Your business has been plugging along for a while at a nice pace, and now you’re looking to take things to the next level. You’re comfortable with your current marketing software and CRM, but you’re wondering if another tool could offer you more. You do some research, start reading about HubSpot, and become enamored with the ideas it could help you facilitate—both on the marketing side of your operations and perhaps on the sales and customer service side as well.
Suddenly, your excitement turns to dread when you start thinking through the logistics of onboarding your team and integrating digital assets with a new platform. Will I be able to replicate the processes I’ve enjoyed with my previous software solution? How long is it going to take to get started and see results? What if we make mistakes along the way? Is my team going to buy into the new tool, or will they become frustrated with learning new things?
All of these thoughts swirl into your mind, seeding doubt that you’ll be able to handle such a powerful and robust tool on your own.
Take a breath.
Before you panic or decide to ditch the idea altogether, the next question that should pop into your head is, “Should I be working with a Partner Agency for onboarding?” Well, if you’re serious about HubSpot and are looking to get the most value out of your investment with the platform, then your answer should be a resounding “YES!” Let’s dive into why.
Table of Contents
- HubSpot partner agency overview
- Save time, money, and frustration
- Expertise to set up tools correctly and reduce mistakes
- Everything under one roof
- Access to training specific to your needs
HubSpot partner agency overview
Before we dive into why you’d be wise to enlist the services of a partner agency for your onboarding needs, let’s first give a brief overview of how HubSpot partner agencies work.
HubSpot partner agencies, such as Raka, have years of experience using HubSpot and have developed advanced expertise in using all of their product lines and tools. When you decide to partner with an agency, their sole focus is to leverage their knowledge and resources to help you generate measurable marketing and sales outcomes by taking advantage of HubSpot’s advanced functionality.
The title “HubSpot Partner Agency” isn’t just handed out without merit; Partner Agencies go through rigorous training and certification programs to stay up-to-date on the platform’s latest technological advancements and to prove their capability as a trusted advisor to their clients on everything HubSpot. So, if you’re in the process of switching to HubSpot and don’t know where to start, it’s time to turn to the experts.
Implementing HubSpot with a Solutions Partner Agency is a great fit for companies that may lack internal resources to own the project and/or that have complex implementation requirements (e.g. multiple integrations, CRM setup, rep training etc.). Additionally, if the implementation is paired with a website design project or new marketing strategy, it may be better to work with an agency that can handle both, as they can ensure the website, strategy, and HubSpot platform are properly integrated. – Guillaume Delloue, Principal Channel Consultant at HubSpot
Here are four reasons why hiring a partner agency will ensure a successful HubSpot onboarding at your company:
1. Onboarding with a HubSpot partner saves time, money, and frustration
Going with a HubSpot solutions partner will benefit your organization right off the bat. The first benefit you’ll notice is monetary. By hiring a Partner Agency, the mandatory $3,000 onboarding fee is waived, but you’ll still receive all the value from the onboarding process. Sure, you’ll have to pay for the agency’s services, but you’ll reap much more value out of that investment long term.
While the HubSpot integrations team is great at what they do, their attention will always be divided across many different implementation projects. A Solutions Partner, on the other hand, will have much more bandwidth to devote their full attention to getting your new system set up and fully operational.
The next major benefit you’ll notice is in the form of time. Typically, when you partner with a solutions agency, they will run a pre-onboarding audit of your marketing and sales processes to figure out exactly which tools and subscription options will be best for your needs. This customized plan will mean you don’t waste time or money with tools that won’t serve your needs and free up resources that will allow you to prioritize the areas that will have the most impact.
Once a plan has been decided, the agency will handle (or can coach you through) the technical aspects of setting up your software, tracking codes, user profiles and permissions, and integrations with your other systems. This means you’ll spend less time setting things up and messing with code, and more time utilizing HubSpot and your marketing strategy to generate leads and close sales.
2. A HubSpot Solutions Partner’s expertise helps you set up tools correctly and avoid mistakes
Partner agencies have been around the onboarding block more than a few times. When it comes to setting up new software tools and implementing them correctly, some knowledge only comes with experience.
One of the biggest pitfalls we see when taking on new clients who come to us after a less-than-stellar onboarding is that key tools haven’t been set up properly. Examples of this could be:
- User permissions weren’t paid attention to, which led to a security breach, or mistakes being made within tools people shouldn’t have access to.
- Automation and workflows were set up incorrectly, which led to erroneous contact records or emails being sent to the wrong audience segments.
- Sales tools were misused, which led to more manual work from sales personnel and poor buy-in.
- Landing page or email templates that aren’t user-friendly and are difficult or time-consuming to customize.
- Lack of customized reporting dashboards to be able to easily surface the data on the metrics that matter most.
This is just a small list of the things we’ve encountered before, but in reality, this list could be endless. Unfortunately, most of the companies that came to us didn’t realize half of the issues they had within their account. When errors go unchecked for long periods of time, performance suffers.
By partnering with a Partner Agency, you’ll have experts to rely on to set up these tools correctly from the start to maximize their effectiveness. The valuable business results you can miss out on due to a poor understanding of HubSpot tools won’t ever affect you, and the agency will provide training and guidelines for best practices on tool usage before transitioning your team into using them. Oh, and if something unforeseen does occur, you have a dedicated team that will help you identify the issue and plan a path toward correcting it.
“Working with HubSpot partner Raka enabled us to amplify our adoption and scale exponentially faster than on our own. Raka trained, mentored, and tutored us so we could speed up our implementation with significant knowledge transfer. They were able to help us as quickly as we needed and were able to take the time-consuming and expensive foundational work off our plate so we could focus on utilizing HubSpot for our marketing and sales efforts.” – Mark Aiello, President of CyberSN
3. Onboarding with a HubSpot partner agency gives you everything under one roof
Perhaps the best benefit of working with a Partner Agency for your onboarding needs is having access to their whole suite of services to support your HubSpot efforts and overall marketing and sales strategy.
While we can’t speak for all agencies, at Raka, you have access to a full team of content specialists, strategists, sales experts, designers, developers, SEO writers, and more. So whatever your business needs to succeed, we can get it done.
Access to all these capabilities will prove priceless when it comes to connecting HubSpot’s toolset with your overall business strategy. For example, if you’re interested in running a specific marketing campaign, agencies can not only help you set up the HubSpot tools you need to run it, but can also provide you with the strategy and content needed to get it done right.
Let’s say you want to promote an upcoming event or webinar. Partner Agencies can give you a playbook for success and implement the necessary tactics. Need to get the word out on social media? We can write the posts, give guidance on the best time to send them out, and schedule them in HubSpot’s social tool. Email reminders or nurturing efforts after the event? Yup, agencies can craft compelling copy for nurturing emails, create automated workflows to deliver them at an optimal cadence, and design compelling CTAs that will entice users to click and convert on your site.
Want to improve your sales process? Agencies can audit your current process, layout specific tactics for improvement, and then leverage HubSpot to get it done. We can work with you to develop a streamlined version of your process that can be mapped into HubSpot’s deal pipeline to help your sales team manage deal flow and maximize returns.
Are your sales reps bogged down by manual data entry? We can identify areas to leverage automation to ease their manual workload and free up more time for selling.
Are employees forgetting to follow up with leads? No problem, agencies can develop a reminder system using HubSpot tasks to ensure good leads never fall off again.
No matter what you’re looking to achieve with HubSpot, you will always benefit from having a team of specialists at your disposal that can connect and support all aspects of your business strategy.
4. HubSpot onboarding with a partner agency give you access to training specific to your needs
Another upside to working with Partner Agencies for HubSpot onboarding is consistent access to training catered to your needs. While many companies choose to utilize agencies as their marketing department, they can also function as an extension of your current marketing team.
At Raka, we have a team of trained HubSpot specialists that are always up to date with current certifications, which allows us to offer training to your team in any area they need help with. While we’re more than happy to take the work entirely off your plate, we also love empowering companies to use all of HubSpot’s features on their own.
We even host quarterly HubSpot User Group events that can be attended by anyone and offer in-depth product trainings and presentations from our team and representatives from HubSpot.
Working with Raka significantly decreased our HubSpot onboarding time and allowed us to successfully implement a variety of tools at the onset. Our team had no previous experience using the software, but through comprehensive training and documentation, Raka has helped us become comfortable with the system and ensure we were getting the most out of the software. If questions ever come up, they are quick to respond with an appropriate solution. HubSpot is now an integral part of our marketing and sales process, and we’re excited to continue to grow our brand with their support.” – Gwenn Fairall, Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives, idea hub at Boston University School of Public Health
After our client’s initial onboarding tool setup has taken place, we typically conduct one-on-one or one-to-many style trainings with one of our HubSpot specialists to go over best practices for tool usage and technical settings for your team members who will be using them regularly. That way, your team can hit the ground running with your entire toolset once they are ready to be used.
As your business grows, inevitably, your need for different tools within HubSpot will evolve. When you work with a Partner agency, they will always be there to set up these new tools and provide the training your team needs to be autonomous and successful with them. With Partner Agencies like Raka, if you ever get stuck on something within HubSpot, the appropriate help is only a phone call or email away.
So, why should you work with a HubSpot partner agency for your onboarding?
To sum it up, they make it easier for your team to integrate with new tools, they can get you up and running faster, and they have the expertise to help you get it done right, the first time. No headaches, fewer mistakes, better alignment with your overall strategy, and you can foster a relationship with them that will grow and expand with your business. Seems like a win-win… right?
