I recently had a conversation with Maxine Gordon-Williams who has a long history of selling in our industry and is currently a Regional Manager with OMNIA focusing on higher education. Based on that conversation, I wanted to share the top 5 things you need to know about selling in this vertical and 3 tips to be successful whether you are new to it or a seasoned veteran.
Before I share the insights, I want to remind you of the scope of this market and the buying season. As mentioned in past articles, the annual total furniture spend across all verticals is estimated to be around $15B and State/local/Education (SLED) is estimated around $5B- that is 1/3 of the total market! According to GovSpend, in 2023 Higher Education furniture spend was just over $2B and way up from 2023. Cooperative spend for this category also dramatically increased year over year and OMNIA is invested in this market as they feel they can continue to grow the cooperative spend within Higher Education.
With that said, what do you need to know about this market to pursue it well?
1. Buying Season: Obviously , if there are new buildings or large projects you want to be in early in the process with the GC/A&D process. If you are selling transactional products or doing smaller projects/ refresh, then you want to be in front of the buyers March-May so that they can install during summer break.
2. Contracts: All of higher education has access to purchase from a contract. The percent of purchasing on a cooperative is low but as mentioned, cooperatives like OMNIA are ultra focused on changing that. Some universities have their own contracts, but any colleges that are funded in any way by the state can buy off of state contracts. You definitely want to understand how they will procure prior to jumping into an opportunity.
3. Contacts: Within the college there are the facilities managers and heads of facilities you want to be in front of. A lot of universities have their own internal designers or utilize outside design firms. Then there is the procurement team. Procurement is important to understand the rules of how they purchase. If you have a cooperative contract or access to one, utilize their member list to create your strategy!
4. What are they buying: They buy so many different products. You need to think through what you know about colleges/universities and what you offer that they purchase. They have offices so they need those products, dorms, collaborative spaces, libraries, laboratories, classrooms, outdoor areas, etc. To quote Maxine “if you can pick up a building and shake it, whatever falls out is pretty much what they're going to be looking for. We don't see anything out of the ordinary or anything that necessarily is particularly unique to higher ed.”
5. How to get in front of this vertical: The best way to get in front of multiple decision makers at one time is doing some of the trade shows. The procurement leaders talk to each other and meet up at regional and national shows. A lot of them are credentialed so they are required to have continuing education hours. Some of our favorite shows for higher education are National Association of Education Procurement (NAEP) and AUID (Association of University Interior Designers.) NAEP has a great national show, but they also have regional shows. Additionally, some states and universities do their own facilities shows. For example, a favorite is TxPPA (The Texas Public Purchasing Association) annual event. There are a lot of shows in this vertical so make sure you review and decide which ones draw the customers and contacts you want to be in front of.
Now that we know the who, what, when and how, what are the top 3 tips we would give you as you pursue this vertical:
Per my chat with Maxine, “There are multiple stakeholders in this vertical so start by building a mutually beneficial relationship with at least one key stakeholder who can advocate for you, who you can develop a relationship with over time, start small, don't be afraid to start small, make sure that they understand what you do, how you're going to help them, how you're going to support them. And then right behind that, make sure that you're introducing yourself to procurement. So, it's your stakeholder where you're developing that relationship, but then make sure that you're in front of procurement.”
Leverage your success with other like customers that you have done business with. They all talk with each other so utilize your success to grow more business. Ask for introductions to your other target departments or schools. Do case studies (informal or formal) to show you have experience and the products they need for their project. Learn to tell the story about what you did for an institution and how you improved them, whether it was you saved them money, time, energy, efficiency, allowed them the opportunity to put together a beautiful building that attracted students, anything you have done.
Know your products that fit in this vertical and where they fit. Create marketing collateral that supports your products in colleges and universities. People love visuals and stories so help them with both by providing great marketing.
Higher Education is one of the fasting growing sectors within all of SLED and a major focus of Cooperative purchasing. There are multiple ways to sell your products and services within this vertical you just need to position yourself correctly and give your sellers the tools they need to be successful. My hope is that this article gave you some new ideas on how to market effectively to Higher Education. Happy Selling!
ABOUT MICHELLE WARREN
Founder, President - Catalyst Consulting Group
Michelle Warren is President of Catalyst Consulting Group, a firm specializing in providing strategic solutions to the commercial furniture industry to enhance their sales, positioning, and distribution. With 25 years of industry experience on the dealer and manufacturer side of the industry, Michelle has been recognized as an innovator in selling to the Federal Government, State/ Local Government, Higher Education and Cooperative Purchasing. Her expertise includes: sales strategies, strategic planning, 3-5 year road mapping, targeted marketing plans, distribution development, hiring reps, and training for reps and/or dealers. Michelle is known as a “serial networker” in the furniture industry and enjoys meeting people and making connections happen.
If you’re interested in connecting - reach out at: [email protected], connect on LinkedIn or visit www.strategic-catalyst.com to learn more about her work.
As seen in Delve | September 2024