CHUG Recap: November 2016

Sometimes, it's hard for businesses to work on the business they're trying so hard to make profitable, successful, and growth-driven. We understand that. There might be several opportunities, but it's still hard to narrow them down to manageable efforts or areas to focus on. Within the past year or so we introduced a way to make that happen specifically for our clients, forming what we call a Client Hubspot User Group (CHUG). The crowd at last week's event was intimate which made it easy for people to feel comfortable, and for those of you who missed it, here's the official recap and highlights.

This CHUG was different than any past formats, as it was led by one of our client partners, Marco. Marco talked about their results with inbound marketing and Leighton Interactive, struggles, questions, admissions, learning curves, and just really opened things up in a round table-type discussion for all participants to learn from. Here's what went down.

Leads Will Come: How Do You Track Them Accurately? 

It was a common problem with all in attendance - how to figure out how to “close the loop” on the marketing and inbound efforts. What was the overall win-loss rate where leads are concerned? What was the revenue generated from those inbound leads?

And, why is it so difficult? We found that not many companies either:

1. Have a CRM.

OR

2. Use it well and company-wide.

So with that, we heard there is some “manual babysitting” that occurs for most companies in order to track the effectiveness of leads and how they're being handled in the funnel or system. Now, this is in the process of changing or at the very least being challenged for those present at the CHUG, and we're noticing it's also being called out industry-wide as well. However, if this is commonplace for you, know you are not alone. 

In the same vein of follow-up and lead tracking, the topic of timeliness of lead follow-up also came up. The length of time companies take to respond to leads varied greatly across the board. Some follow-up and set an appointment within minutes, some within days. Those experiencing the most success shared that the quicker the response, eliminating time to rethink the decision or find alternate solutions, resulted in better success and closings. I encourage you to give that process some serious consideration.

There is a great divide among marketing and sales. To date, not a lot of work is done to focus on what sales reps are doing or bringing them into the fold of what you're doing. Why should we consider bridging this gap? So we can track better, have a better handle of objectives (aka content gold), and we can all work in harmony and collaboration in order to make the companies we work for grow.

The one ah-ha moment of the day was when we heard the comment that sometimes, sales people may not like inbound leads because they don’t have the satisfaction of digging them up on their own, fostering them, and pursuing them with the greatest of gratification. Personally, if I had one wish for all the rest of the conversations I will ever have with companies, it would be to state how much we NEED killer sales people. Inbound helps attract users and leads, along with MANY other activities, but inbound marketing cannot close leads to customers without actual, genuine humanity. This is a partnership. It's like fishing. Inbound can help set the hook with the bait that makes sense for the fish you're trying to catch, but there needs to be some muscle reeling those suckers in when they come biting ... and, there's that whole netting them/getting them into the boat part too! 

Personas: Are They a "Set it and Forget it" Practice?

Nope. Definitely not. For several of the CHUG attendees, they are in the process of re-evaluating and re-writing their personas. The reasons why are different, but some reasons we shared where rethinking personas make sense included:

• The business changed. For example, a local company expanding to a national scale, or adding products or services to current offerings. 
• Who we thought was buying has yet to be validated, or was de-valuated based on actual data, therefore making a change in targeting necessary.
• New categories were chosen for focus, and goals changed concerning where to spend that time and energy.

Most people said they were reconsidering/re-evaluating personas after two - three years. It's something to consider and at a very minimum, to take a look at before jumping into your next campaign or tackling a business goal.

Internal Buy-In: It's a Thing

What was the biggest, perhaps most surprising challenge our group shared? Outside of tracking leads/closing which a definite pain point, getting buy-in from teams was another. And, the reason this frustrates so many is because they can see the impact, and so desperately want those around them to jump on board, pick up a shovel in solidarity, and get that win for the company. It's important to “understand" or at least trust the inbound methodology so it can be incorporated into all activities within an organization. As Barry Opatz, a VP at Marco said, "for us, everything is inbound. Whether an event, a webinar, or traditional media … it’s all inbound." Very smart Barry, very smart. Another client voiced how they wish they could get fellow team members to get WHY being socially engaged with corporate content is such a difference-maker. It's no different than how you were social decades ago … pick up the phone, send a page or text ... tell people about something cool in a genuine, authentic way. 

Check Out the Why Social Sharing is Important for Any Organization (Video HerE)

The last moment of surprise and opportunity I had was that we're not giving our sales teams the data we have, or equipping them with all the ammo needed to get the deal done. How can we be better? Share with these teams what to do when they get a lead, click on the link read the prospect's history on your site, learn about them, their habits and trends as a user, and go in with all of the data you can. Here's what that looks like in HubSpot:

No two CHUG's are alike, and we really value that approach to the connection we can offer our partners to other like-minded business professionals versed in some of the same "Leighton Interactive language". We host CHUG's pretty regularly, with the next one slated for January 2017. We'll keep you posted.