MICHAEL BATES SOLUTIONS
The EdTech
Impact Accelerator
The Methodology for District Sales, From Lead to Close.
Most EdTech founders have full pipelines and not enough signed contracts. The Accelerator is ten lessons of district sales discipline, and you apply each lesson to one real deal you're working on right now, called Your Deal in Focus.
⬤ 22 of 25 founding seats remaining
Course at a glance
10
Lessons
4
Fields Tools
You Keep
1
Deal You
Bring
Ten lessons applied to one real district deal
Four field tools you keep for the life of the business
Discovery, questioning, and proposal discipline
Frameworks: IPSO, L.E.A.P., L.E.A.R.N., V.A.L.U.E.
Direct instruction from 40 years in EdTech sales
The Challenge
Why most EdTech founders lose deals they should win
I've spent 40 years selling EdTech to school districts. I've made purchasing decisions in district offices through RFP templates, line-item budget conversations, and the back-and-forth between vendors and districts that happens before pen hits paper. Founders with strong products lose winnable deals when the sales discipline doesn't hold. The Accelerator teaches that discipline.
Leading with the product
When you sell features instead of solving the district's problem, deals stay stuck. Lesson 5 reorganizes the conversation around the IPSO framework — Issue, Problem, Solution, Outcome — so what you discuss matches what the district is actually trying to fix.
Rushing the Discovery Phase
Skip or rush the Discovery Phase and you write proposals built on the wrong problem. Lessons 4 and 7 teach the question discipline — the 3-Second Rule and the 4-Step Loop — so you hear what the district is actually saying.
Stuck at Compliance
Districts that have not moved past Compliance on the Compliance-to-Commitment Spectrum go quiet after the presentation. Lesson 2 teaches the Spectrum and the Dialogue moves that bring a district forward on it.
The Curriculum
What you'll work through
Ten lessons, each working against one real district deal. The arc spans first lead to signed contract.
Each lesson includes a written lesson, a workbook of solo Field Assignments, a video introduction,
and (for some lessons) a field tool you keep for the life of the business.
FOUNDATIONS
LESSON 1
Before You Sell: Diagnose the Relationship
Sets up Your Deal in Focus and uses the Shared Vision diagnostic to see where your organization and the district are aligned, and where the gaps are.
LESSON 2
From Discussion to Dialogue
The Compliance-to-Commitment Spectrum and the conversation moves that take a district from Compliance to Commitment.
Methodology
LESSON 3
The Three Sales Methodologies
An overview of Solution Selling, Consultative Selling, and Value-Based Selling, and how to choose between them for any given district.
LESSON 3A
Solution Selling
The L.E.A.P. discovery framework.
LESSON 3B
Consultative Selling
The L.E.A.R.N. discovery framework.
LESSON 3C
Value-Based Selling
The V.A.L.U.E. discovery framework.
The Question and the Problem
LESSON 4
The Question Behind the Question
The 3-Second Rule and the discipline of asking what's underneath the surface answer.
LESSON 5
The Relationship Is in the Problem
The IPSO framework — Issue, Problem, Solution, Outcome — for organizing the sales conversation around what the district is actually trying to fix.
Knowing the Players and Their Tensions
LESSON 6
Knowing Who Holds the Yes
The Persona Triangle (Influencer, Decision-Maker, Blocker) and the District Meeting Card you carry into every district meeting.
LESSON 7
The Tension Behind the Statement
Surface Statement and Hidden Tension, the 4-Step Loop for active listening, and the Discovery Call Notes Template you fill out during and after every call.
Aligning and Securing
LESSON 8
Vision and Value Alignment Scoping
Vision Alignment, Value Alignment, the Worth-It Test, and the Go/No-Go Decision Page you fill out before you commit another hour to a deal.
LESSON 9
Securing the Yes
The Authority Map, Decision Integrity Questions, the Motivation Check, and the Authority Confirmation Worksheet you fill out at proposal submission and again after acceptance.
Operational Discipline
LESSON 10
Operational Discipline: CRM Management and Continuous Improvement
Pipeline Sales Stages, Exit Criteria, and the Quarterly CRM Audit, the practice you carry forward on your own pipeline for the life of the business.
The Non-Negotiable Proven Practices
Open-Ended Questions
Active Listening
Anxiety Questions
Probing Deeper
Build Trust & Rapport
Seek to Understand
Vision Alignment
Value Alignment
Compelling UVP
Avoid Yes/No Questions
DELIVERABLES
The four field tools you keep
You leave the Accelerator with four printable tools you continue to use, deal after deal.
LESSON 7
Discovery Call Notes Template
The template you fill out during and after every district discovery call to capture the questions asked, answers given, and next step committed.
LESSON 8
Go/No-Go Decision Page
The one-page worksheet that applies the Worth-It Test before you commit another hour to a deal
LESSON 9
Authority Confirmation Worksheet
The diligence sheet you fill out before submitting the proposal and again after acceptance, to confirm consequence-ownership.
LESSON 10
Quarterly CRM Audit Worksheet
The audit you work through every quarter on your full pipeline, the practice you carry forward for the life of the business.
AUDIENCE
Who this is for
The Accelerator was built for EdTech founders.
EdTech sales professionals and consultants who work with founders will find it useful too.
PRIMARY
EdTech founders
You're a founder selling EdTech into K-12 districts. The pipeline has interest in it but the contracts aren't closing fast enough. The Accelerator was built for you. Activities, Field Assignments, and examples all assume a founder-led sale.
ALSO FOR
EdTech sales and consultants
You sell EdTech into K-12 districts for a company, or you consult with founders who do. The methodology, the field tools, and the discipline transfer directly. The course was tested against founder-led deals, and it works for any seller-side role.
Your Instructor
Meet Michael Bates
I've spent 40 years in EdTech sales. I started in 1985 selling computer-assisted instruction for reading and math, and went on to hold executive sales roles at Jostens Learning, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Curriculum Associates, LeapFrog, EPS Literacy & Intervention, and Matific. I've sold to classrooms, school buildings, and central offices, and built sales operations across 12 countries. I founded Michael Bates Solutions in 2009 and went full-time in 2018. The EdTech Impact Accelerator is the ten-lesson distillation of what I've been teaching founders one at a time. I've spent 40 years making the mistakes so you don't have to.
Enrollment is open
$6,000 annual / $1,800 quarterly. Limited to the first 25 founders in the founding cohort.
ANNUAL
$ 6,000
One-time charge. Best value.
QUARTERLY
$ 1,800
4 payments over 12 months.
⬤ 22 of 25 founding seats remaining