By: Leah Rodgers
Pilot programs offer schools and districts a low-risk opportunity to test new solutions prior to committing to a full-blown purchase. For today’s edtech companies, a lack of pilot programs can be a deal-breaker, especially when K–12 leaders are looking to invest a significant amount of money and time into a multi-year adoption.
One common question PRP often gets from clients is whether they should charge for pilots. In general, we’ve found that having some sort of financial buy-in makes schools and districts more likely to have philosophical buy-in as well. There are enough different ways to charge for pilots that we’ll devote a whole post to them in the future, but there is no doubt that a well-run pilot can benefit your business in ways that extend beyond a single school or district. Here are three reasons why pilots are powerful assets in your sales and marketing arsenal.
- Pilots create brand champions, not just customers.
Pilots are more than a test run for a big sale. They’re an opportunity to develop trusting relationships that will stand the test of time. Piloting a product is a low-risk way for potential customers to experience what it’s like working with you. While the official focus of the pilot is evaluating your product or service, it’s also your chance to spotlight your expertise, professionalism, and stellar support team that’s always ready to accommodate pilot participants’ needs and wants.
Pilots also serve as live-action focus groups. Unlike beta testers, who use a product for the sole purpose of providing feedback to a company, pilot educators work hands-on, day-to-day to determine whether a piece of hardware of software meets their specific needs.
The educators who use your offering prior to a full-blown implementation tend to be early adopters who get a thrill from being one of the first to try new technology. (They may even be influencers with their own social media following.) If the pilot is successful, those same early adopters are often the ones who help their colleagues and students transition into using the solution. This model makes the classroom roll-out less intimidating for educators and students, and can create brand champions who feel a sense of ownership of your product. If you continue to nurture those relationships after the deployment, those brand champions might be the foundation of your word-of-mouth marketing.
- Pilots make you proactive.
Julie Carter, CEO and founder of GreyEd Solutions, sees pilots as a strategic way to position your business as proactive rather than reactive. “With a pilot program in place, all the pilot criteria, materials, processes, and protocol are ready to go,” said Carter. “That means your team can proactively provide a ‘Getting Started’ collateral toolkit with all the templates and information a school or district needs to quickly disseminate to their stakeholders. It’s efficient, timely, and a standard collection of materials. That also means your sales team isn’t creating 100 different versions of these requests on the fly.”
- Pilots help you establish strong and consistent marketing messages.
Carter said that when a pilot program is up and running, everyone in your company benefits from following a set of common processes, protocols, communications, and criteria. It enables your organization to replicate a standard yet unique pilot experience based on the objectives and goals of your client, regardless of where they’re located or who their organizational contact is. Once the standards are in place, your business can plan and execute scalable, iterative, and flexible pilots.
“With the development of a pilot program, common language will naturally come through,” Carter said. “This consistency is critical while communicating both internally and externally. Common language can be weaved in throughout marketing materials, collateral, presentations, and conversation. Regardless of who district leaders are talking to in your organization, they will receive information in a similar fashion with standard nomenclature embedded within. Common language ensures that everyone is on the same page.”
Pilots certainly help educators identify the products that make the most sense for their needs; at the same time, they help smart edtech companies strengthen the messages and relationships that are at the heart of our business.
Thanks for sharing!
