If you're reading this, chances are you're already considering HubSpot as a game-changer for your digital sales and marketing strategy. We couldn't agree more - HubSpot is a powerful tool that can take your business to the next level. Being this far into your research, means you may have noticed that onboarding services are a requirement for new Professional and Enterprise HubSpot customers. When it comes to onboarding new customers, there are two paths you can take; onboarding services via HubSpot directly or a HubSpot Partner Agency, like us.
While both offer a comprehensive onboarding process, the differences between the two can be significant. HubSpot is an incredible tool with many bells and whistles, which inevitably means it can have a steep learning curve. Let's take a look at the difference between onboarding via HubSpot directly and through Synx, a partner agency.
HubSpot onboarding
What to expect with a HubSpot onboarding
HubSpot's onboarding is designed to be a self-service process. Customers are connected with an onboarding specialist and given access to a range of resources, including tutorials, webinars, and support documents, to help them get up and running quickly.
HubSpot's onboarding process starts with a planning session that follows an "objective-based onboarding" model. During this session, you'll identify two or three broad onboarding objectives that you want to achieve, such as attracting audience attention or optimising conversion rates. This helps you to stay focused on what matters most for your business and get the most out of your HubSpot experience.
Timeframes involved when onboarding with HubSpot
The onboarding specialist at HubSpot serves as a project leader to ensure that all tasks are completed efficiently. Technical support is limited, but the specialist will check in with you via a 45-minute Zoom conversation every seven to 10 days. Once you have completed your onboarding objectives, your onboarding process will end, regardless of whether it takes 60 or 90 days.
Advantages and disadvantages of onboarding with HubSpot
One of the advantages of using HubSpot's onboarding services is that you can tap into the expertise of experienced HubSpot employees who are dedicated to helping you succeed on their platform. They may, because of this, suggest other HubSpot products to address any issues you encounter, which may not be ideal if you prefer an impartial approach.
Due to the high volume of clients, HubSpot's onboarding specialists may not be able to offer individualised attention. In such cases, HubSpot may opt to outsource onboarding services to partner agencies to ensure that all clients receive top-notch service.
Depending on the workload of your Onboarding Specialist, If you opt for additional HubSpot training after the onboarding process, you may not work with the same HubSpot employee.
Costs involved when onboarding with HubSpot
HubSpot's onboarding process is self-directed, usually by a 'champion' in your company, which means that the pricing structure differs from that of onboarding through a HubSpot agency. HubSpot offers different levels of onboarding depending on your subscription, ensuring that all paying customers receive some form of guidance to get started.
Professional: $4,320 AUD
Enterprise: $8,650 AUD
A little more information on what tools are explored for this cost can be found on the HubSpot onboarding pricing page.
Partner agency onboarding
What to expect when onboarding with a HubSpot partner agency
Partner Agency onboarding, is a more hands-on approach. Partner Agencies provide a dedicated onboarding team and a comprehensive onboarding strategy, based on your needs. This team will work with customers to understand their business needs and develop a tailored onboarding plan, from quoting right through to training. Partner Agencies also provide ongoing support and guidance, ensuring that customers get the most out of their HubSpot experience longterm.
Timeframes involved when onboarding with a HubSpot partner agency
Onboarding timeframes are all dependent upon your goals. For our clients, we allow six months for our onboarding process, but this six-month time period does not mean you won’t be using HubSpot until the end of that period. If you're not already using the system before onboarding, most of our clients are using HubSpot to some capacity within the first few months.
Our onboarding process is broken down into four parts, and if you have the appetite we can look to optimise more:
1. Discovery - During this phase, we will have a series of virtual workshops with different departments and team members from your organisation. Here, we will discover as much as we can about your current process, what software you use and the pain points you're trying to solve. Timeframes for discovery will depend on your availability and the amount of workshops required, as well as the complexities of your current system. Generally one to two months is more than sufficient for discovery.
2. Strategy - Based on the information gathered during the discovery phase, our team will visually map out your proposed new process. This can sometimes include additional software to the HubSpot platform, and how that will seamlessly integrate with HubSpot. This strategy will be presented to you for your feedback and approval, and generally takes between one to two months, depending on the amount of feedback and changes required.
2. Configuration and implementation - Once the strategy has been approved, we will proceed to configure your HubSpot portal accordingly and implement the changes for your new system. Depending on how in-depth and complex your solution is, this phase can take between one to two months.
3. Support and training - once the new system has been configured within your HubSpot portal, we will beta test it with a smaller group of users in your organisation. This allows for real-time feedback on what's been developed by those directly involved. If there are any changes to be made based on the beta group's feedback, we will make these, and then it can then be rolled out to the entire organisation, where we will provide a virtual training session, training videos and ongoing support.
Advantages and disadvantages with onboarding with a HubSpot partner agency
Our goal with every client is to help put their customer at the centre of their business. We're really passionate about creating solutions to business problems, which means onboarding with Synx will guarantee a completely custom solution, tailored to your needs. We look at organisations holistically, meaning we will often recommend solutions beyond the HubSpot scope.
Given the tailored approach to onboarding, an agency onboarding, including our service offering, will always be more expensive and will expect a bigger financial commitment upfront.
Costs involved when onboarding with a HubSpot partner agency like Synx
We get to know your business on a deep level, meaning there is no "one size fits all" approach to our onboarding. The same goes for cost; we price up your onboarding, based on a number of factors like the size of your team, your existing HubSpot instance (if there is one) and the complexity of your processes.
On average, our customers spend anywhere from $6,000 - $10,000 + per month.
The choice is yours
For customers who are looking for a more hands-on approach, Partner Agencies may be the better option. For those who prefer a self-service approach, HubSpot may be the way to go. It is worth looking taking a look at your team, and the skill set and capacity of your internal champion. Ultimately, the decision should be based on your individual needs and preferences.