Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

We have a product that is sold to schools as a site license. It is used by teachers and students alike. We found that entry was a lot easier when the purchasing process was perceived as simple and transparent for the end user.

The site license is installed on all computers at the school + student's notebooks if they are a notebook school. Typically the school sizes are 500-2000 students. We keep it simple and this appears to work. They pay <1500 per annum for the site license. We are happy, and they are happy.

When it comes to colleges the numbers are much larger and there are many departments. Does anyone have experience as to what is a good pricing/site license model for colleges? The software will only be of use to the Science and Athletic Departments. It is of no use to the departments.

We are considering:

  1. Same price and model as per our school customers.
  2. Slight increase in price, but same model.
  3. Separate site licenses to each department (Not preferred).
share|improve this question
You give the example of 500 to 200 students and a price of <1500, therefor the price is less than 1 per student. What is your current price model? Is 1500 the maximum? Is there a sliding scale depending on the size? Did you ever sell to two schools in the same school system, and give them a price break? What happens at the end of the time period, does it stop working or are they free to keep using it? – mhoran_psprep Jun 8 '12 at 11:01
Lower level schools use computer labs, or students have a laptop to take home. Colleges have computer labs, but most students use their own. How will licensing and installation work in this environment? – mhoran_psprep Jun 8 '12 at 11:01
I have priced it at that, as that is what the education market seems to bear. Dont have a sliding scale. We have sold to 1 school that had 3 campuses, but only slightly higher in license fee. It is a renewal subscription and we have 99% renewal on all schools so far. We dont differentiate between schools with labs only and those with notebook and labs. The school IT Dept just pushes the software out to all notebooks. – Jez Jun 8 '12 at 11:18

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote

Scaling your current model to accommodate the larger volume of the university/college may work just fine for you. One consideration is that the University settings quite often have rigid departmental boundries and budgets. This can often make each department function financially independent, making a college wide site license a tough sell.

We sell our Virtual TimeClock time and attendance software pretty significantly into secondary schools as well as colleges. At the college level, we regularly start with a significant license for a department. Over time word gets out and we sell large licenses into multiple departments. Our efforts to consolidate these licenses for the college are often met with huge resistance due to their budgeting independence.

In terms of pricing, our experience over the last decade has been that Universities generally have larger budgets and really streamlines purchasing procedures. As a rule, I'd say they are less price sensitive and more accustomed to purchasing at higher prices for their larger volume.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.