How are people managing outreach activity?

Smart CRM & Sales Hub Tips, Tricks & Best Practices
4

Hi @gotmike,

While inbound is at the core of HubSpot, I don’t believe the CRM was built only to support inbound leads. There are a ton of features that support outreach activity. Here are my favorites:

  • Use Lifecycle Stage and Lead Status together
    • You might have an MQL that you’ve attempted to contact but haven’t heard a response
  • Combine the above with reports
    • Last activity report
      • All MQLs with Attempted to Contact status in which the last activity was…
    • Vary these reports around the cadence of outreach for your team
  • Use tasks for follow-up
  • Use sequences with a mix of outreach styles (email, phone, LinkedIn, etc.)
    • Don’t allow it to skip a stage if one of the tasks is incomplete
  • Use the Targeting (ABM) tool
  • Create rep activity reports tracking outreach
  • Use custom-properties for other elements you need to track for outreach, but don’t overdo it - too many properties can become a burden for reps to complete, especially for high volume prospecting

I don’t typically advise creating a deal for early-stage prospecting. In this stage, there will be a high amount of failure, which should be anticipated. Creating a deal for this type of activity is usually extra work and something extra to manage. I typically would advise to create a deal when something becomes an actual opportunity. You’ve connected with the prospect, they have something they want to solve, there is potential that you can help them solve this problem.

There are certainly more aspects built for prospecting. I’m looking forward to seeing other input here as well!

Josh