Understanding the importance of the professional enablement of their sales teams, many forward-thinking companies invest heavily in helping their salespeople develop more skills and talents on a regular basis. When sales teams become more effective, the ROI is quite clear. Revenue ticks up.
But enablement doesn’t need to be limited to sales. It turns out that the same kind of ROI is available when companies invest in Customer Success enablement. The more investments made in your Customer Success team, the stronger each member will become. As a result, team members will be able to deliver an even stronger customer experience each and every time—significantly reducing the likelihood customers will look to other companies.
If you want to take your organization to the next level, it’s time to start thinking about investments in Customer Success enablement as investments in retaining existing customers and attracting new ones. Remember, Customer Success agents are focused on reducing churn as much as possible, and often times they are focused on growing existing accounts through upselling to additional licenses, products, and services. When fewer customers look for substitutes elsewhere—and thoroughly satisfied customers freely sing your praises to their networks—revenue not only keeps coming in, it can also spike up.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much awareness of Customer Success enablement. It’s overlooked and non-existent in many companies—even those that have well-established Customer Success teams.
This gives you an opportunity: The sooner your company decides to invest in Customer Success enablement, the quicker you’ll gain a competitive edge.
What Customer Success Enablement Means
Just like companies that embrace sales enablement expect members of their sales staffs to continually improve, the same should be expected of Customer Success agents when enablement is prioritized.
To provide the best possible service, CSMs need to know the product just as well as members of the sales team do. Similarly, CSMs should be expected to develop and refine their skillsets just as frequently—if not more—than the sales team does. CSMs have the highest level of customer interaction, and it’s critical that they can communicate effectively and consistently across the organization.
Successful Customer Success enablement results in teams developing a comprehensive body of knowledge surrounding all customer-facing aspects of an organization. That knowledge, coupled with an ever-expanding skillset, puts CSMs in the position to succeed—which in turn should pad your company’s bottom line. Believe it or not, great Customer Success teams can virtually eliminate customer churn altogether.
Making Customer Success Enablement Work
Customers tell us all the time that they don’t need a sales enablement tool. They need a tool specifically designed for Customer Success enablement instead. In addition to better equipping CSMs to do their job, such tools are crucial because it can be difficult—if not impossible—for Customer Success leaders to train their teams at scale.
It’s time for Customer Success to become more financially focused. Keep in mind that enablement isn’t an ops role—it’s its own thing. Companies like Box and DemandWare understand this perfectly, which is why they emphasize Customer Success productivity.
Customer Success is all about knowledge, communication, and skill. CSMs, for example, need to give demos better than anybody else, and be up to speed on constantly evolving products. They need to write flawless emails. Whenever a question is asked, they need to have a great answer—and quickly.
For these reasons, Customer Success also stands to benefit from certifications, which allow employees to develop new talents and skills. This in turn helps companies differentiate themselves from their competitors even further, add even more value, and provide the highest level of service.
When Customer Success enablement is done right, employees become even stronger at their jobs. As a result, customers enjoy all of their interactions with your company. Not only does that mean they’ll spend more money, but they’ll also convince others to open up their wallets too, because clients are the most valuable referrals source. This will lead to more sales, higher retention, and customer growth.
Ryan Leavitt is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at LearnCore, focused on helping companies increase productivity through training and coaching. Ryan was born and raised in Chicago and he is passionate about building the startup and technology ecosystem in the city.
