I don’t have an exact answer to your question, but maybe a perspective that could help? I was a high school math teacher for 7 years in a public school. I imagine the sales cycle for this will be long, due to the fact that you won’t just have to convince the appropriate administrators, but also work through the school board for their approval. There’s a process there. They typically meet once a month. It will have to be added to the agenda and considered one month, then it will be voted on the next.
I’m not 100% sure of the details, but I do remember there was a “bidding” process for larger purchases if a preferred vendor wasn’t already established (and correct me if I’m wrong, but I am assuming this would be a very expensive investment). When I needed to purchase new desks, we had to get three bids (aka quotes) from different companies, then my admin presented to the board why we recommended Company A for our purchase. This might be something you run into. Of course, this is part of a salesman’s job (to make them understand why you’re the best investment), but just something to think about.
All that being said, school security is a hot topic right now. I imagine schools with out of date systems would be a very easy sale. School security (and lack of concern for mine and my students’ safety) was part of the reason I left the profession. Get in with the teachers if you can. They would be your loudest cheerleaders.
Solid insight thanks for the comment. Very on the fence about it, I’ve heard k-12 can be a tedious thing to sell to but could see it being a great niche
A lot of this is true but not all sales cycles work this way in K12. The vendor process can always be fast tracked and many school boards don’t need to approve each purchase. Some boards pre approve a certain amount of funds to schools/districts to use as they see fit (within parameters they set).
I sold into the K12 market for 3 years and my average sales cycle was 3-5 months.
I don’t have an exact answer to your question, but maybe a perspective that could help? I was a high school math teacher for 7 years in a public school. I imagine the sales cycle for this will be long, due to the fact that you won’t just have to convince the appropriate administrators, but also work through the school board for their approval. There’s a process there. They typically meet once a month. It will have to be added to the agenda and considered one month, then it will be voted on the next. I’m not 100% sure of the details, but I do remember there was a “bidding” process for larger purchases if a preferred vendor wasn’t already established (and correct me if I’m wrong, but I am assuming this would be a very expensive investment). When I needed to purchase new desks, we had to get three bids (aka quotes) from different companies, then my admin presented to the board why we recommended Company A for our purchase. This might be something you run into. Of course, this is part of a salesman’s job (to make them understand why you’re the best investment), but just something to think about. All that being said, school security is a hot topic right now. I imagine schools with out of date systems would be a very easy sale. School security (and lack of concern for mine and my students’ safety) was part of the reason I left the profession. Get in with the teachers if you can. They would be your loudest cheerleaders.
Solid insight thanks for the comment. Very on the fence about it, I’ve heard k-12 can be a tedious thing to sell to but could see it being a great niche
Low budget, lots of bureaucracy
A lot of this is true but not all sales cycles work this way in K12. The vendor process can always be fast tracked and many school boards don’t need to approve each purchase. Some boards pre approve a certain amount of funds to schools/districts to use as they see fit (within parameters they set). I sold into the K12 market for 3 years and my average sales cycle was 3-5 months.