Selling School Uniforms

Everyone has company blind spots- these opportunities that you know exist but can't see you way to exploit. They are different to what you are utilized to. You do not know anything about their purchasing process. You do not have any contacts. You're just aware of earnings opportunities exist in the most general conditions. A good illustration of this, for several printwear companies, would be schools and colleges.

First lets get right to the stage. The marketplace for uniforms is mostly in the hands of a small set of large specialist suppliers who are well established. That's not to say they won't have the chance to estimate and there could be good reasons based on local advantage, reactivity and size of college which combine to create yours the best deal. Fear not: there are lots of other chances.
You'll want to adjust your thinking in terms of sales techniques. The LEAs have a list of approved suppliers and obviously you need to be in your own local one. The bigger change relates to access. Despite any prejudices you might have, many teachers spend most of their time in the classroom actually teaching. Thus you have to plan contact calls and visits differently to strategies to other companies. Finding out when or if individuals are available for touch may be a major barrier and it is one that often stops people in their paths when attacking this particular market. Making contact with schools themselves is simple as they are all recorded on LEA websites. A number of the relevant names will be there too although this changes. The school office, which is the first point of contact, might be guarded in giving out names.

The next question is where the hell do you start? Head instructor, departmental mind, design and technology teacher, school secretary, bursar - all could be applicable. Most buy will have more then 1 tier of decision making. In private colleges, as a case, a purchase could be desired by department head, but until bursar has allocated funds, nothing will happen.

Any parent of school aged children will have seen schools making a point of additional value, ie. The same should be applied when selling into schools. Make it easy for schools to select you.