Future-Proof Education: Is ‘sales training’ too commercial for my school?

Ever wondered if sales training should be part of your school's CPD? Ever worried that sounds too ‘commercial’ for an education provider?

Let's break it down.

Most of a school’s team isn’t made up of ‘salespeople’. Often, they hail from an academic background. Or perhaps marketing. Or admissions. But not ‘sales’ in a commercial environment.

And that’s not a bad thing! We want to be pupil-led, as we are matching students with a life-changing experience and we want to get it right.

We can be both student-led AND commercially successful. But it won’t happen by magic. It won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen unless someone is focusing on it.

And we mustn’t forget that around 55% of people in bona-fide sales positions lack basic sales skills. They are winging it, hoping.. And they will probably do pretty well like that until there is a crisis, a downturn or a competitor on the horizon. As these are the people that are reacting to inbound enquiries, perhaps networking and picking off the ‘low hanging fruit’.

But when the low hanging fruit drops into someone else’s hand, or when it stops producing..that’s when the real stars start to shine.

And these are professional salesfolk. When it comes to schools, well, they aren't traditionally seen as 'salesy', are they? So there is even less knowledge of basic sales skills. But here's the silver lining – sales training can improve performance by 20%. So, if you need more enrolments, start looking at your professional development specifically on sales and conversion.

A study showed that continuous sales training can yield up to 50% higher net sales per employee. That's not just a boost; it's a serious game-changer for your school! Sure, it's an investment, but one with a high ROI, a staggering 353% ROI on average.

Think about it, marketing budgets are allocated to get those leads IN. We are happy to spend more on marketing as it is the ‘prettier’ part of pupil recruitment. Events, open days, workshops, visits.. But here's the real magic – training your team on converting more leads squeezes more value out of that marketing spend. Learning how to follow up and 'close' bookings, even over a long period, means you aren't leaking potential enrolments. And let's face it, who wants to miss out on that? Those students need you!

I wrote a whole book on this, ‘Spend Less, Sell More’ about maximising your marketing spend by focusing on a conversion process.

Even if your team isn't composed of traditional salespeople but are rockstars in admissions, marketing, or other areas, sales training can be a game-changer. It helps if your sales training is with someone who doesn't just give generic training but focuses solely on the education sector, ahem, like Nicola Lutz.

Someone that has invested nearly 30 years in ‘education sales’. That knows we aren’t sleazy. That we can’t be all those bad things we think of salespeople being. That understands we need to be pupil-led. That is truly invested in the success of the education sector. But also that has the commercial background which is applied to an education context. 

Nicola is someone who's been in the sector for 28+ years and knows the ins and outs like the back of their hand. I know exactly what you’re going through, which is why I tailor training to your school and team. And we can do this in various ways, usually through individual coaching and training (either of the leader, or of the whole team) in virtual sessions, on-site days, events etc.

So, if you're ready to take your school's conversions to the next level, investing in sales training with Nicola might just be the key.

Reach out today, and let's make magic happen together!