Drive product sales into schools with a teacher-centric upsell toolkit

Learn how using an Internal Upsell Toolkit can make selling products to teachers and schools easier. Discover straightforward ways marketers can align their products with school goals, address concerns, and engage teachers in the sales process.

Chris Bradford

How to break through the SLT brick wall

Congrats! You have successfully managed to promote your product to teachers and have 100s of free trials on the go.

Things are looking good 😎

But weeks later you’re asking: Why aren’t they taking my calls? Do teachers even read my emails? Where are my sales? 🤬

The disconnect between a lead and a decision maker

The problem isn’t you, your product, or your marketing.

You’re probably hitting the Senior Leadership Team brick wall, the invisible force field between your teacher advocates (who want what you sell) and decision makers (who don’t).

This barrier exists because teachers can be unsure how to convince headteachers, heads of department, and finance staff to fall in love with your product.

Senior teams don’t have the same problems as classroom teachers. So there’s an empathy gap.

Which leads to sales abandonment.

And before you cry “But budgets!!” in our experience rejection is rarely simply a budget issue.

It’s more likely you didn’t present the correct value strongly enough to each influencer in the buying process.

So what strategies, tools, and tactics could you provide to a classroom teacher to enable them to “promote” your product internally to decision makers?

Set teachers up for success

We all know teachers are time poor, but they do have a vested interest in securing your product for their classroom.

They get your value proposition, can see the benefits, and want to buy it for the school.

But this often means getting sign off from a senior staff member.

So you need to remove as much friction as possible with an Internal Upsell Toolkit, a range of pre-made mechanisms designed to make that upsell so much easier for the teacher.

So what might be in that kit?

Help teachers show how your product aligns with their school goals

You don’t know individual schools’ improvement plans, but teachers do.

So make it easy for teachers to connect your product to their school strategy.

Email your leads a persuasive PowerPoint template that covers common key strategies and can be completed and delivered by the teacher at their next staff meeting.

Help them demonstrate the potential ROI of your product to the school business manager

Provide data or tools to calculate the benefits. This can be in terms of time saved, increased productivity, or cost-effectiveness.

Help them address common leadership concerns and objections

Produce an FAQ document that responds to common reasons senior staff might say “no”, such as data protection/GDPR policies, benefits related to inclusivity and equity, or how it can contribute to the growth and skill development of staff.

Help them show data and evidence to support their purchasing request

Share insight reports, statistics, and case studies that prove evidence of impact and the positive effect of your product.

So, hopefully, your teacher lead has now deployed your amazing upsell toolkit, and the leadership team are on board.

But the “YES” is still in the balance.

The budget holders, naturally, want the teacher to show real world outcomes.

What else can you give your teacher leads to push a purchase or renewal over the line?

🗳️ Get student and teacher buy-in

Provide teachers with a product feedback survey form template, for them to get insights on how colleagues and students are using your product.

🏆 School-wide competitions or projects

Suggest school wide competitions or project ideas that use your product. These events can demonstrate how your product contributes to a vibrant learning culture in the school.

👧 Involve their students in the evaluation process

This may be one of your most powerful tactics – encourage the teacher to arrange for students to be part of presentations to managers. Have them showcase their achievements using your product, emphasising how it has helped them meet or exceed targets.