A Resource for CS Professional and Group Development
Throughout all of my career, I’ve gone to many professional conferences (and produced a number of them myself!) knowing that the primary value of attendance was the chance to meet others who faced similar challenges. The conversations in the lunch line, at the receptions, and at the bar at night always produced good questions and answers that enabled me to increase my group’s performance and/or to further myself as a professional. The same thing happens here in this online forum; it’s why we’re all participating. Going to conferences, however, is expensive and time consuming. Some questions may be too sensitive to be openly asked online in groups like this one. But there is another pathway to accessing in-depth knowledge and direct expertise: retaining a good Customer Success coach.
There are over 200 firms offering consulting services across the global Customer Success Community. Their principals and associates know how to design, build, equip, and manage effective Customer Success groups across the full range of industries because they’ve done it themselves, often multiple times in their careers prior to becoming consultants. While you may not have the budget to bring such a consulting firm in on full time projects, there is another way to tap that in-depth expertise. Beyond the consulting firms, there are people who are employed full-time as CS execs who are interested in offering their services outside on a part-time basis.
Coaching can take a couple of different forms. It can be delivered direct in one-on-one sessions between the coach and the CS executive or practitioner CSM. It can also be delivered in online group sessions where the coach can ensure that there aren’t any competitors present. Or both. The advantage of retaining a coach is that you know what you’re buying, and it’s available whenever you need it.
I’m in the process of creating a new page in The Customer Success Directory on the subject of coaching. There will be a list of the firms offering such services with links to their websites, and a detail page that breaks out the potential subject areas together with the names of the firms and people who cover them.
In the meantime, where and how have coaches or mentors been useful to you in accelerating your professional development and/or in improving your group’s operations? Did you have to pay for the service yourself or did your company cover the cost of the resources? Join us in The Customer Success Forum on LinkedIn for the discussion.
