Program Manager Launch Certification: What Did You Learn?

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K
Userlevel 1
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  1. What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?  That in order to unlock Gong’s full customization potential, it is essential to complete the certification program.

  2. What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?  Take your time to complete the full Program Manager Certification Program (even if you think that parts are relevant only to Tech Admins) - it will give you a holistic understanding and save you time in the long run.

 

E
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First off, this is such a great comprehensive course for Program Managers. I really loved that it highlighted Gong’s adaptability. There is no one size fits all, and through the learnings and exam it really brought the flexibility Program Managers have to customize the platform to meet their unique business objectives. My biggest advice for Program Managers is to keep a pulse on/adapt your Gong settings as your business initiatives naturally iterate to surface key insights and metrics. 

S
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What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

 

Gong has incredible resources at your disposal to ensure that implementation, rollout, onboarding and adoption of Gong in your organization is as smooth and effective as possible. All the answers are at your finger tips through the Academy, the Help Center, and the Community! Utilize these resources to both educate and give you great ideas on how to set up and roll out Gong to your users! 

Levy Sinyor
Userlevel 1
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What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?

All the moving parts and components that make up a successful program in Gong. There is so much power, but with power comes great responsibility. This PM role is special and the rewards and results if done correctly are unfounded. This Cert is a great place to start and get grounded with these. 

What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

Speak to people! There are clearly so many personalities that can be involved in Gong, get their perspective, ask their advice, parter with your CSM, the Gong community is a wealth of knowledge!

K
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What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification? 

This certification is full of rich content that all PMs can benefit from learning. I appreciated the quick guided videos for different aspects of the technical setup, and I will definitely be using those as resources I share with future Gong PMs during implementations. There are so many components to think about when planning an effective rollout of Gong, and it truly depends on your team and organization - I feel like this course helped outline all possible angles and considerations. 

What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

My #1 piece of advice for a new PM implementing Gong would be to start to think about the long term right out the gate. Setting up the tool from a technical perspective can be relatively straightforward, but identifying the right stakeholders long term that will help shape how your team engages and adopts Gong will be critical for your success. 

S
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  1. What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification? I have a much better understanding of how best to solve business problems when there are multiple potential solutions with Gong - Gong will generate a lot of incredible insights and being able to filter data down in specific use cases is so valuable. I feel empowered to favor the long term now that I have a deeper understanding of both details of Gong config and use cases for different personas in Gong. 

  2. What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong? Put good data in, get good data out! Spend the time and effort to organize and optimize your setup in Gong from the get-go. As you continue to unlock reality with Gong, stay in tune with feedback from your managers and users, be thoughtful about your trackers and deal boards, and don’t be afraid to iterate on your processes. Gong on its own is powerful to begin with, but there’s really a huge difference in what insights Gong can surface for your company if you set it up thoughtfully. 

T
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I found that there is an ever-evolving opportunity to learn more about the platform.  New tools, capabilities, and feature functionality kept this assessment from being easy.

 

This assessment has made me feel more confortable and confident to speak to other PM’s, and help empower them on their journey with Gong.  For new PM’s, it is crucial to understand the integration process and this assessment help guide those learnings.

S
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What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?

I really liked how this certification highlighted and explored all of the resources Gong provides their Program Managers in order to make them successful.  Between the Community, the Help Center, and the Academy, there is such a wealth of educational documentation at your fingertips.  It's important to stay connected to these resources and to review your settings on an ongoing basis to make sure you're on top of the latest Gong features and that your current setup is best supporting your evolving business.

 

What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

Have grace with yourself as you work through the launch process.  It takes time to learn not only the product, but also best practices for launch and ongoing adoption across your teams.  Make sure you're building the right team internally with the necessary resources you'll need in order to make your launch successful!  From the supportive executive sponsor down to the tech admin who has the access needed to help with implementation, having the correct stakeholders involved is truly imperative!

Isabella Grandchamp
Userlevel 2
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In the beginning, I thought the content would be too technical for my level of expertise in the platform, but I soon realised that wasn’t the case at all. The launching is in fact very simple and straightforward , simply follow the steps and you should be fine. By the end of the certification I had so many ideas in mind and I can’t wait to put them in practice .

J
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  1. What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification? 
    There was so much to learn from this training/certification assessment… how could I relay it all in one reply?! I think the best way to sum it up is that, no matter how much you may know about this tool, there is always room to learn more and further educate yourself. This certification truly makes me excited to share my excitement of the tool! 

  2. What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?
    This tool is simple to explain at the surface level, but its success will drive from how much your organizations Exec’s, and FLM contribute and push the tools usage. The tool is only as useful as it is used. 

Joe Franks
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This is one of the first technical courses geared towards training in program management and/or enablement that I have personally completed. I enjoyed learning about the reasoning behind planning programs and establishing systems that provide structure to end-users. I spent a good amount of time learning the RAPID and RASCI models for developing “a high-level foundation for decision-making and ownership”, which helped me think of opportunities to improve our current system layouts, strategies, and structure. Every time I log in to Gong, I now feel more equipped to create systems that help end-users surface needed information in a timely manner, collaborate with colleagues / leaders, and ultimately improve the organization’s GTM function by leveling up individual talent. I appreciated that there seems to be a clear purpose and description (WHY) behind every feature in Gong, because that equips me to cast a vision for the tool and improve buy-in with the team. Gong is a powerful platform and I can’t wait to see how the team continues to improve by utilizing the tool. - Joe

S
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What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification? 
Gong is not only a valuable product for enabling/supporting Sales teams, but also an incredible product to assist the functions of groups across an organization. Key roles with a great ROI from Gong include Customer Success, Product teams, and Engineers. 

What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?
Take advantage of the customization features available to you as a Business Admin! Gong Trackers, Deal Boards, and Libraries unlock a significant amount of capability for your reps, and implementing them prior to launch will only help serve your organization in the long-run!

Jose Loera
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  • What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?

    • The most important thing I learned during this certification is approaching the launch with all the necessary players needed to have a seamless experience. You need technical access, thought leadership, strategic guidance, and organization. 

  • What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

    • The #1 piece of advice I would offer is to create a task force that will continually update and configure Gong to best support their company’s strategic goals and priorities (including a regularly planned review of trackers, boards, vocab, settings, etc...)

J
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What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

Give yourself grace, and take the process one step at a time. There is a lot of information that’s covered, and absorbed, but just pace yourself, and don’t be afraid if you get the answer wrong the first time. This is definitely a journey of learning. The more you are in the platform, the easier it is to get familiar with how everything works.

C
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This was a fantastic certification course that makes sure you come away with a solid foundation, as well as best practices you can start applying.  You’ll understand how the platform works, and how you can solve strategic problems.

My recommendation for new program managers is to come back and reference the learning modules and share the academy resources so that you can support the rest of your launch team, and get everyone excited and on the same page.  Be thoughtful in how you want to set up your first programs, and set your foundation for success.

Hannah Finn
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What a thorough certification - I learned so much! 

 

My number one piece of advice for Program Managers is to approach your Gong rollout with a thoughtful plan that will set your company up for long term success. All the recommendations in this certification around building out a team to support your launch, creating a strong communication plan, and setting clear goals for how your company will leverage Gong will ensure that you not only launch smoothly but make Gong massively successful within your org!

Meg Dougherty
Userlevel 1
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  • What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?

    • This certification is not for the faint of heart! It’s an amazing role to have and continue to help scale and grow organizations while making everyone’s lives easier!

  • What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

    • It does not/should not all fall on your shoulders! Gong is an incredibly robust tool, and getting a COE in place is crucial to maximize your ROI.

Roxanne Minooeifar
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The most important thing I learned through the Program Manager Certification is that it is essential to have all the right stakeholders involved from the very beginning in order to get the most out of Gong. Gong has so many amazing features and functionalities that are customizable to you business and can make a really positive impact on your objectives, but it is crucial to have a clear vision of what the end goal is (the “why”), have the right people involved to get it implemented, and the right people involved for change management and adoption in order to more efficiently (and successfully) reach your North Star!

 

 

Rae Cheney
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What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification? 

That there is a wealth of information automatically being captured that I wasn’t aware of, and tools that I think will be easy sells to the teams who haven’t yet adopted the technology fully. Things like Whispers and Insights are great. Also, I want to investigate why we haven’t fully integrated Salesforce data, as I think the deal info would be a game changer in terms of usability.

What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

This is a tough one, as I am new Program Manager who is inheriting the program over a year after the initial implementation. From my perspective, I think the more features you can implement before rolling it out, the better off you will be and the easier the sell to your employees will be.

andybrink
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What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?

I learned so much during this certification. Brain: on! Top of mind is the understanding that launching Gong is not an endpoint; launch is only the beginning of an ongoing process of cultivating a living, ever-evolving resource. Gong isn’t “set it and forget it.” The tools that make it easy for users to unlock reality - libraries, streams, trackers, alerts - require ongoing refinement as priorities and landscapes change. This doesn’t create an administrative burden. Instead, Gong generates awesome opportunities to involve users (hey, tiger teams) and invite them to take ownership in fine-tuning their experience.  

 

What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

Be comfortable wearing both the tech admin and business admin hats, and maintain curiosity for both domains. I naturally gravitate toward the activities associated with the business admin side of things – enablement, coaching, creating libraries - but the more I know about what’s technically possible, the more value I can deliver on the business side. The more you know.

K
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My biggest piece of advice for a new Program Manager is to assemble an implementation team that will help you champion Gong at your company. It’s important to identify the people who will not only help you set up the platform, but also assist in longterm adoption.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of education! Gong is easy to use, but you don’t want to miss out on any best practices/ workflows that can only be picked up on from attending a training session or reading through a playbook! 

A
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  • The program certification helped deepen my knowledge of Gong, and I will definitely be sure to pass this knowledge to my team and my customers! The best practices section and individual learning modules helped deepen my knowledge on the product features and will help me communicate these best practices to other customers deploying Gong themselves!

  • My number #1 piece of advise I have for new Program Managers is to stay engaged and include your team your reps, and your managers along the way. Rolling out Gong successfully is a team effort and our most successful customers make sure they have buy-in across the team. In our experience, transparency from the top down is what leads to the most successful deployments.

Ian Gwynne
Userlevel 3
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  • What is the most important thing you learned during this Launch Certification?

I learned a lot about the benefits of the Salesforce/CRM integration, this is an area I am still working on internally to roll out and in the final stages of having it implemented which has gotten me really excited to share the value of the integration with the rest of the sales org. Over all I learned the overall value of Gong for a wide range of roles at my organization which will help me build an internal business case for expanding gong into different roles and functions of the business! This was a great certification which I really wish I had completed before rolling out Gong internally! #alwayslearning

  • What is your #1 piece of advice for a new Program Manager who is implementing Gong?

Complete this Program Manager certification as you are rolling out Gong or shortly after, it will immensely help you learn more about the value of the platform and the benefits of Gong for different roles, responsibilities and it will save you a ton of time trying to figure stuff out! Never stop learning and keep challenging yourself to expand your Gong knowledge. Don’t be afraid of trying out trackers in different shapes and forms - you don't know what you don't know until you try!

N

My biggest piece of advice for a new PM would be to not try to muddle through setting up Gong alone! We have such great resources in our help articles, the Gong Academy, and live trainings. There are so many things that are referenced as best practices, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Brandon James
Userlevel 4
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The most important thing I learned during this certification was that with the right level of understanding of what Gong can do, there are so many ways to set up your company for success with Gong regardless of the industry you’re in, sales motion you have or technical constraints that limit how your data can flow into Gong or how it can be accessed once its there. Gong is an extremely powerful organization tool and with thoughtful planning and execution, your launch will be fantastic and your team will love it and reap the benefits in the short and long term.

 

My #1 piece of advice for a new program manager who is implementing Gong (other than getting Certified ASAP) is to make sure they are as detailed in their communications as possible with their Gong team, with their internal executive stakeholders and with the user population. Gong is simultaneously very simple and very complex and the more thorough communications are, the more accurately steps can be taken in a timely manner that will set everyone up for long term success. In particular, your Gong implementation and CS team prides themselves on their ability to deliver an excellent experience and quality partnership and is well versed in executing to this objective so with more transparency around what your situation is and what you need from them, the better they will be able to help you shine as the leader of this initiative for your organization. 

Brandon James

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