How to sell to Procurement leads at Education companies
Procurement leads in education are primarily measured on cost savings and supplier relationship management. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of budget constraints and the specific educational outcomes that their institution prioritizes. Highlighting how your solution can directly impact their bottom line while enhancing educational quality 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
- tight budgets for new tools
- long approval processes
- lack of supplier options
- pressure for measurable outcomes
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent budget approvals
Research education institutions that have recently approved budgets for new technology or training programs. Use resources like district press releases or educational news sites to find announcements, which indicate a readiness to invest in solutions that enhance learning.
- 02
Pinpoint edtech partnerships
Look for schools or districts that have partnered with edtech companies in the past year. This can be found on their websites or in partnership announcements. Highlighting your understanding of their existing relationships will make your outreach more relevant.
- 03
Highlight compliance with educational standards
Craft your message to emphasize how your offering meets specific educational standards or compliance requirements. Reference known standards like ISTE or state-specific guidelines that are crucial for procurement leads when evaluating new products.
- 04
Address common objections about ROI
Prepare to counter objections related to return on investment by providing case studies from similar educational institutions. Make sure to include metrics that demonstrate how your solution led to measurable improvements in student outcomes or operational efficiency.
- 05
Follow up after industry events
Identify upcoming education conferences or webinars where procurement leads will be present. Plan to follow up with those who attended after the event, referencing specific discussions or sessions that align with their interests to increase your chances of booking a call.
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
- Streamlining procurement processes
- Enhancing your edtech strategy
- Cost-effective training solutions
Questions
- Why do procurement leads in education prioritize cost savings?
- Procurement leads in education face constant pressure to maximize the impact of limited budgets. They must ensure that every dollar spent contributes to better educational outcomes, making cost savings a top priority in their decision-making process.
- What challenges do procurement leads face when selecting suppliers?
- Procurement leads often struggle with a lack of suitable suppliers who meet both budget constraints and educational standards. They need to navigate a complex approval process, which can delay decision-making and hinder timely procurement.
- How can I make my outreach relevant to education procurement leads?
- To engage procurement leads effectively, tailor your outreach by demonstrating an understanding of their specific challenges and priorities. Reference recent budget approvals, compliance requirements, and how your solution aligns with their educational goals.
- What factors influence procurement decisions in education?
- Factors influencing procurement decisions include cost-effectiveness, compliance with educational standards, proven success in similar institutions, and the ability to demonstrate a clear ROI. Understanding these factors can enhance your outreach strategy.
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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