Photo by Gabriel Crismariu on Unsplash In Episode 66 of the CELab Podcast we discussed Best Practices for keeping your Customer Education content up-to-date despite the rapid-pace of change that we experience in Software-as-a-Service businesses. But what happens when you also have a highly-configurable product? Charlie writes: I have been tasked with creating a customer education program at our software company. I am devouring your book and podcast episodes. I am trying to create a s...
Oct 17, 2021•57 min
Photo by Gabriel Crismariu on Unsplash In Episode 66 of the CELab Podcast we discussed Best Practices for keeping your Customer Education content up-to-date despite the rapid-pace of change that we experience in Software-as-a-Service businesses. But what happens when you also have a highly-configurable product? Charlie writes: I have been tasked with creating a customer education program at our software company. I am devouring your book and podcast episodes. I am trying to create a strategy for ...
Oct 17, 2021•57 min
Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash We are back from Summer Break and are entering Season 3 of the CELab Podcast! In this episode. we start to get beyond the Fundamentals into more Advanced material by empathizing with your first “aha!” (and potentially, “ouch”) moment as a Customer Education team or leader. Building content is easy. Keeping your content up to date? Well, that requires some different strategies. In Software as a Service Companies where products change qu...
Sep 24, 2021•46 min
Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash We are back from Summer Break and are entering Season 3 of the CELab Podcast! In this episode. we start to get beyond the Fundamentals into more Advanced material by empathizing with your first “aha!” (and potentially, “ouch”) moment as a Customer Education team or leader. Building content is easy. Keeping your content up to date? Well, that requires some different strategies. In Software as a Service Companies where products change quickly, it’s one of the k...
Sep 24, 2021•46 min
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Who should I hire for my customer education team? This isn’t a new question. In fact, we first covered this topic on the show – if you can believe it – nearly three years ago! But there’s been new research in this area, and the market has changed quite a bit in that time. We’re seeing more new customer education teams form than ever before, and the people hiring for those roles are all asking who they should hire. (more…)...
Jul 16, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Who should I hire for my customer education team? This isn’t a new question. In fact, we first covered this topic on the show – if you can believe it – nearly three years ago! But there’s been new research in this area, and the market has changed quite a bit in that time. We’re seeing more new customer education teams form than ever before, and the people hiring for those roles are all asking who they should hire. (more…)...
Jul 16, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Photo by Eduardo Buscariolli on Unsplash In Adam Avramescu’s book, “Customer Education – Why Smart Companies Profit by Making Customers Smarter”, he first introduces that, “Customer Education is your scale engine for Customer Success” (p 11). This concept – the Scale Engine – is novel in that it channels the fundamental challenge of many rapidly growing Software-as-a-Service businesses: All your processes need to scale as the business grows. That includes how ...
Jun 25, 2021•56 min
Photo by Eduardo Buscariolli on Unsplash In Adam Avramescu’s book, “Customer Education – Why Smart Companies Profit by Making Customers Smarter”, he first introduces that, “Customer Education is your scale engine for Customer Success” (p 11). This concept – the Scale Engine – is novel in that it channels the fundamental challenge of many rapidly growing Software-as-a-Service businesses: All your processes need to scale as the business grows. That includes how you educate your customers! Dave spe...
Jun 25, 2021•56 min
Photo by Frank Busch on Unsplash A key part of CELab’s role in the Customer Education Community is to keep you updated on the research and reports coming out of the Customer Education world, especially when they address the state of our industry. This episode covers two great reports: TSIA’s 2021 State of Education Services and Thought Industries’ 2021 State of Customer Education. We like these reports because they come at the research from different angles, whether it’s a third party like TSIA,...
Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Photo by Frank Busch on Unsplash A key part of CELab’s role in the Customer Education Community is to keep you updated on the research and reports coming out of the Customer Education world, especially when they address the state of our industry. This episode covers two great reports: TSIA’s 2021 State of Education Services and Thought Industries’ 2021 State of Customer Education. We like these reports because they come at the research from different angles, whether it’s a third party like TSIA,...
Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 9 min
In this episode we return to the subject of Certification, this time focusing on how to adapt development of programs to meet the breakneck pace of change with growing Software-as-a-Service businesses. Dave interviews Debbie Smith, who is Sr. Manager of Smartsheet University and an expert in credentialing and certification programs. Pencils down, it’s time to write your certification! Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels For many Customer Education professionals, we fir...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 22 min
In this episode we return to the subject of Certification, this time focusing on how to adapt development of programs to meet the breakneck pace of change with growing Software-as-a-Service businesses. Dave interviews Debbie Smith, who is Sr. Manager of Smartsheet University and an expert in credentialing and certification programs. Pencils down, it’s time to write your certification! Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels For many Customer Education professionals, we first begin working on cert...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Continuing in our Customer Success series, we dive deep into the thoughts of Sam Cummings , Author, Data Scientist, and Customer Success professional, currently working as an Enterprise CSM at LinkedIn. Education takes many forms in the world of B2B SaaS Software and Sam takes us on a journey: How to Inspire, Cultivate, and Distribute Success. Beginning by telling human stories, anchored in data we can inspire – or connect – with our customers. Then, we Cultivate the seeds of success...
May 14, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Continuing in our Customer Success series, we dive deep into the thoughts of Sam Cummings , Author, Data Scientist, and Customer Success professional, currently working as an Enterprise CSM at LinkedIn. Education takes many forms in the world of B2B SaaS Software and Sam takes us on a journey: How to Inspire, Cultivate, and Distribute Success. Beginning by telling human stories, anchored in data we can inspire – or connect – with our customers. Then, we Cultivate the seeds of success, and Distri...
May 14, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash In this episode, we return to our Instructional Design 101 series, where we informally cover key concepts from the instructional design world and apply them to customer education. In previous episodes, we’ve covered frameworks like the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation , which helps you measure the effectiveness of your course, and Bloom’s Taxonomy , which helps you define what types of knowledge or skills you’re actually teaching and how you’d expect the learner...
Apr 29, 2021•26 min
Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash In this episode, we return to our Instructional Design 101 series, where we informally cover key concepts from the instructional design world and apply them to customer education. In previous episodes, we’ve covered frameworks like the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation , which helps you measure the effectiveness of your course, and Bloom’s Taxonomy , which helps you define what types of knowledge or skills you’re actually teaching and how you’d expect the learner...
Apr 29, 2021•26 min
Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash Steve Cornwell is CEO and Founder of Northpass , the LMS that powers learning experiences for some of the top SaaS, sharing-economy, and subscription-economy companies. He joins us for the return of our CEO series, where we get CEO-level perspectives on the Customer Education market. In our discussion, Steve talks about the Evolution of Customer Education, pointing to the ways that it is maturing as a category. As the subscription economy matures, building he...
Apr 16, 2021•53 min
Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash Steve Cornwell is CEO and Founder of Northpass , the LMS that powers learning experiences for some of the top SaaS, sharing-economy, and subscription-economy companies. He joins us for the return of our CEO series, where we get CEO-level perspectives on the Customer Education market. In our discussion, Steve talks about the Evolution of Customer Education, pointing to the ways that it is maturing as a category. As the subscription economy matures, building he...
Apr 16, 2021•53 min
Photo by Larisa Birta on Unsplash Does Onboarding Matter? That’s what Donna Weber, veteran Customer Education professional and President of Springboard Solutions firmly asserts in her new book, Onboarding Matters ! She says: “Onboarding is the most important part of the customer journey, yet many B2B companies fail to act proactively at the start of the relationship.” In her book, she outlines the reasons why onboarding is a crucial motion for B2B companies, especially those who experience...
Mar 30, 2021•53 min
Photo by Larisa Birta on Unsplash Does Onboarding Matter? That’s what Donna Weber, veteran Customer Education professional and President of Springboard Solutions firmly asserts in her new book, Onboarding Matters ! She says: “Onboarding is the most important part of the customer journey, yet many B2B companies fail to act proactively at the start of the relationship.” In her book, she outlines the reasons why onboarding is a crucial motion for B2B companies, especially those who experience churn...
Mar 30, 2021•53 min
Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash Brian Childs , a customer education leader with experience at Moz , TapClicks, and more, has developed a Maturity Model that emerging Customer Education teams can use. In this interview, he describes how you can use the Training Maturity Model to scale your customer education team faster. Brian Childs has been building customer and adult education programs for over 20 years. In 2020, he developed the Training Maturity Model to understand the common challenges fac...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr
Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash Brian Childs , a customer education leader with experience at Moz , TapClicks, and more, has developed a Maturity Model that emerging Customer Education teams can use. In this interview, he describes how you can use the Training Maturity Model to scale your customer education team faster. Brian Childs has been building customer and adult education programs for over 20 years. In 2020, he developed the Training Maturity Model to understand the common challenges fac...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr
Photo by Lance Grandahl – Two become one. (or one becomes two?) On this episode of CELab we continue both our CEO Series and Customer Success Series as Michael Harnum , CEO of ESG Success, walks us through his journey to Customer Success as a Service. Typically, Education Services used to be standalone activities where customers would consume training credits, but that approach often left customers without access to proper training and providers with revenue recognition issues. In a world ...
Mar 05, 2021•52 min
Photo by Lance Grandahl – Two become one. (or one becomes two?) On this episode of CELab we continue both our CEO Series and Customer Success Series as Michael Harnum , CEO of ESG Success, walks us through his journey to Customer Success as a Service. Typically, Education Services used to be standalone activities where customers would consume training credits, but that approach often left customers without access to proper training and providers with revenue recognition issues. In a world of Saa...
Mar 05, 2021•52 min
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash Product-focused afterthought! – that’s what most Customer Success clients get wrong about Customer Education according Lincoln Murphy of Sixteen Ventures . But what does this mean, exactly? In recent episodes, SaaS executives and investors perceive Customer Education as a growing and integral part of scaling their organizations. This begins our “Customer Success Series” where we’ll talk with prominent leaders in the Customer Success space, ...
Feb 19, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash Product-focused afterthought! – that’s what most Customer Success clients get wrong about Customer Education according Lincoln Murphy of Sixteen Ventures . But what does this mean, exactly? In recent episodes, SaaS executives and investors perceive Customer Education as a growing and integral part of scaling their organizations. This begins our “Customer Success Series” where we’ll talk with prominent leaders in the Customer Success space, starting with Lincoln Mu...
Feb 19, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash What are venture capitalists thinking about the potential for Customer Education and Customer Success? As the industry becomes more profitable, we’ve seen more investment activity in the space. Eugene Lee from OMERS Ventures joins us to talk about his view on investing in this market, and what he wants to see from Customer Education and Customer Success companies as the market develops. Eugene Lee , a Principal at OMERS Ventures, a venture capital fund with $1...
Feb 04, 2021•43 min
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash What are venture capitalists thinking about the potential for Customer Education and Customer Success? As the industry becomes more profitable, we’ve seen more investment activity in the space. Eugene Lee from OMERS Ventures joins us to talk about his view on investing in this market, and what he wants to see from Customer Education and Customer Success companies as the market develops. Eugene Lee , a Principal at OMERS Ventures, a venture capital fund with $1...
Feb 04, 2021•43 min
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash One theme that’s on the minds of many Customer Education professionals is learning how to “bridge the divide” between our teams and other education-focused teams. In Episode 19 (Sharing with Others) we kicked off this discussion. Growing organizations in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketplace follow standard patterns, and begin to introduce Learning and Development (L&D), Sales Enablement, and Customer Education. Ted Blosser , CEO of WorkRamp , c...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash One theme that’s on the minds of many Customer Education professionals is learning how to “bridge the divide” between our teams and other education-focused teams. In Episode 19 (Sharing with Others) we kicked off this discussion. Growing organizations in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketplace follow standard patterns, and begin to introduce Learning and Development (L&D), Sales Enablement, and Customer Education. Ted Blosser , CEO of WorkRamp , c...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min
