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Best Practices for Using HubSpot in B2B

HubSpot is an all-in-one platform to manage marketing, sales, and customer service operations; it’s perfect for B2B businesses. Used correctly, HubSpot provides tools for creating leads, developing and maintaining relationships, selling and maintaining customers, and as such, its implementation can help massively transform the business. Nevertheless, this potential should be furthered using the know-how of specific practices corresponding to the B2B environment.

In this article, the reader will learn the best and common ways of using the HubSpot for B2B companies to develop effective strategies for lead generation, sales management and customer interactions.

Align Marketing and Sales with the CRM

When it comes to marketing and sales, one of the basic tenets of deploying HubSpot in a B2B environment is about getting your marketing and selling functions well coordinated. The second is that HubSpot’s CRM touches both teams with the lead, providing the leads’ data, as well as aiding teams in closing new deals. For the B2B companies, it is particularly important due to a longer and more complicated cycle of sales.

To this effect, it is recommended that proper SLA between the marketing and the sales departments be developed. SLA specifies how leads are qualified, describes how the leads are transferred from the marketing team to the sales team, and expectations concerning follow-ups. Thus, both of the teams can stay transparent with each other through the help of HubSpot’s CRM and effectively work to nurture prospects for securing deals.

Leverage HubSpot’s Lead Scoring System

In the B2B marketplace, not all leads can be referred to as equal in terms of potential to convert to sales. HubSpot’s lead scoring then means leads are prioritized according to some of their behaviors and the chance they will become customers. It also provides the ability to filter or prioritize quality leads which would fetch good sales to the sales team.

To establish an acceptable lead scoring system, provide points to actions such as its opening, or whenever a potential customer navigates to the pricing page, or downloads white papers. While positive actions for a given campaign, such as signing up for emails, are rewarded positive points, negative actions, which are actions clients take to opt out of a given campaign or move away from it, are penalized negative points. The definition of lead scoring could be edited and changed often, based on the results of the lead scoring, so that the sales team could identify the highest quality leads.

Automate Lead Nurturing with Workflows

Sales cycles for B2B tend to be longer, where a prospect has to interact with the vendor a number of times before he becomes a buyer. In this case, HubSpot’s automation workflows means that leads in a business can be engaged throughout their decision making process without the need for further direct input from the business.

Use data to develop unique ways in which they communicate with a specific prospect. For example, if a lead has downloaded a particular eBook, the lead will then be placed into a workflow which delivers additional content connected to the topic of the eBook. Such automated links make the prospects continue to receive information they are interested in, which gradually warms them up to make a purchase.

Use Analytics to Optimize Campaigns

Information is vital for enhancing your B2B marketing and sales strategy, and fortunately, HubSpot has some robust statistical solutions available. From website visits, lead generation, email, and deal conversion, all these are available in a clear presentation in the form of reports within the HubSpot report dashboards.

To track the most important metrics of the organization, create appropriate customized reports. For B2B companies, qualitative statistics like the number of marketing-qualified leads (MQLs), sales-qualified leads (SQLs) or the conversion rates between stages of the sales funnel must be tracked. Below are key ways through which you can use this data in improving your campaigns, lead nurturing processes and overall sales.

Conclusion

HubSpot’s suite of tools will provide B2B businesses with capabilities for generating more leads, optimizing sales, and fortifying customer bonds. When marketing and sales are integrated and with the help of automation and the help of insights, B2B businesses can optimize the use of HubSpot. Adhering to these guidelines helps your business remain competitive, while deviating from them spells doom for an organization.