HubSpot sales enablement is something Six & Flow has always dabbled in, but over the last 12 months it's an area we've focused on perfecting. It's a natural evolution of the work we were already doing, using HubSpot to give clients more than just leads.
We're firm believers in the sales process being closely intertwined with marketing, and the fact that a little automation can go a long way. We've used HubSpot Sales Pro enablement tools internally, so we understand just how useful it can be.
For this reason, we wanted to share the love and offer sales enablement services to our clients too!
Adimus is a global distributor of investment products. The company partners with asset managers to distribute a range of financial products to a network of professional intermediaries across the UK, Europe, UAE and Asia.
When we first became acquainted, the company was struggling with fragmented, siloed data sets spread across individuals’ phones and laptops. Adimus knew there were more opportunities to be exploited amongst its network, but they couldn't do it without an organised framework in place. There was therefore a need to streamline and combine current sales processes and client data storage, to form a globally accessible company-wide CRM tool.
Six & Flow took on the challenge of making Adimus more efficient and effective in delivering communications to clients, and communicating internally too. We were confident the implementation of HubSpot Sales Pro enablement tools and a comprehensive marketing automation process would enable sustained growth and improvement across all parts of the company.
After an introductory chat, Adimus was also keen to learn more about how HubSpot can work in conjunction with other software systems. We therefore investigated several integrations which would enable the sales teams to access high levels of data about individual contacts, and allow the company's marketing teams to nurture leads based on sales team activity.
This sales and marketing alignment is one of the most effective tools in modern business development and growth, so we organised a full-day workshop to explore these themes in more detail.
Here at Six & Flow, we're perfecting our workshop agenda which aims to gather a comprehensive overview of new clients.
When it came to Adimus, we made sure to investigate:
• Core business activities
• Business objectives (short, medium and long term)
• Challenges, strengths, unique selling points
• Client overview (current standard, and ideal)
• Product overview (target market, buying cycle, sales frequency)
• Sales process (data, employees and clients to be structured within CRM)
Our first challenge was combining all the fragmented data sets stored in various places, creating a neat and unified body of information for multiple users to access.
Six & Flow held a one-day workshop to understand existing data sets, embedded processes, data organisation needs and areas for automation and improvement. Once this information was garnered, implementation was planned out across the HubSpot CRM.
We also helped to create regionalised global reporting structures, and added custom fields within the HubSpot CRM to suit the unique needs of Adimus.
The second challenge we faced was finding a way to reduce the time spent by sales and business development representatives on non-core administrative activities. This includes lead nurturing activities – think chasing up emails, returning calls and keeping leads warm.
Once the initial CRM setup was in place, Six & Flow were tasked with implementing a series of automated workflows which could efficiently organise data and effectively nurture clients and potential investment owners.
Using information gathered in the workshop session, Six & Flow identified where marketing automation and sales enablement could be introduced. This included integrations such as digital contract signing, live phone line validations and invoice automation.
Custom email sequences and templates for repetitive emails were built, featuring automated meeting links. These all helped to ensure efficient scheduling of the sales team’s time, improve consistency in contact rates, and remove repetitive tasks such as chasing compliance.
When a client or investment owner takes specific actions, or new product/client matches are outlined, tasks and reminder tasks can also be set for sales staff.This automation empowers sales teams with information, saves them time, and helps to manage their workload.
Last but not least, Six & Flow needed to provide training for Adimus staff in order for all the new processes and software to be rolled out. This was provided within the workshop session held at Six & Flow, and via ongoing support. For instance, we used screen capture software to produce tailored training videos which run through a range of relevant HubSpot processes.
HubSpot also provides the sales team with its own training academy and software certifications, sharing expertise on the more practical elements of HubSpot use.
Six & Flow also identified opportunities for integration with various external software, in order to complement HubSpot and streamline processes further.
To automate the deals process and lifecycle stage updates in HubSpot, we integrated with Xero via the HubSpot API at the invoice stage. This means the status of a customer can be updated in the CRM without manual input from the finance team.
To automate the contract signing process, integrating with Adobe Sign allows all contracts to be digitally signed and notifications to be sent every step of the way.
HubSpot Sales extension for Gmail automates a full record of all communication within the HubSpot CRM, ensuring data is stored for compliance and sales purposes.
Using a third party API, the validity of a mobile number can be checked before the contact reaches the sales team. Where a number is invalid, the contact can be entered into an email nurturing process to acquire the required data.
To allow for easy and robust API connections for all of the third party services suggested here, we recommended using Zapier, an API integration platform.
Finally, the workshop allowed us to identify various other opportunities for automation within the sales process for Adimus to consider in the next stage of the CRM implementation.
Where due diligence is not completed as part of the introductory phone call, we could design and build a landing page where prospects can answer the requisite questions, with answers automatically entered into HubSpot. This form could also be used by sales agents on the phone or in the field when talking to a prospect.
Similar to the due diligence process, this would give sales agents and account managers a simple web form to add in new introducers to the HubSpot CRM. This will help to eliminate data entry errors and could be expanded for every dropdown field identified at the start of this document.
A lead scoring system would ensure that agents are only passed leads once they meet certain criteria (e.g. valid details, significant engagement such as emails opened).
So there we are, that's our journey so far with Adimus.
We predict that the automation of multiple non-core activities, such as managing invoices, contracts and lead contact details will increase time efficiency by 60%. This significant boost will allow our client to scale up work without expanding the Adimus sales team, keeping outgoings under control whilst boosting profits.
It doesn't stop there though - as you can see, we've found plenty other tools and processes which might benefit Adimus in the future, and we're happy to support them for as long as they need us. It's what we do!