# Who plays the role of "buyer" in schools?



## deepbluex (Jun 24, 2011)

It's been a while since I've been in school but I remember that coaches and teachers were usually the ones who placed orders for team and club items. I'd like to market to that but they don't really have that information available.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

In my part of the world, most spirit wear is purchased by a parent group or the team supporter. Most uniforms are purchased thru the district purchasing office


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## sben763 (May 17, 2009)

Here the Athletic director is who I deal with although the PTA writes the check.


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## taricp35 (Dec 10, 2008)

In my neck of the woods the Athletic Director orders the players uniforms. I have also seen schools (Inner City where funding has been cut) where Coaches have heat presses, vinyl cutters, and resale licenses to buy from distributors. As for spirit gear, booster clubs, PTA, and parent groups.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

we do trophies and awards for schools. generally, it's an athletic director here when it's for the high school, but every now and then it's a representative of an organization (usually the pee-wee programmes do this). fewer places allow the coach to do it. team moms will often order for just a team if it's a small order like basketball or cheerleaders. 

bear in mind that's for trophies, not uniforms, which is trickier to break into, imo, as in our experience they're not interested in the best price a lot of the time as much as getting everything in a one-stop shop as much as possible. and it seems someone always 'has a better price' or 'knows someone.'

personally, i don't even pursue these kinds of jobs for shirts and uniforms. in the seven months or so that we've offered screen printing, it became glaringly obvious after six weeks that it was going to be more hassle than it was worth. if i had a vinyl cutter, maybe i would go after it a bit more, but even then it would still be the same race to the bottom scenario, fighting with undercutters and every half-arsed fool with a press in his garage willing to work at cost. nope, not gonna do that, lol.


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## FrontRunners (Mar 16, 2012)

Cheerleaders also


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

FrontRunners said:


> Cheerleaders also


LOL... I think cheerleaders are a different kind of buyer...


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## LuckyDuck (Dec 2, 2010)

In my little city each group/sport/club/organization has their own representative for that particular group. Booster clubs, coaches, etc are all in charge of different purchases depending on how that group is set up. I have found that targeting the school administrative staffs is very effective. They generally know who is in charge of what and how to connect with them. And most of the time that information is available if you just ask for it. Because they represent those groups, their contact information is easily attainable (they want people to know who they are for sponsorships). I even drop my name in the ears of players and coaches. Word of mouth has been the best advertisement for me!


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## cjqshirts (Mar 18, 2012)

Its also a good idea to contact the coaches and make it easier for them. If you have access to their team or logo you could put a quick flyer together and offer up basic pricing and they are more likely to get back to you!


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

for high schools, we are more likely to deal with the athletic director's secretary than the director himself. not always, but that tends to be the case. it's usually the director that picks the order up, though.

you wouldn't think there would be much difference, but in our experience there's a huge difference between dealing with high schools vs. little leagues/pop warner leagues. the high school is like dealing with a professional, the wee leagues are like dealing with the momfia.


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## taricp35 (Dec 10, 2008)

ryan barker said:


> the wee leagues are like dealing with the momfia.


Ha,ha,ha, the moms can be a hard pill to swallow can't they


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

heh, heh, yes, yes, they can.

i thought up 'momfia' on the fly. kinda liked it, so i googled the term. yeah, no surprise, it's already been taken. not having much luck finding terms i want to use. i wanted to make up some fake oil company shirts, but it would seem that if you use any word in the english language in front of 'oil' you'll get a result.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Our school buyers are the teachers, club presidents and booster presidents. Sometimes they are the same person, sometimes all different. One thing is for sure though, everyone else has a 'friend' that can do it for less so get your money up front or you may find yourself doing all that work for nothing when they tell you someone else already got the shirts done.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

yeah, that's why i don't even go for school shirts. trophies, however, and i highly doubt someone has a 'friend' in the area to get them from.

funny. if your 'friend' does shirts, then why not just go directly to him? why wouldn't you support your friend's business instead of shopping around? some friend you are!


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