DataOceans HubSpot Implementation

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Kaleigh Blessard: Today we've been asked to describe our approach to onboarding, including the initial kickoff call and the actions that result from that call. Do you remember the approach we took?

Shannon Greenberg: Yes, of course I do. We started by researching the client and reviewing notes from past calls with our sales teams. We then discussed their past experience with similar tools and what they were hoping to get out of HubSpot. We made sure to adhere closely to HubSpot's objectives-based onboarding best practices when it came to structuring the calls and keeping ourselves on task.

Kaleigh Blessard: That's right. We also wanted to come to the kickoff meeting armed with some recommendations for how HubSpot can be used to immediately address some of their needs and fill gaps in their current tech stack. We recommended the marketing hub, sales hub, CMS, and the HubSpot Salesforce integration.

Shannon Greenberg: We also discussed how we would handle times when the customer had more goals and objectives that could be reasonably met within phase one.

Kaleigh Blessard: Because this was their first time engaging with marketing, there was an urgency to start pushing out materials ASAP. So we started a parking lot list of requests. Then we put dates around when each could be accomplished and explained why certain parts of the process must be accomplished before the parking lot items.

Shannon Greenberg: We also used this as an opportunity to have quick wins, even if they were not in place to send marketing emails immediately. We helped them connect with their social channels into HubSpot, so they could easily manage their social media strategy. Right there in HubSpot. That was a quick and easy victory.

Kaleigh Blessard: But it wasn't always easy.

Shannon Greenberg: We faced some challenges setting up integrations. There was a learning curve on those platforms. This was the first time the client would be running marketing programs. So we wanted to make sure we were clearly communicating the process for setup and marketing plans so they would have the knowledge they needed to execute future campaigns.

Kaleigh Blessard: There was a lot of pressure and testing, such as adding a new Business Development Representative (BDR) to their team and proving the value. We were very deliberate in how we trained and documented the sales process for this BDR using HubSpot and Zoominfo. We were also specific in walking leadership through dashboards, notifications, and reporting around these tasks to help them better manage the program. Even though we are their strategic partner, we wanted to ensure they were empowered to navigate the system on their own.

Shannon Greenberg: We kept the customer on track, and we were able to achieve all their goals by creating a detailed project plan with weekly meetings to ensure everything was moving on time. We agreed on a regular meeting cadence to ensure we had good check-ins throughout the process. We also created a project plan broken down task by task to ensure each person from each team could see exactly what was expected from them in one place.

Kaleigh Blessard: And we were able to minimize time loss owing to missed deadlines by setting up automated reminder emails and engaging specific team members on or just after expected due dates. Finally, how did we handle scope creep?

Shannon Greenberg: We reminded the client of the reasoning behind our process and emphasized why focusing on creating a strong foundation was imperative to their success. We then created an SOW to provide additional support post-onboarding.

Kaleigh Blessard: The client also requested to sync data back and forth between HubSpot and another platform. We explained the importance of one-directional data flow and having one source of truth to help them understand why syncing back and forth could be problematic for their specific needs.

Shannon Greenberg: In the end, our approach and the actions we took resulted in a successful onboarding process that empowered the client to achieve their goals and set them up for continued success with HubSpot. It was a challenging project, but I'm proud of the work we did and the positive impact that it had on our client’s business.