HubSpot is known for helping companies grow. However, to get from 100 to 10,000 customers in record time, everything needs to be organized including your crew. The whole team must learn how to use the tool to take advantage of its potential.
HubSpot is an extremely powerful tool designed to make the lives of marketing, sales, and service teams simpler. However, users tend to underuse it because it has so much depth and ways to automate manual processes. Not optimizing their use of the software leaves companies without the expected ROI.
As an intuitive tool focused on the end-user, those who work with it understand more as they continue to use it. While that’s great, a shaky foundation from poor configurations makes the tool less productive and impacts the adoption rate. Without knowing how to use the service to benefit their company, users cannot maximize their growth. That is why companies turn to experts to help them implement it, ensuring that their employees are making the most out of it. Purchasing the product is only the first part of the equation. Having it optimized is where the magic really happens.
So, what are the options?
Doing it on your own (free but challenging)
This is the cheapest option, but it is time-consuming and it’s on you to learn and better understand the platform. The learning curve is steep. It also helps to have everyone on the team agree because a project of this size tends to generate a lot of friction and resistance to change. Without an expert, there will be more trial and error that can translate into frustrations for both the operational and management team. If you're already investing in the HubSpot Marketing Hub, going the free route could take you one step forwards and three steps back throughout the implementation process.
If you're convinced that doing a HubSpot implementation on your own isn’t practical for your goals, you're probably overwhelmed by the countless alternatives available. In short, there are two main options. The first is going directly to HubSpot's team of specialists and the second is doing it through a solutions partner. Let's talk about the first:
HubSpot Advanced Implementation ($15,000)
Who better to introduce you to the world of HubSpot than HubSpot themselves? This company, understanding the importance of implementing its software well, has created a specialized plan for clients who want support in starting up their business from a strategic and technical point of view. The plan is designed to help users during every implementation stage, taking their main goals and needs into account.
One of the key elements of HubSpot is the database used which is why the advanced implementation includes official help in migrating the current data that your company manages to the new platform. This guarantees that the base is clean, functional, and ready for use.
The second element that this option focuses on is integrating the platform with your tech stack since it will be useless to have the information separated in silos. It also includes data migration and the setup of custom integrations between your current tech stack and this tool.
The team of specialists assigned to your account will give you advice on how to develop advanced strategies for complex use cases within the platform and, with their years of experience in knowing their own product, a series of good practices and actions to benefit your sales and marketing team.
The plan is divided into several stages that run for a period of approximately 12 weeks:
Research and Setup (weeks 1 and 2)
In this stage, your current software and resources are reviewed, the implementation team is decided on, and the plan for the following weeks is defined.
Strategy and Data Migration (weeks 3 and 4)
Here, defining your requirements and the requirements of the platform continues. The alignment between marketing and sales is discussed to unify goals and your company’s different processes are mapped. Additionally, the first forms are created, segmentations are made according to the buyer personas, and the existing data is imported.
Launching the First Campaigns (weeks 5 and 6)
Here, your team is trained on how to use segmentation tools, and the first mailing lists for campaigns as well as the templates used are created. The first campaign is sent. Then, the different automated flows that follow it are sent. Reports are designed to see advances in income and third-party applications get connected to your CRM.
Automation and Reporting (weeks 7 and 8)
By the end of the first half of the implementation, the tool should be set up to start with automation for lead qualification (SQL and MQL). Optimizations are made to the forms from weeks 3 and 4, campaign reports are created through reporting libraries, and your existing reports are recreated within HubSpot.
Teaching and Additions (weeks 9 and 10)
In the final stretch, essential knowledge is shared with your internal team to empower their use of the tool. Automated workflows are created for database segmentations, lead qualification is continued, custom event triggers are implemented, and intelligent A/B content is created.
Optimization (weeks 11 and 12)
The experts update your team with everything they need to know, the growth plan is reviewed, and the initial settings are maximized to leave the platform at its best for your company.
As you can see, the HubSpot implementation plan is extremely organized with a structure that benefits most companies. Its advantage is working directly with platform specialists, ensuring that you are in good hands. The cost, as well as the structure of the plan, are fixed and cannot be modified.
And it is precisely this last part that could lead you to consider the other alternative: going to a HubSpot solutions partner and having a plan that is tailored to your business.
HubSpot Solutions Partner Implementation (starting at $8,800)
The first thing to consider when talking about a HubSpot solutions provider is that they are specialized teams that specialize in using the platform even if they don’t work directly at HubSpot. They still have the same expertise and are equipped with main certifications the software offers, making this another safe option to choose.
The main advantage over the previous option is how the solutions provider tailors its plan to you. Instead of having a rigid 12-week scheme where every action is mapped out before the team meets you, the partner designs a system focused on tackling the main pain points of your team and organizing the platform in a much more personalized way.
There are partners that invest more time in configuring the platform, others that center on training their clients' staff, and others combine both sides to give their business partners a complete experience.
For most partners, their goal is to better understand your business before starting with the implementation. Different workshops are held to understand the company's core needs, their most common pain points, and the challenges they aim to overcome with HubSpot. Based on these calls, a custom plan is made and everyone who will be in contact with the platform is trained, guaranteeing a fluid adoption and future additional support for your business. With this process, the implementation does not always end after the first weeks of onboarding. Instead, you can choose to have a team at your disposal to help you continue to grow and improve the platform constantly.
A HubSpot onboarding plan with a solutions partner like CRM Toolbox looks like this:
- Customer Value Journey Workshop: how are you communicating with your prospects and customers at every part of the journey
- Smarketing 101: Alignment workshops between the marketing and sales teams
- Customer Life Cycle Stages Workshop: workshops on the different stages within the customer life cycle including marketing and sales alignment
- Account-Based Marketing Workshop: how to work for accounts and not for specific clients
- (Re)Configuration of HubSpot if you are a recurring user or if you are a new user
- Tool adoption training is divided into 5 base modules:
- Lead Capture and Conversion: In this training, we cover the platform’s different properties including preconfigured and custom designs, forms and pop-ups, landing pages, blogs, and call-to-action buttons. The goal is to understand how to efficiently capture and convert each of the prospects that interact with your brand.
- Lead Nurturing: Now that you have a healthy lead database, it's time to work on nurturing them forward on their buyer journey. Here, we'll look at marketing automation, email marketing tools, and lead qualification.
- Automation and Personalizing Campaigns: This course covers the creation of lists, smart content and automated chat flows, and chatbots.
- Organic Growth: Organic traffic is one of the foundations of inbound marketing. This workshop is designed to cover creating content that drives traffic to your site, blogs, topic groups, and social media.
- Inbound Campaigns and Reports: This last module helps you know what works well by teaching you how to have full visibility of your campaigns. We create the necessary reports in HubSpot and help you identify the key metrics to help you increase your decision-making power based on data.
Working with a partner combines the theoretical part of marketing with the important practical part of setting up the tool, maximizing its potential and adapting to the needs of each company.
If you still have doubts about which option best suits the needs of your company, you can schedule a call with me. I would love to hear about your challenges are try to find a solution with you.
