Many industries experience seasonal gross sales cycles, some more dramatic than others. What patterns do companies that sell education products to K-12 schools observe? Be assured, products used for teaching and learning are purchased every month, but you can expect major ups and downs during the year. In this article, I'll share insight from winnerful school gross sales professionals about these foreseeable buying patterns so you can adjust your school gross sales and merchandising plans accordingly. Here's the basic take-away: there are two primary drivers behind the seasonal buying cycle for just about any product or service that is intended for teaching -- the calendar and the budget.
Align Your School Sales Plan to the Academic Calendar
The first and primary factor that influences timing for buying of information materials is the start date for the academic year. It should seem unmistakable that the superior need to implement new education resources is when the academic year begins. But the process of evaluating new products, budgeting for them, and acquiring ready to use them, starts many months before. And, of course, there are a couple of weeks of variance in the start date for public schools, beginning in early August and running through early September. Marketing to schools to introduce a new information product or service in the fall, followed by an aggressive promotion that peaks early in the calendar year and is sustained through spring is a proved approach for driving gross sales for the following academic year.
Spring Surge in Selling to Schools
Purchasing peaks and valleys in the K-12 school market are also affected by the availability and timing of finances. If your product will likely be bought with a order with finances from the school or school district budget, then the buying behavior is driven by the commercial enterprise year. For most public schools, the commercial enterprise year begins on July 1. Accordingly, there is a flurry of buying in the late spring and early summer months. If, on the other hand, your product is priced to appeal to individual teachers (who buy lots of products with their own money) then late summer - August and September - can be busy months, and there is other secondary upswing before the start of the second semester.
Education Market Research Reveals Shifts in Timing
What I've delineated are guidelines for merchandising to schools, not rules. Each product and service may have some variation, and there are shifts in funding patterns, too, that can impact products bailable for federal program dollars. In recent years, the impact of legislation and economic recession has made K-12 gross sales prediction trickier. I suggest you do your prep to assess what buying patterns your product is likely to experience in the current and expected gross sales environment. Some basic school merchandising research is a good starting point. I also suggest you run tests with your own merchandising campaigns.
There is one final word regarding school merchandising and the school gross sales cycle, and that word is patience. If you are considering merchandising to schools, know that it is rare for gross sales to happen as quickly and at the level that product developers plan on. No matter how fantastic you think your product is, regardless of the rave reviews you have had from educators who have previewed your new product, be prepared for a slow uptake. The overall school buying cycle can be frustratingly sluggish. The first year may seem like a black hole and losing proposition. But, by following the guidelines in that article, and with your current attention to best practices for education merchandising, you will for sure be in sync with the seasonal cycle, and who knows, peradventure you will beat the odds and your new education product will be a wild winner with gross sales gushing in from schools all year round!
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