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Win the EdTech RFP game before it even starts
In this week’s newsletter, I write about how EdTechs can stop being late to the game and preempt RFPs before RFIs or RFQs.
Rod Vronscki | AmplifyED
April 15, 2024
Top-15 Most Frequent Evaluation Criteria, analysis by listedtech
32 Hours. That’s the average time for writing a single RFP response.
But what if you could influence RFPs before they’re even written?
Marketing expensive EdTech solutions, especially those applied institution-wide, has its upsides: longer contracts, higher price, opportunities for professional services and more.
It has its downsides too: long sales cycles, dealing with multiple stakeholders, and depending on RFPs and its complex procurement process.
THE BIGGER PROBLEM EdTech companies might not even realise is not knowing when an educational institution is actively looking for your type of solution. This results in the reliance on RFPs, RFIs, and referrals. And usually, when EdTech companies receive an RFI or RFP, the buying committee have already a favourite solution in their mind, to which, consciously or unconsciously, the RFP is tailored.
Depending on receiving RFPs = Being late to the game
The point where most EdTechs fail is the constant communication with prospects - your key audience. And this communication can’t also be limited by sales rep capacity.
Communication needs to be scaled. The answer is going digital, wherever your audience is.
Different audiences will be in different places. Higher Ed, K12 Schools, and Districts, each tend to hang out on different social media platforms. And you have to reach them exactly there.
On top of that, reaching is not enough. You need constant messaging, getting people acquainted with your brand, with your product, with your clients, with your success stories, etc.
P. T. Barnum, in his 1882 book “The Art of Money Getting” wrote:
A French writer says that
1. "The reader of a newspaper does not see the first mention of an ordinary advertisement;
2. the second insertion he sees, but does not read;
3. the third insertion he reads;
4. the fourth insertion, he looks at the price;
5. the fifth insertion, he speaks of it to his wife;
6. the sixth insertion, he is ready to purchase, and
7. the seventh insertion, he purchases."
He continues:
Your object in advertising is to make the public understand what you have got to sell, and if you have not the pluck to keep advertising, until you have imparted that information, all the money you have spent is lost.
When you keep this constant flow of communication, institutions will have you as a reference when they are “ready to buy”.
The BIG QUESTION here is: How do you know when they’re ready to buy?
The answer is: you let them tell you.
Enters the Pre-RFP Positioning Strategy
The Pre-RFP Positioning Strategy is like 4D chess. Too complicated, I know. Then fishing. It’s like fishing but in a smarter way.
You cast a rod for each persona in your audience. Some fish will be near the shore, some will be deeper, some will be in a current, and some will be by the rocks.
Once you hook one, the others will see the frenzy and come along. That’s when you cast the net.
The BIG IDEA is that you will let them know about your solution. They will visit your website, check your features, check your clients, and check your expertise.
Once they download a digital asset, apply for a webinar, or get in contact, that’s when you advertise to the entire buying committee and convince them the same way you convinced the first person.
The KEY BENEFIT of this approach is that you identify institutions early on in their RFP process - while they are still forming teams and discussing the need for your EdTech.
This is the same approach I’ve used with my clients.
We not only use advertising channels, but multiple digital assets and platforms to identify institutions and their current intent - the moment they are on the path to the RFP.
If you have your own marketing team, you can download the EdTech DemandGen Workflow below and implement it in your business to get the most out of your advertising.
Do you need:
a leader for your marketing team?
someone to plan and form your marketing team?
an agency to strategize your marketing?
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