Selling to Schools and Organisations: A Different Game Entirely

Selling a course to an individual takes minutes. Selling the same course to a school or a company can take months and involves people you never speak to.

It can be worth it — the contracts are larger and they repeat — but only if you understand that almost nothing transfers from individual sales.

How the buying actually works

• The person who wants it usually cannot approve it. Your enthusiastic contact needs someone else to sign.
• Budgets are annual and allocated in advance. A good idea in the wrong month waits until the next cycle.
• Several people must agree — the person with the need, someone with a budget, sometimes procurement, sometimes a technical or compliance check.
• Each one can say no, and each has different concerns.
• Timelines are long. Months is normal; do not read slowness as disinterest.

Helping your contact sell internally

This is the core skill, and most sellers miss it:

• Your contact has to persuade their organisation. Give them what they need to do that.
• Provide a one-page summary they can forward — outcome, who it is for, time required, cost.
• Answer the questions their boss will ask before they are asked: what does this replace, what does it cost in staff time, how do we know it worked.
• Give a formal quote in a format they can submit.
• Ask directly who else needs to approve and what they will care about. Most contacts will simply tell you.

What organisations ask for that individuals never do

• Invoicing and purchase orders rather than card payment.
• Payment terms — often thirty days or more after delivery.
• Formal quotes and contracts.
• Insurance and business documentation in some sectors.
• Data handling arrangements if you will hold information about their staff or students.
• Background checks if you will work directly with children or vulnerable adults — treat this as non-negotiable and expect to provide it.
• Evidence of completion for their records.

Prepare these before you need them. Being unable to issue an invoice loses contracts that were otherwise won.

Pricing for organisations

• Do not simply multiply your individual price by the number of participants — the value and the delivery cost are both different.
• Price per cohort or per licence period, whichever matches how they think about budgets.
• Be clear what is included — delivery, materials, support, updates, and for how long.
• Charge for customisation separately; it is where unplanned work accumulates.
• Expect negotiation and know your floor before the conversation.
• Do not discount deeply for a first client in the hope of future work — the price you set becomes the price they expect.

Delivering to a group

• Ask about the participants in advance — level, roles, and whether they chose to attend or were sent.
• Mandatory attendance changes everything, and it is worth knowing before you walk in.
• Agree what success looks like with the organisation before delivery, in writing.
• Check the room and technology beforehand — institutional networks block things, and finding out at the start of a session is avoidable.
• Plan for a wide range of levels — a group sent by an employer is far more mixed than a group that chose to buy.
• Provide something they keep — materials, templates, a reference document.

After delivery

• Send a short report — what was covered, attendance, what came up. Organisations need something for their records, and few providers offer it.
• Gather feedback in a form you can share with them.
• Ask about next steps — repeat delivery, another team, another department.
• Invoice promptly and follow up on late payment politely but consistently.
• Keep in touch — the second contract is much easier than the first and usually comes from the same person.

The risks

• Cash flow. Long payment terms mean you fund the work first — this is the most common problem for small providers.
• Concentration. One large client that leaves takes a large share of your income with it.
• Scope creep — small extra requests accumulate into unpaid work. Write down what is included.
• Contacts move. Your relationship is with a person; when they leave, the relationship often leaves with them. Know more than one person there.

One thing worth remembering

An individual buyer is deciding whether they want your course.

An institutional contact is deciding whether to spend their own credibility recommending you internally. Make that easy for them, and most of the rest follows.

FAQ