What’s your best Gong rollout advice?

As a PMI certified project manager, I see the full value of established the COE with stakeholders and roles defined in advance as well as the communication plans to begin getting buy-in from all players.  More planning up front will definitely yield better results.

As a PMI certified project manager, I see the full value of established the COE with stakeholders and roles defined in advance as well as the communication plans to begin getting buy-in from all players.  More planning up front will definitely yield better results.

A strong communication strategy is vital.  Building awareness strengthens any roll-out. 

Test with smaller teams! Have a sales user Champion to support you with other teams

My best piece of tactical advice for fellow Program Managers rolling out Gong would be to focus on tracking key calls, gaining visibility into pipelines, and using that data to proactively assist managers.

When rolling out Gong, ensure that you’re setting up proper tracking for sales calls and interactions. This will give you and your team the ability to closely monitor how reps are engaging with prospects and customers, allowing you to identify patterns, areas of improvement, and best practices.

Take full advantage of Gong's pipeline visibility to track deals in real time and ensure you have clear, actionable insights on what’s happening at every stage. This is invaluable for both coaching sales reps and ensuring that managers can make data-driven decisions, rather than relying solely on anecdotal information.

By leveraging this data, you can assist managers in pinpointing where their teams may need additional support, whether it’s refining messaging, adjusting sales strategies, or identifying opportunities to close deals more efficiently. With Gong, you can provide managers with the insights they need to optimize performance, improve forecasting, and ultimately drive better outcomes across the team.

For any successful rollout, it is crucial to align the tool with clear, measurable use cases. Having those in mind, will make stakeholders and end users to identify the pathway to follow. Make sure to create and maintain feedback loops open to keep momentum and drive adoption across the organization.

There are so many things that affect a successful rollout of a tool, specifically if it’s as broad as Gong. My pro-tips for a successful rollout are:

1. Make a project plan and align with your COE - all stakeholders must be committed to success 
2. Roll out one functionality after another
3. Use smaller pioneer groups to test each functionality for about 2 weeks prior to rollout to the team to iron out any gaps or identify risks early
4. Drive adoption and measure weekly KPIs

Great advice in this group! In my experience, don’t try to do too much all at once. Start with the core behaviors and outcomes that you’re focused on, and then trickle in additional tips and tricks for users to build up their skills as they go. Reps won’t remember everything if you train on every piece of functionality right away. Also, share tips and tricks from their peers / power users / former Gong users. Reps trust peers more than training teams! 

Strategize and design 100% of the system for use cases, audience and rollout. 80% will go as planned.

We have been with Gong for a few years now. I am working on my certification and finding new ways within our business to leverage Gong. We are participting in a AI pilot right now, and the one thing I have learned (sometimes, the hard way) is CHANGE MANAGEMENT IS KEY! Change is so hard for people - clearly educating on our why, sharing a clear vision, walking beside people through it has been key for my success as PM. 

See Below ha ;) 

I would start with communication within the team prior to roll out.  Have team leads, team managers, and senior reps on demo/disco calls to get their input prior to launching Gong.  Also, have an open dialog on the pros/cons within the platform and acknowledge their answers and support them during the process.   Make training sessions fun and engaging while also asking for feedback to keep users and reps engaged in the roll out! 

Change management is a critical component of any rollout. Understanding the stakeholders (Project, COE, and End Users), how they communicate, and what is most important to them will help shape strong communication and enablement as part of that strategy. Using the tools/ ways they communicate will help make that message more effective.