With our future being shaped at an ever-growing pace by upcoming generations using new technology and producing new ideas, entering the education reseller space is a great way to make a positive impact.
Teaching is about bringing knowledge to students through personal connection and carefully chosen tools and resources. Resellers who want to enter this market not only stand to gain higher sales revenue, but also the personal and professional satisfaction that comes with helping educators empower every student on the planet to achieve more.
With that in mind, here are my top 5 tips for partners establishing an education practice.
1. Choose a product line and stick with it
Schools don’t want to switch technologies every few years according to trends, and neither should you. Districts often have limited budgets and many stakeholders to answer to, from parents to voters. They also have limited time for training teachers on new platforms.
Pick the product line you think is best, and really get to know it. To become an expert quickly, take advantage of SYNNEX resources like 1:1 support and training. This way you can better sell Microsoft education tools that support hands-on, visual, video-game, and collaborative learning tools that are accessible to many learning styles and abilities.
2. Adopt stellar customer service—it’s still the way people buy
Be thoughtful in your approach to customer service. Make sure an email wouldn’t be more effective as a face-to-face meeting, or vice versa. Set up live demos, and make sure they’re valuable to everyone attending—whether IT stakeholders, curriculum designers, teachers, or other local personnel. Encourage participation and do as educators do: after a short explanation, have everyone participate and get hands-on with the product so they can experience its capabilities firsthand.
Show your education customers that you’ve done your homework and understand their needs—and the buying cycle. For K–12 institutions, the cycle is tied to the school calendar, and purchasing happens during summer break.
3. Take advantage of vendor relationships
When considering which product and device lines to focus on, pick ones that are designed for learning, like Microsoft 365 Education. Be selective—focus only on the solutions and devices that promote learning and can help schools save money.
As an added perk, when you develop deeper relationships with vendors, you’ll reap more awards. For example, because we focus on HP devices for most of our education sales, we can maximize the benefits of being an HP Platinum partner, such as tiered rebates, marketing development funds, and special pricing. Even more importantly, we know the hardware inventory our education customers require will be available. If you’re just getting started, don’t worry—SYNNEX can help you figure out which hardware will best suit your customers’ needs, make sure you take advantage of any benefits you’re eligible for, and ensure device availability.
4. Attach services to drive profits
Once you’ve made the education sale for devices and software, start looking for ways to grow additional revenue. One of the best ways is by offering add-on services, like deployment, imaging, and hardware support; learner progress assessments; and asset tagging, etching, and reporting. You can also provide accessories that will help educators build a complete, easy-to-use solution. Partner with us through SYNNEX Integration Solutions to access a portfolio of custom configure-to-order, asset tagging, and provisioning solutions.
5. Be prepared to talk to customers about the product lifecycle
Hardware needs to be refreshed regularly, and software that was born in the on-premises era has a finite window of support from the manufacturer. Track what and when you sell to each customer so you can talk to them at key moments in product lifecycles about device refreshes or software support. End of support for Microsoft Office 2010, Windows 7, and Small Business Server is an example of one such big moment for SMBs, and a good opportunity to talk with them about how improved technology releases can unlock new opportunities.
You can also save educators time and money by helping them standardize on a single device. This way they only need to learn and manage one model of hardware with a single lifecycle, minimizing headaches and expenses.
Your homework: Start a new chapter
Entering a new market can seem daunting. But the rewards are plentiful, especially in the education market, where you can open a world of learning to tomorrow’s leaders. Take the long-term approach and be committed, and you’ll get there.
Start today by downloading the CSP for Education Partner Guide for a closer look at education product offerings, as well as the advantages of selling as a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider with SYNNEX.
