This podcast elucidates the imperative strategies for securing contracts with school districts. Our foremost focus lies in the exploration of three primary methodologies that practitioners may employ to effectively market their services: cold calling and emailing, navigating the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, and leveraging word-of-mouth referrals. Each technique is dissected with an emphasis on its applicability to both novice contractors and those seeking to expand their practice. Throughout the discourse, we underscore the significance of persistence, adaptability, and a genuine commitment to the unique needs of educational institutions and their students. This episode serves as a comprehensive guide, equipping listeners with the necessary insights to navigate the complexities of school contracting with confidence and finesse.

Takeaways:

• This episode emphasizes the significance of cold calling as the most reliable method for securing contracts with schools.
• Elise Mitchell advocates for developing a strong professional proposal template to streamline the RFP submission process.
• The podcast highlights the crucial role of word-of-mouth referrals in establishing trust and securing opportunities in the educational sector.
• Understanding the RFP process and its requirements can significantly enhance a contractor's chances of success in bidding for school contracts.
• Persistence and adaptability are essential qualities for any service provider aiming to meet the needs of schools and students effectively.
• Listeners are encouraged to leverage their current networks and deliver exemplary services to foster positive referrals and recommendations.

Links referenced in this episode:

• thetherapistsupportnetwork.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Therapist Support Network

Financial Disclosure:

"Beyond the Big Agencies" is brought to you by The Therapist Support Network. Some topics discussed may reference products, services, or resources offered by The Therapist Support Network. 

Legal Disclaimer:

The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, financial, or professional advice. Listeners should consult with qualified professionals regarding their specific circumstances before making any business decisions.

Welcome to beyond the Big Agencies, the podcast for SLPs, OTs, PTs and related service providers who want to work with schools, but not for them.

I'm Elise Mitchell, an slp, a school contracting coach and the owner of the Therapist Support Network.

Here to help you take control of your career, do what you love and build a sustainable practice on your terms.

Because school staffing should be left to the professionals.

Let's dig in.

Welcome back to another episode of beyond the Big Agencies.

It is Elise, and today we're going to talk about something that can be a bit intimidating or unnatural for many of us and that is selling your services to school districts.

Now I know who doesn't love discussing sales.

I will say for every coaching call I do, I would say about one to every eight people.

It's like, yeah, I love sales.

I don't mind getting on the phone.

The majority of us, it's not a profoundly comfortable thing.

It's so certainly not something that we had any sort of training on in school.

Right.

So many of us struggle with sales, especially when it feels like a maze you're trying to get through.

But today we're breaking down the top three ways to secure school contracts.

As a beginning contractor or as a contractor that wants to add on maybe one more contract to start hiring.

These are definitely the top ways to sell to schools.

The reason I gave that little caveat a minute ago that you might have heard in regards to size is I actually shift my advice when I'm speaking to companies or businesses that I work with that have, that have scaling in mind that want over $500,000 in revenue.

I shift the way I advise them to sell.

So you will notice if you're listening to this podcast is very specific to those starting out or those that have like one contract and would like to get another.

When you get scale level, when you have a handful of hires and you want to double your fte, we actually shift gears to take a different sales approach.

One that allow is more conducive to a larger company that has bit more resources, that has money for tech, et cetera.

So if you are larger, I mean you can absolutely listen.

I welcome you always.

But know that this is more specific to those who are starting out or who are smaller.

All right, we're going to break down the top three ways to secure school contracts as that beginning contractor or as a small business.

All right, let's start with number one and that is the cold call or cold email.

So this first path could definitely feel intimidating.

Picking up the phone and dialing a number, sending out an email without knowing if it will lead to anything.

Sounds scary, right?

I get it, I get it.

But this is a tried and true method that has been used for years to directly introduce your services to schools.

Those big staffing agencies ask me how I know I've worked for them.

Those big staffing agencies have teams within them, or they used to when I worked for them.

I can't speak to them now, but have teams within them that specifically do cold outreach.

That is their primary job because that is the way to reach decision makers.

So this is a tried and true method.

If you don't know of the other paths I'm going to mention.

So if you don't know, I'm going to mention RFPs and I'm going to mention word of mouth.

If you don't have access to those two, if you are in a state and you don't know if schools use RFPs, we're going to default here.

And that is cold calling or sending a cold email.

If you're getting your hopes up about email, let me just say schools have wonderful firewalls in place.

They get inundated with emails and so still calls have a greater response than cold emails.

I'm not saying cold emails are impossible.

I would rather you email than not do anything.

But know that calls have a greater response than emails because emails just tend to be more protected with our school populations.

So what you're doing here is you're reaching out to decision makers.

And when I say that phrase, the majority of the time decision makers are special education directors or the equipment equivalent.

Some states call them other names than that, but it's the person that oversees special education or related services.

Ideally, you are reaching out to schools that you know have a vacancy.

How do I know that?

Elise?

Great question, listener.

So how you know that is either one, you have seen the school hiring on the job board, or two, you have seen it on their website that they have a vacancy listed.

When you see that, what you then do is locate the decision maker for the school.

Now, if you click on that on the job board, if you see school A is hiring and you click on that and you apply, they're going to think that you are applying to be an employee and it's likely going to send you down an HR path.

Now, you may read some people have done this and it's worked out fine for them.

I personally do not recommend that because no HR person wants to go on a path with you and then find out you are not Interested in being an employee, you're interested in being a contractor.

It feels like a bait and switch.

So I personally do not recommend when you see that job on the job board applying for it, unless you want to be an employee, then please absolutely apply.

But instead what you do is you locate, you find that school, School A on indeed is looking for a full time slp.

You go and find School A's website and you find the special education director.

If you can't find them, often they, they hide that information.

You at least can find an admin and see if you can get a hold of that special education director.

So first that's how do we know if they have a vacancy?

And two, who do we talk to?

I will say on the job boards because of how it works.

You will see a lot of staffing agencies like staffing Agency A is looking for a school based SLP within 30 minutes of this town.

Often they're not listing the school because they don't want anyone to go in and grab that school for themselves.

So I get it.

But know that if you then spend time trying to find the school, that's a little bit of a goose chase.

So I would really lean into school districts that have a listing if possible.

You can try local schools and things like that if you don't see a lot.

But as a starting point I would just try to find school districts with a listing.

You're going to contact the decision maker next.

We're going to see what you'll say and essentially what you do with this outreach it is not like my name is Elise and I own this and I do this as this.

I provide a vowel.

So direct therapy.

Because we don't even know if they're open to contract services.

So instead we're going to get ahold of the decision maker and we're going to say, you know, my name is Elise, I own the therapist support network.

I saw you guys had a job posting.

Are you having a hard time filling that?

If so, my business staffs schools that have a hard time with recruitment and I would love to discuss my contract services with you.

What's a good time to talk?

If you have my packet, my school contractor packet, I have sales scripts in there that are much, that are worded much smoother than what I just did.

But you get the point, right?

So you're just reaching out to the sped director or their admin and asking if they're even open to a conversation.

If they're not open to a conversation, don't waste your time Right.

You can say, okay, great.

Can I email you my information in case anything changes in the future?

Go ahead and send it to them and then move along.

Maybe follow up with them in a few months to make sure their needs are still met.

So, so just to recap that, because it's so important, when you do get a hold of the decision maker, when you do send your email or that call, don't pitch right away.

Ask if they're open to working with contractors.

Set the stage for a follow up conversation when you can share more.

Now if you're thinking, Elise, why would I not pitch right away?

That seems like a waste of time.

I am an advocate for not selling without consent.

I don't think anyone should be sold to without giving permission to be sold to.

Right.

It's spammy.

So I don't go into my spiel if they don't want to hear my spiel.

Right.

Instead, I ask if they want to hear it.

If they do, we set up a time, usually later, to talk through my services, talk through their needs.

Every now and then I get a school.

I mentioned this in another one of my episodes.

Every now and then I get a school that really wants to talk about it right now.

But that's, that's not the most common that I get.

So set the stage for a follow up conversation where you can share more and when they are in the headspace to hear more.

So after that conversation, then you send them on a path, right?

So you ask them, are they open to hearing more.

They say yes.

You set up a meeting where you'll have more of that sales conversation, you hear more about their needs and you will have the opportunity to pitch your services.

And then after that, that typically results in some sort of contract discussion.

So that is the cold call.

And cold as the starting point.

What we're doing is we are locating decision makers, we are reaching out to them to see if they're open to contract services with your business.

That's the cold call or cold email.

If you do decide to just send an email, I do recommend ending it with a question.

If you just make it a narrative like, I am so and so and I provide services.

Thank you so much for reading this.

People don't feel inclined to respond.

However, if you put a question in there and if you make it short, oftentimes you will get some sort of response if they do respond.

Now, I want to just set the stage for what you're going to expect here.

There was a poll, I polled my customers a year ago and I saw a poll recently on social media.

My average response rate with cold calls is about 30%, some higher, some lower.

I would say we all came in between 20 and 35%.

In person.

Providers tend to get a little bit more of a response.

So just have realistic expectations here that often they don't respond right away and it usually takes multiple attempts.

Reaching out after three, I tend to back off how much I reach out.

And two, know that a lot of reaching out is going to lead to no answer.

All right, so summary with cold call, cold email.

Remember that cold calling in particular is hands down the most reliable at this point in time for securing a contract.

But in my opinion, it takes the most persistence.

Rejection is a part of it and no answer is honestly more common than getting a rejection.

No, thank you.

But it is an excellent way to build your network and open doors for future opportunities.

Be sure that you track these conversations, who you spoke to, who you called.

Keep track of it in a spreadsheet.

If you have my packet, there's one in there just so you have an idea on when to follow up, what was said, who you spoke to.

And you have a list of decision makers for next year when you reach out.

So you don't have to work as hard to find those decision makers.

Right.

All right, so the number one most common way to sell to schools and get that first contract is the cold call, slash, cold email.

All right, we are going to the number two most common way, which is my least favorite way.

But we are not here to talk about me, and that is the RFP bid.

So let's talk about the RFP bid process.

It cracks me up because I see people ask about this and say, what do I need to know about an rfp?

And then I find out that they're in Ohio that very seldomly utilizes RFPs and they've never even seen an RFP.

They just thought that that's what all schools require.

It's actually not what all schools require.

It is the less common out of the sales models, but some states heavily rely on it.

So let's talk about it.

In some states, this is Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, there's more, but school districts will use a request for proposal, an RFP to find their providers.

So these are formal documents where the school outlines the services they need and invites businesses like yours to submit detailed proposals.

It's a competitive process, but if you are prepared, it can be really rewarding.

Essentially, it's a, you know, school B is requesting proposals for occupational therapy services for 25, 26 school year.

Please submit the following documents by March 14th on a hard drive by noon at this time.

And it asks for a series of documents, everything from business license, from your rate sheet, et cetera.

And after that they review all the submissions and most often they select a series of businesses that are eligible to be a vendor for the district.

Now if the district uses you is a whole other thing, but you all submit these documents and they'll say, okay, this company, this company, this company, this company can all do business with the district should the district have needs.

That is the most common RFP setup.

So if you're unsure if your state uses an rfp, don't worry.

Start with cold calling.

Start.

They'll let you know if they do.

They'll say, well, we need you to become a vendor and you know at that point that you are going to be submitting a series of documents.

So what's great about RFPs?

I know I just said I don't love them, but that is because I am a relationship salesperson.

I truly enjoy getting to know my school.

I truly enjoy the sales process and pitching towards what a school needs.

That is what I lean into.

So that is why RFPs tend to not cater to, towards my personality.

But the good thing about RFPs is they do provide clear guidelines and so you know exactly what a school is learning, looking for.

And all businesses are on a level playing field when it comes to submitting proposals.

So if you win the bid, you could secure a long term contract which can lead to stability and high volume work, especially in Florida.

Some of these districts, some of these RFPs cover a large territory and could be a huge game changer for your business should they decide to utilize you.

So how do you start with RFPs if they say, well, we use a vendor process.

Usually you're looking on their website for something that says procurement or vendor or doing business with the district.

But hopefully when you speak to someone, they can guide you specifically.

So succeeding with RFPs, right?

First pay attention to deadlines and submission requirements.

For many of these, it's open for a certain period of time.

Missing a detail can disqualify your proposal.

So turning it in late or excluding certain things.

So there are some things they'll ask like some of them will ask for certain types of liability insurance.

If you don't have that, that's usually fine.

You just include something in there that says like business will get this insurance upon award of bid.

So still speak to it.

I've had some people say, well I didn't submit for this RFP because they required three references.

But you have three references.

You have three school people that can speak to your services.

Yeah, they can't speak to your business, but there's ways to submit the documents without misrepresenting yourself is what I'm saying.

But don't miss a piece.

Don't just leave it out of there and assume they won't notice, because they will and they will disqualify your proposal.

So first, make sure that you have everything that they need for submission.

Second, make sure your proposal highlights your expertise and how you uniquely meet the school's needs.

So even if you're a starting business, you have expertise in compliance, you have expertise in serving certain populations, you can really speak to that.

And again, if you have my contractor packet, there are some samples in there that you can utilize as inspiration to get started with these pieces and how to represent yourself in an honest way.

Right.

You haven't likely, if you're listening to this, you likely haven't been contracting with schools for years on end and you don't want to misrepresent yourself, but you are a provider and you do have experience with certain populations and you do know compliance and you should absolutely advocate for that.

So second, make sure you're highlighting your expertise, your experience with compliance and things that would motivate a school to work with you.

And finally, develop a strong professional proposal template that you can use across different bids to save times.

I'll plug my packet one more time.

Sorry, I keep referencing it, but in there I have a checklist for a folder and I highly recommend you do that.

So have a folder within your drive or your workspace that has a series of templates.

Most of them are going to ask for a rate summary.

Most of them are going to ask like scope of service.

Most of them are going to ask references.

So if you have templates in there that you can just copy and plug into your proposal, it makes these a lot quicker in the future.

And then another thing to keep in mind with RFPs and bids, that even if you win a bid, you are not automatically assigned students the majority of the time.

So schools still need to make a separate decision on which students they assigned to who and so be ready for follow up calls.

I always say that often even if you win a bid or an rfp, you have to enter a cold call sales cycle because you just won that RFP with seven other companies.

And so you really have to go in and advocate for those students to be assigned to you.

But that's, that's the nature of the process.

RFPs can open doors for you and with persistence, they can pay off in a big way, especially as you get more experience at them.

You can become pretty plug and play and do a series of RFPs relatively really quickly, which is a great move for your business.

All right, so talking about school sales, we talked about number one, the cold call slash cold email.

Talked about number two, the RFP slash bid.

All right, let's go to number three.

I love number three and that is word of mouth.

I love this way.

It is, I am naming it last, but it is certainly not least.

So let's talk about the power of word of mouth.

This is one of the most effective sales paths, especially in the education field where trust and reputation are everything.

When someone within a school's network, an educator, a parent, etc, recommends you, it is like a personal endorsement.

And that can carry a lot of weight, particularly if you're in a noisy space that has a lot of agencies.

Someone saying, I know this private practice down the street and I think they work with schools can have a lot of weight with a special education director.

Schools are often more likely to consider providers that they've heard positive things about, especially from someone that they trust.

So word of mouth helps you bypass large staffing agencies that are trying to catch a school's attention.

Because trust is such an important part of the sales process.

When it comes to working with schools who have laws that they have to abide by, they have to trust you.

So how do you build this network?

How do you get word of mouth referrals?

One, if you're already contracting, focus on delivering outstanding services to your current clients and then you can set up references between district and district.

Because sped directors all know each other, it's well, often they all know each other.

So if you're already contracting, happy customers are your best advocates.

These are the people who could refer you to new opportunities.

So if you're already contracting, provide an awesome service and don't be afraid to ask your school, hey, I am hoping to expand next year.

Do you know of any fellow districts that have a need?

I've really enjoyed doing this.

I'd love to work with a district that you'd recommend.

So don't be afraid to leverage the school you're currently working with.

Another thing, if you're someone that's completely starting out, share your desire to contract.

Post on your personal social media when you're accepting contracts, you never know who might have a connection with a school in need of services.

I have had customers that that had been at their child's PTA meeting and wore their private practice shirt and someone mentioned a charter school of their cousins like it's the world is so much smaller than we realize and so you never know who knows of the school looking for a provider.

So building word of mouth is important.

It is important to put yourself out there and it does take time to establish yourself as someone who does this.

But once your reputation is established, it pays off in a big way.

I've shared this multiple times.

I was able to drop the cold calls and lean completely on word of mouth because my services it just spread around that I was doing those contract services and then school started reaching out to me and it was lovely.

It is such an easier sales workflow than the cold call, but it does take time to build that reputation.

So that is why we still have that need to cold call cold email.

So in summary, which sales path should you take?

It really depends on your business and your resources and goals.

However, right now you're likely going to find yourself using a combination of approaches so cold calling to break into the new areas.

They might bounce you to an RFP or you may have a word of mouth situation appear because you made a social media post.

So you're going to find yourself using a variety of these.

I recommend all beginners start with cold calls and cold outreach as this is the one that the majority of schools still continue to utilize, but know that they may send you to an RFP depending on their district protocol, no matter which path you choose for selling.

Key to success with all of these is persistence, adaptability, and a genuine commitment to meeting the needs of schools and students you serve.

Your mission will drive you through those moments that are frustrating.

Those moments where you're completing RFPs with really interesting requirements, or those moments where nobody has answered the phone and you've called like 25 people this week.

Your mission and your belief that you can serve schools in a really unique way that goes beyond the big agencies that's currently serving them, that's going to drive you.

So keep your mission on a post it while you make those calls, while you send those emails and let that drive you because you have an absolutely beautiful mission and there is a school waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for you to call them.

If you're looking for more tips on selling to schools and growing your practice, be sure to check out my website and resources.

And thank you so much for tuning in today.

I'll see you next time.

That's a wrap on this episode of beyond the Big Agencies.

Remember, success isn't just meant for the big staffing agencies.

It's meant for providers like you who show up, take action and build something meaningful.

So go get em.

And if you're ready for more support strategies and a community that gets it, join us inside the Therapist Support Network.

You don't have to do this alone.

Head to www.thetherapistsupportnetwork.com to connect, learn and grow with other SLPs, OTs, PTs and related service providers.

Building their own path.

Until next time, keep pushing forward.