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These excerpts taken from the SCIL 10-K filed Mar 5, 2009. Sales and Marketing We sell to our principal market, K-12 school districts throughout the United States, primarily using a direct sales force. Our field sales personnel typically are experienced professionals with backgrounds in selling technology based curriculum products to the K-12 market. Most bring strong relationships with educators built over many years. We support our direct sales efforts with a field sales management team with extensive experience in this market, strong customer reference sites, and strategic consultants, who frequently are retired superintendents and other senior school district administrators who can attest to the positive impact of our programs based upon personal experience. To maximize our coverage of the K-12 market, we utilize an inside sales team to renew existing service contracts and to reach smaller, rural school districts and private schools. We also sell to K-12 schools in Canada using our inside sales team. We believe that the mainstream education industry acceptance of our offerings is accelerating due to our focused “brain fitness” message, which emphasizes our ability to make existing instructional programs in the school district better by optimizing the brain for improved learning, particularly in reading. We have recently increased the frequency and sophistication of our web-based marketing efforts to reach many more educators quickly while targeting specific audiences with research results and success stories most relevant to their areas of responsibility and expertise. Another critical component of our sales and marketing strategy is our series of “brain events”, including regional summits and national forums. These are company sponsored or co-sponsored events that provide us with a significant period of time in which to explain our unique approach and achievement results to top school administrators, helping them to establish a new vision for achieving student success in their districts and to build internal district consensus around their plan. Although our focus on improved sales force productivity also includes a balance of smaller sales with shorter cycles to get started in new accounts, the majority of our annual booked sales are from existing customers who have a year or more of positive experience with our programs, expanding to new sites and adding products and services to existing sites. We sell to clinical professionals and learning centers principally through direct marketing (mail, web and telesales) and conferences (both industry conferences and an annual forum we conduct ourselves). In 2009, we expect to begin selling directly to parents online with our e-learning offering, BrainSpark™, and our remote tutoring offering, BrainPro™. The online marketing efforts will focus on providing a “free brain fitness learning experience” with a single exercise, BrainApps™, which will be driven through search engine management, affiliate marketing, and direct email marketing. Learners and parents who access our BrainApps exercises will be part of a nurture campaign to up-sell them to BrainSpark access and eventually BrainPro services. We are also building a network of independent value-added representatives outside North America. As of December 31, 2008, we had relationships with 27 representatives, compared to 24 at year end 2007. To date, booked sales outside North America have not been significant. We are building this channel in response to the growing demand for English fluency around the world. We believe that Fast ForWord products offer unique value in quickly “rewiring” the brain for English. We also believe the international market has large potential growth opportunities, and we are positioning to take advantage of these in the future. Sales and Marketing We sell to our principal market, K-12 school districts throughout the United States, primarily using a direct sales force. Our field sales personnel typically are experienced professionals with backgrounds in selling technology based curriculum products to the K-12 market. Most bring strong relationships with educators built over many years. We support our direct sales efforts with a field sales management team with extensive We believe that the mainstream education industry acceptance of our offerings is accelerating due to our focused “brain fitness” message, which emphasizes our ability to make existing instructional programs in the school district better by optimizing the brain for improved learning, particularly in reading. We have recently increased the frequency and sophistication of our web-based marketing efforts to reach many Another critical component of our sales and marketing strategy is our series of “brain events”, including regional summits and national forums. These are company sponsored or co-sponsored events that provide us with a significant period of time in which to explain our unique approach and achievement results to top school administrators, helping them to establish a new vision for achieving student success in their We sell to clinical professionals and learning centers principally through direct marketing (mail, web and telesales) and conferences (both industry conferences and an annual forum we conduct ourselves). In 2009, we expect to begin selling directly to parents online with our e-learning offering, BrainSpark™, and our remote tutoring offering, BrainPro™. The online marketing efforts will focus on We are also building a network of independent value-added representatives outside North America. As of December 31, 2008, we had relationships with 27 representatives, compared to 24 at year end 2007. To date, booked sales outside North America have not been significant. We are building this channel in response to the growing demand for English fluency around the world. We believe that Fast ForWord products offer unique These excerpts taken from the SCIL 10-K filed Mar 11, 2008. Sales and Marketing We sell to our principal market, K-12 school districts throughout the United States, primarily using a direct sales force. During the past two years, an important part of our strategy has been to increase the size as well as the productivity of our direct sales force. In 2007, our average number of field sales representatives was 49, an increase of approximately 17% over 2006. We plan to continue to increase our field sales force. (We calculate the annual average of field representatives by averaging the number of representatives at the end of each quarter.) Our field sales personnel typically are experienced professionals with backgrounds in selling technology-based curriculum products to the K-12 market. Most bring strong relationships with educators built over many years. We support our sales representatives with a strong field sales management team with extensive experience in this market and with strategic consultants, who frequently are retired school district superintendents and other senior district administrators, and who have extensive experience and relationships in K-12 education. To reach smaller and rural schools, to a limited extent we also sell our products through school consortiums and regional service centers. We believe large booked sales are an important indicator of mainstream education industry acceptance and an important factor in reaching our goal of increasing sales force productivity. In 2007 we continued to focus our sales force on multi-site sales. As a result, in the second quarter of 2007, we closed the second largest transaction in our Page 16 history with Duval County Public schools. As a result of this transaction and other transactions closed this year and in prior years, revenues from Duval County for 2007 were more than 10% of our revenues for the year. A critical component of our marketing strategy is our brain science events. These are Company-sponsored or cosponsored events that provide us with a significant period of time in which to explain our neuroscience approach and achievement results, and have been particularly effective selling opportunities. We also conduct direct marketing campaigns and participate in selected trade shows. In our marketing, we emphasize the unique characteristics of our solution, our neuroscience research basis, and our proven impact on student achievement. We sell to clinical professionals and learning centers principally through direct marketing (mail, web and telesales) and conferences (both industry conferences and an annual forum we conduct ourselves). We are also building a network of independent value-added representatives outside North America. As of December 31, 2007, we had relationships with 24 representatives, compared to 21 at year end 2006. To date, booked sales outside North America have not been significant. We are building this channel to capitalize on the growing demand for English fluency around the world. We believe that Fast ForWord products offer unique value in quickly “rewiring” the brain for English. We also believe the international market has large potential growth opportunities, and we are positioning to take advantage of these in the future. Sales and We sell to our principal market, Our field sales personnel We believe large booked sales Page | |||||||||||||
history with Duval County Public A critical component of our We sell to clinical We are also building a network This excerpt taken from the SCIL 10-K filed Mar 8, 2007. SALES AND MARKETING We sell to our principal market, K-12 school districts throughout the United States, primarily using a direct sales force. During the past two years, an important part of our strategy has been to increase the size as well as the productivity of our direct sales force. In 2006, our average number of field sales representatives was 42, an increase of approximately 10% over 2005 and 50% over 2004. We plan to continue to increase our field sales force; our goal for the average number of field representatives in 2007 is 53. (We calculate the annual average of field representatives by averaging the number of representatives at the end of each quarter.) Our field sales personnel typically are experienced professionals with backgrounds in selling technology-based curriculum products to the K-12 market. Most bring strong relationships with educators built over many years. We support our sales representatives with a strong field sales management team with extensive experience in this market and with strategic consultants, who frequently are retired school district superintendents and other senior district administrators, and who have extensive experience and relationships in K-12 education. To reach smaller and rural schools, to a limited extent we also sell our products through school consortiums and regional service centers. A critical component of our marketing strategy is our brain science events. These are Company sponsored or co-sponsored events that provide us with a significant period of time in which to explain our neuroscience approach and achievement results, and have been particularly effective selling opportunities. We also conduct direct marketing campaigns and participate in selected trade shows. In our marketing, we emphasize the unique characteristics of our solution, our neuroscience research basis, and our proven impact on student achievement. On our scientificlearning.com website, we post results reports documenting the student gains our customers have achieved at schools throughout the U.S. We sell to clinical professionals, learning centers, hospitals and clinics principally through direct marketing (mail, web and telesales) and conferences (both industry conferences and an annual forum we conduct ourselves). We are also building a network of independent value-added resellers outside North America. At December 31, 2006, we had relationships with 21 resellers, compared to 15 at year end 2005. While to date booked sales outside North America have not been significant, in 2006 these sales increased 112% from 2005. We are building this channel to capitalize on the growing demand for English fluency around the world.* Fast ForWord products offer unique value in quickly “rewiring” the brain for English. We believe the international market has large potential growth opportunities, and we are positioning to take advantage of these in the future.* This excerpt taken from the SCIL 10-K filed Mar 14, 2006. Sales and Marketing: In 2005, our sales and marketing expenses increased due to increased sales and marketing staff and marketing activities, partially offset by commissions and incentive compensation which were 49%, or $2.1 million, lower than in 2004 as a result of lower booked sales. In 2004, our sales and marketing expenses increased primarily due to increased sales and marketing staff, more marketing activities and higher commissions reflecting higher booked sales. Sales and marketing expenses consist principally of salaries and incentive compensation paid to employees engaged in sales and marketing activities, travel costs, tradeshows, conferences, and marketing and promotional materials. At December 31, 2005, we had 36 field-based quota-bearing sales personnel selling to public schools, compared to 32 and 30 at December 31, 2004 and 2003 respectively. We expect to continue to
add sales people during 2006 and to continue to invest in marketing activities.*
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