Before You Train Your Team, Build the Foundation
By Kristen Hayer
You’re a new CS leader. You inherited a CS team and program, and you immediately notice gaps. You were hired to solve a near term company problem like churn or growth. There is a lot of pressure to “move the needle”. What do you do? Hire a training firm focused on the customer success problems that are holding your team back?
Wait.
First, those skill gaps and problems are real, so don’t set them aside entirely. You will need to train your team. However, it isn’t the first thing you need to do. Before you start training you need to get your CS program in order. Training without a plan means that there is nothing solid for the training to land on. Think about it. You need playbooks, guidelines, and processes that are built into your CS platform or CRM tool. When someone on your team asks, “what if…” and it isn’t a corner case, you need a plan.
Where Training Works…And Doesn’t
Training transfers knowledge and builds skills. What it cannot do is create clarity where none exists, establish accountability structures that aren't there, or make up for a team that doesn't know what they're supposed to be doing or why. Knowledge needs a backdrop and skills can only be built on a solid foundation.
So, Always Start with Structure
Before investing in training, a CS leader should be able to answer some basic questions about their program. What does the customer journey look like for each segment, and who owns each stage? What are CSMs measured on, and how do those metrics connect to company goals? What processes exist for the most common situations your team faces: onboarding, renewals, escalations, expansions? And perhaps most importantly, what does good performance actually look like in this role, and how is it evaluated? If those answers aren't clear to you as a leader, they certainly aren't clear to your team. Training won't fix that.
What if You Put Training First?
To me, this feels a little like surfing, which I'll admit I know nothing about despite living on the California coast. When training comes before structure, CSMs learn frameworks they can't apply because the processes don't support them. Leaders spend budget on programs that don't move the needle. The real problems go unaddressed. Even a great surfer wipes out on a bad board.
What to Make Sure is in Place
There are several things you should make sure are in place before you kick off training for your CS organization:
Segmentation - not ICP (ideal client profile), that is for sales and doesn’t always include your current base, which could exclude hundreds or even thousands of customers.
Journey Mapping - what do you expect your team (sales, implementation, CS, support) to deliver? What do you expect customers to feel as they work with you?
Goals - what do you want your customer-facing teams to deliver in terms of real numbers for your company? Revenue, retention, and growth are important metrics.
Make training an Accelerant
When the structure is right, training is extraordinarily effective. It sharpens a team that already knows what they're doing and gives them better tools to do it. But it cannot build the house. That part is the leader's job, and it has to come first.
If you're a CS leader who knows your program needs work before your team needs training, The Success League can help. Our consulting team specializes in working with B2B companies to build the CS program foundations that make everything else possible: segmentation, journey mapping, goal setting, and process design. We've helped hundreds of CS leaders get their programs in order so that when training comes, it sticks. Visit TheSuccessLeague.io to learn more or schedule a consultation.
Kristen Hayer - Kristen is the Founder & CEO of The Success League, a global, customer-focused consulting and training firm. Kristen’s background includes leading award-winning sales, marketing, and customer success teams in early and growth-stage tech companies. She is the host of several podcasts on CS and leadership, and has written over 100 articles on the field of customer success. The book she recently co-authored with 5 other CS thought leaders - The Customer Success Talent Playbook - recently hit #1 on Amazon in 5 categories. Kristen received her MBA from the University of Washington and splits her time between San Francisco and San Felipe, Mexico.
