If you are surrounded by your company banner, brochures, products and boxes full of swag, you are probably packing up for an education conference. Armed with the best of what you have to offer, your goal is to sell to district leaders – the administrators who make the decisions for their districts.
What do district leaders want from companies at conferences? Let’s start with these four tips.
Be ready with specific answers
Knowing your product price and hidden costs give district leaders what they want from companies at conferences. While it’s critical that you send company representatives with educational experience to a conference, you also need someone who can accurately quote prices.
Offer extended opportunities for networking
District leaders find themselves working long days, often 10 or 12 hours in length, sometimes longer. Many times administrators make decisions in isolation while hoping that they have enough information to choose well.
Address the pain points felt by district leaders by offering creative ways to network, even if your company isn’t large enough to host the heavy appetizers or dessert bar being held later at the conference.
You can do this by connecting district leaders with each other. Introduce district leaders to other leaders already using your product; they’ll do the rest.
Solve problems
Many of the administrators in district leadership have seen education trends come and go – and sometimes come back. They are attending the conference to find solutions for overcoming obstacles.
Administrators have reported feeling as though companies at conferences talk at them rather than listen to their challenges. First listen carefully and then show how your product solves problems and is innovative enough to stay the course. District leaders making an investment in your company’s product will be held accountable by their communities back home.
The other thing you can do is live up to expectations. Make sure your product can do all you say it can do.
Let them play
District leaders love to play just as much as the students they serve. Offer opportunities to engage with your edtech. The administrators will walk away with a better understanding of what your product does and how users respond to it. They’ll remember interacting with your product far longer than they will remember listening to a spiel.
By giving district leaders what they want from companies at conferences, you’ll stand out above everyone else.
