Selling to Schools with Independent Reps and Resellers

By Glen McCandless

Glen is an expert on selling and marketing products to schools. For over 25 years, he has provided the best sales advice and business development services to the education industry.

Education-Market Focused Sales Partners for You?

Currently the single greatest challenge facing company leaders who develop products for the education market is distribution, because creating a sales system for any company is an expensive proposition.

Education-Market Focused Sales Partners for You?

The absence of sufficient capital motivates businesses to look for resellers and/or independent reps. Using third parties to sell your product has a lowered upfront cost, but developing these channels may be hard work.

K-12 Channel Partners Defined

Independent K-12 sales reps:• Choose 1 or 2 products which they sell to educators • Have defined geographic sales territories • Usually make about 25% of the list cost of your

product • Usually do not invoice the buyer• May be responsible for generating leads• Are responsible for maintaining the customer

relationships

K-12 Channel Partners Defined

Education resellers:• Are businesses with multiple K-12 sales reps • Buy the product from the developer at a discounted price • Sell the products to the school or school district buyer • Often have larger sales territories• Maintain the customer relationships• Handle invoicing • Follow up to ensure renewals• Compensated 35% to 50% of sales

Picking the Right K-12 Channel Partner

at the Right TimeFinding resellers with sales experience and relationships with your target audience is critical. The best ones limit their product lines and focus their efforts on particular buyers or niches. Ideally, these are the ones you want to develop.

Picking the Right K-12 Channel Partner

at the Right Time

Timing is everything when choosing your channel. Resellers and independent reps are not likely to

consider taking new products until they gear up for the next sales cycle.

K-12 Sales Success: Training and Communication is Vital

To ensure a successful sales effort the sales team must be trained to develop their selling skills and product knowledge. Both the reseller and developer should be involved in the training process.

How Organizational Dynamics in School Districts Affect Your K-12 Sales Strategy

The requirement for evidence-based decision making, issuance of RFPs and formal, complex

purchasing processes have replaced the old trust-based models and you must choose a

channel that can keep up.

It’s Time To Hone Your K-12 Sales Skills!

Do not underestimate the effort it takes to develop channels and manage the channel process.

If you choose an indirect model as your approach to selling to schools you must have the right partners at the right time and you should have someone in your organization who is dedicated and accountable for channel success at all times.

Additional Resources

• For the full article of “Selling to Schools with Independent Reps and Resellers”, click here.

• For more free sales and marketing advice, click here.

• For a free 30-minute expert consultation, click here.