17 ways to know whether your enterprise software customers need training

© 2014 ServiceRocket Inc.

Ways To Know WhetherYour Enterprise SoftwareCustomers Need Training17


Your customers need your software to besuccessful running their businesses.Unless they get the most out of your software,they cannot be successful.

Great training fuels

Bersin by Deloitte, the leading research and advisory services firm that covers the enterprise learning market, found that compared to average performing companies, high-impact organizations invest significantly more on training, at just over $1,000 per employee per year. High-impact organizations also deliver more training hours per employee, at 20 hours per employee per year versus 15 hours per employee for average performing organizations.

customer success

Customers Are SuccessfulAccording to Gainsight's Five Organizational Models of Customer Success,

training is a critical function for enterprise software companies selling a product that has at least a medium level of complexity.

So, how do you know if you need to provide training to your enterprise software companies?


You know that your enterprise softwarecustomers need training when...


Customers might not always be right, but if they are asking fortraining, there might be a serious need for it. Customers mightalso be willing to pay for it.

Customers keepasking for training

???

?

1© 2014 ServiceRocket Inc.

All of your competitors have trainingIf your competitors have training, there is likely to be demand for itin the marketplace.

2


Your services and support teams are spendingtime on training NOT on implementations3


Training is not always about training customers on features and functionality. More often, training is about teachingpeople a new way to work, which just so happens to be the way your product is designed. Help customers understandthe new way of working to prevent them from going off the rails before they even begin.

You want to get your customers up to speedon the language and specifics of your productto prevent them from going off the rails4


If you support open source technology, this is an especially important issue.Training can be used to educate the enterprise market to generate awareness and sales leads.

Potential customers keeptelling your sales team...

"I don't even know whatthis technology is or why I need it?"

5


Training is one of the best ways to gather your customers into a room with one of your trainersand immerse them in your company, your products, and even your culture. Live, in-person trainingis a great way to institutionalize your technology into your customers' environments.

You want to institutionalizeyour technology in the enterprise6


The constant fire drill stresses everyone out.An organized, repeatable training program caneliminate the fire drill.

PUSH

PULL DOWN

TRAINING ALARM

! !

!!

!

!

It’s a fire drill every timea customer requests training7


You want to capture best practices aroundyour products, not just inside your productsAs you conduct training sessions with your customers, your trainer learns about how eachcustomer uniquely uses your products. You can learn from this, share this knowledge withfuture training classes, thereby continuously increasing your knowledge and credibility.

8


Why not use training to educate your new customers on your implementationprocess from the start, so they know that you know what you are doing.

You want to start providing consistencyacross your implementations9


Customer churn is high10 According to Emmet and Mark Murphy, authors of Leading on the Edge of Chaos, depending on the industry, reducing your customer defection rate by 5% can increase your profitability by 25% to 125%.


If your customers are not using all (or most)of the features of your product

"Why do I need to renew your product, all it does is send invoices."

Don't let your customers use only one of your product features."Why do I need to renew your product, all it does is send invoices." - One of your former customers.

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A majority of support's time is spent teachingcustomers how to do things

Howdo i...

Support should help customers solve problems, not conductmini-training sessions over and over again.

Howdo i...

Howdo i...

Howdo i...

Howdo i...

Howdo i...

Howdo i...

!

! !

!

Howdo i...


It is difficult for your ownteam to learn your products

C'mon. Seriously? You know it takes your own new hires a long time to learn your productsand technology, but you don't think your customers need training?

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You want to reduce the amount of timeit takes to on-board customers

If you have any idea how long it takes to on-board a new customer, you get an idea of how much moneyyou can save if you speed up that process. An organized, repeatable training program can reduce on-boardingtime, reducing your costs and increasing customer satisfaction.

!

!

!


Crossing the chasmYour technology is open source, and you are trying to increaseenterprise adoption.15


If you want to make an outstanding firstimpression to your customers or potentialcustomers

In a SaaS, cloud-based, freemium world the chances of making a great first impressionare few and far between. You can change that dynamic by providing live training with an engaging trainer.

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If you want to increase customer satisfactionAccording to a recent Gainsight survey, the number one reason for customer churn is thatcustomer expectations are not met. Training is a great way to set expectations and increasecustomer satisfaction.


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17 ways to know whether your enterprise software customers need training

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