Getting a school to say yes can feel like the end of the sales process.
Often, it is only the beginning of a different one.
The headteacher likes the proposal.
The school business manager confirms they want to proceed.
The department lead says:
“Great, let's get started.”
And then nothing happens for two weeks.
This is where suppliers sometimes assume the school has changed its mind.
Usually, something much less dramatic is happening.
The school may need to create you as a new supplier on its finance system.
A purchase order may need approving.
The trust may need to check the contract.
IT may need to review your data-security arrangements.
Safeguarding information may need to be confirmed.
Someone may need to decide who owns implementation.
In other words, commercial agreement and operational onboarding are not the same thing.
A school can genuinely want to buy from you while still having several internal steps to complete before the service can begin.
The Department for Education's current Buying for Schools guidance reflects this reality. Schools are expected to follow their procurement rules, establish appropriate contracts and manage suppliers once the buying decision has been made.
For suppliers, understanding what happens next makes the difference between a sale that gets stuck in administration and one that turns smoothly into a working relationship.
First, make sure “yes” actually means yes
Not every positive conversation is an approved purchase.
This sounds obvious, but it causes a surprising amount of confusion.
A teacher might say:
“We definitely want this.”
That tells you the user wants it.
It does not necessarily tell you the budget holder has approved it.
A headteacher might say:
“Send this through and we'll get it sorted.”
That is encouraging, but finance or trust approval may still be needed.
Before moving into implementation, establish the actual next step.
A simple question is usually enough:
“Great. What needs to happen internally before we can start?”
This is much more useful than repeatedly asking:
“Is the order confirmed yet?”
You may discover that the school needs a formal quote, procurement sign-off, a purchase order, a signed contract or registration on a supplier portal.
Once you know that, you can help move the process forward.
If the enquiry is still somewhere between interest and commitment, see How to Turn a School Enquiry Into a Clear Next Step.
Expect to be added to the school's finance system
If the school has never bought from you before, somebody will often need to create a supplier record.
This can feel like a tiny administrative step.
For the school, it is part of financial control.
They may ask for your legal business name, registered address, company number where applicable, VAT number, bank details and a finance contact.
Some schools use their own supplier form. Others use a local-authority or MAT portal.
Larger trusts may have a central supplier-onboarding process covering every academy.
Do not be surprised if the school asks you to provide information that already appeared on your quotation.
The person creating the supplier record may be working from a separate finance process and may need the details in a particular format.
Bank information can receive especially careful scrutiny.
Education organisations are regularly targeted by invoice and mandate fraud. Government fraud guidance advises organisations to independently verify new or changed supplier bank details rather than relying solely on the email requesting the change. See the DfE fraud-awareness guidance.
So if finance phones to confirm your bank account, that is not an indication that they distrust you.
It is a sensible control.
For the same reason, avoid casually emailing new bank details halfway through a contract unless genuinely necessary. Changes to supplier payment information are a common fraud risk.
Do not start work before you understand the purchase-order process
One of the most important onboarding questions is:
“Do you need us to quote a purchase order number on the invoice?”
Many schools and trusts use purchase orders to formally authorise expenditure.
A staff member may have verbally agreed the purchase, but finance may not consider the order properly committed until the PO has been raised.
That matters to suppliers because an invoice submitted without the required purchase order can be delayed or returned.
You may hear:
“Please don't invoice until you receive the PO.”
Take that seriously.
It is usually better to wait a few days for the correct purchasing document than to create avoidable payment problems later.
Likewise, do not assume that receiving a purchase order means you should immediately invoice the full contract value.
The agreement may specify payment:
on delivery;
after implementation;
monthly;
termly;
or annually.
Your quotation and contract should make this clear.
If you need to improve the quotation itself, see What to Include in a School Supplier Quote.
A contract may come after the buying decision, not before it
Small purchases may be completed under standard terms and a purchase order.
Larger or more complex services may require a formal contract.
That contract may come from you.
It may come from the school.
Or the academy trust may insist on using its own terms.
DfE's current guidance on writing and managing school contracts recommends that contracts clearly cover the goods or services being purchased, pricing, terms and conditions, service levels, contract management, implementation responsibilities and what happens at the end of the agreement.
For the supplier, this is the moment to remove ambiguity.
If you have sold twelve months of software, does the twelve-month period begin when the contract is signed or when the account goes live?
If you provide training, how many sessions are included?
If you install equipment, who prepares the site?
If implementation is delayed by the school, what happens?
If there is an automatic renewal, is that clearly stated?
Problems that feel like customer-service problems six months later often began as unclear onboarding terms.
The contract should make the practical relationship easier to understand, not simply protect both sides if something goes wrong.
Be ready for compliance checks
The school saying yes to the product does not necessarily mean it has finished checking the supplier.
Depending on what you provide, onboarding may involve requests for insurance certificates, safeguarding information, risk assessments, data-protection documents, health and safety policies or evidence of professional qualifications.
The amount of checking should reflect the service.
A stationery supplier delivering boxes to reception is not in the same position as a company sending staff into school every week to work directly with children.
The same principle applies to DBS checks.
Not every supplier needs every employee to hold a DBS certificate simply because the company works with schools.
The appropriate checks depend on the role, the activity and whether the person will be carrying out regulated activity or otherwise working in circumstances where checks are required.
Current Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 sets out schools' safeguarding responsibilities, including arrangements involving contractors and other adults working in or visiting education settings.
If your work involves children directly, do not wait for every new school to ask for the same documentation.
Create a clean, current compliance pack.
Our guides School Supplier Compliance Checklist and What Documents Should a School Supplier Have Ready? cover the practical documents in more detail.
Software suppliers should expect a separate data conversation
If your service processes pupil, parent or staff data, onboarding is likely to involve the school's data-protection or IT team.
This can happen even after the educational buyer has approved the product.
The school may ask where data is hosted, how it is encrypted, how long it is retained, who your sub-processors are and what happens when the contract ends.
They may send you a data-protection questionnaire.
They may ask for a data processing agreement.
They may want evidence supporting a data protection impact assessment.
This should not be treated as paperwork that procurement has suddenly invented.
Where a supplier acts as a processor of personal data, the UK GDPR requires the controller to use processors that provide sufficient guarantees around appropriate technical and organisational measures. A compliant processor relationship must also be governed by a contract or other legal act containing the required Article 28 terms. The ICO explains this in its guidance for controllers using processors.
If you regularly sell EdTech to schools, having these answers ready can shorten onboarding considerably.
A school should not have to wait ten days while you work out where its pupil data will be stored.
Agree who owns implementation before the first day
There is often a dangerous gap between:
“We bought it.”
and:
“We are actually using it.”
This is where onboarding becomes implementation.
DfE contract guidance specifically recommends an implementation plan setting out who is responsible for what.
For a simple product delivery, this may be obvious.
For a service or technology product, it may not be.
Suppose you provide an online intervention platform.
Someone may need to import users.
Someone needs administrator access.
Teachers may need training.
The school's IT team may need to allow emails or configure single sign-on.
If everybody assumes somebody else is doing those jobs, the system can remain unused for weeks after the invoice has been paid.
Before launch, identify one named contact on each side.
You do not necessarily need a complicated project-management structure.
For many school suppliers, one short implementation call can establish everything:
what happens first;
who does it;
and when the school expects to be operational.
That is often enough.
Do not make onboarding harder than the product itself
Schools are busy organisations.
A supplier can win the sale and then immediately create buyer's remorse by sending a twelve-page onboarding form, six attachments and four separate account-registration emails.
Ask only for what you genuinely need.
If the school has already supplied information during procurement, do not ask for it again simply because your sales and onboarding systems do not communicate.
If five members of staff need accounts, consider whether the school can upload them together rather than registering them one at a time.
If training is straightforward, offer clear dates rather than beginning a long email exchange about availability.
The easier you make the first two weeks, the more confident the school feels about the decision it has just made.
This is part of a broader principle covered in How to Make Your Business Easier for Schools to Buy From.
Make the first invoice easy for finance to process
Your operational contact may be delighted with the service.
The finance officer processing your invoice may know nothing about you.
Make their job easy.
The invoice should clearly identify the supplier, school or trust being billed, invoice number, date, agreed amount, VAT where applicable and the relevant purchase-order number if one has been issued.
Use the billing details the school gives you.
A MAT may require invoices to be addressed to the trust rather than the individual academy.
Another organisation may want invoices sent to a central accounts-payable email rather than your original contact.
Do not assume:
“I sent it to the headteacher, so finance must have it.”
Also establish payment terms before the first invoice becomes overdue.
If you agreed 30 days, put that in the commercial documentation.
If annual software is payable in advance, make that clear before onboarding rather than surprising the school afterwards.
Good payment administration begins during the sale, not after the debtor becomes late.
Onboarding into a MAT may involve two separate relationships
If your customer belongs to a multi-academy trust, the school saying yes may trigger a central process.
The academy may want the service.
But the trust may create the supplier record, approve the contract or process payments.
This is why suppliers occasionally feel as though the deal has moved backwards after receiving a positive decision.
It has not necessarily moved backwards.
It has moved from the school-level buyer to the organisation that controls the relevant part of procurement.
The Academy Trust Handbook 2026 requires academy trusts to apply internal delegation levels, follow competitive procurement arrangements, comply with applicable Procurement Act requirements and carry out appropriate due diligence.
So when your school contact says:
“I'll send you to central finance now,”
do not treat that as an obstacle.
Ask what central finance needs and provide it quickly.
For a fuller explanation of the relationship between local academies and their trusts, see How to Sell to Multi-Academy Trusts Without Ignoring Individual Schools.
The first month should confirm that the school made the right decision
Supplier onboarding should not end the moment the login credentials are sent or the boxes arrive.
The early relationship matters.
A good first month answers simple questions.
Did everything arrive?
Can staff use it?
Has anybody become stuck?
Is the main contact still the correct person?
Was anything promised during sales that implementation has missed?
A short check-in is often enough.
Do not turn it into another sales meeting.
Instead ask:
“Is everything working as expected, and is there anything you need from us?”
This is especially useful for services where successful implementation determines renewal later.
If the school bought a system and barely used it, the renewal conversation will be difficult regardless of how enthusiastic everyone was during the original demo.
Good onboarding is therefore part of retention.
It is also where future references and case studies begin.
If the relationship produces strong results, your later guide How to Get a Case Study or Testimonial From a School and Use It to Win More Work may become useful.
A simple supplier onboarding flow
The exact process varies, but a typical school supplier relationship might look something like this:
1. Commercial agreement
The school confirms it intends to buy.
2. Internal approval
Budget, procurement or trust approval is completed where required.
3. Supplier setup
Finance creates your supplier record and verifies payment details.
4. Contract and compliance
Relevant terms, safeguarding, insurance, data-protection or other checks are completed.
5. Purchase order
The school or trust formally raises the order where its procedures require one.
6. Implementation
Products are delivered or the service is configured, installed and introduced.
7. Invoice and payment
You invoice according to the agreed terms and school process.
8. Early review
Both sides check that the service is working as expected.
Some purchases can complete most of this in a day.
Others may take several weeks.
The important thing is knowing which stage you are actually waiting for.
Frequently asked questions
Does a verbal yes from a school mean I have the contract?
Not necessarily. It may mean the buyer wants to proceed but still needs procurement, budget, finance or trust approval. Confirm what internal steps remain before treating the purchase as final.
Why does a school need my bank details before it buys?
It may need them to create you as an approved supplier in its finance system. Schools may also independently verify the information as an anti-fraud measure.
Should I invoice as soon as the school says yes?
Usually only if that matches the agreed process. Many schools want a purchase order raised first and may require its number on your invoice.
What is a purchase order?
A purchase order is a formal document authorising the purchase. It usually identifies what is being bought, the agreed value and a PO reference used by finance when processing invoices.
Can I start work without a purchase order?
Only where you are comfortable that the person authorising the work has appropriate authority and the school's process allows it. If the school specifically says a PO is required, wait for it.
What compliance documents might a school request?
It depends on the service. Common requests can include insurance, safeguarding information, risk assessments, data-protection documents and relevant professional or safety evidence.
Do all school suppliers need DBS checks?
No. The requirement depends on what individuals will be doing and the circumstances in which they work with or around children. Suppliers should not assume either that everybody needs a DBS check or that no checks are necessary. Follow current safeguarding and regulated-activity requirements.
Why is the school asking about data protection after it already agreed to buy?
The educational buyer may have approved the product before the school's data-protection or IT review. If your service processes personal data, the school has separate legal responsibilities around selecting and contracting with processors.
Can a school insist on using its own contract?
Yes. Some schools and especially larger academy trusts use standard contractual terms. Review them carefully and seek legal advice where appropriate before agreeing.
How long does supplier onboarding take?
There is no standard period. A simple low-value purchase may be completed quickly. A larger service involving procurement, contracts, safeguarding, IT or data-protection reviews can take considerably longer.
Who should be my onboarding contact?
Ideally, have one operational contact at the school and one clear contact within your business. Finance and procurement may also communicate separately where required.
What if the buyer says yes and then stops replying?
Do not immediately assume the deal is lost. Ask a specific process question such as whether finance, the purchase order or supplier setup is still outstanding. See Why Schools Ghost Suppliers — and How to Follow Up Professionally.
When should training happen?
Ideally close enough to launch that staff can immediately use what they learned. Training several months before access or implementation often wastes both the school's and supplier's time.
What should happen after onboarding is complete?
Check that the product or service is actually being used successfully, resolve early problems and agree how the relationship will be managed during the contract.
One of the biggest mistakes school suppliers make is assuming the hard part is over once somebody says yes.
The sales conversation may be over.
But the school still needs to turn that decision into an authorised purchase, a working supplier record, a compliant contract and a usable service.
The best suppliers help that process rather than simply waiting for it.
Ask what happens internally next.
Provide the documents promptly.
Respect purchase-order procedures.
Make safeguarding and data information easy to find.
Agree implementation responsibilities.
Invoice correctly.
Then check that the school is actually getting what it expected.
A smooth onboarding process does something more valuable than helping you get paid faster.
It confirms, almost immediately, that the school made a good decision by choosing you.
