The HubSpot Sales Process

Question 1

The Sales Process

Answer 1

1. Connect
2. Discovery
3. Solution Considerations
4. Business Considerations
5. Pricing & terms
6. Out for signature
7. Close won

Question 2

Connect

Answer 2

Activities:
- Prioritise leads
- Evaluate opportunities
- Research Leads
- Source Leads
- Identify prospects role in the organization and other key contacts
- Uncover Business goals and challenges
- Identify compelling reading to change and/or specific pain/opportunity.
Tools:
- Dashboards
- LinkedIn SalesNav
- Research Leads
- Source Leads
Skills:
- Lead prioritization
- Capacity management
- Research
- Source leads
53 Tasks:
- If all activities have been performed and exit criteria has been met for this stage, create a deal
Stakeholders:
- Prospect
- Champion
Exit Criteria:
- You have a clear understanding of the prospect’s role in the organization
- You have identified a specific pain/opportunity that HubSpot can solve
- Your prospect has confirmed they are looking to solve a specific pain.

Question 3

Stage 2: Discovery
A discovery call has 3 potential outcomes that can be started during your upfront contract. (UFC)

Answer 3

• You and the prospect decide there is a potential fit
• You and the prospect decide there is not a potential fit
• You and the prospect decide there is a good fit but the timing is off

Question 4

Discovery

Answer 4

Activities:
1. Identify business model
2. Identify business goals
3. Uncover obstacles
4. Determine pain points
5. Craft compelling use cases
6. Determine timeline
7. Identify decision making process
8. Discuss investment

Tools:
- Up front contract (UFC)
- Sandler Pain Funnel
- Reverse and Negative Reverse Questioning

Skills:
- Active listening
- Questioning and probing further
- Preparation

Discussing Investment:
- Get a description of budget rather than qualify in/out for paid HubSpot software in the Connect Call
- Seems like you are committed to solving this problem. What kind of budget do you have in mind for addressing this problem?
- What resources can you allocate to solving X problem?
- How much are you spending on paid ads?
- What is the cost to the business if you do nothing?
- How is your marketing budget allocated?
- How much are all of your software/tools costing?

Question 5

Discovery: Question Types & Exit Criteria

Answer 5

Open-Ended:
- What are your top priorities?
- Where do you see your business in 12 months?
- Would you tell me a bit about your business?
What does your ideal customer look like?
- How do you make money?

Close-Ended:
- Is that a challenge?
- Is that a priority?
- Do you agree?
- Do you want help with this challenge?
- Which is more important, x or y?

Probing:
- Could you tell me about your business?
- What are your top priorities?
- How does your website support these priorities?
- How are you driving traffic to your website?
- Is that challenge?

Exit Criteria:
- Quantifiable business goals identified
- Compelling event established
- Decision making process identified
- Investment acknowledged
- Competition identified

Question 6

Discovery:

Question 7

Structure for discovery calls

Answer 7

1. Bonding & rapport
2. Up-front contract
3. Pain / Compelling Event
4. Budget
5. Decision making process
6. Next steps

Question 8

Agenda vs. UFC

Answer 8

Agenda: they do not secure the prospects interest and investment in the meeting. Agenda’s simply define the structure, and can favor one party’s interests over the other.

UFC: Up-Front Contracts get the prospect to agree on spending the appropriate time and energy on a call. If your prospect is agreeing to all the terms in the UFC, they have already bought into the conversation, and are likely invested in inverting solutions to their pain.

Question 9

UFC’s are composed of the following 4 elements.

Answer 9

1. Time
2. Purpose
3. Roles
4. Outcome

Question 10

Time

Answer 10

“First off Nick, I want to thank you for taking the time today to discuss your current growth goals. Just confirming does the 45 minutes still work for today’s call?”

Question 11

Purpose

Answer 11

Naturally, with any company evaluating new software, you’ll want to make sure it solves for your current challenges. To help us understand if HubSpot is a good fit, I want to take this time to really understand how Arizona Metals is doing business today. Is there anything else you were wanting to cover?

Question 12

Roles

Answer 12

To help me understand of what you are hoping HubSpot can help you do differently as a business. I’m going to ask you some questions and I’m sure you’ll have questions for me also. Does that work for you?

Question 13

Outcome

Answer 13

Typically, by the end of this call. I’ll be able to tell you whether it make sense to move into a demo or not. I would like to suggest taking the last 5 minutes to discuss possible next steps. Is that okay?

Question 14

UFC Summary

Answer 14

An up-front contract is ALWAYS composed of 4 pieces. If you’re stating & agreeing upon less than 4, you’re only setting an agenda.

Question 15

Before we begin, let’s review the structure of a typical discovery call.

Answer 15

1. Bonding & rapport
2. UFC
3. Pain/compelling event
4. Budget
5. Decision making process
6. Firm future commitment

Question 16

People will change when…

Answer 16

the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing

Question 17

Budget

Answer 17

During budget discussions, it is important to frame the investment in the context of the pain it will solve.

Question 18

Decision

Answer 18

Your ability to address specific business pains can influence the decision-making process.

Question 19

Business Considerations / Pricing + Terms

Answer 19

During the Business Consideration stage, the prospect evaluates whether the solution for their pain and the investment required is worth the cost of not making any changes.

It is crucial at this stage to intentionally remind the prospect of the pain they identified during the discovery in order to overcome objections.

Question 20

Diagnosing your prospects pain

Answer 20

Prospects are much more inclined to invest in a platform like HubSpot if it effectively addresses their underlying pains rather than just surface-level problems.

This means your ability to distinguish between these 2 types of pain is fundamental to your success at HubSpot.

Question 21

What —-> Why —-> Impact

Answer 21

What: the observable, surface-level problems. Ask questions around this to understand it better.

Why: the causes. What factors that are contributing to what the prospect is observing?

Impact: the value. What impact is the problem having on the business? Consequently, what is the value of a potential solution?

Question 22

To uncover, or discover, a prospect’s pain and underlying problems, you will ask a series of open-ended questions.

Answer 22

1. Expand
2. Length of problem
3. Other options
4. Impact on the business
5. Cost of inaction

Question 23

Expand

Answer 23

“When spoke the other day, you mentioned you’re having some challenges with your current tech stack. Can you be more specific, if you don’t mind?”

Question 24

Length of problem

Answer 24

• “How long has this been going on?”
• “When did you first notice this problem?”

If something has been going on for a long time, it might not be that urgent.

• “Is there a reason you’re exploring this now, instead of when the issue first arose?”
• “What has changed that makes this a priority now?”

If a problem has arisen for the first time, the issue might not be compelling enough.

“What circumstances or events have prompted you to address this so quickly?”