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Clarity

Sarah Finnemore

Norfolk, UK

I help growing organisations within the EdTech market to design, develop, deliver and market education solutions at the forefront of industry innovation.

With over 20 years of experience in the sector, I confidently support businesses seeking thought leadership and expertise in proposition development, market strategy and client acquisition, to future-proof their portfolios and break down the barriers to growth.

I've helped a number of ambitious and disruptive businesses to change and deliver in a highly competitive landscape, acting as the catalyst for strategic partnerships and joint ventures between Local Authorities, multinational organisations, private equity houses and ambitious start-ups.

Working with me, I'll challenge your current thinking, help you focus on your most critical issues and opportunities and, most importantly, provide a fresh pair of eyes! Areas of expertise include:

- Understanding your value chain
- Creating the best Value Proposition
- Marketing, networking & branding
- Identifying new target markets and ideal clients
- Enhancing your solutions to meet customer needs now and as they change
- Establishing a strong channel and partner strategy
- Beating the competition
- Leveraging relationships
- Guaranteeing recurring income

CURIOUS?
To find out more, or for partner, investor and press enquiries, please get in touch at sarah@finnemoreconsulting.com

Specialities
- Business Development: I have a proven track record in sales and client management, with over 20 years of experience managing the sales of Edtech software solutions and services to the local schools, academies, MATs and local government, both in the UK and internationally.

- Strategic Partnerships: I’m experienced in leading companies to close major opportunities, BPO/JV, acquisitions, channel partners and creating local and national government partnerships. I’ve also undertaken extensive Private Equity due diligence and portfolio company work for large and small PE funds in the education sector.

- School Management Information Systems: Having spent 18+ years working across this sector with all major UK MIS providers, I have deep knowledge of this market. I can advise on trends, buying behaviour, technology, support and partner relations, segmentation, product fit and, most importantly, growth strategy.

$2.50/min

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Marketing Strategic Planning Education New Business Development Educational Technology Product Marketing Market Analysis Business Case Manage Client Relationships Value Proposition

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Building a Sales Toolkit

Once you’re confident of your product or services value proposition and you know who your target market is, the next step is to put together a ‘Sales Toolkit’ to support your selling activity. I canl advise you on how to create a toolkit which will help you successfully get your message across during sales calls/meetings and provide professional follow up to win that sale.

The goal here is to ensure you are equipped with everything you need to sell successfully in the competitive education environment.

Creating the Perfect Value Proposition

Your Value Proposition is important because it provides a set of clear statements that:

- explain how your product solves customers’ problems or improves their situation
- show how you deliver specific benefits
- tell the ideal customer why they should buy from you and not from the competition

Going through this process and understanding your Value Proposition is key to targeting the right people with the right message and should form the basis of your Sales & Marketing strategy.

Planning Your Marketing Strategy in Education

Having a good marketing strategy in place is essential as it will help you plan who you should target, how you should target them and when.

I will work with you and spend time getting to know your company and your products and services. We’ll use this information to build a picture of the best targets in the education market. E.g. should you target educationalists or leaders? Maintained schools, academies or independents? Should you aim for group purchases or target individuals?

I’ll also make recommendations on how to generate leads via inbound marketing, what’s the best social media to use (and how to use it!) and what you should consider when it comes to outbound marketing, partnering and advertising. The overall objective here is to give you a 12-month marketing strategy which will build a healthy pipeline of future sales.

Getting the Most From Your CRM

Getting the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system in place is central to supporting your existing customers and managing your sales pipeline. It’s easy for CRM systems to become unwieldy and out of date if it hasn’t been clear from the outset exactly what you need the CRM to do for your business. I'm experienced in working with many of the market-leading CRMs plus bespoke inhouse systems, and have also worked with clients to recommend and set up CRM systems which are the best for them.
I can advise you on how to get the best from your CRM, the objective of which is to:
• Learn about what you currently have in place (if you are already using a system), how you use it, what you like/don’t like about it
• Understand the types and volumes of customers/products you have, how much data the system should hold, how many users are required, how it will be accessed
• Discuss how the CRM should work with other systems/apps you use or plan to use in the future (e.g. finance systems, email campaign systems, etc.)
• Explore how a CRM can be used in the best possible way to create great customer service for your existing customers, manage and engage with new leads, and move existing leads through the sales funnel
• Make recommendations on how best to use a CRM: which ones would work for you, what to consider when setting it up, how to make sense of data, how to engage customers personally while at the same time streamlining processes, how to manage and support effective marketing

Growing Your Business in the Education Market

The education market is evolving. With pressure from government, the teaching profession, and students and parents alike, the UK education market continues to undergo significant changes with more and more power and budget being devolved to schools and academies than ever before. This means that educational institutions are increasingly making their own purchasing decisions which has opened up the market significantly for both new providers and new solutions.

My company specialises in providing business development services to companies who create solutions for the education market. Having worked at driving business in the education sector since 2001 both at school, academy federation and local government level, I can offer expertise to you supported by:

- A deep understanding of the education landscape in order to create an outcomes-based value proposition that truly meets your clients’ needs
- A proven track record in sales and client management with a particular focus on new business
- The ability to bridge the gap between the client technical requirement and the company solution to create a winning proposal
- Extensive experience in leading and closing major opportunities, managing channel partners and creating local government partnerships
- An excellent network of contacts to provide business support where required, from thought-leadership around school improvement to project management and implementation

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Member since November 2014