively to educational customers, based on the models in our previous post?
• ·      How will we know if, in fact, we are using the right strategy for our target marketplace?
• ·      Do your marketing plans display an “all the above” strategy for reaching the education market? (Again, I am referring to the models listed in last week's post.)
• ·      Most importantly, do your sales reps really understand the complexities outlined in the these models, and know how to navigate these waters?

In selling to schools, do you just see a placid and unremarkable river?