HubSpot Onboarding: a Detailed Guide

From what it involves and how much it costs to why you might use a partner agency for support, discover everything you’ll need to know about HubSpot onboarding.

HubSpot’s development team knows that for us marketers and salespeople to get the most value out of its systems, we need to be able to figure out our own way around.

In fact, the #1 CRM platform for growing businesses consistently rates highly across software comparison sites like G2, Capterra and Software Advice for ease of use. 

You heard it here first: HubSpot does a fantastic job of balancing sophisticated features with usability so that the teams actually using it can do what they need to do.

A review of Hubspot as a product

Will you still want help setting up your new HubSpot portal in the first place? Absolutely. 

  • As with any platform, there’s the inevitable onboarding period.
  • And as with any platform, it’s important that it's configured correctly.
  • Getting this right from day one will help you deliver a smoother rollout, minimise time to value and set you up to unlock the full value of HubSpot.

To help you get there, HubSpot offers every customer dedicated onboarding, delivered either by them or a certified partner agency (solutions partner).

What does HubSpot’s onboarding involve? Why exactly do you need it and who will it benefit most? What should you expect and why might you opt to onboard with a solutions partner over HubSpot directly? For all the answers to these questions and more, read on.

Contents

  1. Why is HubSpot onboarding necessary?
  2. HubSpot onboarding explained
  3. Common challenges when onboarding HubSpot
  4. HubSpot onboarding: what to expect
  5. How much does HubSpot onboarding cost?
  6. Onboarding: HubSpot vs Solutions Partners
  7. Why choose BabelQuest for your HubSpot onboarding

 

 

Why do you need HubSpot onboarding?

You’re not the only one wanting to unlock the full value of the HubSpot platform. HubSpot offers onboarding because it wants that for you, too. And if there’s one thing HubSpot’s renowned for alongside ease of use, it's customer support.

From product demos and team training to Live Chat support and the much-loved HubSpot Academy, HubSpot has a reputation for being there when you need it. Its onboarding support is another extension of that, helping you to find your feet and get the platform working for your business as quickly as possible.

Review of HubSpot and their customer support

It’s a true specialist who understands the many features and functionalities available across the full HubSpot platform. And more are constantly being released as HubSpot evolves its platform offering off the back of the community’s feedback — sometimes 400+ per month.

It’s a fantastic thing, to have all these capabilities at your fingertips — except they’re only useful to you if you:

  • know about them
  • have configured them correctly
  • have trained your team in how to best use them

This is why HubSpot insists that when you onboard, you use either HubSpot or a partner agency, giving you access to the expertise you need to make your portal a success.


 

 

HubSpot onboarding explained

When we talk about HubSpot onboarding, what we’re referring to is the process of setting up your new software so that it’s ready for your business to use.

This includes template creation, setting up workflows correctly and creating pipelines that your whole business can use to make more informed decisions.

As they work with you to configure your new software, the HubSpot onboarding team will dig into your business requirements and what you need the platform to deliver.

  • Perhaps automation could help you to save time here.
  • Or a workflow would improve lead nurturing there.
  • You might be struggling to create a set of smart goals to track performance.

Onboarding can be quite a technical process depending on the hubs involved and how you need your portal set up. But it’s not just a technical process. 

HubSpot onboarding also involves a series of training sessions designed to familiarise your whole team with their new software and how to use it.

Onboarding your people

Delivered by HubSpot’s specialists, these standardised training sessions cover everything your team needs to know about the features available in your plan and how to use them long after the onboarding process is complete.

They'll also offer advice unique to your business and recommend when to use certain features to help you get the most value out of the platform. 

Whether you’re investing in HubSpot for the first time, or simply adding a new hub to your existing suite, by the end of the onboarding period you should have an expertly configured platform, ready to use, and a team capable of using it.

A review of onboarding via a HubSpot Partner – BabelQuest


 

 

Common challenges when onboarding HubSpot

A platform shift is a big change for any organisation. Whether technical or people-based, there are the most common challenges you'll face:

Adopting an entirely new platform

  • Do you have the technical expertise in-house to configure your new portal correctly?
  • Do you have the technical expertise to integrate it with any other core systems on which your operations depend?
  • What tactics have you got to educate your team and win them over?

No matter how capable your in-house HubSpot experts are, the wider business won’t get to grips with all the platform's functions and capabilities overnight.

Does your team have the resources (and the stamina) to support the business until it’s able to use the software?

Successfully migrating across your data

A big part of adopting a new platform is migrating your company’s data across to the new system.

Given just how valuable data is (and how sensitively it must be protected), can you confidently say your business has the processes to sync, map, and in some cases clean your data so that it's migrated across correctly?

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Setting up automation

Nobody does automation like HubSpot. Using it, you’ll be able to save all your teams time and improve efficiencies across the business — never mind deliver targeted marketing and sales outreach that really speaks to your buyers.

But these aren’t out-of-the-box solutions. HubSpot’s automation is so effective precisely because you set it up according to your business needs. 

  • Can your team set up workflows independently? 
  • Are they experienced at creating effective templates?
  • How many pipelines have they configured in the past?

All these features are easy to use and can be picked up quickly — but not as quickly as when you have a HubSpot specialist to show you the ropes. 

Configuring your analytics

The importance of setting up your analytics correctly speaks for itself.

Does your team have the knowledge to create the dashboards and configure the reporting you need to prove the value of your activities (and HubSpot)? 

HubSpot’s analytics are awesome, but to unlock all that value it needs to be configured correctly to keep your data accurate and your insights helpful.


 

 

HubSpot onboarding: what to expect


HubSpot onboarding overview

HubSpot’s experts will design an onboarding plan for you based on:

  • your highest priority goals with HubSpot
  • the size and complexity of your organisation
  • the HubSpot products you purchased
  • your current technology stack and how it integrates with HubSpot

As we touched on above, this will involve going through your business model, defining smart goals, understanding your plans and what challenges you'll face, setting up workflows/tasks/pipelines, and documenting a strategy.

How long does HubSpot onboarding take?

Onboarding with HubSpot typically lasts around three months. This is the timeframe in which HubSpot commits to completing your project. 

Of course, this will vary depending on the nature of your onboarding, your requirements, and their complexity. You may finish well within this time. 

The timeline for your particular project is something the HubSpot onboarding experts will help you to define when they take on your case.

Timeline of onboarding to HubSpot - image from HubSpot

Learn more about:


 

How much does HubSpot onboarding cost?

How much your HubSpot onboarding costs depends on several factors and a tier-based pricing structure that makes it difficult to give exact figures in articles like this.

We can give you a ballpark range, however. 

Depending on which type of Hub you’ve purchased, you can find high and low-end estimates for the associated onboarding services below.

Onboarding Hub

Professional

Enterprise

Marketing Hub

£2,450

£4,900

Sales Hub

£820

£2,460

Service Hub

£820

£2,460

CMS onboarding

£670

£1,640

Prices are accurate at the time of writing.

For more definite pricing, we recommend reaching out to HubSpot for a quote.

The onboarding team will advise you on how much your onboarding will cost based on the services required, products purchased, scope of work etc.


 

 

Onboarding: HubSpot vs solutions partners

By now, you’re probably wondering what a solutions partner can offer you that HubSpot doesn’t. As an Elite-tier solutions partner ourselves, we can tell you all about what makes us different and how we help.

Given everything HubSpot onboarding covers, why would a business such as yours consider using a HubSpot partner agency for onboarding services?

There are genuine cases when it makes more sense, economically and from a delivery perspective, to choose a solutions partner over HubSpot. 

The best way to understand what's best for you is with a direct comparison.

(Not sure what a solutions partner is or how we help? Read this first.)

Choosing HubSpot onboarding

Here are some pros and cons of onboarding directly with HubSpot.

HubSpot Onboarding direct

Pros

Cons

Tried-and-tested onboarding process: You can be sure that the experts know what they're doing. HubSpot’s onboarding specialists will have onboarded hundreds of businesses like yours, and the standardised process they follow has been refined time and time again.

Cost: HubSpot's onboarding can get pricey. As a result of the more competitive solutions partner ecosystem and partners' different service levels, agencies tend to offer more varied and competitive pricing.

Dedicated onboarding specialists: There’s also something to be said for knowing that the people onboarding you onto HubSpot are a dedicated team there to do exactly that. 

Standardised services: Due to its size and market presence, HubSpot needs a standardised onboarding process in order to maintain quality and standards at scale. But this also means the onboarding services it offers are heavily templated. 

 

Timeframe: The potential three-month window for onboarding can be a lot to swallow, especially if its business needs are pressing or its industry is particularly fast-paced.

 

Choosing to onboard with a HubSpot solutions partner

HubSpot Onboarding with solutions partner

Pros

Cons

More cost-effective: Businesses with tight budgets or challenging internal approval processes for new technology services may find the lower costs more accessible.

Varying services: Because solutions partners offer their own onboarding services, and because they have much less experience of delivering these at volume compared to HubSpot’s numbers, it’s important to make sure you understand what you’re getting.

Tailored services and experience: Solutions partners are much better equipped to deliver customised onboarding experiences. If your business has a challenging portal setup or lots of other data requirements/systems to integrate, a solutions partner is the best approach to take for onboarding. 

Questionable quality/standards: Solutions partners come in all flavours so make sure you choose the right partner for your organisation. Has the solutions partner delivered lots of onboarding services before? 

Working with HubSpot experts: A solutions partner’s onboarding experts typically work with the product in live environments and all kinds of different contexts and use cases every day. That level of hands-on experience and product knowledge is invaluable. 

 

You can read much more about why you should choose a solutions partner for HubSpot onboarding and scoping here.


 

 

Why choose BabelQuest for your HubSpot onboarding

If you’re considering onboarding delivered by a solutions partner, we can help. 

We offer two different packages: guided onboarding and advanced implementations.

Guided onboarding

This is your best option if you have the in-house resource to carry out the onboarding yourself and just need support in the form of a plan. We'll sit down with you to review your goals, what you need your portal to deliver, the way it will be used — all the details we need to create your personalised setup plan.

And if, midway through the process, you identify the need for extra support, it should be no trouble to add on additional consulting as you go along.

Advanced implementation

Need something more sophisticated? Choose our advanced implementation service and we can implement and configure the full HubSpot Growth Suite to suit your requirements so it delivers exactly what your business needs to grow.

We know it’s useful to have an idea of what a bespoke implementation looks like, so here are some examples of what you’ll receive and how you’ll benefit:

  • A discovery call to fully understand your current setup and business requirements.
  • Scoping to identify what functionality you need the platform to deliver.
  • HubSpot configuration.
  • Migrating contact data from the previous CRM provider to HubSpot CRM.
  • Integrating essential third-party software with HubSpot.
  • Implementation, even of advanced/complex configurations.
  • Personalised training and 1:1 coaching of key users.

We can support you with all your HubSpot integrations, including bespoke integrations such as connecting HubSpot CRM to another CRM system or to ERP or accounting tools, so your business systems are all joined up.

And when migrating your existing CRM, we'll audit and clean your data, then map and align the structure of your data and records to ensure the smooth transfer of data before testing.

“BabeIQuest has been instrumental in achieving our business objectives by helping us with our digital platform. The team understands our aims and goals from working with us at the early stages of our relationship, so if you're looking for an organisation to help take you to the next level — give them a call.” Graham Jones, TCM (a Mitsubishi Company)

Read more testimonials from our clients in the HubSpot Partner Directory.



Onboard with specialists in advanced implementation

Our Expert Practices team is Advance Implementation Certified (AIC), attesting to our experience delivering complex HubSpot implementations.

This team is made up of world-leading HubSpot consultants who manage technical configuration, websites, and complex HubSpot implementations, no matter how sophisticated our clients’ requirements turn out to be.

“BabelQuest is one of the first HubSpot solutions partners in the UK to have been awarded HubSpot’s AIC, which really speaks to the calibre of our work and our capabilities in this area.” ‘Unlocking Expert Practices’

This makes a big difference when we get to training your team. Our HubSpot-certified trainers are on-hand to deliver the precise programme you need so all your key users know exactly how to unlock the full potential of the platform.

This can take the form of:

  • group training
  • 1:1 coaching
  • written documentation

Read more about AIC and how we’ve helped open up the UK market for complex HubSpot implementations.


 

HubSpot onboarding to suit your business

Whether you go to HubSpot directly or choose a solutions partner to configure your HubSpot platform, a lot will depend on your organisation’s requirements.

If budget’s no question and your business needs are relatively straightforward, it might be easier for you to get internal sign-off on onboarding delivered by HubSpot directly, leveraging their company reputation and experience. 

At the same time, businesses with more agile needs, custom, or complex requirements will typically be better served by a solutions partner capable of delivering tailored onboarding services within a shorter time frame.

HubSpot is simple to use once it’s all set up correctly. But the decision of how to set it up? That can feel like more of a headache. We hope this article helps you to decide on the best way to onboard HubSpot for your organisation. 

And if you’re looking for a helping hand from an Elite solutions partner who specialises in advanced onboarding and implementation, we’re here to help.

To talk to us about our HubSpot onboarding services and how we can help you to unlock the full potential of the HubSpot platform, get in touch today

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