How to sell to Heads of Sales at Education companies
Heads of Sales in education companies are primarily measured on revenue growth from course enrollments. They respond to outreach that demonstrates deep knowledge of their specific challenges, such as fluctuating student engagement metrics and the need for innovative sales strategies that align with educational outcomes. Showing familiarity with their product offerings and market trends 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
- declining student enrollments
- ineffective sales strategies
- high competition in edtech
- low engagement in online courses
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Research education companies that have recently secured funding, as they are likely looking to expand their sales efforts. Use platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook to filter for companies that raised funds in the last 6 months. This indicates they may have the budget to invest in new sales solutions.
- 02
Analyze enrollment growth challenges
Look for companies that have reported stagnant or declining enrollment figures. Use news articles, press releases, or social media updates to identify these pain points. Tailor your outreach to address how your solution can help them overcome these specific enrollment challenges.
- 03
Connect with industry events attendees
Identify attendees of recent education conferences or webinars. Use event websites or LinkedIn to filter for participants who are likely in sales leadership roles. Mention their participation in your outreach to establish a connection and demonstrate relevance.
- 04
Address common objections directly
Prepare to address objections such as 'we're already using another solution' or 'we don't have the budget right now.' Develop messaging that highlights the unique benefits of your approach and how it can complement their existing tools, potentially leading to better ROI.
- 05
Timing your follow-up after key reports
Schedule follow-ups shortly after the release of quarterly enrollment reports or academic performance metrics. This timing allows you to discuss their immediate challenges and how your solution can help improve outcomes based on the latest data.
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
- Boosting course enrollments
- Innovative sales strategies
- Navigating edtech competition
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales in education ignore cold outreach?
- Heads of Sales often receive numerous outreach messages that fail to address their specific challenges, such as declining enrollments or competition. If your message doesn't clearly relate to their pain points or offer a tailored solution, it risks being overlooked in favor of more relevant communications.
- What metrics do Heads of Sales prioritize?
- Heads of Sales in education primarily focus on metrics such as enrollment growth rates, customer acquisition costs, and sales cycle length. They are also concerned with the effectiveness of their sales team and how well they can adapt to market changes, making these metrics critical in their decision-making.
- How can I make my outreach relevant to Heads of Sales?
- To ensure your outreach resonates, research the specific challenges facing the education sector, such as fluctuating student engagement. Tailor your messaging to demonstrate an understanding of these issues and how your solution can address them effectively, making it more likely to capture their attention.
- What timing is best for outreach to education sales leaders?
- The best timing for outreach is often just after the release of quarterly enrollment reports or during the planning phases for new academic terms. During these times, Heads of Sales are more likely to be evaluating their strategies and looking for solutions to immediate challenges.
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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