Mentoring Help + Opinion on SuccessCoaching CCSM Certifications

ShoubhikRoy

Hello everyone!

I am currently trying to make the transition from non saas consulting background into the world of customer success in saas. Through out my professional journey I have strongly advocated development of skills tha are industry agnostic and can help you to pivot your career path when necessary, and have communicated the same to my peers and juniors (mentoring some of them along the way)

However given the current state of the market, I have recognized that despite shameless self marketing of my consulting skillsets, there is a big obstacle (past relevant CS experience) that is preventing me to get my foot across this door (customer success)

After much research I have identified certification is the way forward and SuccessCoaching is the destination for this. I considering investing into Level 1 and Level 2 certifications, while supplementing them with CS professionals handbook and Nick Mehta/Gainsight books. Given that it will be financial investment I would appreciate any on-ground opinions from industry folks who can let me know if it would be worth it. Or should I aim for a different certification?

In the meantime, while I am eagerly looking for referrlas to any open roles in CS to get into, it would be a great help if anyone can mentor me during this transition phase. Appreciate any inputs on this, and look forward to paying this forward whenever that time comes

JadeA

Hi ShoubhikRoy,

That’s great that you have such a clear vision of where you want to go and I admire your grit and creativity in finding a way in in the current market. I can’t speak personally of the certification that you mentioned. Before investing in that I would say that while CVs should be used to filter candidates in at the shortlisting stage, in a market where there are routinely 100+ applicants to every role, they are almost certainly being used to filter out. That means candidates with demonstrable experience of doing a role will always be the ‘safe’ choice and having a certification is (sadly) unlikely to get you more interviews while the market is this way. If you’re certain about moving into CS, have you thought about looking for some fast growing scale ups with CS teams that might have roles that suit your background more from a ‘CV-selling’ perspective but then look to move laterally once in the door? That’s definitely more of a long game but you might find having the certification specific to CS once you’re known in a business is helpful to make that move.

ShoubhikRoy

I understand your point on this too, maybe I would be doing the same if I was in that position. Thanks for sharing these insights. I think I can definitely tweak my CV to bring out demonstrable experience, if not direct experience. That's one way to get started for now.

Brian Aherne

Hi ShoubhikRoy,

It's great that you want to join the world of customer success.
If you are interested in joining a company then I suggest doing a lot of research on their business and then doing a spontaneous application. A lot of opportunities are not advertised, personally when I have a vacancy I review these applicants before advertising.
Communication is very important in our world so it's important to have good written and verbal communication skills.

I don't look for customer success qualifications, I'm more interested in the potential of the candidate to be a cultural fit with a growth mindset. If you do want to invest in some training I'm a big fan of Winning by Design.

https://winningbydesign.com/revenue-academy/course-customer-success-for-impact/
They are good value and are practical in nature.
Best of luck with your search.