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Optimizing Sales Process: Connecting HubSpot and Salesforce

Written by Jakub Jamny | 5/18/23

In this article, we'll explore the benefits of integrating HubSpot and Salesforce, while also giving you practical tips on how to make it happen.

Content

Introduciton

Pros and Cons of HubSpot Integration with Salesforce

Top workflows for Integrating HubSpotu with Salesforce

How to Integrate HubSpot with Salesforce

Creating and Setting UpHubSpotu and Salesforce Interfaces

Key Metrics to Track

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Sales Process

Case Study: Logicull

Conclusion

FAQ

Introduction

Salesforce and HubSpot are two powerful customer relationship management (CRM) tools that offer a range of features to streamline and optimize the sales process. Each tool has its own strengths, and integrating them can also give you a single view of all your customer data, increasing your sales team's productivity and improving your overall sales effectiveness as well.

Pros and Cons of HubSpot Integration with Salesforce

Pros of Integrating HubSpot with Salesforce

Cons of Integrating HubSpot with Salesforce

Lead management: Smooth data transfer between systems increases efficiency and data accuracy when tracking leads.

More complex installation: Setting up and securing the connection to the system may require a certain amount of time and resources depending on the complexity of the integration.

Improving the customer experience: A comprehensive understanding of the customer enables individual teams to provide personalised and engaging communication.

Extra expenses: The integration process may involve additional costs, depending on the procedure chosen.

Smooth team collaboration: Simplifying workflow and automation not only increases productivity but also efficiency, leading to better collaboration.

Limited customization: Depending on the integration method used, users may have problems customizing the connections between systems.

 

Top Workflows for Integrating HubSpot and Salesforce

By connecting these two tools, users can easily automate their workflow and start taking advantage of the sophisticated HubSpot Hubs combined with Salesforce features to improve their marketing campaigns.

Below are the workflows we typically follow:

  • Lead-to-Contact Workflow: automatically create a new contact in HubSpot when a new lead is created in Salesforce.

  • Contact-to-Lead Workflow: Create a new lead in Salesforce when a new contact is added in HubSpot.

  • Deal-to-Opportunity Workflow: Generate an opportunity in Salesforce when a deal is created in HubSpot.

  • Lead Scoring and Grading Workflow: Score leads based on their engagement and activity in HubSpot and then automatically update their score in Salesforce.

  • Lead Nurturing Workflow: Using a series of automated emails and actions in HubSpot, nurture leads, guide them through the purchase funnel, and then track their progress in Salesforce.

  • Lead Routing Workflow: Allows you to match leads to relevant sales reps in Salesforce based on specific criteria such as geographic location, score, or industry.

These workflows allow teams to efficiently manage and monitor leads, contacts, offers, and opportunities across the entire purchase funnel while automating various tasks such as lead scoring and nurturing or lead segmentation. In addition, it allows teams to gain a comprehensive view of customer data, including contact information, purchase history and engagement metrics.

How to Integrate HubSpot with Salesforce

Integrating HubSpot with Salesforce is a simple process. First, the two systems need to be connected through an integration interface. Once they're connected, you'll be able to effortlessly sync data between the platforms, allowing teams to streamline not only their workflow, but also the management of leads, contacts, deals, and opportunities across the entire buying funnel.

By integrating the two systems, individual teams can save time and resources while gaining a comprehensive view of their customer data. With all of this information, they can then make informed decisions regarding their outreach efforts, optimizing the purchase funnel and tracking the success of their campaigns.

Creating and Setting Up Salesforce and HubSpot Interfaces

Before starting the setup process, you need to ensure that you have the necessary permissions and access in your Salesforce account, such as access to the API, the Salesforce system administrator, or a set of permissions to integrate with HubSpot.

Once you've confirmed that you have the necessary permissions, the next step is to go to the App Marketplace in your HubSpot account, search for the Salesforce integration, and click the "Install App" button. This will redirect you to Salesforce where you can install the HubSpot integration package. 

Once the package is installed, you will need to navigate to the HubSpot connector wizard and add the HubSpot Visualforce module to Salesforce. This module allows you to view and filter contact activity and include contacts in your HubSpot workflow, improving your ability to track and then engage with customers.

Key Metrics to Track

Tracking key metrics is essential to optimizing the sales process. When integrating HubSpot and Salesforce, you should pay attention to a few metrics:

  • Lead source: Tracking where your leads are coming from will help you focus your marketing efforts on the most effective channels. The HubSpot and Salesforce integration allows you to track the source of your leads and then link them to revenue.

  • Sales Cycle Length: Understanding how long it takes your leads to move through your purchase funnel helps you identify weak spots and areas that need improvement. Integration allows you to track how long it takes for leads to move from one stage to the next, giving you insight into the overall length of the buying cycle.

  • Win/loss ratio: Tracking your win/loss ratio helps you determine what's working and what's not in your sales process. The integration allows you to monitor wins and losses and link them to specific sales reps and stages of the sales process.

  • Sales rep productivity: Knowing the productivity of your sales reps will help you optimize your sales process. The integration allows you to track the number of deals closed, average deal size, and other metrics for individual sales reps.

  • Customer Lifetime Value: Tracking customer lifetime value helps you determine which customers are most valuable to your business and focus your retention efforts on them. Integration allows you to track customer lifetime value and link it to specific marketing campaigns or sales reps.

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Sales Process

Now that we've identified the key metrics to track, it's important to know the best practices for optimizing the sales process. Here are some tips to help you make the most of integrating the two tools:

  1.  Standardize your sales process: a standardized sales process ensures consistency across the team and makes it easier to track metrics as well. Use HubSpot and Salesforce to create a standardized process that includes stages, tasks, and criteria to move leads through the buying funnel.

  2.  Automate wherever possible: HubSpot and Salesforce offer automation options that can save your team time and increase efficiency. For example, you can use workflow to automatically assign tasks to team members, send follow-up emails, and update lead records.

  3.  Personalise the sales process: Personalisation is the key to building relationships with leads and closing deals. With HubSpot and Salesforce, you can personalize the sales process by tailoring your messaging and content to each prospect's interests and needs.

  4.  Provide ongoing training: HubSpot and Salesforce offer robust training and support resources. Make sure your team is trained on integrations and continuously learns about new features and best practices.

  5.  Measure and analyze on an ongoing basis: Regularly monitor and analyze key metrics to identify areas for improvement. Use this data to make decisions and optimize the buying process over time.

Case study: logikcull

Logikcull is a cloud-based legal document management platform. The company faced challenges with a sales process that was largely manual and therefore time consuming. It also had problems tracking key metrics such as lead sources and length of sales cycle.

To address these issues, Logikcull implemented a HubSpot and Salesforce integration. Learn how the integration helped them optimize their sales process here:

  1.  Automating manual tasks: Logikcull used the integration to automate manual tasks such as assigning leads and sending follow-up emails. This freed up their sales reps' time and allowed them to focus on more valuable activities such as qualifying leads and building relationships.

  2.  Standardize the sales process: By integrating these two tools, they were able to standardize the sales process, ensuring consistency across the team. They created a standardized sales process in Salesforce that included stages, tasks, and criteria for moving leads through the sales funnel.

  3.  Personalizing the sales experience: Using HubSpot, they were able to create targeted content and messaging for each stage of the purchase funnel. As a result, potential customers are able to get the information they need to make the right decisions.

  4.  Tracking key metrics: By integrating these two tools, the company was able to start tracking key metrics such as lead sources and sales cycle length. This helped them identify areas that needed improvement.

Outcomes:

  • HubSpot and Salesforce integration can help you automate manual tasks, standardize the sales process, personalize the sales experience, and track key metrics.

  • These efforts can lead to significant improvements in lead generation, customer qualification, sales cycle length, and win rates.

Conclusion

Sales process optimization is key to growing sales and improving sales team performance. HubSpot's integration with Salesforce can help you achieve these goals by automating manual tasks, standardizing the sales process, personalizing the sales experience, and tracking key metrics.

By following best practices for sales process optimization, you can achieve significant improvements in lead generation, lead qualification, sales cycle length, and win rates.

Now it's your turn to take action and implement the HubSpot integration with Salesforce into your own sales process. Feel free to contact us for more information.

FAQ

1. Can HubSpot and Salesforce integration be beneficial for any type of business?

Yes, HubSpot and Salesforce integration can benefit businesses of any size and industry.

2. What informational materials are available for companies looking to integrate HubSpot and Salesforce?

HubSpot and Salesforce offer resources for training and support, including documentation, tutorials, online courses, and third-party implementation partners.

3. What metrics should be tracked when integrating HubSpot and Salesforce?

Key metrics to track when integrating HubSpot and Salesforce include lead source, sales cycle length, win/loss ratio, sales rep productivity, and customer lifetime value.

4. What are the benefits of integrating HubSpot and Salesforce?

It can automate mundane tasks, standardize the sales process, personalize the sales experience, and track key metrics leading to sales process improvement.