释放K-12教育技术解决方案的全部销售潜力

© Oliver WymanAs the K-12 edtech market matures, leaders and investors need to revamptheir go-to-market strategy to ensure success. Asking the right questions willprepare teams to conquer each stage of the saleslifecycle.The K-12 edtech market has had the wind at its back for more than a decade. After aperiod of steady growth enabled by the buildout of school internet infrastructure (largelycompleted by 20101) and the installation of computers, mostly shared, in classrooms atall grade levels, the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a massive pull-forward of adoption.Districts used ESSER stimulus funds to complete implementation of one-to-one computingand to rapidly adopt digital curricula to keep instruction going in remote and hybridlearningenvironments.K-12 decision makers have consistently told us that they will maintain that one-to-onecomputing infrastructure. Forced trials of digital curricula during the pandemic broughtto light the benefits of digital over print, including better personalization, portability, andreporting and analytics. Educators have largely adapted to incorporate technology intheclassroom.The software-enabled classroom may be here to stay, but the outlook for the edtechmarket is changing. In surveying K-12 supplemental curriculum decision makers over thepast two years, we found their expectations for market growth have slowed, particularlyin ELA and Math. Expiring Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER)stimulus is one reason. Another factor is saturation, with the average district having six toeight supplemental ELA products and five to seven supplemental Math products. Simplyput, teachers do not have time in the school day to make use of it all. As budgets tighten,districts will be thinking more critically about what they will buy going forward, reducingthe number of edtech products purchased and driving consolidation within theindustry.The growth engine for K-12 edtech providers will shift as well. A provider’s ability to captureand maintain market share will drive growth rather than market tailwinds. Leadership teamsand investors must revamp their go-to-market strategy to succeed as the market maturesinto this new phase ofconsolidation.We see go-to-market strategy as preparing for three key battles in the adoption lifecycle:thebudget battle, the usage battle, and the renewalbattle.1NCES,Number and internet access of instructional computers and rooms in public schools, by selected schoolcharacteristics: Selected years, 1995 through2008. © Oliver WymanWINNING THE BUDGETBATTLEWinning the budget battle requires deploying the right number of salespeople againsta fragmented opportunity of about 13,000 public districts, 100,000 public schools, and30,000 private schools.2It also requires the right organizational enablers, such as territoryconstruction and incentives, to capture value and reach all potential audiences. Leadersand investors should ask themselves the following questions as they assess theirstrategy.1.Do we have enough salespeople?The ultimate objective for any sales organizationshould be growing market share to the point that maximizes profit and return toshareholders. Market share is directly correlated with sales-force scale. As a territoryshrinks, a salesperson will capture a higher share of the addressable market withinthat territory, meaning that as the sales team grows and opportunity is divided up intosmaller territories, the market share the team achieves increases. The marginal benefitof adding sales reps declines as more are added, so there is an optimal point for everyorganization where incremental share and profit production of another rep equals thecost of that rep. However, we have yet to come across a sales organization in K-12 that isclose to this point. More commonly, we find that organizations aim to maximize revenueper rep which, because of the relationship between share and territory size, leads tounder-resourcing of the salesorganization.An important corollary to this is that edtech leaders facing revenue pressure shouldresist the impulse to cut sales to save costs. A smaller sales force does not solve revenueproblems. In fact, lower sales resourcing leads to lower market share, creating a negativecycle. Instead, organizations with limited budgets should pay particular attention to thequestions below to ensure they are maximizing teamproductivity.2.Are our sales territories allocated appropriately?Creating territories with equalopportunity (for example, total addressable market per territory excluding the leastaddressable segments) produces the most market share. While there are practicalreasons why territories may not balance, such as state boundaries that affect buyingbehavior, we have also seen less-practical considerations lead to imbalance. For example,higher performing sales reps are often given larger territories with the assumption thatmore opportunity for the ‘hot hand’ will lead to more sales. But continued growth in alarger territor