Steve Whitley: Practical Lessons From 40 Years in Education
From The Education Business Podcast by Claire Riley
May 18, 2026 · 32 min · Season 3 · Episode 54
About this episode
Steve Whitley shares insights from his 40 years in education, focusing on the unique challenges of selling in the education sector.
Episode Overview This episode explores what makes selling into education fundamentally different from other sectors. Steve Whitley shares four decades of experience across EdTech, international education markets, and consultancy, offering practical insight into long sales cycles, trust-based selling, exhibitions, MAT buying structures, and the financial realities facing schools. The conversation focuses on how education businesses can grow sustainably while staying grounded in the realities schools face today. Steve also explains why empathy matters more than traditional sales tactics in education and why understanding the end user is critical. 00:01:00 – Steve’s journey into education and EdTech 00:04:20 – Why education sales are different 00:09:55 – Managing long sales cycles in schools 00:12:05 – Are exhibitions and BETT worth it? 00:19:40 – How to spend a small marketing budget 00:23:40 – Email marketing and database strategy 00:27:50 – How MATs are changing school buying 00:31:10 – Why the student is still the real end user 00:32:10 – The pressures schools are facing right now 00:35:05 – Final…
People in this episode
Host: Claire Riley
Guest: Steve Whitley
Topics covered
- education sales
- EdTech
- long sales cycles
- trust-based selling
- marketing strategies
- school buying structures
- empathy in sales
Keywords
- education
- sales
- EdTech
- marketing
- trust
- schools
- long sales cycles
- MATS
- exhibitions
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: EdTech, MAT, BETT
Places: schools
More episodes of The Education Business Podcast
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- Phil Robinson: From Military Leadership to Education Innovation · May 11, 2026 · 28 min
- Sarah Marsh: The Accidental Founder: Building an Education Franchise · May 4, 2026 · 40 min
- Katie Stone: From Teacher Burnout to Scalable Business · April 27, 2026 · 32 min
- Simon Hunt: Why Credibility Matters More Than Followers · April 20, 2026 · 30 min
- Matthew Henshall: Scaling by Subtraction: Building a Net Positive Business · April 13, 2026 · 29 min
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