There’s been a steady increase in Customer Success (CS) hiring in the last few years, but the lack of direct degrees in the field is a major hindrance.
So, how do customer success teams know where to start or how to learn the skills needed? Traditional education doesn't cover what's needed for these jobs.
Thankfully, there is a way forward: advanced training courses and certifications. These provide a solid foundation for anyone looking to start a career or upgrade their skills and knowledge in the customer success industry.
The question is, where and how do you find the right training program for your CS team?
Customer Success Training Programs
Since companies with a customer-centric culture are 60% more profitable, businesses are starting to enhance their customer success efforts drastically. That means courses and certifications are no longer optional – they’re the touchstones of a qualified customer success professional.
According to Zippia, most people who join customer success careers are either new graduates or have a background in business, marketing, or communication. You can learn the skills for these three niches in most colleges, but not CS.
The training programs create an opportunity for CS employees to get structured and formalized coaching and become certified experts in their niche. Customer success programs are typically available in the form of:
Online Courses
Online courses can be flexible and affordable options for CS professionals who already have jobs.
For example, this Customer Education Blueprint online course is self-paced and perfect for beginners. It only requires ten minutes every day for five days, including video lessons, hands-on assignments, and practical examples. This short course teaches the art of retention, engagement, and customer journeys.
On the other hand, there’s a lack of traditional classroom settings and face-to-face communication. That means it can take a lot of self-discipline and motivation to stay on track with an online course.
Customer Success Certifications
Certification programs offer a more comprehensive and structured approach to training and building a customer success team. You’ll typically receive them at the end of the program, which is longer than most online CS courses. Plus, they can be pricey, so it’s best to stick with a certification-free online course if you’re on a budget.
For example, this Customer Success Training & Certification spans over eight weeks.It covers topics like the customer onboarding process, customer success strategy, account management, and customer health scoring. At the end, you’ll earn a CS Certified Professional designation.
Certifications like these are a lot more helpful when you’re looking for a new job – they show recruiters that you’re serious about a CS career since you’ve invested a considerable amount of time and money to get certified.
Live Instructor-Led Classes
Live instructor-led classes create opportunities for real-time interaction, like Q&A sessions or role-playing, and personalized guidance via individualized feedback or one-on-one sessions with CS experts.
For example, the Customer Success Certification by The Success League has over 15 classes. Each class is a one-hour live webinar where you must actively participate and ask questions. You’ll learn how to scale customer success teams, lead successful conversations, maximize key touchpoints, and focus on customer ROI.
Their only downfall is that they can be pretty pricey, and the strict schedules may not always align with your other commitments.
Essential Skills for Advanced Customer Success Training
Your customer success team is responsible for fostering both short- and long-term customer growth. Whether they’re good at this depends on their ability to build relationships and showcase the company's value. To achieve this, your CS reps must hone certain skills with the help of advanced training and certifications.
Here are some of the core competencies and knowledge areas that advanced coaching programs should cover.
Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is a CS professional’s ability to look at a problem and figure out how they can fix it. For instance, a CSM sees declining user engagement and instantly knows the solution: targeted outreach campaigns and personalized onboarding. This is critical for CS teams because they need to understand not just what's wrong, but also why it's happening.
Typically, customers just share the problem and don't think about what the source is. However, if you know why something is going wrong, it's much easier to take a proactive approach and make the client feel confident in your expertise.
Advanced training programs can teach you this way of thinking with interactive exercises. For example, the student could complete a hands-on assignment where they have to:
- Analyze customer feedback data
- Identify recurring issues
- Prioritize them based on impact and frequency
- Develop proactive strategies to address them
This directly translates into strategic thinking, since the assignment encourages the student to approach the problem systemically. They won’t be able to come to a conclusion without considering multiple factors and keeping broader business objectives in mind.
Communication and Engagement
Around 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a better, more personalized experience. That may include tailored product recommendations or engaging responses to support requests. That makes communication and engagement a crucial skill for CS professionals who want to drive loyalty and maximize customer ROI.
CS education can teach this skill with empathy-building exercises. For example, students may simulate interactions where they:
- Practice active listening
- Ask probing questions
- Offer tailored solutions based on the customer’s needs
Such assignments push students to practice empathy and focus on improving the user experience instead of closing the support case as quickly as possible. With empathy and active listening skills equipped, better customer engagement and communication is just around the corner.
Risk Prediction and Mitigation
Advanced programs should equip CS professionals with the skills to identify and mitigate churn risk effectively. That includes:
- Understanding the warning signs of churn (e.g.: unanswered support tickets, decreased usage frequency, and other metrics to track SaaS churn.)
- Making proactive risk assessments (e.g.: keeping an eye on customer behavior patterns.)
- Implementing targeted interventions (e.g.: reaching out to at-risk customers with additional support.)
These courses should also cover strategies for re-engaging at-risk customers and ensuring long-term loyalty. For example, this Customer Success Workshop is a one-day online course that teaches you to implement risk and expansion playbooks. It also teaches CS teams to collaborate with sales, marketing, operations, and product teams to engage at-risk customers.
Relationship Management
Around half of all customer success teams are now responsible for renewals and expansion. This part of the job relies heavily on relationship management skills since it requires CS professionals to nurture and understand the client’s needs and retain their trust with engaging communication. That means businesses need to invest in advanced training programs that train their CS teams to:
- Manage renewal cycles,
- Negotiate contracts,
- Identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, and
- Understand customer value drivers.
Mastery of Tools and Platforms
Most importantly, the right program will teach CS professionals to master the essential tools for CS teams. That includes CRM systems, analytics tools, live chat platforms, gamification tools, etc. These tools allow CS teams to track customer data, monitor their progress, and identify areas for improvement.
Without the right coaching, CS teams won’t know what to do with all this valuable data. These courses improve technical skills and allow for more personalized customer solutions with the help of CS-specific tools.
Choosing the Right Advanced Training Program
So, as a leader, how do you choose what programs your CS teams should take part in? It’s not as simple as picking the most affordable one or the quickest way to get a customer success certification. Here are a few factors you can consider to make sure your CS training budget goes to the right resources:
Focus of the Program
First and foremost, you’ll need to determine what your CS team needs to learn. The program needs to align with your company's strategic objectives and the specific needs of your CS teams.
For example, if your company is currently prioritizing expansion revenue, the program should focus on techniques for driving upsells and cross-sells. Overall, the right program will address your team's current challenges and long-term goals.
Certification Provider
Not all certification providers are created equal. You’ll need to research the reputation and credibility of the certification bodies offering the programs. Ideally, the providers should have some sort of industry recognition and a track record of producing high-quality graduates.
For example, certifications from the Customer Success Association or Gainsight hold significant weight in the industry and can improve the credibility of your team members.
Practical Applicability
Theory is valuable, but practical application is where the rubber meets the road. Look for training programs offering hands-on learning experiences, case studies, and real-world scenarios, so your team members can apply their skills in a meaningful context.
For instance, a program that simulates customer interactions can reinforce critical skills like active listening and problem-solving. The Customer Success Foundations Certification by Aspireship is a great example, since it uses hands-on exercises and interviews to build skills related to:
- Proactive engagement
- Customer lifecycle
- Onboarding
Career Aspirations
Your team members may all be currently focused on customer success, but a good leader recognizes that they all may have different career aspirations. The program should provide opportunities for personal growth and career progression.
For example, one team member may be interested in learning leadership skills, while others may want to specialize in technical account management or customer advocacy. Programs like Customer Success Academy’s CS Course cover a diverse set of topics, including:
- Account management
- Technical services
- Team management
- Support engineering
- Program management
- Experience design
Current Skills Level and Professional Background
Lastly, you’ll need to pick the advanced training program based on the skills level and professional background of your CS team members. Newer team members may need to be trained on customer success fundamentals, such as:
- Understanding customer needs
- Communication and relationship-building skills
- Onboarding and product adoption
- Innovative customer success engagement strategies
- Metrics and KPIs for customer success and health
Meanwhile, experienced CS professionals can focus on advanced coaching in churn reduction or strategic account management.
The Impact of Advanced Training on Career Advancement
Educating an entire CS team is neither easy nor cheap. So, the real question is, how does it benefit your employees and the company as a whole? Luckily, the impact of advanced programs and certifications makes up for all the hard work – their benefits include:
- Higher Salaries: Before you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to train your CS team, you may have one vexing question: Will my team get a return on this investment? According to this Dice survey, continuous training can lead to an impressive 8.6% increase in salary. This benefits not only employees but also employers since higher salaries increase morale and attract top talent.
- Skill Enhancement: Even seasoned CS professionals have skill gaps, mainly due to the newness of the department. Advanced programs and certifications help teams enhance their skills and tap into their true potential, while employers benefit from better team performance and productivity. They use classes, hands-on activities, and real-life examples to teach skills like strategic thinking, customer engagement, and churn management.
- Increased Job Opportunities: Despite being relatively new, customer success is a demanding niche. Professionals in this niche can maximize their job opportunities with the help of professional validation. CS certifications are tangible proof that you’re invested in your customer success career and will provide immediate value to the company.
- Employers can also offer CS certifications to employees and potential hires who aren’t yet certified. This, in turn, allows them to excel in their roles a lot faster and improve customer satisfaction rates.
- Career Progression: CS professionals who invest in certifications can drastically speed up their career progression. Let’s say you start out as a junior account manager at a software company – a CS certification will give you the skills to be promoted to a senior role managing a CS team. An advanced course will hone these skills even further, leading to a directorial CS position.
As an employer, retaining top talent within your team can be tricky. However, opening doors for them to work their way up with the help of CS training can be a surefire way to make sure they don’t seek employment elsewhere.
Summary
Advanced training programs equip CS teams with skills like strategic thinking, better communication, and relationship management.
They allow CS professionals to serve their company’s customer-centric culture. Plus, employee training has a 353% return on investment on average. So, why wait to unlock the full potential of your CS team? Start investing in their growth today and watch your company soar to new heights.