How to sell to Heads of People at Education companies
Heads of People in education companies are primarily measured on employee engagement scores. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates an understanding of their unique challenges, like high turnover rates in teaching staff or the need for effective online training programs. Highlighting solutions that can directly improve these metrics will capture their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 554 education company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- high turnover rates
- ineffective training programs
- low employee engagement scores
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent turnover spikes
Use HR analytics tools to identify education companies that have recently reported a spike in turnover rates. This indicates potential pain points in employee engagement or satisfaction, making them more receptive to solutions aimed at improving retention.
- 02
Research their training initiatives
Look for education companies that have launched new online courses or training programs in the past six months. Tailor your outreach to highlight how your solution can enhance these initiatives and improve overall employee development.
- 03
Connect through industry events
Identify upcoming education conferences or webinars where Heads of People are likely to be speaking or attending. Mentioning a shared interest in these events in your outreach can create a natural connection and increase the likelihood of a response.
- 04
Address budget constraints directly
Acknowledge that many Heads of People in education are facing tighter budgets. When reaching out, propose cost-effective solutions that can deliver measurable ROI, helping to alleviate their financial concerns and position your offering as a smart investment.
- 05
Follow up with insights on employee engagement
After your initial outreach, follow up with a brief email that includes a relevant article or case study about improving employee engagement in education. This positions you as a knowledgeable resource and keeps the conversation focused on their key performance metrics.
Can education companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 554 education companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.3% of 1–10-person companies against 80.2% of the largest — 64 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving employee retention
- Enhancing online training effectiveness
- Boosting engagement in education
Questions
- Why do Heads of People in education ignore outreach about HR tech?
- Heads of People in education often receive numerous pitches about HR technology, leading them to ignore outreach that lacks personalization or relevance to their specific challenges. They prioritize solutions that directly address their unique pain points, such as turnover and training effectiveness.
- What challenges do Heads of People face in the education sector?
- Heads of People in education frequently deal with high turnover rates, which can disrupt learning environments. They also struggle with implementing effective training programs that engage staff and enhance professional development, all while managing budget constraints.
- How can outreach resonate with education HR leaders?
- Outreach to education HR leaders should focus on their specific challenges, such as improving employee engagement and retention. Highlighting case studies or solutions that have successfully addressed similar issues in other educational institutions can make your outreach more compelling.
- What metrics do Heads of People prioritize?
- Heads of People in education prioritize metrics such as employee engagement scores, retention rates, and the effectiveness of training programs. They are focused on improving these metrics to create a better work environment and enhance the overall educational experience.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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