# School Supplier Marketing



## newtb (Jul 24, 2010)

We are looking to start marketing to local schools before they resume in order to help them stock their spirit wear for the year and get our name into their bidders list for future orders (proms, sports, etc.). Basically I am looking for any and all suggestions when approaching the schools. 

*- Who should we ask to speak with.
- What information / flyers should we bring alon*g (we have full page sell sheets and a page with our apparel manufactures, apparel colors, and different apparel options.
*-etc.
*
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Again, I can imagine the basics like any sales pitch but I just wanted to know if any one who had experience in working with schools would be interested in sharing their experiences/knowledge. 

Thanks in advance


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

And you know going in that this group very price sensitive and will play one vendor against the other in a race to the bottom?.....And that often it is a friend of a friend that gets the orders......Good luck....

PS....I do not return phone calls to school.....They take far too much effort for what turns out to be low margin work....


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

It depends on what type of school you're trying to get into. For elementary schools, typically you'll want to ask for the parent club president as they're usually the ones in charge of fundraisers and spirit wear falls under that category. 
For high schools, you need to call the front desk and ask who is in charge of spirit wear. I have my stuff in some high schools around here and they have a student store. One has a couple of ladies who run it and that's all they do. They're not teachers and the store is open from before to after school. It's also open for summer school so I've been in contact with that one getting ready for fall. Another school's student store is run by a teacher so I have to call and make appointments with her or there is a good chance she'll be unavailable.

As far as what to bring, I would definitely say bring the flyers and anything else you can. Better to have too much and just show what you need than to not have brought enough. If you can make some samples specifically for their school with the name and/or mascot, you should do that. It will instill some school spirit and pride and get them excited. I know that's hard for screen printers and easier for me to make something in bling, but if you work with vinyl, you should do something in vinyl.

Let us know how it goes!


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## schoonover77 (Jul 4, 2010)

The best way to handle schools is to get caller id and not answer the phone when they call. They will go out of their way to cheat you anyway possible.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

schoonover77 said:


> The best way to handle schools is to get caller id and not answer the phone when they call. They will go out of their way to cheat you anyway possible.


Wow. I've had great experiences with all of the schools I'm in and no one has ever tried to cheat me or even asked for lower prices.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

Who you contact depends on where you are located, and what their policies are. It is not the same in every state. In Georgia some counties you would speak to PTA President, some counties you have to go to the District Office, in some cases you have to be on the approved vendors list via the Schools Superintendent's Office, and others fuhhhh...get about it as the coaches have heat presses and vinyl cutters and wholesale accounts, and they get all the business. Where I am located you will not get anywhere by contacting the school directly which is why I always suggest start with the PTA First. 

As for what you need to bring, plenty of samples, price sheet, and a look book if possible so they can see other things you are capable of doing.

I am down to 2 schools now and only because they are Private Schools. I fired all the public schools because they were are PITA to deal with and I was basically working for free. Not worth it in my opinion. All my other Corporate clients, pay on time, easy to work with, but the schools.....PITA!


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

veedub3 said:


> I am down to 2 schools now and only because they are Private Schools. I fired all the public schools because they were are PITA to deal with and I was basically working for free. Not worth it in my opinion. All my other Corporate clients, pay on time, easy to work with, but the schools.....PITA!


I am floored by this! I knew I loved the school district my kids are in because it's amazing, but I didn't realize how good I had it with the schools paying on time. The big ones have a foundation through the school and I always receive a check within a week of sending the invoice. I do have one school that has their own heat press (a $1400 heat press!) and a wholesale account with Bodek so sometimes they just have me make them transfers which is fine by me!


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

DivineBling said:


> I am floored by this! I knew I loved the school district my kids are in because it's amazing, but I didn't realize how good I had it with the schools paying on time. The big ones have a foundation through the school and I always receive a check within a week of sending the invoice. I do have one school that has their own heat press (a $1400 heat press!) and a wholesale account with Bodek so sometimes they just have me make them transfers which is fine by me!


You do have it good, I barely could get them to pay the bill 60 days after the invoice. The last Pubilc School I had was a inner city school and I did the golf and lacrosse uniforms only because the Coach paid for them out of her pocket. I still think the School owes me for the track warm ups I did and that was nearly 2 years ago. You happen to be with a good school, I would hang on to them as that is a rarity in my area.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Like all of your customers, most schools have a person or persons that control the purchases and the deals are often insider deals. 

There are several steps you can take to get on the inside. 
- Go to the district office and apply to be a preferred vendor
- If you are a woman, disabled veteran or minority, register for that status and use that on your application. Most government agencies must do a percentage of their business with those types of businesses and you can normally be 5% higher on your bids and still get the work. 
- Go to each school and arrange a meeting with the PTA to show your product. 
- Visit each club and show your product.
- Visit the coach of each sports team and show your product. 

If you want to get nasty you can go to the school board and ask them why they are spending money on these products without a bidding process. Basically you would accuse them of corruption, but this would be a last step and probably not yield the best results. 

We have a number of schools, ball teams and car clubs. They are just like all of our other customers, always wanting a better price. We do price to make a profit so if they want to use us they will, otherwise they can walk. 

The best part is once you pick up a club or a school they will often come back to you each year without shopping your price around. 

Now, once you get the order, make sure you collect up front. We require at least a 50% deposit on repeat customers and 100% on first timers. The reason you want this is you don't know the political situation in these organizations. We had one school come in and order a bunch of stuff. They didn't have the money so we told them to go collect it and when they paid we would do the shirts. Well guess what! Someone else just went out and used their friend to get shirts first. The issue was these two people were in a power struggle and the one that came to us was not smart enough to strike first. 

The moral of that story is to get paid a non-refundable deposit up front to at least cover your cost. 
The one thing you should take away from this thread is this is a relationship business. You have to establish the relationships before you get the sales. 

Good Luck.


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## JOHNSY (Dec 20, 2010)

I would do cold calls and set up a short presentation when I use to do schools and other businesses. I would go in with the logo/mascot/name on a some stock images of t-shirst hats etc to show them possibilities. Worked a great deal of the time. you are right to try and catch them before the year starts but early to mid summer worked best for me. A few times I would be driving by a school after giving a presentation to another and just pop in. your bound to find someone on the grounds who can point you in the right direction of who handles these purchases. believe it when i say the old janitor/custodian is the best guy to catch on the off season as they know everybody in the system. Dont forget to contact your local board of education also. its a great resource for who what and when as far as your local schools. If your near a college dont forget the sororities and frats. they are always in need of things on the fly.hope this helps
Good luck.


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