It’s a kick in the butt. You research a school and a prospect, painstakingly etch out what feels like the perfect email (let’s hear it for ChatGPT!!), and you hit send. Then… silence. Your gold-plated message disappears into a virtual “black hole,” and you’re left wondering what went wrong. Was it your subject line? The time of day you sent it?
I’m going to give you some tough love: The problem isn’t your product, and it’s likely not a lack of interest from the educator. The problem is that your prospecting likely is built on an unpredictable, unclear, and passive approach.
Let’s break down the common mistakes that lead to being ghosted and walk through a predictable, repeatable process you can use to win meetings instead.
The Problem: Four Reasons Your Emails Are Being Deleted
If your outreach feels like shouting into the ether, it’s probably because you’re falling into one of these common traps.
- You’re Buried in the Noise of “Traditional Prospecting”
AI-assisted or no, your outreach looks and sounds like everyone else’s. It likely dives right into your product, how great your company is, and is stuffed with links to videos, whitepapers, and testimonials. It’s all about you. Worse, it’s probably filled with trite, surface-level buzzwords like “student engagement” that have lost all meaning to busy educators. - You’re Unclear About What You’re Prospecting For
When I ask sales teams what the purpose of prospecting is, I hear things like “building relationships!” “creating opportunities!” or “understanding needs!” While those are all good things, they are the outcomes of a meeting. The single, laser-focused purpose of prospecting is to win the meeting. All the chocolaty goodness—the relationship, the discovery, the opportunity—comes from the meeting. By trying to do too much at once, your message is a spaghetti-against-the-wall marketing piece. - Your “Ask” is Passive and Buried at the Bottom
A traditional prospecting email often ends with a weak, passive call to action like, “If all this sounds interesting to you, I’d love to talk, so jump on my Calendly to see when I’m available.” This puts the burden on the prospect and, more importantly, gives them explicit permission to decide it’s not interesting and ignore you. - You Give Up Way Too Early
Here’s a hard truth based on research in our industry: the average salesperson in education and EdTech gives up after just 1.6 attempts. This is a mortal sin in sales. Why? Because the research also shows that responses don’t really start happening until you get to the “fat middle” of a cadence—touches four, five, and six. When you stop trying after one or two emails, you don’t even give yourself a chance to get a response.
The Solution: A Predictable Process for Winning Meetings
The old way doesn’t work, yo. The answer is a disciplined, predictable process focused on earning the meeting.
- Lead with Purpose: Ask for the Meeting Upfront
Don’t bury the lede. The very first line of your email should be a clear and direct statement of purpose. It’s respectful of the educator’s time and keeps your message on task. It should sound like this: “Hi [Prospect Name], the purpose of this email is to ask you for a telephone meeting. - Create Hope with a “Challenge Statement”
The strategy for winning a meeting is to create hope in the prospect’s mind that a conversation with you will be worthwhile. You don’t do this by talking about your product; you do it by invoking a specific, discrete issue they likely face. This isn’t about guesswork; it’s about demonstrating your Situational Acuity and earning credibility. A powerful challenge statement has three ingredients:
- The Who: The specific title and, optionally, their affiliation. (e.g., “The curriculum directors I speak with…”)
- The Discrete Challenge: A “micro challenge” that proves you understand their world. (e.g., “…tell me that their elementary school teachers struggle to prepare their tier two learning activities.”)
- The Reason for the Challenge: The specific cause you’ve observed. (e.g., “…and this traces back from them not having an advanced enough sightline into which students might cycle in or out of the program.”)
- Structure Your Outreach for a “Yes” (The Four Ingredients)
Your first-touch email should follow a simple, repeatable structure.
- Purpose Statement: “I’m writing to ask you for a meeting.”
- Challenge Statement: See above.
- The “We Help” Agenda: Clearly frame the meeting’s value proposition. “We’ve been able to help our clients deal with this issue. I’d like an opportunity to describe to you how we do it, and then I’d like to hear about your district. At that point, we can decide whether we should keep talking.”
- Time Options & Direct Ask: Take control of the scheduling. “I’m available next Wednesday and Thursday from 12 to 2 eastern time. Does either day work for a telephone meeting?” This ends with a “control question” that requires a simple yes or no answer.
- Practice Disciplined & Respectful Persistence*
Your first email probably won’t get a response. That’s not failure; it’s reality. You need a multi-touch cadence that respectfully persists over several weeks, mixing polished emails with concise voicemails. This requires discipline. Block out time on your calendar specifically for prospecting. Try the Pomodoro Technique—setting a timer for 25-minute focused sprints—to build the habit and ensure the work gets done.
Your Next Move
Stop pointing fingers at your marketing department or complaining about your prospects’ busy schedules. The power to get a response lies in your own hands.
Shift your focus from selling a product to earning a meeting. You can achieve this by demonstrating your unique insight into the real-world challenges educators face. When you adopt a predictable, repeatable process, your prospects will appreciate the clarity, and you’ll finally start getting the meetings you need to build a healthy pipeline.
To get a deeper dive into these concepts—including email templates and a full 13-touch prospecting cadence—download our free ebook, Prospecting with Purpose today.