Fractional commercial leadership for education technology businesses

sales training

Selling into education The free pilot that is not a pilot
Business Development, Customer Retention, Sales Enablement, Start-Up

The free pilot that is not a pilot

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Selling into education The free pilot that is not a pilot A pilot with no measure, no end date and nobody who can say yes isn’t a trial. It’s a very polite way for everyone to avoid making a decision. By Stella James, Founder, Seventh Sibling There’s a conversation I have with founders selling into education more often than almost any other, and it usually starts with good news. A school is interested. Better than that, they want to try it. So the product goes in for free, for a term or so, and everyone leaves the meeting feeling as though something has happened. Then nothing much does. Nobody wrote down what success would look like. The end date drifts from half-term to “after Christmas” to “let’s pick it up in the spring”. The lovely person who championed it can’t actually sign anything bigger, and the people who can were never in the room. By the time anyone asks how it went, the honest answer is that nobody’s quite sure, and a product that was never properly set up gets judged on a half-hearted few weeks. If you’ve spent any time in this sector, you’ll recognise every line of that. It isn’t a pilot. It’s a parking space with your logo on it. Why everyone says yes to a pilot like this The uncomfortable truth is that the free, open-ended pilot suits both sides, which is exactly why it keeps happening. The supplier gets a foot in the door and something encouraging to put in the pipeline report. The school gets to try something without taking a risk on budget or reputation, and without anyone having to say no to a supplier they quite like. Nobody’s being dishonest. It’s simply comfortable, and comfortable is the enemy of a decision. A school is a busy place, and a pilot that nobody owns will always lose out to the things that somebody does. What it actually costs you Free is never free for the supplier. There’s the onboarding, the training, the support calls and the follow-ups, all given to an account that hasn’t committed to anything. There’s the opportunity cost of the schools you didn’t have time for because this one felt so close. And then there’s the quieter damage. A pilot that drifts never gives you a clear no, so it sits in your forecast looking far healthier than it is. You can’t learn from it, because nothing was measured. Worst of all, your product gets its reputation in that school from a trial that was never set up to show what it can do. A pilot that drifts never gives you a clear no, so it sits in your forecast looking far healthier than it is. What a real pilot looks like when you’re selling into education Schools don’t mind pilots at all, and nor should you. What a pilot needs is a reason to make a decision at the end of it, and that reason has to be agreed at the start, while everybody’s still excited. Before anything goes in, get these on paper. What you’re measuring, and how. Agree it with the school, in their language, tied to something they already care about. If you can’t describe what good looks like at the end, neither of you will recognise it when it arrives. The date it ends. A real date, in the diary, with a review meeting booked before the pilot starts. Not “the end of term-ish”. The person who makes the call. By name. Ideally they’re at the kick-off and the review, and they’ve agreed what they’ll need to see to say yes. What happens if it works. This is the one most people skip. Talk about the contract that follows before the pilot begins: roughly what it would cover, when it would start and where the budget would come from. It feels bold, and schools tend to respect it, because it shows you’re taking their decision as seriously as they are. Free or paid? This is where I’ll get a few raised eyebrows. In my experience, the moment a school puts something in, even something modest, the whole pilot is taken more seriously on both sides. Somebody has had to approve it, which means somebody is now interested in whether it worked. A paid pilot, kept short and properly managed, is very often a better pilot. That doesn’t mean free is always wrong. It means free should be a deliberate choice you’ve made for a good reason, rather than the thing that happens by default because nobody wanted to have the money conversation. When the school won’t agree Sometimes you’ll ask for those things and the school will hesitate. They can’t name the decision-maker, or they don’t want to commit to a date, or the conversation about what comes next goes very quiet. That’s not a failure. That’s the most useful information you’ll get all term. If nobody will agree to those things, they were never buying. They were browsing, and that’s fine, as long as you know. You can still help them. You might suggest a smaller first step, or tell them honestly that now isn’t the moment and you’ll come back when it is. “Not yet” is a perfectly good answer when you’re selling into education, and it’s a lot kinder to your forecast, your team and your product than a pilot that quietly fades away by the third week. So here’s my challenge. If you’ve got a pilot running right now, check it against that list. If it’s missing one, fix it this week while there’s still time. If it’s missing all four, you already know the answer, and it’s better to hear it now than in the spring. Pilots that drift? Let’s talk. Seventh Sibling works with British education technology companies on the commercial side of the business, from how you run a pilot to how you turn one into a contract. Get in touch About Stella James Stella is the

Selling into education: the 15 minutes that lost the deal
Sales Enablement

Selling into education: the fifteen minutes that lost the deal

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Sales Enablement Selling into Education: the Fifteen Minutes That Lost the Deal I went looking for this one. I asked to be sold to, I turned up wanting to buy, and he still managed to lose me before the coffee had gone cold. SJ Stella James · 21 September 2026 · 5 min read I was on the wrong end of a sales call this week. Wrong end, because I was the buyer, and because I was the one who went looking for it in the first place. Somebody recommended the company to me. I had a look at what they do, thought there might be something in it for us, and I reached out. So the man on the other end of that call had a warm buyer on a plate, asking to be sold to, having already decided she was interested enough to give up half an hour of a Tuesday. First thing he said was that he’d had a look at us and reckoned he’d got the gist. He hadn’t got the gist. The only thing he actually knew about me was that I work in education, which is roughly as useful as knowing that somebody lives in Europe. Then he talked. For fifteen minutes. I stopped him in the end, which I don’t love doing, and said look, I’m sorry, but everything you’re describing I’m already doing. And I was a bit cross about it, because one question would have told him that, and instead he spent a quarter of an hour selling me my own life back. He had a warm buyer, on a plate, asking to be sold to. He lost me in fifteen minutes, and he’ll probably write it up as a budget problem. Where the pitch actually belongs Most people are taught to hold the pitch as a thing. A separate object, rehearsed, with a beginning and an end, that gets deployed once the pleasantries are out of the way. Discovery becomes the bit you get through so you can start. Here’s the bit that keeps getting missed. The pitch is supposed to run alongside the questions and get built out of what they tell you. Done properly, the whole thing doesn’t feel like a sales call at all. It feels like a conversation, which is, rather, the point. That matters everywhere, and it matters more when you’re selling into education, because the word “school” hides an enormous amount. A head of a single primary with a hundred and eighty children on roll and a central team running twenty-eight academies have almost nothing in common as buyers. Different money, different timelines, different people who can say yes, different reasons to care. A pitch built before the call can’t possibly be right for both, so it gets written for neither. You get about five minutes Five minutes at the start to make somebody want to keep talking to you. That’s the whole budget. Spend it describing your product and you’ve spent it, and everything after that is a polite person waiting for a gap. They won’t tell you. Nobody in education tells a supplier they lost them at minute six. They say it’s interesting, they say they’ll take it to the team, they ask you to send something over, and then the something over sits in an inbox next to four hundred other somethings over. You log it as a maybe. It was a no, and it became a no while you were still talking. What research actually means Research is the least glamorous part of the job, which is exactly why it gets skipped, and everyone skips it in the same way: a quick look at the website, a scroll of somebody’s profile, done. That isn’t research. That’s reassurance. Before you get on the call, you want honest answers to five things. What kind of organisation is this really, and who holds the money. What have they already bought that does some of what you do, because something will. What have they said in public about this year’s priorities, which is usually sitting in a development plan, a newsletter or a governors’ document that nobody outside the school ever reads. Who is on the call, and what does their year look like from where they’re sitting. And finally, the one thing you genuinely don’t know and want to ask them, out loud, early. Job adverts are the honest ones, incidentally. A school will tell a careers page what it’s struggling with far more plainly than it will ever tell a supplier. If you haven’t done the research before you call, you’ve already spent the five minutes. The genuinely hard bit None of this is difficult to understand. It’s difficult to do, and it’s difficult for one very human reason: you can feel the pitch in your mouth. They say something that connects to slide four and everything in you wants to get to slide four. Holding that, asking a second question instead, letting them finish a sentence you could have finished for them, is the actual skill. It’s also the thing no amount of product training gives you. I’ve spent a lot of this year listening to recorded calls while training teams, and the pattern is always earlier than people expect. Not the objection handling. Not the close. The first five minutes, and what was or wasn’t done the night before. The course for the five minutes before the pitch Four steps, all of them boringly practical: strategic discovery, concept introduction, collaborative exploration, solution alignment. Built for sales and business development teams working with schools, trusts and colleges. Education Market Sales Mastery is £497, or £422.45 for BESA members. Would rather talk it through? Book a call. Which brings me back to my man and his fifteen minutes. He had the thing the rest of the sector would take an arm for. Inbound. A buyer who reached out, who wanted to be sold to, who had already talked herself into the

The Difference between a demo and a discovery
Sales Enablement, Start-Up

The Difference Between a Demo and a Discovery

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The Difference Between a Demo and a Discovery | Seventh Sibling Sales Enablement The Difference Between a Demo and a Discovery Most suppliers think they’re running discovery calls. They’re not. seventhsibling.co.uk  ·  #b2education Sales Enablement 5 June 2026 Stella James 8 min read Most education suppliers think they’re running discovery calls. They’re not. They’re running demos with a question at the front. There’s a difference. It matters more than most people realise. And until you understand it, you’ll keep wondering why deals that felt warm go cold. What a demo actually is A demo is a performance. You show the product. You walk through the features. You demonstrate the capability. It’s supplier-led, product-focused, and — if you’re honest — mostly about you. Demos aren’t useless. But they’re only useful once you know enough about the buyer to make them relevant. Most suppliers skip that part entirely. What a discovery actually is A discovery is an investigation. You’re not there to show anything. You’re there to understand the problem the school or MAT is trying to solve, the context that created it, the people affected by it, and what a good outcome would actually look like. Discovery is buyer-led. Product-focused is the last thing it should be. Done properly, a discovery call should end with you knowing whether your product is even the right solution — and being honest if it isn’t. The tell Here’s the simplest way to know which one you’re running. It’s a demo if… You’re talking more than the buyer. You’ve opened the platform. You’re guiding them through features. The agenda belongs to you. It’s a discovery if… The buyer is talking more than you. You’re asking questions and genuinely not knowing where the conversation will go. Their problem is setting the agenda. Most education sales teams are talking 60–70% of the time on calls they call “discovery.” That’s not discovery. That’s a performance with an audience participation section. Why it matters so much in education specifically Education buyers are not typical B2B buyers. They are: Time-poor in a structurally different way — term time is relentless. A meeting that doesn’t immediately demonstrate value will not get a follow-up. Risk-averse — getting it wrong affects children and staff, not just budgets. Multi-stakeholder — decisions involve teachers, heads, finance leads, procurement, governors, and sometimes parents. You are almost never selling to one person. Sceptical of suppliers — they’ve been over-promised and under-delivered too many times. Trust is earned, not assumed. Running a demo at them when what they need is someone to actually understand their situation doesn’t just lose the deal. It damages trust. And in a sector where word travels fast and networks are tight, that matters. “Running a demo at them when what they need is someone to actually understand their situation doesn’t just lose the deal. It damages trust.” The four things a real discovery call uncovers The actual problem — not the presenting problem A school tells you they want a better attendance system. The actual problem is that their pastoral team is spending three hours a day on manual follow-up and missing the early warning signals that predict exclusions. Those are different problems. One has a product solution. One needs a conversation about process first. Ask what’s driving the need right now. Ask what happens if nothing changes. Ask what they’ve already tried. The presenting problem is rarely the whole story. The decision landscape Who else is involved in this decision? Who has a veto? Who will this affect day-to-day? Who needs to be a champion internally for this to work? You are almost never selling to one person in education. Treating it like you are is one of the most common reasons deals stall at the point you think they should close. The success picture What does good look like? Not in your terms — in theirs. What would they need to see, feel, or be able to report back to governors in twelve months to know this worked? If you don’t know this going into a proposal, your proposal is a guess. The constraints Budget window. Procurement process. Existing contracts. Term-time implementation realities. GDPR sign-off. IT capacity. These aren’t objections. They’re context. And they’re the difference between a proposal that can actually be accepted and one that dies in an inbox. What happens when you get discovery right The proposal writes itself. When you’ve done a proper discovery, you’re not writing a generic capabilities document with their logo on it. You’re writing back the problem they told you, in the language they used, with a solution that maps directly to what they said good would look like. The mirror principle That’s not a proposal. That’s a mirror. And mirrors close deals. The best proposals feel inevitable to the buyer. They read it and think: this person understood us. That only happens if you actually listened first. The shift Next call you’re on, try this. For the first fifteen minutes, don’t mention your product at all. Ask questions. Listen properly. Take notes. Let silence sit for a beat longer than feels comfortable. See what you find out. You might discover the real problem. You might discover you’re not the right fit. You might discover an opportunity three times the size of the one you thought you were pitching for. Any of those outcomes is better than a demo they forgot by Friday. Want to go deeper on discovery? B2Education Unpacked — the podcast interrogating the gap between how businesses sell into education and what actually happens when products land in schools. Listen Now Sales Course SJ Stella James Founder of Seventh Sibling. Fractional CRO for education technology businesses. Host of B2Education Unpacked. Twenty years in sales and marketing. Twelve years in UK education markets. Connect on LinkedIn →

featured-90-day-sales-plan-1080x1440
Sales Enablement, Start-Up

90-Day Sales Plan

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90-Day Sales Plan:
September will arrive whether you’re ready or not. Most suppliers will spend June reacting, July hoping, and August on holiday — then scramble. Here’s how to use the next 90 days so you don’t have to.

Why your case studies aren't converting — sales enablement blog by Seventh Sibling"
Business Development, Sales Enablement

Why Your Case Studies Aren’t Converting

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Why Your Case Studies Aren’t Converting (And How to Fix Them) | Seventh Sibling *, *::before, *::after { box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; } :root { –navy: #0F1B2D; –coral: #D97088; –green: #3B8B4E; –cream: #F0EDE8; –beige: #EDE5DB; –text: #1a1a2e; –muted: #6b7280; } body { font-family: ‘Lato’, sans-serif; background: var(–cream); color: var(–text); line-height: 1.8; } .blog-header { background: var(–navy); padding: 60px 24px 50px; text-align: center; } .blog-category { display: inline-block; font-family: ‘Montserrat’, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 3px; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(–coral); margin-bottom: 20px; } .blog-header h1 { font-family: ‘Montserrat’, sans-serif; font-size: clamp(28px, 5vw, 48px); font-weight: 800; color: #fff; line-height: 1.2; max-width: 760px; margin: 0 auto 20px; } .blog-meta { font-family: ‘Lato’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgba(255,255,255,0.5); letter-spacing: 0.5px; } .accent-bar { height: 5px; background: linear-gradient(90deg, var(–coral) 0%, var(–green) 100%); } article { max-width: 720px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 60px 24px 80px; } article p { font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.85; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #2a2a3e; } article p strong { color: var(–navy); font-weight: 700; } h2 { font-family: ‘Montserrat’, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 800; color: var(–navy); margin: 48px 0 16px; line-height: 1.3; } .lead-paragraph { font-size: 19px; font-weight: 300; color: var(–navy); border-left: 4px solid var(–coral); padding-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 36px; line-height: 1.7; } .pullquote { font-family: ‘Montserrat’, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700; color: var(–coral); text-align: center; padding: 40px 30px; margin: 40px 0; border-top: 2px solid var(–beige); border-bottom: 2px solid var(–beige); line-height: 1.5; } .section-divider { width: 60px; height: 3px; background: var(–green); margin: 48px auto; border: none; } .blog-footer { max-width: 720px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 0 24px 80px; border-top: 2px solid var(–beige); padding-top: 32px; } .blog-footer p { font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7; color: var(–muted); } .blog-footer a { color: var(–coral); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 600; } .blog-footer a:hover { text-decoration: underline; } @media (max-width: 600px) { .blog-header { padding: 40px 16px 36px; } article { padding: 40px 16px 60px; } .pullquote { font-size: 18px; padding: 30px 16px; } } Sales Enablement Why Your Case Studies Aren’t Converting (And How to Fix Them) Stella James  |  May 2026  |  6 min read You’ve got the case study. The school said nice things. Marketing made it look beautiful. It’s on the website. It’s in the pitch deck. And it’s doing absolutely nothing. I see this constantly. Companies selling into education with five, ten, sometimes twenty case studies — and none of them are moving deals forward. They exist because someone somewhere decided “we need case studies” and ticked the box. But nobody stopped to ask what the case study was actually supposed to do. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most case studies in education sales are testimonials wearing a longer jacket. And testimonials don’t close deals. The wrong person problem The biggest mistake I see is case studies written for the person who already said yes. Think about it. You go back to the school that loves you. You ask them to say how great you are. They do — because they are lovely people and they genuinely like your product. You write it up, add a photo of some happy children, and put it on the website. Who is that for? It’s not for the head teacher at the school down the road who has never heard of you. It’s not for the MAT finance lead who needs to justify spending. It’s not for the procurement officer comparing you against three other providers. It’s for you. It makes you feel good. And it sits on a page that nobody who matters is reading. This is a stakeholder mapping problem. If you’ve done your homework on a deal — if you know who the decision makers are, who the influencers are, who holds the budget and who holds the veto — then you already know that a single case study cannot speak to all of them at once. The head teacher needs to see classroom impact. The finance lead needs to see value. The trust CEO needs to see strategic alignment. Send the same document to all three and you’ve impressed none of them. A case study that converts is written for a specific person who hasn’t bought yet. It speaks to their problem, not your product. It shows someone in their role dealing with something they recognise. That’s a completely different document from the one most companies are producing. The timing problem Case studies get sent at the wrong moment. Usually too early. Someone has had one conversation with you. They’re vaguely interested. You send them three case studies, a one-pager, and a link to a webinar recording. Congratulations — you’ve just made their inbox feel like homework. A case study lands when the buyer is past curiosity and into justification. They already think what you’re offering might work. Now they need evidence to take to someone else. That’s the moment. Not before. If you’re sending case studies before a second conversation, you’re not selling — you’re hoping. And hope is not a strategy. A case study that converts names a problem the reader already has, shows measurable impact from someone like them, and makes the next step obvious. What most case studies actually say I’ve read hundreds of these. Most of them follow the same structure: here’s the school, here’s what they bought, here’s how much they liked it. Three paragraphs of context nobody asked for, a couple of quotes that could apply to any product in any sector, and a call to action that says “book a demo.” None of that is useful to the person reading it. They don’t care about the school’s name. They care about whether the school had the same problem they have. They don’t care that the head teacher said something nice. They care about impact. What actually changed? For whom? By how much? The most common line I see in education case studies is some version of “it’s been a game changer for our school.” That tells me nothing. What changed? Over what time period? What does the data say? If you can’t answer those questions,

Dark navy graphic with the text 'The Mirror You Never Look Into' in white and coral, featuring an abstract circular mirror motif and the Seventh Sibling branding. Blog feature image for a post about sales training and self-reflection when selling into education.
Business Development, Sales Enablement

The Mirror You Never Look Into

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Most salespeople have never once listened back to their own calls. They’d sooner lose the deal — and blame the budget — than confront what they actually sound like. This is the long-form companion to our #TheMirrorYouNeverUse social campaign: on why selling into education demands more than charm, more than volume, and considerably more self-awareness than most of us are currently bringing to the table.

Build a complete, education-specific commercial engine – from positioning and pricing to discovery, concept-led business development, stakeholder navigation and measurement. This is the full playbook for EdTech founders and commercial leaders who want sustainable growth in education markets. You’ll learn how to: Position your product for schools, MATs and education organisations Design an education-specific business development strategy Run strategic discovery and concept-led conversations Navigate complex stakeholder groups and decision-making in education Measure what matters and build a pipeline that actually converts Best for: EdTech founders, CEOs and commercial leaders who want an end-
Business Development

Announcing CPD Accreditation for B2Education Mastery: Elevating EdTech Sales Training

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Big news: B2Education Mastery: The Complete EdTech Business Development Guide is now CPD accredited (January 2026). If you’ve ever tried selling into schools or MATs and thought, “Why is this so hard?”, you’re not imagining it. Education isn’t just B2B with nicer people. It’s complex, high-stakes, and full of stakeholders who all care about different things — and rightly so. This accreditation matters because it’s an independent mark that the course meets recognised CPD standards and delivers practical learning you can actually apply. Why CPD Accreditation Matters Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation is a trusted mark of quality and relevance. It assures learners and organisations that the training meets rigorous standards and delivers practical, applicable knowledge. For EdTech companies, sales is often the most overlooked skill. Many teams assume sales is a natural talent rather than a professional discipline. Our course challenges that misconception by providing sector-specific training tailored to the unique challenges and stakeholders in education. Sign up today Why CPD Accreditation matters (especially for sales) Sales capability is often the most overlooked part of an EdTech business. Too many teams assume sales is a personality trait — something you either have or you don’t. In reality, sales is a professional skill. In education, it’s a specialist one. When it’s done well, it builds trust, sets expectations properly, and makes implementation smoother. When it’s done badly… customer success ends up with the mop and bucket. What you’ll learn in B2Education Mastery This is a self-paced online course built specifically for selling into education. Inside you’ll get: 15 comprehensive lessons covering concept selling, stakeholder mapping, procurement navigation, and more. Practical frameworks and downloadable toolkits designed specifically for the education sector. Self-paced online delivery with engaging AI-generated video lessons. Embedded quizzes and assessments to reinforce learning. CPD certification that learners can showcase to demonstrate their professional growth. Who it’s for EdTech founders, commercial leads, sales teams, and anyone who’s been “volunteered” into selling in education and wants a repeatable, ethical way to do it. Ready to get started? If you want to build a proper education-specific commercial engine — without the fluff — you can enrol here: Enrol to B2Education Mastery

Professional illustration showing two business professionals in meaningful conversation, depicting active listening and genuine engagement in a sales meeting, using Seventh Sibling brand colours of deep green, light blue, cream and soft pink
Business Development, Customer Retention, Sales Enablement, Start-Up

The Power of Active Listening: Why Slowing Down Builds Stronger EdTech Relationships

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You’re ten minutes into a discovery call. You’ve got your agenda ready, questions prepared, and a clear plan to move the conversation forward.
But your prospect is chatting away—about their school, their challenges, their weekend, their team dynamics. You can feel the clock ticking. Your instinct is to gently steer them back on track.

Professional business graphic showing money on a table with text overlay reading "Why Your EdTech Pricing Is Leaving Money on the Table" in brand colours of deep green, light blue, cream and soft pink
Business Development, Customer Retention, Sales Enablement, Start-Up

Why Your EdTech Pricing Is Leaving Money on the Table

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You’ve spent months building your product. You’ve validated the problem. Schools love your solution. But when it comes to pricing, you’ve done what most EdTech founders do: You looked at competitors, undercut them by 20%, and hoped that would win deals. It won’t. Competing on price is a race to the bottom that you can’t win. There’s always someone willing to charge less, deliver less, and go out of business faster. It’s time to stop guessing and start pricing strategically. The Pricing Mistakes EdTech Founders Make Mistake 1: Cost-Plus PricingYou calculate your costs, add a margin, and call that your price. This ignores the value you create. A solution that saves schools £50,000 annually shouldn’t be priced based on your £10,000 development cost. Mistake 2: Competitor-Based PricingYou match or undercut competitors without understanding why they charge what they do. Their pricing might be wrong. Or they might be targeting different customers with different value propositions. Mistake 3: One-Size-Fits-All PricingYou charge the same price regardless of school size, usage, or value received. A 2,000-pupil secondary school gets the same value as a 200-pupil primary? Unlikely. Mistake 4: Underpricing to “Get Traction”You think low prices will accelerate adoption. They won’t. They’ll attract price-sensitive customers who churn quickly and devalue your solution in the market. The Value-Based Pricing Framework Price based on the value you create, not your costs or competitors’ prices. Here’s how: Step 1: Quantify the Value You CreateWhat measurable outcomes does your solution deliver? Time saved? Cost reduced? Revenue increased? Student outcomes improved? Put numbers to these outcomes. Example: If your solution saves teachers 5 hours per week and the school has 30 teachers, that’s 150 hours weekly or 5,400 hours annually. At £30/hour, that’s £162,000 in value. Step 2: Identify Your Value MetricWhat drives value for customers? Number of pupils? Number of teachers? Usage volume? Choose a metric that aligns with the value received. As they get more value, they pay more. Step 3: Create Pricing TiersSegment customers by size, needs, or value received. Offer good/better/best options. Most customers choose the middle tier, but having a premium option anchors perceived value higher. Step 4: Test and OptimisePricing isn’t set in stone. Test different price points with new customers. Track win rates, deal size, and customer feedback. Adjust based on data, not gut feel. The Pricing Conversation How you present pricing matters as much as the price itself: Lead with Value, Not PriceEstablish value before discussing price. “Based on your 40 teachers, you’ll save approximately 200 hours per week. That’s £6,000 in reclaimed time per week. Our annual fee is £15,000.” Anchor HighPresent your premium option first. This makes your standard pricing seem more reasonable. “Our enterprise package is £50,000 annually and includes… Our standard package at £25,000 includes…” Frame Annually, Not MonthlyEducation budgets are annual. Present annual pricing first, then break it down: “£12,000 annually, which works out to £1,000 per month or £33 per day.” Bundle ValueDon’t itemise every feature. Bundle related capabilities into packages with clear value propositions. “Our Growth package includes everything you need to improve literacy outcomes across Key Stage 2.” When to Increase Prices Most EdTech companies wait too long to raise prices. Increase prices when: Grandfather existing customers for 12 months, then migrate them to new pricing. Most will accept it if you’ve delivered value. The Pricing Tiers That Work Structure your tiers to drive customers toward your target package: Starter (Entry Point)Limited features, smaller schools, lower price. This gets customers in the door but encourages upgrade as they see value. Professional (Target Package)Full features, most customers, optimal price point. This is where you want most customers to land. Price it for profitability. Enterprise (Premium)Unlimited usage, dedicated support, custom features. This anchors value high and serves your largest customers profitably. Make the Professional tier obviously a better value than the Starter. Most customers will choose it. Handling Price Objections When prospects say “That’s too expensive,” they’re really saying one of three things: “I don’t see the value” → Re-establish value. Quantify outcomes. Share case studies.“I don’t have a budget” → Explore budget cycles, alternative funding sources, or phased implementation.“I can get it cheaper elsewhere” → Differentiate on value, not price. If they’re comparing on price alone, you haven’t established unique value. Never discount without getting something in return: longer contract, case study participation, referrals, or faster payment terms. Stop Competing on Price, Start Capturing Value Your pricing communicates your value. Price is too low, and schools assume your solution isn’t as good as the competitors’. Price is based on value, and you attract customers who care about outcomes, not just cost. The goal isn’t to be the cheapest—it’s to be the obvious choice for schools that value what you deliver. Ready to develop a pricing strategy that captures the value you create? Join the free EdTech Founder’s Growth Playbook course for the complete Pricing Strategy Framework, including value quantification templates, pricing tier structures, and objection handling scripts. Enrol now for free: EdTech Play Book Because in EdTech, your pricing strategy determines your profitability—and your positioning. About the Author: Stella is the founder of Seventh Sibling and has over 20 years of experience in EdTech sales, business development, and leadership. She’s helped EdTech companies achieve £2.2m profit turnarounds, 41% YoY revenue growth, and has won six innovation awards for her work in the education sector.

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EdTech Founders Growth Playbook

EdTech Founders Growth Playbook