Why is Certification so Important?
Prove your qualifications and begin the journey to success.
Whoever they are, EVERY professional should be able to prove their capabilities. This is equally the case for Customer Success Managers as it is for Doctors, Lawyers, Project Managers, IT Security Specialists, and indeed everyone else.
In short, getting yourself or your team certified means that your customers can trust your capabilities, you/your team can gain personal confidence in your own capabilities, you can standardize on what you do and how you do it, you can grow and scale your capabilities more effectively, and you can build upon your certification to develop and utilize better quality best practices through documentation of re-usable processes.
Watch this brief (5-minute) video to learn more about the importance of Customer Success Certification.
Who Needs Customer Success Certification?
The answer is that all Customer Success professionals of all levels should become certified, without exception. Even the most senior of CS experts including those in managerial or even strategic roles should be willing to prove their capabilities to themselves and to the outside world.
Watch this brief (3-minute) video to learn who needs to become Customer Success Certified, and why.
Additionally, the world of Customer Success Management is changing, adapting, and growing all of the time. Best practices from ten years ago may now be out of date, and new best practices should be adopted.
Getting certified is hard work, especially if undertaken via a self-study program. Our statistics show that teams with leaders who lead from the front and undergo the same training and certification regime as their team fair better in their training and certification results than teams where the leader remains passive and uninvolved.
Self-Study VS Instructor Led Training
Are you more comfortable with instructor-led, or would you prefer to pursue your certification independently, without external supervision?
Both instructor-led training in the classroom and online self-study training options have their advantages and disadvantages.
For most teams and individuals, enrolling onto an online, self-study program brings significant savings in time, money, and frustration, and if you choose a high quality online self-study option such as our own Certified CSM Professional (CCSMP) program you will not lose out on the quality of the experience.
Watch this detailed (18-minute) video to learn the pros and cons of online self-study programs versus instructor-led classroom courses for both individuals and for entire teams.
Watch out though, because not all online self-study training content is terribly well written, recorded and/or edited. This can lead to a massive loss in engagement from users who quickly become tired and frustrated by low quality training videos with low standards for sound quality and for the overall production of the video itself. Our tip – ALWAYS insist on a free trial for at least a day or so, so that you can experience the quality and style of the training for yourself ahead of your purchase.
Our self-study certification program is an effective alternative to instructor-led training. With self-study, you can choose when and where you study, and the speed of your progress is entirely up to you.
Watch this 7-minute video to get a more detailed summary of what to look for in your ideal Customer Success training and certification program.
Credibility: When looking for the right certification for yourself, make sure to check for a strong track record of training, consulting, and thought leadership in the Customer Success Profession.
Extensiveness: Make sure you and/or your team members will receive full coverage of the entire Customer Success Management role, from initial customer research right through to engagement evaluation.
Rigor: Look for a program that provides a published syllabus, and an expert change committee. Try out some of the content to check its quality (eg is the video and audio HD quality?). Learn how you will be tested to see if this meets professional standards.
Framework-based programs to make life easier
All professionals should know and follow best practice, and the ideal way to do this is to have your best practice documented within a framework. As the name suggests, using a framework provides a structure for you and/or your team. A well-thought-through Customer Success Management framework increases productivity and quality whilst minimizing wasted time and effort on less important, or badly thought-through tasks and processes.
Our Certified CSM Professional (CCSMP) program is based on the Practical CSM Framework – the only publicly available, academically published, best practice framework that covers the entire spectrum of customer success processes and tasks, right through the entire customer lifecycle.
Having the Practical CSM Framework at your back is like having a spare pair of helping hands to assist you in the performance of your duties. It reminds you of what needs to be done next, it explains the steps needed to perform each task and it provides you with clarity around how to manage your time and activities to maximize the positive impact you can create both for your customers and for your own company.
Our Certified CSM Professional (CCSMP) Training and Certification Options
Choose a program that suits you best
