How Many Salesforce Admins Do I Need?
Strategically align your Salesforce Admin resources with organizational objectives by precisely assessing your team's staffing needs.
Best Practices for Salesforce Admin Resourcing
The official Salesforce Guidance for Administration Best Practices focuses on the right Admin:User ratio within any Salesforce Customer.
1-30 users
75-150 users
Headcount Recommendation
1 ‘Fractional’ Admin
1 Full-Time Salesforce Admin
2 Salesforce Admins
2-4 Salesforce Admins
1 Business Analyst
2-4 Salesforce Admins
1-2 Business Analysts
Data Takeaways
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 can’t simply add more Salesforce Admins for each additional user.
The goal is to become more efficient.
Salesforce recommends adding Business Analysts to the team, specifically to add resources that focus on proactively identifying features and automations that make the day-to-day user experience easier. This is part of what reduces the need for a large Help Desk team as the user base scales but it doesn’t stop there.
Achieving efficiency looks different for each market segment: Enterprise, Mid Market and SMB / Startup. In this guide, we explore exactly how companies should approach Salesforce Administration at every stage of growth, detail how specific companies have structured their teams, and highlight a variety of best practices in managing Salesforce.
Discuss Building Your Salesforce Admin Team
We can provide insights, introduce you to talent, and everything in between.
Role of a Salesforce Admins in Enterprise Orgs
- Strategy & Architecture: Accounted for by Leadership and Salesforce Architects
- Stakeholder Guidance: The place where Business Analysts and Product Owners live
- Delivery & Execution: Technical Administrator and Developer territory
- Day-to-Day Support: The role of a pure Support Administrator
Build out declarative features and execute on the roadmap's requirements
Diagnose requests submitted via support desk tickets and implement
Manage cases by prioritizing, logging, and tracking deliverables
However, if Admins aren’t supported with the layers above, they end up being used entirely as a Help Desk.
Your approach will become entirely reactive, essentially just building the tickets that land on your desk, and the Salesforce team will risk becoming a cost center, instead of a strategic partner to the business.
Challenges of Scale: Projects vs. Support
In big organizations with extensive Salesforce deployments, the volume of inbound support tickets from users can be significant. These tickets range from simple requests around user access and reports to complex workflow or integration issues requiring immediate attention. Without a dedicated team to handle these support requests efficiently, the backlog can quickly escalate, harming productivity and leading to frustrated users.
Simultaneously, there's an ongoing demand for configuration-level features and enhancements to the Salesforce platform to meet evolving business requirements. These projects could range from implementing new features and functionalities to enhancing existing workflows or integrating third-party applications. However, when the same Administrators responsible for managing the support queue are also tasked with project execution, their bandwidth becomes stretched thin. They find themselves torn between resolving urgent user issues and progressing the critical projects.
To address this challenge effectively, big organizations should divide their Salesforce Administrators into Support and Project Build, establishing a clear distinction around who is responsible for which tasks. By allocating resources appropriately and leveraging specialized skill sets, Enterprise customers mitigate the challenges of scale, maximize efficiency, and unlock the full potential of their Salesforce investment.
How Many Salesforce Admins Do Enterprise Teams Have?
It’s important to look at how Enterprise companies are building their Salesforce teams and what their ratios look like even if you come from a smaller organization. These companies can serve as a blueprint and provide ideas on how to set up your structure today so that it scales to meet future needs.
Some companies doing Salesforce right:
MongoDB
Zillow
Stripe
Admins
14
12
9
Check out our full Enterprise Salesforce Teams Library for more insights!
Yes, these teams are right around the recommended Salesforce ratio; however, the Admin to User ratio is not the only metric to evaluate whether a Salesforce team is resourced properly.
A company that nicely exemplifies the right balance is BlackLine:
500 Salesforce Users
2 Salesforce Administrators
Plus, 2 Salesforce Business Analysts & 2 Product Owners
At a glance, 1 Admin per 250 users seems like they lack Administrators. But the balance of their team structure makes up for those ratios because they are able to properly prioritize stakeholder needs and proactively inform the business of what’s to come on the roadmap, both factors in reducing inbound ticket volume.
We’ve put together a library of Salesforce Centers of Excellence and examples of Enterprise Salesforce Teams Structures that will help you understand the ratios and team composition at the Enterprise level.
Role of a Salesforce Admin in Mid-Market Orgs
Salesforce Admins in Siloed Teams
Early Mid-Market Orgs that are under this approach usually have Salesforce report into RevOps. This likely means that Admins (and their Devs colleagues) will serve in more of a reactive capacity, since the business team is driving many of the priorities and there is a less mature product roadmap in place.
In these scenarios, Salesforce Admins will typically:
Execute on a roadmap that’s heavily Sales & Rev Ops focused.
Act as a Help Desk and respond to inbound user requests.
Manage basic integrations with other Sales and Marketing Systems.
Salesforce Admins in Siloed Teams
A Centralized approach is used when the Salesforce team reports into the CIO, COO, or other centralized function. This brings a ton of advantages:
Allows all GTM Systems to develop a more cohesive and complete product roadmap.
Enables Salesforce teams to think in scalable terms.
Prioritizes the organizational needs as a whole, instead of prioritizing the needs of a specific team.
The key to a Centralized Business Systems model is team structure. That’s where Admins come in. Admins in these types of teams make sure the users are supported and that the product roadmap is being executed at the highest level. With this structure, Admins don’t need to worry about deciding what feature or user request to tackle next. The team org makes sure there’s a defined roadmap, and Business Analysts make sure to prioritize Admin’s time correctly.
The Key to a Healthy Salesforce Admin Team
The key to success with Salesforce is how you invest in Business Analysts, arguably the most important role within a Mid Market Salesforce org.
Business Analysts allow you to proactively build a product roadmap by advising stakeholders rather than simply taking orders from them. Companies with an emphasis on Business Analysts commonly signals they understand how to control Salesforce strategy.
Now, you have a structure that supports the day-to-day needs of users (Admins) and Business Analysts that are freed up to serve as true Strategic Advisors to stakeholders. Add on Developers and Architects - you’re set to build.
How Many Salesforce Admins to Mid Market Teams Have?
Because of the different approaches to Salesforce resourcing at companies of this size, the Admin to User ratios vary quite a bit. The most important takeaway is the overall composition of your internal team, though.
Here are some examples of Mid Market Org Structures:
Intercom
BILL
FanDuel
Admins
3
4
4
Role of a Salesforce Admin in Startups
Salesforce Admins Responsibilities in a Startup
Salesforce Admins are your in-house Subject Matter Expert for all-things Salesforce and beyond, likely working across the full GTM Systems Stack. They work to establish best practices early on, help fast moving startups pivot, and avoid costly overhauls later.
Here is a quick look at some of the key responsibilities for startup Salesforce Admins:
Overseeing user management and provisioning, serving as the primary contact for any user issues
Establishing workflow based automations primarily for enablement of the Sales process
Ensuring that selected managed packages and apps from the AppExchange are appropriate for your business needs.
Creating and updating custom fields and objects
Importing, exporting, and managing data
Building reports and dashboards tailored for each GTM team
The impact of a Salesforce Admin goes beyond just configuration.
They bring concrete benefits to your organization and contribute immediately to the success of your GTM motions by ensuring that any changes align with your business needs, make the best use of Salesforce features, and follow best practices.
Perhaps most importantly, a good Admin should act as the gatekeeper, managing user access, maintaining data quality, helping to prioritize the requests that are actually getting built, and more.
Discuss Building Your Salesforce Admin Team
We can provide insights, introduce you to talent, and everything in between.
When Should You Hire a Salesforce Admin?
Admins should be a key part of your GTM Systems team from day one. As soon as you begin implementing Salesforce, bring onboard an internal Salesforce team. This is an opportunity for your company to build out core competencies to maintain your instance, train users, and build a roadmap that makes use of Salesforce features, integrations, and automations.
We recommend hiring a Salesforce Admin to join your Revenue Operations team as a full time employee or, if you need flexibility, as a Freelancer. Since most startups don’t yet have an internal Salesforce team or centralized GTM Systems team, have your Salesforce Admin report into Rev Ops.
What Should You Not Expect a Salesforce Admin To Do?
Your Salesforce Admin is focused on managing and optimizing your CRM system, so use their time wisely. They’re not the right person to increase sales and marketing alignment, manage your entire tech stack, or solve underlying process issues with some mythical technology solution.
Their deep understanding of Salesforce capabilities and up-to-date knowledge of best practices are best used to make recommendations about how features, workflows, and automations can enhance the efficiency of your CRM and improve user adoption.
Right Expectations
Handle support & tickets
Build and maintain flows and automations
Suggest new features and builds
Wrong Expectations
Plan the Salesforce Architecture
Implement a Complex Product Solo
Handle discovery, execution and support with no help.
How Should a Salesforce Admin Collaborate with RevOps?
In very small startups, Founders usually want to hire people that can wear many hats. You might want someone who can be a Rev Ops Manager, Salesforce admin, and a Product Manager, all in one role.
Unfortunately, this leads to inefficiency, missed opportunities, and even low user adoption rates. That’s why we recommend having your Salesforce admin report to your Rev Ops Leader who’s in charge of advising stakeholders and making strategic decisions about configurations and integrations.
While the Rev Ops Leader focuses on ensuring that customizations align with the needs of the GTM org, your Salesforce Admin can take ownership of user support, data access, configuring workflows, and automations. They serve as the resident expert for maintaining, managing, and optimizing your instance without getting bogged down by roadmap requests.
And if this doesn't sound like the level of horsepower your Rev Ops team needs, then you shouldn't be hiring for an Admin - you need to up-level the role and bring on someone in more of a Product Owner or GTM Systems Manager function.
How Should a Salesforce Admin Work with Stakeholders?
While Salesforce Admins can and should communicate with stakeholders about the projects they’re working on, you can't expect them to have endless time to be a full-time Business Analyst and manage their Admin workload. This is the #1 area where we see frustration and friction introduced between stakeholders & Systems team - a lack of understanding about how to capacity plan.
Instead, add a Business Analyst to the Rev Ops team alongside your Admin. They’re best equipped to serve as a collaborator with the rest of the organization. Business Analysts are dedicated to building out relationships, bringing stakeholders into the collaborative process, and reducing tension. It’s their job to handle tough conversations about why some requests aren’t a priority or don’t fit into the larger strategic plan. Another option is to hire a Product Manager.
This person acts as the strategic layer between stakeholders and the technical systems team and help match the Salesforce roadmap and vision to the overall needs of the business.
Keep in mind that all of these skill sets exist on a spectrum - you can hire an Admin that has Business Analyst or Product Manager capabilities - it's just a matter of measuring realistic output from a single individual.
How Many Salesforce Admins Do Startups Have In-House?
Smaller startups with less than 200 reps tend to think that they can do with just 1 Admin. This is a common mistake, and here are examples of companies who are investing in their Admin layer.
DailyPay
Vanta
Orum
Admins
2
3
2
Salesforce Admin Role Compared
Each role within the Salesforce ecosystem plays a unique and complementary role in the success of Salesforce teams and the ROI it brings to its organization. It’s important to differentiate between all Salesforce roles, but Admin is particularly important because it tends to have expanded responsibilities in different types of teams.
Salesforce Admin vs. Product Owner
Salesforce Admin vs. Salesforce Developer
Salesforce Admin vs. GTM Systems Admin
Hiring a Salesforce Admin
The only way to truly get the most out of your Salesforce instance is by investing in it. Adding resources is how you make sure you get more value out of the tool than you got on day one. Adequate resourcing can look many different ways, but the most common are either building your in-house Salesforce team, or hiring Independent Salesforce Contractors or Freelancers.
We believe that a mix of both is best. You can have an in-house team laying the foundation, while boosting capacity with the help of hourly Salesforce Contractors. There comes a time when the most efficient thing you can do is add Contractors instead of more FTEs. Let’s dive into why…
Full-Time Salesforce Admin vs. Salesforce Contractor
When deciding between full-time Salesforce Admin hires and external Contractors, you need to consider the organizational needs today while also balancing the anticipated future workload.
Full-Time Salesforce Admin
Ability to develop a deep understanding of the underlying business processes, context that can be used to craft better long-term solutions
Build long-term, ongoing relationships with stakeholders that helps develop trust between business and technical teams.
Higher commitment for an organization, in addition to added costs beyond salary (benefits, PTO, professional development etc.)
Salesforce Contractors
Offers flexibility in terms of engagement duration and the ability to scale up or down hours on an as need basis.
Brings more diverse experience from a large range of companies and the ability to hire Contractors for specific initiatives that may not be ongoing needs
Lower overall cost when only paying for time worked, no PTO or benefits etc.
Tips for Interviewing a Salesforce Administrator
When hiring a Salesforce Admin or engaging a Contractor, it’s important to first understand the type of Admin your team needs before even diving into the technical skills assessment.
Some questions to ask yourself:
Is this Salesforce Admin joining a big team or will they be a solo Admin?
It’s imperative to define the type of profile your Salesforce Admin needs in terms of experience and background. Bigger teams will likely have more process and guardrails in place around the role, so focusing on an individual that is purely tactical with strong hands-on capabilities is likely the right profile. In contracts, a Rev Ops team welcoming its first Salesforce Admin will need an individual with a much broader skill set outside of just hands-on execution, including the ability to work with stakeholders as a Business Analyst, contribute to some design decisions like a Product Manager, and more.
What type of project they’ll be working on?
You’ll probably be better off hiring someone who’s done the type of work you need to get done. It might be beneficial, for example, to bring in an Admin who has specifically worked on a revamp to CPQ when rolling out consumption-based pricing if that’s the type of work you're tackling.
Be sure you align the profile of your Salesforce Admin with your company's stage in the Salesforce journey - implementing, optimizing, overhauling, or simply maintaining status quo with incremental build.
What is the state of your Salesforce Org today?
Before adding anyone to the Salesforce team - Admin or otherwise - be very honest with yourself about the health of the org. While it's obvious to hire someone with experience in your industry, growth stage, and size, you also want an individual that has worked with the kinds of challenges they will face in your org.
Perhaps you have a ton of integrations or complex data structures.
You might be dealing with a ton of technical debt that needs to be navigated for new deployments.
Some companies have highly structured release management processes, while others lack process.
Salesforce Admin Contractor Hourly Rates
The skills and experience of a Salesforce Admin vary when looking at job title alone, so the hourly rates can be wide.
Be sure to have a clear idea of your needs and and define where this individual will contribute across tactical Admin, Business Analysis, and Product Management.
As of 2024, you can expect the following general ranges for Salesforce Admin Contractors:
Mid-level Salesforce Admin: $85/hour to $95/hour
Senior Salesforce Admin: $95/hour to $110/hour
Lead Salesforce Admin: $110/hour to $130/hour
Additionally, specialized skills in areas like Salesforce CPQ, Marketing Cloud, or industry-specific solutions will command higher rates. Remember that while higher rates might seem daunting, the cost of getting it wrong will end up being significant in the future.
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