This post was updated on 6/14/17.

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If you’ve launched a successful training program, that’s certainly reason to celebrate. But remember, customer training is not designed to be static; there’s always room for more growth.

Linda Schwaber Cohen, Head of Training at Skilljar, was joined by Adam Avramescu, Head of Customer Education at Optimizely for a webinar on Wednesday, June 14, to discuss the characteristics of an early stage, developing, and well-established training program. In other words, what are the common indicators of the crawl, walk, and run phases of a growing customer training program? They also delivered insights into how to avoid the common pitfalls of each phase, and how to get your training program to the next level.

Continue reading for some key takeaways.

Crawl

The crawl phase of a training program is characterized by beginning to train a small audience using “low hanging fruit.” Training programs at this stage have minimal resources and limited content. Often, training managers with these types of programs fall into the trap of pursuing perfection rather than progress. Consider your overall business goals during this stage as you begin to test what approaches to training will be the most beneficial for your customers and your organization.

Walk

The walk phase can be defined by your organization beginning to see more value in customer training, and therefore allotting more resources and funds to expand it. At this point, training programs have better tools and technologies, multiple courses available for users, and a more mature content strategy. Training managers here must keep in mind that training will not be the answer to every problem your customers face. Make sure you don’t risk information overload (or, as Adam put it, a “knowledge dump”). Train users for optimized product adoption through their specific workflows rather than teaching them everything there is to know about your product in one sitting.

Run

Training programs in the run phase have multiple ways to train customers, and are able to customize training based on learner needs, use cases, and workflows. There is a fully built-out training team, well trained customer-facing teams that help market training to customers, and a large network of customer advocates. During this phase, marketing and sales teams should have standard collateral to promote training, especially if it is a paid service. One last tip – weave education into your product by ensuring customers have access to on-demand training materials. That way, they can find solutions right away when they require clarification on a certain feature or function.

Looking for more information? In this webinar, you’ll learn about:

  • Common obstacles that can impede your growth
  • Tips & tricks for each stage of your training journey
  • Benchmarks to consider as you build out your program

…and more! Click here to download the recording.

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