You have developed a fantastic music education product. It is well researched, looks professional, solves a genuine problem, and the teachers who have seen it love it. So why aren’t schools buying it?
In common with all other markets, music education is seeing the knock-on effect of rising costs, but also has the additional challenge of the fact that most purchases are made through public funding that has been decreasing in real terms over many years. Some might also say that the market is over-saturated, particularly when it comes to primary resources, but then again there is an argument to say that there should be as much choice as possible for consumers when it comes to children’s education!
Based on our experience of working with businesses trying to sell their products to schools, we’ve rounded up the five most likely reasons that your product might not be seeing the sales that you hoped for.
1. You’re solving the wrong problem
One of the easiest mistakes to make is developing something because you can see its potential, rather than because schools have identified it as a priority. Music education organisations often have considerable expertise and brilliant ideas. But the question isn’t simply, “Would this be useful?” it’s “Is this important enough for a school to spend money, time and staff attention on right now?”
Teachers and school leaders are constantly balancing competing priorities. A product can be valuable without being sufficiently urgent to purchase. That means research needs to happen before development, not after you’ve created the product and started trying to sell it.
2. You’re answering the wrong person’s question
The person who loves your product isn’t necessarily the person who can buy it. A classroom teacher might think your resource is brilliant, but purchasing decisions may involve a subject leader, senior leader, business manager, Music Hub or another organisation entirely.
Each of these audiences has different questions. If your marketing gives everyone the same message, you may not be answering each stakeholder’s most important question. Marketing messaging should be targeted and segmented so that you can appeal to each different section of your audience. Teachers will want to know about ease-of-use and time-saving aspects, while subject leaders will want to know about progression and meeting statutory requirements. And business managers will most likely just want to know how your pricing compares to similar products on the market, and why yours is the best (even if not the cheapest) deal!
3. You’re selling features instead of solving problems
Schools don’t necessarily buy products because they have lots of features. They buy them because they help solve a problem. It’s the difference between saying: “Our platform contains 200 curriculum-linked resources” and: “We give teachers ready-to-use resources that reduce planning time.” The first describes what you’ve made. The second explains why a school should care. That distinction matters enormously when you’re trying to communicate with busy educators. In fact, leading with the number of features you offer can in some cases be off-putting to teachers, making them think “I haven’t got time to look through all that!” Win them over first with the main benefits, and then dazzle them with all the optional extras at a later date!
4. You’re not willing to show them the goods first
Schools have a responsibility to use public funding wisely. And that means being crystal clear that your product is going to do exactly what they need it to do. Teachers need to understand how it fits into their existing practice. They may need training, guidance and time to explore it. They need to know whether it will work with their pupils, curriculum and available resources. This is why you see so many organisations offering free trials over a substantial period of time. Yes, there’s a risk that schools may just cut and run before they make a purchase, but the risk of them never even considering a purchase because they haven’t been able to test your product is far greater.
5. You haven’t tested it with real teachers
There is a huge difference between asking teachers whether they like an idea and whether that idea actually worked in the classroom. Real-world testing can reveal problems that aren’t obvious during development. Perhaps the resource takes twice as long to use as anticipated. Perhaps the terminology isn’t familiar. Perhaps something that seemed intuitive to its creators isn’t intuitive to teachers at all. Testing, refining and re-testing with the people who will ultimately use your product can dramatically improve the final offer, and prevent expensive mistakes further down the line.
At Music Education Solutions, we work with organisations across the music education sector to help them understand the education market, develop and test ideas, and create products and services that genuinely meet the needs of teachers and schools. If you’re developing a music education product or service and want an expert perspective on whether it will work in the real world, find out more about our consultancy and R&D services.
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