Tight Education Market Emphasizes Need for Smart Selling

Alan Stern talked with Karen Meany of Simba's Electronic Education Report (EER) about selling educational materials and introducing new products into the school market in challenging economic times. Formerly national sales director for the Siboney Learning Group (St. Louis), Stern now provides sales management services at Academic Business Advisors (Chappaqua, N.Y.), helping clients identify the right channel for their products and services. This article is copied from the December 1 Issue of EER with the author's permission.

EER: How does a market downturn impact the selling process?

One of the most important things is to position a product to address specific needs, as opposed to a discretionary product or “nice to have.” Also, as districts increasingly tighten up on spending, publishers are going to have to provide measurable results for their products; accountability for both results and purchases will be key.

EER: What funding sources should companies look to now?

As funding tightens, federal funding becomes more important. Th ere are more specific requirements that control it; it’s difficult to reallocate for purposes other than what it was intended for. Also, there are specific time frames, quite often, where the funds do need to be spent. What’s happening now is that federal funds are going to be targeted by more and more of the publishers because they are the available funds. Additionally, there are opportunities for partnerships with corporations and foundations that are interested in providing support for schools, especially as funding gets tighter.

EER: What are the challenges for new companies in this environment?

What we try to do at ABA is to match the product and service with the right sales channel. If the product is heavily content-oriented, it is important to have someone who understands what the content means and how it is implemented. If the product is more administrative or data-oriented, it might do better with someone with a different skill set.

The biggest obstacle for the emerging companies is brand awareness. Increasingly, the education market is being overwhelmed by marketing. There is so much noise in the market now, it’s hard for a new company to make headway. An advantage that wasn’t available before is e-mail and Web marketing. They have leveled the playing field a bit, but nothing beats feet on the street. Experienced salespeople bring so much to the table, there is no better way to reach a customer.

EER: We hear that sales organizations are now partners with schools, is this really happening?

Salespeople who have been in the industry for awhile are looked to as a resource. Schools have specific needs. Many schools have a wealth of materials available to them. Quite often what someone will say is: I don’t need one more book, I don’t need one more software program, I need to solve a specifi c problem. Increasingly, sales are focused on addressing that problem. It could be an increasing ELL population or a change in state standards.

A perfect example is what has been going on in California where there is a requirement that all eighth-graders are going to take algebra. All of a sudden that change requires a commensurate change in what the support materials are. If you address the specific pain, not only do you get a better response, but I think the schools get a better result.

EER: Does selling technology-enabled products to schools require more long-term involvement than selling other educational materials?

One of the biggest problems with software is it makes a lot of sense to present it and market it, but the use is where it falls off . The IES (Institute of Education Sciences) study on the effectiveness of software last year found no measurable results. But when you read the study, two things stood out. Th e teachers felt they were well-trained before they started using the software, but after they started using it they felt they were not well trained. Th at speaks right away to professional development. The other point is no one determined there was a need for the software with the students who were using it.

Two parts need to be considered: the nuts and bolts of the software—how do you enter students, what kind of reports are available—but the aspect that is likely to lead to better results is the implementation of the software. In a school, there may be a basal textbook and formative assessment being used, direct instruction going on and now there’s a software component. If those components aren’t integrated—if the teacher doesn’t know when to use the appropriate part of the software with a specific chapter in the textbook, for example—it will never be successful. The implementation and integration of all the tools is important.

EER: Are teacher learning communities and social networking sites changing the selling process?

They provide the ability for an emerging company to get more awareness in the market, but it’s a slow process. I don’t know that anybody has been able to quantify that they have increased their sales X% because they are blogging or using RSS feeds. But teachers rely on the recommendations of other teachers. Th e classic is when you walk into a school and are asked who is using your product. Social networking can go a long way and I think use of it is increasing. You see larger companies, like Microsoft and major publishers, getting involved.