GTM Tools: Selling to Education Institutions and Governments with Justin Wenig
Notes and takeaways from our session.
Thank you for joining us for a great session with Justin Wenig on selling into higher education institutions and public sector organizations.
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Below are clips and the full video recording of the session, along with a list of takeaways for those who couldn’t make it.
We hope you can attend the next session, Metrics That Matter: Proving Efficacy and Implementing the Right KPIs, with Susan Cates, Managing Partner of Leeds Illuminate.
Join us on December 5, 2024. Register: here
— Avalanche & ECMC EIF
Takeaways
Understand your buyers deeply. This requires high volumes of calls, emails, and discovery interviews focused on uncovering pain points and the decision-making process. If you’re not addressing an issue already at the top of your buyer’s priorities list, your solution won’t be a top priority to buy.
Focus on prototypes and validation. Selling high-fidelity prototypes early validates demand and ensures the pain point is significant enough to solve before investing too much into development. If you can’t sell the prototype, the pain point might not be compelling enough.
Be a compound startup. RFPs require a lot of time and effort on the buyer’s end. Naturally, government and education buyers prefer comprehensive solutions over point solutions. In the early product stages, you might start with a point solution, so it is crucial to articulate your broader product vision.
Articulate a clear product strategy. You don’t have a product strategy if you can’t articulate what you won’t focus on and invest in.
Be thoughtful about pilots. To ensure alignment, avoid pilots without a buyer's financial commitment. Customers can be your best design partners and evangelists if you articulate your vision well and actively pursue customer feedback.
Sell more by pricing at market rates. Don’t position yourself as the cheapest solution. You will miss out on insights and discovering willingness to pay. It’s more prudent to start with high pricing and then negotiate lower than to start with low pricing and raise prices later.
Don’t underinvest in demand generation. Founders must lead sales efforts in the early stages. Hire SDRs early, and don’t underestimate consistent cold calls. Volume sees results.
Stay in touch and material referenced in the webinar:
Contact Justin at justin@starbridge.ai and learn more about Starbridge
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