This document summarizes the results of a survey on post-sales client success. It finds that most companies provide some type of training to customers, usually instructor-led online or on-site. Training is typically provided right after purchase or throughout the year. Companies aim to increase usage, awareness of features, and renewal rates through training. While many firms use home-built or manual systems, there is a need to better support clients and research more formalized solutions like learning management systems.

1. Dean Chen
August 2013
@StartupDiving
POST-SALES
CLIENT SUCCESS
SURVEY RESULTS

2. HURRAY!
WE JUST WON A SALE.
NOW WHAT?

3. TIME TO TRAIN &
ONBOARD CLIENTS.
BUT HOW?

4.  Webinars & instructor-led online
 Instructor-led on-site
 Self-paced eLearning
 Support
 Need to curate content
 Manage trainers and implementation consultants
HOW WE TRAIN & ON-BOARD?

5. WOW!
THAT’S A LOT TO DO.
WHAT TOOLS CAN HELP?

6.  Authoring tools – create content
 Content developers – someone else create content for you
 Learning management systems – deliver content
 Learning content management systems – manage content
 Web-conferencing systems –virtual instructor-led learning
TYPES OF SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE

7.  Goal: create content without writing code
 Keep in mind:
 How tech-savvy? Ease of use?
 Type of content your users want
 Shelf-life of content
 How customizable?
 Common examples: Camtasia (video), Flash, PowerPoint
AUTHORING TOOLS

8.  Goal: outsourced content development
 Keep in mind:
 Well-defined content development process
 Experienced staff
 Industry expertise
 Prototype rapidly
CONTENT DEVELOPERS

9.  Goal: automate delivery of learning
 Keep in mind:
 Targeted at employee training or external facing?
 Reuse of content
 Classroom management
 Useful reports
 On-premise deployment or cloud-based?
 Multi-lingual?
 More features isn’t always better
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

10.  Goal: central repository to manage content creation for large-
scale efforts
 Keep in mind:
 Probably overkill for client-focused content
 Reuse of existing content
 Frequency of change
 Ease of use
LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS

11.  Goal: deliver content to many people over internet
 Keep in mind:
 Multi-use: training, sales, internal meetings
 No plug-in
 Report of who attended
 Bandwidth constraints of clients
WEB CONFERENCING SYSTEMS

12. SO MANY CHOICES.
WHAT’S THE
BEST PRACTICE?
SO WE SURVEYED CEO’S.

13. AND WE FOUND…

14. WHAT TYPES OF USERS DO YOU WORK
WITH?
100%
33% 33% 33%
0%
44%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Customers Partners Resellers Suppliers Distributors Internal Sales
Who do we work with?

15. DO YOU PROVIDE POST-SALE SERVICES?
0%
22% 22%
78%
44%
89%
11%
67%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
No service Self-paced online
training
In-product
training
Instructor-led on-
site
Instructor-led
online
Phone support Chat support Email support
Post-sale Services Provided

16. WHEN ARE SERVICES PROVIDED?
89%
67%
0%
22%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Right after purchase Throughtout year Specific Times As needed
When Services are Provided

17. WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?
1 Increase usage
2 Increase awareness of product features
3 Increase renewal rate
4 Earn additional revenue
5 Decrease support
6 Seek feedback

18. WHAT SOLUTIONS DO YOU USE NOW?
11% 11%
22% 22% 22%
56%
0%
11%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Home-built in-
product
Home-built
outside-product
Manual Online
community
LMS Support Third-Party None
What solutions do we use now?

19.  Client enablement is a big issue
 Lots of ways to solve the problem
 Requires lots of research and planned implementation
 Most companies are using support to supplement/replace
training
SUMMARY

20.  Ask others to fill out survey and I will keep updating the
results and send to you:
 http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1331502/Client-
Engagement-Implementation-Survey
 or contact me at
 Dean Chen
 @StartupDiving
 My blog: www.startupdiving.com
WANT UPDATED RESULTS?