Picture the scene: you walk into your local spaceship showroom, knowing nothing about spaceships other than that they’re big and fast.
The salesperson teaches you all about what a spaceship is, how it works, sells you on the bells and whistles (laser guns, 0-600 in 3.2 seconds, heated rear windscreen).
“That sounds amazing” you tell him, imagining yourself pulling up outside the local. “I’ll take one!”
You sign the papers, he hands over the keys, and then… you try to drive it.
You can’t even get it off the ground, let alone get it up to lightspeed as promised.
You tell all your mates you’ve bought one, but a few weeks later, you end up back in your trusty old Ford Focus.
Your spaceship just sits there, in the garage, completely unused and unloved until the lease is up two years later.
And that’s exactly what happens when most companies buy HubSpot.
What on earth am I on about?
I’d like to say here that I have nothing against the employees of HubSpot. From my experience, they’re good people who are great at what they do.
The problem is that so many companies sign up to HubSpot expecting it to just sort of go, like an Uber does, with no further input needed from you.
Either that or they sign up knowing that there will be a fair bit of driving to be done, but not realising that HubSpot is much more of a Millenium Falcon than it is a Go Kart.
There are hundreds and hundreds of companies out there who have signed up for HubSpot, are paying thousands for the system but don’t really know how to fly it.
Sound familiar?
To be fair, that’s no-one’s fault
Of course HubSpot are going to do everything they can to sell the product (which, by the way, does work).
And of course companies are going to buy into the idea of a magical marketing machine that, once purchased, will create a second stream of hot leads into their sales team’s pipeline.
Between those two, however, is a massive missing piece of the puzzle: the pilot.
Most companies don’t have the time to invest in the constant training and adoption of a new system.
So what most companies out there need is the pilot to fly it for them. You know where you want to go, you just don’t have the pilot’s license to get there.
Sadly, many HubSpot customers either never get off the ground at all or end up lost, miles off course, wondering how on earth they ended up so far off course.
What makes it even worse, though, is that done right, HubSpot can be the dog’s bollocks.
It can produce leads every single month, close the gap between sales and marketing, improve your awareness of lead activity and everything else HubSpot promise it can do. It just needs a bit of love and knowledge to get it off the ground.
Getting HubSpot Off the Ground
You’ve got various options when it comes to getting off the ground.
Option #1: In-house
The obvious one is trying to learn the system in-house. The problem is that everyone’s already so busy doing their jobs that they don’t want to take on even more responsibility.
If you ask one of the sales team to get to grips with it, they’ll complain it’s a waste of time as they could be selling instead. What’s more, it will negatively impact their ability to hit their sales target that month.
The marketing department might be a bit different: often pretty technical, anyway, a marketing manager or team member is often busy, but without the monthly target of sales.
That said, sales still need to implement the system too for the whole thing to work across the business.
So what are your other options?
Option #2: Hire someone
The other option is to bring in a HubSpot specialist (or at least someone who’s got experience with the system) full-time.
Adding them as part of your team can work wonders. Not only will they hit the ground and add value to the team immediately, they’re also there to learn your pain points first-hand and physically work with the team to improve what’s being done at the moment.
The challenge is finding someone.
HubSpot expertise isn’t easy to advertise for. There’s also the issue of affordability and risk: what if you take someone on and things don’t work out or you can’t afford a full monthly wage at the moment?
If you can, great. Go for it. But sometimes, that’s easier said than done.
Option #3: Outsource HubSpot Management
Obviously we were going to bring this one up. We are a HubSpot marketing agency, after all.
That said, outsourcing to a HubSpot marketing agency is a good option for businesses that don’t want to take someone on full-time and don’t have the resource in-house to implement the system better.
Agencies can hit the ground running. This isn’t their first rodeo, so to speak, so after a few conversations, will know not only exactly what needs to be done to generate better results, but also how to do it.
Outsourcing also means you’ve got the expertise of a whole team rather than just one or two people, ensuring higher quality work.
Outsourcing isn’t for everyone, of course. There’s a cost involved with outsourcing your HubSpot portal management and a small investment in time would be needed at the start to get them up to speed on your currently situation. That said, the benefits can massively outweigh the negatives.
When you’re ready to take off in your brand-new HubSpot spaceship, you need to talk to our expert HubSpot pilots.
Of course, none of us can actually fly, but as we’re a HubSpot marketing agency, we’ll have you seeing real value from your HubSpot in no time at all.
