8 Rules of Selling to Schools

Rule No. 5: Future-Proofing

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Future proof any proposed hardware solutions. There are three major reasons why you want to make sure any hardware solutions you present yield a migration path.

First of all, it’s what’s needed. As the school’s budget for access control grows through the years, the district will want to expand its system and/or migrate to more secure platforms. Secondly, a migration path also provides you with opportunities for incremental business year after year. Thirdly, if you don’t offer a migration path, your competitor will.

Adding electronic locking systems to access points as time and budgets allow is a sensible migration plan for any school, no matter how large or small. A large district may have scores of doors with varying levels of security needs. A janitorial closet may be adequately secured with a simple offline lock while the district’s computer room may demand high-security biometrics integrated with access control systems. The right lock system for a given door may be found anywhere along the electronic migration path.

Let’s review what such a migration path could be. Electronic locks let schools retrofit doors to become part of an overall system. With them, they can use the same credentials — from the simple PIN-enabled lock to proximity or mag-stripe cards to even biometrics — throughout all of their buildings, whether schools or administration buildings. Most school districts begin with battery-powered standalone locks that add security and value for today while providing a simple upgrade path for the future.

With new budgets, they can add computer-managed (CM) locking systems. CM locks are suitable for school facilities in which older doors must be retrofitted with higher-security locks, such as the HVAC room or the records office. CM locking systems offer many of the same benefits as a networked, hardwired system but without the higher cost and additional care associated with routing network cable when retrofitting an existing facility. These standalone, programmable, battery-powered locks can even provide audit trails.

The next migration typically leads to hardwired locks. With an easy upgrade on the lock itself, your schools can actually use their present CM-type locks in such a system with their new access control panels and software. Such an open architecture platform seamlessly connects the specially designed door lock to a panel interface board (PIB) that connects to any present access control panel. Users continue to access the same locks with their same credentials.

In some cases, you may determine it is more efficient and economical to use wireless access control, which tends to be faster and less costly to install.

Compared to an online access control system, for example, a wireless system can have a substantially lower installed cost due
to the reduction in hardware and five to 10 times faster installation. For this reason, wireless systems can make it easier to retrofit electronic access control (EAC) solutions in school facilities that have previously held back due to budget constraints or installation limitations.

Rule No. 6: Consider Software
Don’t overlook the software. Most likely, the district’s access control system will be governed by management software. The features and benefits of the particular software are every bit as important as the hardware that it will manage. So don’t give it short shrift.

Obviously, it must be secure from access by unauthorized operators, at least password protected. It also needs to be flexible enough to manage the various personnel within the school, all with different schedules. Remember, too, it probably won’t be administered by computer-savvy people.

Keep your choice user-friendly and easy to learn. Provide a management hierarchy so that different individuals can manage certain elements, such as adding or eliminating a user. Put the principal at the top, so that she/he is able to approve and/or cancel what others have modified.

Rule No. 7: Find the Funds
Help your customer get the money. It takes money — from the school budget, grants or bonds — to get you and your school district what you both want: a better access control system. Often, security barely makes it into the school budget in any real sense. It’s your job to make sure it does. You will be facing somewhat of an uphill battle but one that can be trudged up and over.

Most schools have traditionally made books, other instruction materials and salaries their top priorities. However, the need for security in our schools is paramount. Parents know it, administrators know it, teachers and students know it. You just need to consistently keep reminding them that they know it.

Keep repeating how EAC lets administrators restrict access to personnel at various times and days. Tell them again and again how easy it makes it for a security administrator to limit or extend access privileges. Recap constantly how EAC is less expensive than rekeying doors every time an employee leaves or a key is misplaced. Show them over and over how most systems are easy to retrofit with few architectural limitations.

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