As a Gainsight admin, you play a critical role in shaping the Customer Success experience at your company. But how do you go from being just another admin to someone who truly stands out? Here are some ideas:
1. Be a User Champion
You will see better adoption of Gainsight and build trust with the team if you do things that make the CSMs' lives easier. Can you reduce a few clicks on a process? Decrease the amount of required fields? Create a dashboard that has the quarter KPIs all in one place? Find little things you can do to improve the user experience. Feedback about your work will spread, and leaders will appreciate that you are giving their team a good experience.
This also means you may have to push back on things if you believe they would negatively impact the users. No matter how shiny and exciting, it's probably not a great idea to implement a brand new feature if you have poor adoption on main features like Timeline or CTAs. Share this data with the stakeholders, and discuss ways to improve your existing processes.
2. Have an Intake System
If your team doesn’t already have a structured intake and prioritization process, create one. If possible, use a task management tool or Kanban board to track your requests and work completed. If your users are already using a specific tool, try to use the same tool! This will help with adoption and change management. As much as possible, enforce everyone using your system to avoid confusion. A good system will help you manage your workload and provide transparency into your work.
A common challenge is handling urgent requests that disrupt planned work. Instead of immediately shifting your priorities, ask questions like this:
This approach forces stakeholders to assess trade-offs rather than continuously adding last-minute tasks.
3. Know the Business Goals
Understand your company's objectives, whether they focus on retention, expansion, or operational efficiency. If your organization follows OKRs or other goal-setting frameworks, tie your projects to those priorities. When leadership sees that your work directly impacts key business metrics, your influence will grow.
Even if you are a full-time employee, adopt a consultant mindset. Treat your internal stakeholders as clients and create documentation that ensures long-term sustainability. Write knowledge base articles, link projects to relevant documentation, and maintain transparency in decision-making.
4. Document Everything
One of the best ways to set yourself apart is by documenting your work. Whether it's writing down processes, creating short explainer videos, or even using AI tools like ChatGPT to generate summaries - anything is better than nothing. Good documentation helps your team, ensures continuity, and makes onboarding easier for future admins.
5. Provide Solutions
When leadership or others come to you with a request, instead of allowing them to prescribe how to do it, offer multiple solutions. Dig deeper to understand the underlying problem they are trying to solve. If their proposed solution isn't ideal, suggest a better approach that meets the same goal without unnecessary complexity.
It's tempting to say yes to every request from leadership, but great admins know when and how to push back. Your job is to be the expert in your domain. If you blindly follow instructions without questioning their impact, you might not be adding real value. Instead, engage in discussions, clarify objectives, and ensure the proposed solution aligns with best practices before executing.
Conclusion
Standing out as a Gainsight admin isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what matters most. Applying these ideas will not only make you a more effective admin but will also position you as a strategic partner within your organization. The key to standing out isn’t just technical skill - it’s the ability to think strategically, communicate effectively, and advocate for both leadership and end-users alike.
Illustrations by Storyset
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