If you are a business owner with a product or service and want to know how to sell to teachers, read on.

If you are a business owner with a product or service to sell to teachers you are facing a unique target market. Despite Government efforts to reduce pressure on their working lives today more than ever teachers are fighting an uphill battle with large quantities of paperwork and competing demands on their time. Head teachers and senior staff are, in particular, bearing the brunt of increased managerial duties and policy initiatives.

Business owners with products or services that are specific for teachers who neglect the challenges they are facing will fail marketing to this target market and will find that their product sits quietly on the shelf with little to no profitability.
The savvy business owner will be aware of the following factors when selling to teachers:

• needs of teachers
• needs of students
• local and federal government focus
• local and federal support

You should have a clear understanding of what teachers and students' needs are but is also as important to be aware of what local and federal authorities focus is.

How do companies convince teachers to buy their products? To find out, we contacted about 650 teachers over a two-year period -- sometimes representing ourselves as educators, and sometimes as companies offering a solution. From these encounters and an analysis of all their responses, we have identified some common points that teachers often take into consideration when deciding what products to spend their budget in.

• Selling to teachers begins with you. Prospects must first believe in (and like) the messenger or the message has no credibility.
• Brand recognition, It's not who you know, it's who knows you. Create a brand that will give you a reputation based in value. Put your message in front of their face; trade shows, and conferences are a good place for this but online advertising and social presence is cost effective and convenient option.
• Trust, trust, trust. Straight-forward truth leads to trust. To get trust, first give trust. Competency, superior skill, knowledge. superior service and genuine help leads to trust. Creativity leads to trust.
• Differentiate or Die, The key to selling is the teacher's perception of your ability to differentiate yourself from your competition. Differentiate yourself from the people you hate, your competition. You won't have to hate them anymore, they'll hate you.
• Engage with friendliness rather than corporate professionalism, teachers are social persons by nature, you have a chance of building a friendly relationship.
• Selling to teachers requires building trust and establishing credibility; starting out with a cold call makes this difficult or impossible, a good alternative is a good online presence and social media interaction.