Rise of the RevOps HubSpot Agency Partner

A HubSpot Agency Partner can look like a lot of things; however, all of them fall into one of three camps:

• The Noncommittal. The agency that works with multiple product lines and services, sometimes even with competing stacks. They’ll do HubSpot…if that’s what you want.
• The Side Piece. They offer HubSpot on the side, while their primary service is something like web development or PR.
• The Lifer. The ride-or-dies dedicated to the HubSpot platform

But there’s another way we could slice this pie:

• Traditional teams
• Technical teams
• Strategic teams

A New Breed of HubSpot Agency Partner

The majority of HubSpot Partner Agencies are by-the-book inbound marketers. They offer creative services (like graphic design and content creation) paired with minimal technical abilities...basically what they learned in HubSpot Academy. That means they can:

• Design and deploy inbound campaigns;
• Provide basic training in the software;
• Create some automated processes; and
• Maybe possibly build a website.

But they won’t be able to take on anything highly technical. It’s just not in their wheelhouse.

That is a job for a technical HubSpot Agency Partner.

These are the guys that speak in CSS and Java. They are who you’re gonna call when you need to:

• Integrate your proprietary software with HubSpot’s API;
• Migrate from Salesforce, or another platform/tech stack; or
• Automate lead routing based on zip codes, to name just a few examples.

The issue with a purely technical team is that most of them need orders to follow: They are point-and-click adventurers. A client points them in a direction and they execute. They lack strategic insight, and rely entirely on the client for that. These are doers, not thinkers.

And in our experience, both the traditional inbound teams and the more technical teams are ordered around by different departments (sales, marketing, customer support, and sometimes the c-suiters just for good measure) to work on different pieces of the business.

This works if there is a single person from the client company with deep operations experience and a bird’s eye view of how all these systems work together.

We’ve never seen that.

Instead, siloed departments task out a bunch of disjointed projects, ultimately resulting in slow—if any—progress.

On the flip-side, agencies or consultants that emphasize strategy often lack the ability to execute. They’re HubSpot dabblers at best. They’ll tell you what to do, but won’t do it for you—or can’t do it, because they don’t have the technical capabilities.

A highly technical HubSpot Agency Partner with technical capabilities and strategic prowess.

And, actually – while we’re sitting here dreaming – let’s add wings to this unicorn: “Strategy without process is little more than a wish list” – Robert Filek

Makes sense?

The technical tool (HubSpot) is only as effective as the systems and processes implemented around it.

Okay, so this mythical species of a HubSpot Partner Agency would have:

• A thorough understanding of inbound;
• Technical mastery of the platform;
• Strategic insight; and
• The ability to define processes that support that strategy.

The last three bullets, taken together, all fall into the wheelhouse of revenue operations (a.k.a. RevOps).

That’s what we’ll dub this beast: Behold, the RevOps Unicorn.

How a HubSpot Partner Agency Can Be RevOps Enabling

Alongside the Chief Revenue Officer, RevOps has emerged over the past couple of years as a new layer in business. It’s of course being spearheaded by the innovative tech industry, but is quickly spreading.

RevOps exists to break down walls that exist between traditionally siloed departments (need we say anything about the age-old contention between sales and marketing?).

Historically, marketing has reported to the head of marketing, sales has reported to the head of sales, and customer support has reported to the head of customer support. Each department tends to have its own goals and incentives, and its own way of using tools (even if those tools are shared between departments, which is more the case than ever before).

The result is disjointed efforts and ample miscommunication.

RevOps is a centralized function that serves to unite departments under the single mission of generating revenue. It does this through:

• Process design;
• Tool implementation and administration (technical mastery); and
• Aligning operations across the full customer lifecycle to drive growth and keep all teams focused on the goal of revenue (strategic insight).

What’s great about HubSpot is that it’s RevOps enabling, because it pulls all departments—marketing, sales, and customer service—into one platform.

In other words, HubSpot was supporting RevOps before RevOps was even a "thing".

Why Hire a HubSpot Partner Agency for RevOps?

It’s true that you could hire an in-house RevOps team — and at some point, it may serve you to do so. But by outsourcing, there’s less of a learning curve; you have instant access to an expert architect and greater speed to market.

It also tends to be the case that the most difficult part of RevOps is the initial phases—the aligning of teams and designing of processes. But once that is done, it’s simply maintenance and refinement. You could think of it like hiring a contractor to build your house. You may learn how to paint and patch drywall on your own after a while, which makes it easy to keep up with after the house is built.

A HubSpot Partner Agency with technical and strategic capabilities is a true RevOps unicorn.

In addition to operational know-how, they also have an intimate understanding of the Marketing, Sales, and Service Hubs.

With this knowledge of the inner workings of HubSpot + a bird’s eye view of your company’s HubSpot operations, they can:

• Automate processes like lead routing and nurturing to increase your team’s capacity;
• Build out lifecycle stages tailored to your customers’ unique journey;
• Deploy a lead scoring model with actionable data;
• Identify segments of your database so you can engage customers at scale;
• Strategize email campaigns and content based on those segments;
• Develop processes that surface the most actional deals, contacts, and tasks;
• Troubleshoot your existing pipeline and remodel it for more efficient deal progression;
• Craft onboarding processes that reduce churn and keep your customers delighted;
• Define a ticketing process that offers customers a seamless experience;
• Deploy surveys that help identify brand evangelists;
• Train your company on how to organize the Knowledge Center;
• Create reports that focus your team on revenue-driving metrics;
• Audit and configure settings for a tidier database; and
• Review, delete, and update any unused or outdated elements in your system:
  • Lists
  • Campaigns
  • Workflows
  • Landing Pages and Website Pages
  • CTAs
  • Forms
  • Sequences
  • Documents
  • Dashboards
  • Templates
  • Users
  • File Manager
  • Social media accounts
  • Deals
  • Clean up overdue deals and tasks

Conclusion

To summarize, a HubSpot Partner Agency is uniquely positioned to help you identify gaps in the customer journey, and then recommend operational solutions based on an intimate understanding of the platform.

That’s what we’d call a win-win-win.

If you found this article helpful, you may also enjoy:

• How to Choose Your HubSpot Agency Partner
• What is a HubSpot Certified Agency Partner?
• HubSpot Agency Pricing: What You Need to Learn

If this sounds like the unicorn you've been looking for, get your free consultation with us here!