With educational institutions, you might want to consider giving away your application for free to a few clients first. These sales cycle can be so bureaucratic it is often of more (unrealized) value to be able to say "we have 5 other very similar clients using this already" than trying to charge right off the bat. Taking the factor of "I don't want to be first" out of the equation could be a viable way to ultimately find paying customers.
Although, if you are solving a true, acknowledged pain point they will likely offer to pay right then and there (these situations are very difficult to come by!) so be mindful if / when you make an offer to let them use it gratis.
If you aren't solving a true, acknowledged pain then you probably won't even get people to use it for free. They may sign up - but they probably won't use it.
Yeah - my point with that was that sometimes your solution can be to a problem they do not realize they have or do not understand the value of what you are providing, so adding additional barriers to adoption in the form of payments should be avoided early on. If you think they need to get behind the wheel to take it for a test drive in order to realize what you are selling, make it easy for them to do just that.
At CollegeJobConnect, we help companies connect with undergraduates for internships / full time jobs. When speaking with some HR departments that "just didn't get it", we'd say: "ok, but why don't you try it for free for the time being then" - after they jumped on and saw how they could tap into job-seeking undegrads, it clicked.
Although, if you are solving a true, acknowledged pain point they will likely offer to pay right then and there (these situations are very difficult to come by!) so be mindful if / when you make an offer to let them use it gratis.