Are you new to HubSpot or ready to take on your subscription to Marketing, Sales or Service? This article will provide you with all the information you will need to get started along your journey.
So, let's get started…
It all starts with onboarding - to help businesses reach their goals through a guided consultation for their HubSpot subscription set-up. These consultations usually last for a specific time frame. An onboarding plan for each Hub subscription will be tailored to a client depending on their goals, the size of the company, its complexity and the integration requirements with other tech stacks used within their business.
Onboarding is all about getting the most out of your HubSpot subscription from the go, ensuring the platform is configured for your business no matter how challenging the user case may be. The way this is done is by ensuring that the tools are used in the best way possible and adapted to a range of situations to best serve your business. HubSpot tools are quite advanced and when used correctly, they will help to improve processes within your company.
Onboarding is very practical and a hands-on experience, ensuring businesses are self-sufficient by the end of the consultation. This offers a great amount of value, not only is it training on HubSpot but offers speed to market to allow your business to grow better with the platform.
Onboarding is used for many reasons, one being to alleviate any stresses a client may have when starting out on a new platform. If you do not fully understand the platform, then your experience may not be as positive as it could be. The help from a HubSpot specialist will reduce time faffing and get you set up for success at a much quicker pace.
Partner onboarding is whereby a HubSpot agency partner such as Fuelius implements the onboarding and actions everything - custom to your business needs, following a detailed consultancy at the start. They will recommend the best set-up tools, as well as aiming to understand how capable the team are to action the more complex tasks and be available to carry out the set-up on your behalf - you'll be educated on what all the tools do and how to use them once the onboarding is complete with a bespoke training manual.
With guided onboarding, the client is encouraged to use the HubSpot tools themselves, with the support of the HubSpot agency partner. The process may vary from client to client, but you may be looking at around 90 days to complete the process, with calls varying from weekly, to fortnightly.
A structured programme with a member of the HubSpot team to direct you through the platform weekly - with prep work and follow-up actions after each call to keep your onboarding on track.
Both approaches are useful and deliberate, however, the main difference between the two is that with partner onboarding, the agency will offer a more consultative approach to ensure the platform set-up meets your business requirements.
It's important to trust the process. What your onboarding partner has laid out for you has been intentional to help you reach success. That includes the exact format, as each tool will link into another. Ask your specialist for advice and support when needed, they are there to guide you so that you don't feel overwhelmed.
Preparation is key. Several tasks have to be done in the set-up process to ensure everything runs smoothly. Prepare before the consultation so that no time is wasted, all tasks are in order so that each step compliments one another. If a previous task is not completed, then it will slow down the order of everything else.
You will always reach the end goal, just one step at a time. Your partner is there to guide you throughout the process. Even though a task may seem trivial or possibly challenging, they are there for a reason and will help you reach success.
As a given, the people who will be using HubSpot should be involved, so that they can understand the platform and use it successfully. However, this may depend on your goals, so using the most relevant people would be beneficial.
Other than the marketing, sales and customer service departments, the website team should also be involved. This is so that they can set up future processes around the tools, to help the marketers use them effectively.
Only when the time is right should you introduce new users, this may depend on the case. Sometimes new users may be introduced early on and other times, later in the process.
Understanding who your main point of contact will be is very important so that questions can be answered efficiently and there is no confusion in communication from start to finish - think of them as your inhouse HubSpot ambassador. Not only will having a point of contact boost communication, but it'll also ensure everyone knows each other well and there is trust between parties.
HubSpot won't add your data to the CRM, however they can help you along with the process if it's a simple export during onboarding sessions. HubSpot can not handle your data because that would be considered bad data protection.
The same way that HubSpot won't add your data, neither will a partner. Although, there is the option through APIs to do an integration data transfer. On the other hand, when the system has completed setup, correct dropdown values and properties can be created on a spreadsheet template. After this has been done, the spreadsheet will be sent to you so that you can amend where it sees fit and you can then upload the data to your CRM yourself. Before starting with HubSpot, all of your data needs to be updated, most importantly email addresses and company names.
Partner onboarding can help with customisation. For example, Fuelius can help to build different elements such as email or landing page templates. Working together we can build customisation to uniquely suit your case and business, ensuring it functions just how it needs to.
If you are unable to find any template that will suit your requirements, then involving a third party is possible. Extra customisation will mean that coding may be needed and third parties can help with this. HubSpot developers can lend a helping hand to customise content to perfectly suit your brand. Fuelius have a team of HubSpot developers on hand if you want to do more so you'd be working with the same team of experts.
With partner onboarding you will have similar resources available to guided onboarding so take advantage of these. You will also have access to integrations, helpful advice, sector experience, support packages, manuals and training videos and more.
When onboarding, the HubSpot Customer Success Manager is crucial, being a point of contact. A helpful resource is ad hoc calls and access to the technical support team, helping with any queries relating to tech. There are lots of useful resources available on their knowledge base if you are struggling to find an answer.
The HubSpot Academy is a great resource to make the most of. It has plenty of helpful, educational, informational and industry-recognised courses that can support you in learning what you need to know about a range of topics. From content marketing to branding and insights, there is so much that you can learn. On top of this, there are webinars hosted by leading experts on HubSpot. Want to be part of our Liverpool HUG (HubSpot User Group)? - sign up here for our next event.
After the onboarding is complete, you should review everything that you have learnt and begin to put it into practice. Requirements and automation may have altered slightly from the start so revisit and be sure that everything will work in your favour. Don't forget to lean on the specialists for support and any advice.
When HubSpot’s insights are optimised, the platform will thrive. Keep track of any areas that need optimisation and keep these in folders so nothing gets lost. Also, keep an eye on the insights section, so that you can implement changes when necessary in a timely manner.
Do you want to find out more about getting started with HubSpot or have completed your onboarding and need some extra support? Contact us today.