You’ve identified a challenge for your business. Through an abundance of research, demos, and sales calls, you have discovered “system nirvana” - a tech tool that will solve all your pain points  - and it is called HubSpot. You wrote your use case, submitted it through all the appropriate channels, and low-and-behold, your business leaders have agreed to the investment. Well done - it’s going to be a great year! 

You hit the ground running. Out of the gate, you are excited, energized, and devote your time and energy to getting the HubSpot platform integrated into your business. As time progresses, you realize some quick wins and management is equally excited. But as months pass, those quick wins remain, but your “day job” has recaptured the majority of your attention, and the time you had originally devoted to the HubSpot integration and implementation wanes. Like the dusty treadmill that sits in the corner of your basement, underutilization of your new tech tool begins to set in. 

According to a study conducted by Oasis, a professional employer organization, research found nearly one in two small business owners report they do not use technology to its full capacity, thereby missing opportunities to improve productivity and operational efficiencies. The study also revealed that 31% of respondents "try to utilize it” (the technology), but know that there are some gaps in knowledge as to how it can be used most effectively.

How do you avoid the plague of underutilization? How do you get off of the merry-go-round of buying technology, not using it to its full extent, getting rid of the technology due to budget-trimming and under-utilization issues, and hopping back on the merry-go-round to begin the whole cycle again? 

3 Strategies to Maximize Your HubSpot CRM Platform & Marketing Technology Investment 

Denamico is a Diamond Tier HubSpot Solutions Partner that focuses on helping companies leverage technology using HubSpot. One of our goals is to help our customers maximize their usage and integration of their HubSpot investment. As we dive into these three strategies, we will provide strategies for maximizing HubSpot usage and utilization, but ultimately, these solutions could be recrafted for any software or technology investment your company has made.

Mikhail Papovsky from Massaro, wrote in a blog post titled When New Technology Causes Productivity to Plummet, “most new technology implementations focus on completing the project on-time and on-budget. There is no emphasis on adoption.” At Denamico, we often see this with companies seeking our services. They bought the “shiny new object,” but have yet to really see its potential. If you are ready to focus on the adoption of a new technology or a recommitment to an existing technology that you are underutilizing, here are three ways to start. 

1. Designate a Champion of the Technology:

Get out the pom-poms and appoint someone to be the cheerleader of the technology. This does not have to be you, perhaps your boss or a colleague are the better champions due to their position or years of service in the company. If it isn’t you, this champion will be your new best friend! 

The role of the Champion includes:

• Thinking about the technology every time a new challenge arises and pushing to explore the opportunities the technology solution may help solve. Ask the question “Can (HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, other technology solution) help us solve this challenge?” The champion may sound like a broken record, but you need one person to always think about implementation using the new technology first and foremos
• Quashing any negative chatter that is being made about the investment or underutilization of the technology. Allowing for constructive discussion is fair, but keeping the conversation positive and solution-focused instead of negative can keep the energy in the initiative.
• Advocating for increased adoption of the technology solution through goal setting around adoption and usage of the tool. Team members thrive on goal-setting. Write down goals with concrete action steps and you will see progress. If there are no goals associated with an initiative, it has a tendency to flounder.

2. Commit to Learning:

Block out time on your calendar, every week, to learn a new skill on HubSpot or any other tool. The reason many of these tools are so powerful and likely why you purchased them in the first place, is because they continue to evolve and grow as the market changes. There is so much to keep up with that you truly have to commit to learning on a regular basis in order to maximize the value of your investment. 

We suggest starting with 30-minutes a week. Block it out first thing in the morning and jump in even before you open your email. If you are looking for quick learning opportunities, here are a few great HubSpot resources you can use to facilitate your learning.

• Watch HubSpot’s YouTube Channel - Join over 132,000 fellow subscribers and use this channel as a quick and easy way to keep up-to-date on new HubSpot product releases. You’ll also find case studies, videos on unique integrations, or even general sales and marketing strategies that you can put in use today. 
• Learn through HubSpot Academy - This tool offers you the ability to easily drill down into either the HubSpot tools you have purchased or even sort by the time you have available (there are over 250 lessons that are under 30 minutes in length). Search for a specific skill you would like to learn or dive into a lesson that provides a Certification that you can use to show-off your HubSpot expertise. These training videos are a fantastic way to dig deeper into all the facets of HubSpot. 
• Listen to HubSpot Podcast - Skill Up - Maybe you have a short commute. Perhaps, you take a quick walk around your neighborhood over lunch. Throw on the HubSpot Skill Up podcast for quick learning on Sales and Marketing strategies dished up with a side of HubSpot. Currently, there are six seasons of this podcast, most  episodes are under ten minutes. Generally, each season has a consistent theme which have included:
  • • Search Engine Optimization
    • Sales Enablement
    • Social Marketing
    • YouTube Marketing
    • Advanced Marketing
• Subscribe to HubSpot Blogs - One email in the morning is a great way to kick your brain cells into gear, and we suggest selecting a HubSpot blog related to the Hub you have purchased. You can subscribe to a blog focused on:
  • • Marketing
    • Sales
    • Service
    • Website

All of these posts contain applicable content that can help you generate ideas on ways you could use the learning to apply to your own company or business process. 

3. Spread the Joy

You had the excitement and passion for the technology when you began implementing the tool and hopefully, as you’ve committed to regular learning, that passion has been reignited. But unshared knowledge can be a massive liability to a company, so share your learnings with your teammates and colleagues to get everyone moving in the same direction. 

• Seek feedback! Start talking at the water cooler and listen to your colleague’s pain points. See if you can help solve their challenges by using the technology you are trying to maximize. By helping others solve their challenges, you will ingratiate them to your initiatives. 
  • • Working with your customer service team to look for process improvement opportunities using automation. (notifications, tasks, property assignment, or triggering internal or external emails) 
    • Showing the sales team how to use filters and saved views to easily highlight their most engaged leads. 
    • Getting more marketing buy-in by helping them set-up a key reporting dashboard that can be distributed automatically to their managers and directors.If using HubSpot, quick wins may include:
• Host a weekly 10-minute stand-up screen share. Every week, feature a quick ten-minute demo of a HubSpot feature or benefit that your teammates may not currently be using to its greatest potential. Make sure to customize the ten-minute show-and-tell with your language, your company products, and your actual data. Also, encourage donuts, coffee, and a little camaraderie with this learning. If you pitch it only as learning, you may not get as much buy-in. If you give everyone the opportunity to display their favorite donut, you may see attendance improve. 
• Facilitate a Lunch and Learn. While we are on the topic of food, host a monthly lunch and learn. This will take a little more prep time from you, but by creating or hosting a 30-minute presentation and inviting key colleagues, you can get more of your teammates comfortable with embracing the new technology and advocating alongside you for continued evolution and integration of the new solution.
  
  

Purchasing a new technology solution is a multi-step process: 

Step 1: Implementation of new solution

Step 2: Integration with any existing technology

Step 3: Adoption across departments  

It is critical to budget time and energy across all three steps when laying out holistic goals and timelines for your technology investment.

Finally, if you need help righting the ship on your HubSpot investment, Denamico is here to assist. We would be happy to conduct a HubSpot portal assessment to ensure you are maximizing your usage and provide concrete strategies for you to achieve greater adoption, management buy-in, and help you regain your love and admiration for the amazing sales tool you brought to your company!