Best Practices Around Salesforce Admin Resourcing
The official guidance from Salesforce for Administration best practices breaks down what the user:Admin ratio should be within any Salesforce Customer.
A quick look here:
- 1-30 users: 1 ‘Fractional’ Admin
- 31-74 users: 1 Full-Time Salesforce Admin
- 75-150 users: 2 Salesforce Admins
- 140-499 users: 2-4 Salesforce Admins; 1 Business Analyst
- 500-750 users: 2-4 Salesforce Admins; 1-2 Business Analysts
So, they recommend roughly 1 Salesforce Admin for every 75-100 users. However, the number of Salesforce admins you need depends on a number of factors, like:
- The size of your Salesforce org (users)
- The complexity of your Salesforce implementation
- Adoption levels
- Volume of requests
- The level of support you need from your admins
- Future plans of investment
But at a certain scale these ratios need to change. You aren’t simply adding more Salesforce Admins for each additional user.
This is because you should become more efficient.
The recommended addition of Business Analysts to the team is specifically to add resources that focus on proactively identifying features and automations that make the day-to-day user experience easier, therefore reducing the need for support as the user base scales.
How Many Admins Do Mid-Market Companies Hire?
We analyzed 30 Mid Market Companies to see how they stack up against each other and the recommended ration. The companies we analyzed all have ~400-450 Sales Reps. You can check out the full breakdown here.
75% have a team that is spot on.
• Average Salesforce Team = 9 people
• Average Salesforce Admin Headcount = 2.5 people
A quick look at some companies who are doing it right
👉 ClickUp
330 users; 3 Salesforce Administrators
1 Admin per 110 users
👉 BILL
700 users; 4 Salesforce Admins (+2 Business Analysts)
1 Admin per 175 users
👉 MongoDB
1,500 users; 17 Salesforce Admins (+2 Business Analysts)
1 Admin per 85 users
Complete Breakdown of MongoDB's Salesforce Team
👉 Seismic
425 users; 5 Salesforce Admins (+1 Business Analyst)
1 Admin per 85 users
👉 Zillow
950 users; 12 Admins (+2 Business Analysts, 5 Product Owners)
1 Admin per 79 users
Complete Breakdown of Zillow's Salesforce Team
These companies sit right around the recommended ratios; but there are a ton of examples of companies building their Salesforce Center of Excellence in a slightly different manner.
But if the ratios within your org are dramatically off, it’s worth looking into.
This can be caused by a number of factors - perhaps you have open headcount and can't fill the roles; maybe you're struggling to get budget; or this is coming as a surprise and you simply weren't sure how to structure and scale the Salesforce team.
Regardless, a good option to find flexible, cost-effective Salesforce Administrators is to engage Contractors.
Business Analysts to Admins Ratio
The key to success with Salesforce is how you invest in Business Analysts. Business Analysts allow you to proactively build a product roadmap, and it commonly signals that a company understands how to control Salesforce strategy.
Personally, I think the perfect balance for a Salesforce team is:
• Admin headcount toward the low-end of recommended range.
• Business Analyst headcount toward the high-end (or slightly above)
Who's getting it right?
✅ BILL: 415 Reps | 5 Admins | 3 Business Analysts
✅ Cloudera: 450 Reps | 3 Admins | 8 Business Analysts
✅ AppFolio: 320 Reps | 4 Admins | 4 Business Analysts
Now, you have a structure that supports the day-to-day needs of users (Admins) and Business Analysts that can serve as Strategic Advisors to stakeholders.
Add on Developers and Architects - you’re set to build.
How Much Do Salesforce Admins Cost?
According to Glassdoor, Salesforce Admins make around $75,000 a year (on average); but how much does a Salesforce Admin Consultant cost?
We've put together an hourly consultant rate resource so that you can determine if a consultant is better suited to your project (and your budget).
Get a Personalized Assessment On Your Team
Need help benchmarking your Salesforce team against your peers? Are you trying to figure out the right Salesforce Admin ratio for your company?
Schedule a call with us here and we'll build a personalized assessment and compare how your team stacks up to similar orgs.
