How Software Channel Training Improves Customer Training

When software companies are scaling rapidly, developing a channel network of trainers is key to keeping up with the demand for customer training. Here are 3 steps for getting started:

1. Be clear about how you will be measuring the success of your customer training.

Your network partners will only be successful if you tell them how you measure that success. Be clear about how you will measure the effectiveness of customer training from the very beginning. That way, they know what behaviors they are training for.

You and your organization/team will also need to be clear about what is “positive” feedback and what is “negative.” Is a customer who answered half of the questions negatively considered to have had an unsuccessful training? Or, are only customers who answered 75%+ of answers positively considered to have had a successful experience? You must also determine how large you need your sample size to be to consider the training to be successful.

Be clear about other metrics you will take into account, such as software usage metrics. Will you be comparing customers who took the training with power-users? Defining these metrics from the outset will help your training partners train towards those behaviors. Customers who are logging in more or accessing more features can show a better understanding of your platform.

However you measure your training, you will have more visibility into what ‘success’ means than your partners. Make it clear how you will measure and share those results so they know whether they are delivering success for you or not.

2. Make deploying your customer training easy.

The last thing you want is to make it hard for your partners to deliver your training. Make sure your content is accessible for everyone in your network of channel trainers. There are many platforms to do this, such as content storefronts, team drives, or internal libraries.

Consider how you will keep your digital content secure. Data can be protected in many ways, like data encryption or setting access permissions. Most content storefronts allow admins to quickly and easily set permissions and even track who opens up what pieces of content.

Reporting is also a great way to stay on top of digital security. Reporting allows admins to see which pieces of content are being accessed by whom and for how long. In the event that there is a data leak, your content reporting will allow you to see exactly who accessed what pieces and when.

You need to strike the balance between making it easy for partners to deploy your training and not letting trade secrets leak to your competitors. By considering both content accessibility and digital security, you’ll enable your partners to deliver training.

3. Communicate clearly with your channel partners.

Lastly, there should be clear communication across your entire customer training network. The goal of each piece of content, the goals of the training itself, and any problems encountered should be clearly communicated.

Provide your network partners with a clear map of how each piece of training relates to your learning objectives. Then make sure they understand how each piece of content supports your learning objectives. Each piece of content should have a clear goal that is communicated across the entire team. Whether it’s introducing a new client to an important feature or communicating a software update, each trainer should have a great understanding of what it does.

It should also be easily accessible in either a content storefront or an internal library. Trainers should also have an understanding of how the content helps reach the organization’s goals for their customer training program.

Finally, and equally as importantly, clearly communicate the results you are seeing in your customer training. Are there parts of the training that customers struggle the most with? What kind of feedback are trainers getting from customers? Are there any gaps in content or understanding? You can improve your training content, and your network will feel more valued and involved in the process.

Having great communication with your team makes sure that as few hiccups happen as possible.

Channel training partners help training teams keep up with the fast-paced growth of their company. Check out our guide below, which covers how to train all kinds of training partners!