4 Helpful HubSpot Tips to Improve Sales Efficiency

How to Save Time in HubSpot and Become a More Effective Sales Organization

HubSpot is generally viewed as a platform that helps businesses perform various marketing activities. While this notion is true, many people overlook the platform’s viability as an effective sales enablement tool. With a subscription to HubSpot’s Sales Pro, your business will have with the all the tools your sales team needs to effectively engage buyers throughout each stage of the buying process.

A subscription and access to the tools isn’t enough to see quantifiable results. To be an efficient sales organization, you need to know how to effectively use your CRM software and sales enablement tools. Sales reps without proper training in their software will waste precious time fumbling over unnecessary administrative tasks that can usually be replaced by an automated process. In fact, according to a study done by HubSpot, it’s estimated that “the average sales person only spends 39% of their time selling or interacting with prospects and customers.”

It’s obvious from the statistic above that many sales representatives would benefit from eliminating repeatable tasks to free up more time for engaging prospects. Luckily for them, HubSpot has tons of clever time-saving features programmed into their interface to help sales teams boost their efficiency.

Here are 4 sharable tips that will help your sales team improve its efficiency:

1. Automate Manual Tasks with Workflows

We constantly hear from our clients that their sales representatives are spending copious amounts of time manually updating contact records in their CRM. If your staff feels bogged down by manual data entry, it’s definitely worth looking into HubSpot’s Workflows tool (available on professional and enterprise accounts).

What is a workflow? A workflow is a marketing term that refers to an automated process in which tasks, information, and emails can be triggered based on a predetermined set of rules. Workflows can help reduce possible user error when sending emails and following up with leads. They also help businesses scale their marketing activities—allowing automation to handle large quantities of data to provide programmed responses to prospects, rather than a salesperson starting from scratch with each contact that performs a specific action. By using workflows, your company’s reaction time and productivity will improve due to a simplified lead generation and nurturing process.

Here are some of our favorite time-saving workflows you can use to improve sales efficiency:

• Notify a sales rep via email when a form submission occurs (aka, a lead comes in)
• Send automated follow-up emails to leads based on their actions
• Set a contact property based on actions taken by a lead
• Assign a lead to a specific sales rep based on location or another parameter
• Schedule a task in the HubSpot CRM when new leads are created
• Assign a progressive lifecycle stage after a lead takes a certain action

To get started with your own workflows, check out this free step-by-step guide from HubSpot.

2. Set Up Tasks for Users

As a sales manager, the ability to delegate can prove essential to success. When you’re managing multiple people, it can become hard to stay up to date with everyone’s to-do lists. A great way to manage people’s daily activities and increase cohesion within your sales department is to build out a list of tasks that need to be done right in your HubSpot CRM—eliminating the need for external documents.

By using HubSpot’s task management tools, you can ensure that your sales people are in sync, productive, and meeting given deadlines. To start creating your own tasks, follow these steps:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Sales > Tasks.
2. Then click “Create a task” in the upper righthand corner of your screen.
3. In the form that pops up, populate the following fields:
   1. Title: enter a task name.
   2. Type: click the dropdown menu to select the type of task—types include call, email, or a simple to-do.
   3. Associate with records: click the dropdown menu and select the contact or company record to be associated with the task.
   4. Assigned to: click the dropdown and select a task owner/salesperson.
   5. Queue: click the dropdown menu to add the task to an existing task queue or to create a new task queue.
   6. Due Date: click dropdown and select a due date and time.
   7. Notes: enter any important details involving the task.
4. Click Save.

Tasks can also be given a specific priority level, and once assigned, the task owner can update the status of the task with various progress measures. With an organized task system, your salesforce will have more time in their schedule to engage with prospects and close deals.

3. Use Email Templates

Email templates can and should be a salesperson’s best friend—helping them save them and enhancing the effectiveness of their communication efforts. It’s important to remember though, that these benefits are only felt when you use templates in a meaningful way. Used incorrectly, sales email templates can make you appear lazy and unengaged to your buyers.

That is why it’s imperative to strike a fine balance between standardization and customization. Sure, a standardized email will save you time, but you still need to add some personalization tokens into the mix to have it truly impact your reader.

The best time to use a template for your sales emails is when you find yourself in a repetitive scenario—applying the same basic message to multiple contacts and typing out identical sentences and phrases over and over again. Seize the opportunity and create a customizable template that can be applied to avoid unnecessary repetition—there’s no need to reinvent the wheel every time.

Here are a few common scenarios in which we’ve found immense value in implementing sales email templates:

• The initial “hello” after you’ve met a prospect for the first time (extremely useful for trade show instances).
• Ahead of a meeting. Remind the prospect of the meeting, request additional information, confirm attendees, and to check in on the status of any pre-meeting tasks.
• After a meeting. Thank you and follow up with next steps.
• Ice breaker for new contacts.

4. Call and Email Contacts Directly Through the HubSpot CRM

One of the best features in HubSpot’s CRM is the ability to call and email contacts directly through the platform. This feature allows sales reps to see a timeline of all their communications with a given contact and log of exactly what was discussed—all of which provides valuable insight into how a client relationship is progressing.

The tool also gives sales managers the ability to review the efforts of the people they oversee. By listening to recorded calls and viewing the messaging within email logs, managers can identify coaching opportunities to address areas in which each sales person could use some skill development. Perhaps, when listening to a recorded call, they notice a rep’s tone coming across as pushy—a perfect chance to address the rep, listen to the call together, and review possible strategies to ensure they come off less aggressive next time around. The optimization opportunities through this tool are endless!

By implementing the tips outlined above, your business will be able to utilize your CRM to add structure and increase the efficiency of your sales department’s day-to-day activities. The less time spent on manually keeping track of data, the more time you’re allowed to focus on sales development and helping your business grow.

If you need help managing your HubSpot CRM, reach out to us here at Grant Marketing. As a full-service marketing agency—with capabilities including content creation, account-based and inbound marketing for manufacturers, brand development, website design, and more—we can help coach you to make the most out of your investment with HubSpot. As HubSpot experts, we have all the tools and know-how to get your organization functioning at the highest level. Contact us today and see what’s possible with your HubSpot CRM.