You’re reading the third post in a five part series on recognizing whether and when you need to build a training function in your enterprise software business. You can following the series here. Stay tuned to the ServiceRocket blog each week for the next post in the series.

In my work, I run across this question all the time. Early to mid-stage enterprise software companies start to believe they need training, but they are not sure how to know for sure or what it looks like to get started building a software training department. In fact, I just had this conversation with a potential customer discussing how to know when to get started and whether they need a learning management system (LMS). Of course, I directed them to this series.

Although each enterprise software company is in a different stage of training maturity with unique customer needs, there will be different reasons for developing enterprise software training. This series is designed to address all of those reasons and to answer the following, you know you need to build an enterprise software training function if:

1. Churn is high

Obviously, there are many reasons why churn would be high, but certainly one major factor is low adoption. If customers are not using your software, there is a high risk they will not renew. And if there are many reasons for churn, there are many ways to solve that problem. Training is one of them.

Training can help increase adoption in a variety of ways. It can increase a customer’s perceived value in your product. Training is a means to show people how to use features of your product they may not discover on their own. Perhaps most importantly, training can be used to teach people not just your product features, but teach people a new way to work using your software. Another approach to training as a means of reducing churn is to increase mindshare. You can make a conscious decision to offer multi-day onsite training as a strategy for gaining mindshare with new users. It is difficult to switch services when a customer knows the product well, uses it well, and has invested mental capital in it.

2. Your technology is open source and you’re trying to increase enterprise adoption

I know, you didn’t need training to learn that open source technology, but you are an early adopter. You might even be a core contributor to the technology. So, you are not the intended audience for enterprise software training. But if you are trying to cross the chasm and move people along the technology adoption lifecycle, training is an important means for doing that. The larger the company, the more likely they will have employees who need your training. Enterprises have large numbers of users who are not early adopters, have cultures that demand training, and have budgets to pay for it. It will be difficult for you to break into the enterprise market without a stable and repeatable training program.

3. A majority of support’s time is spent teaching customers how to do things

Certainly every customer support team spends some time educating customers on how to best use a product, but when it becomes an everyday thing, you have a problem. Education calls are time consuming, and that is time not spent helping other customers solve problems so they can get back to work. If your support team is spending a large amount of time educating customers, a training program should be developed. Your customers will thank you. And so will your support reps.

4. All of your competitors have training

Not that you should do something just because your competitor does something. After all, you are different, which is why customers choose your service. However, if a competitor is offering training, there might be demand for it, and this demand helps generate a new revenue source, raise your company's profile, build your brand and increase renewals. Scan your competitors’ websites and look for a training offering. If your competitors have training, there is certainly demand for training on your space.

Which of these situations apply to you? How have they influenced your decision to offer training to your customers?