Selling to Presenting With Ian Aird

In this episode of Selling Education, I sit down with Ian Aird, CEO of English Australia and one of the most commercially astute leaders in the ELICOS sector.

With 25 years across teaching, admissions, marketing, operations and executive leadership, Ian has lived the full sales journey. We dig into the uncomfortable but essential truth that many education teams are presenting, not selling and that this is quietly costing enrolments.

We cover:

• Why “selling” and “presenting” are not the same thing

• How to find the real tension behind a parent or agent’s hesitation

• Why most sales teams are undertrained, even when they are experienced

• The role CEOs should play in the sales pipeline

• How to check understanding properly instead of asking “Does that make sense?”

• Whether AI will reduce language travel or make it more premium and experiential

This is a practical, honest conversation about sales craft in education, leadership responsibility and what it really takes to improve enquiry-to-enrolment conversion in a changing market.

If you work in admissions, recruitment, agency management or sector leadership, this episode will challenge how you think about selling and give you sharper questions to take into your next conversation.

Ian's links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaird/
https://www.englishaustralia.com.au/

Nicola's Links:
https://www.nofluff.biz/
https://calendly.com/nicolalutz/quick-chat-with-nicola
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-lutz/