Q&A Follow-Up | Becoming a HubSpot Admin: The 5 Stages of the HubSpot Admin
Hi y'all,
Thanks everyone for attending the new live event series called Becoming a HubSpot Admin. It was a BLAST and I loved the energy coming off the chat.
We couldn't get to all of your questions during the Q&A and I promised I'd answer them in the community. So here goes!
Question: Regarding the Modern era tech stack, Hubspot has an ingrained tool that Outreach provides. Yet companies are buying Outreach as part of their tech stack and using SalesForce. So how is Hubspot going to show they can offer the same or better service and capabilities as Outreach while including other functions in their CRM? At a cursory glance, Outreach seems way better than what Hubspot offers by default.
Answer 1: Outreach specializes in Outbound outreach - that is cold outreach via multi-channel, multi-touch campaigns. This same function (cold outbound) can be executed in HubSpot via Sales Pro, leveraging the sequence function. The difference is: HubSpot and Outreach philosophically approach sales differently.
Outreach Thesis: Volume-based cold outreach. Outreach is used for massive outbound campaigns. There are no limits to the number of contacts that can be “loaded” into a cadence.
HubSpot Thesis: Low volume - highly personalized outreach. HubSpot encourages a low volume, highly personalized approach - limiting the # of contacts per sequence to 50.
Answer 2: When adding Outreach (or any outbound tool - Salesloft, apollo.io, etc.), the admin must weigh the COST of adding a database. Managing multiple databases becomes a massive burden as companies scale. One of the largest benefits of having HubSpot is the ability to do all marketing, sales, and customer service functions in ONE database. A fundamental truth of RevOp is: having fewer databases is better.
Question: What's the best process for becoming a Hubspot admin? What are the best ways to find the resources to do so beyond the certifications? Or is it more about having an account and practicing like you would with Salesforce and Trailhead?
Answer 1: Salesforce Like Training: There is no true practicum or demo environment provided for HubSpot Power users today. The best place to hone skills is joining a HubSpot-specific admin community like “The HubSpot Super Admin.”
Answer 2: “Becoming” a HubSpot admin has two layers. One is becoming a RevOps professional and the other is becoming a HubSpot Power User. Both have different training regimens as outlined in the “5 Stages of the HubSpot Admin.” In the slide deck, I provided training for both tracks.
Question: Can a marketing professional be a Hubspot admin?
Answer: YES. A HubSpot Admin has two layers - the RevOps professional and the HubSpot Power User. You are already a HubSpot Admin as a marketing professional using HubSpot, the question is: which stage of admin are you? To grow into “Stage 3” requires expertise in another RevOps field like “SalesOps.”
Question: How is HubSpot going to continue to improve the admin experience? Specifically, having greater control over individual user settings, notifications, meetings, and so on.
Answer: Warning - I don’t have a special view of HubSpot’s product roadmap. BUT, I’ll say this. There have been profound, material changes (product updates) to HubSpot as it positions itself as an enterprise CRM. Being an Enterprise CRM means empowering admins with additional permissions and settings as those are “Enterprise Requirements.” Thus, I predict HubSpot will continue to improve admin controls in HubSpot. It simply has to in order to compete upmarket with Salesforce.
Question: as someone who has mostly lived in a post-sales world (support, success, and now implementation/onboarding) do you foresee that there is a market for that skill (SuccessOps, ServiceOps), and will HubSpot be the place to embrace that?
Answer: Yes. HubSpot’s goal is to be the CRM Platform for the entire flywheel. As an example, Service Hub just received a massive update that makes it even more competitive with Zendesk. Service Hubs is the only “hub” that is not ranked #1 for its function by G2 (CRM, MAP, CMS are all ranked #1). Prediction: You will be able to start in any function - sales, marketing, cs - and be considered a HubSpot admin. This is the way.
Question: Hi Matt, is this your definition of a HubSpot Admin? A salesforce admin for instance doesn't need to know SQL? Perhaps there will be other roles like Hubspot Architects and Consultants. RevOps is cool, I'm just not sure the depth of complexity here will be necessary to be a HubSpot Admin. What are your thoughts?
Answer 1: Admins are more than "button pushers” and platform “configurers.” As they mature, they combine strategy, data fluency, and tactical knowledge to create revenue engines. This is a lethal combination.
Answer 2: I disagree. All Admins (to hit a higher stage in their evolution) need to know SQL. The fundamentals of SQL are - the ability to visualize data tables and join tables to create reporting. You don’t have to be formally trained in SQL to have this ability, however, you can’t become a “Stage 4” Admin without this ability - the power of visualizing databases and then creating reporting.
Question: This was awesome. I’m curious re: pay scales and salaries for admins, from level 1 to level 5. Where do you think salary ranges should be?
Answer: I don’t have this, but will get it! I know the HubSpot Super Admin community is working on pay scales for admin based on Stages.
Question: Can Matt point 1 or 2 things that HubSpot needs to improve?Answer:Permission (more native, easier way to do user-based field permissions). Custom Objects (more native, easier way to configure custom objects without using the API tool).
Question: is there a way custom objects will be done in a way we "define custom properties" instead of API level work?
Answer: Yes - it required downloading an app on the market exchange - call Lift.
Question: Is there a big difference between being a HubSpot Admin at a specific company vs joining a HubSpot partner as a consultant?
Answer 1: HubSpot Partners: For example, most HubSpot partners are “Agencies” or in other words, digital marketing agencies. They will give you strong training in marketing operations, but not sales ops. There are very few (yet growing) numbers of SalesOps specific HubSpot Partners (RevPartner is an example of one). A good question to ask is: do you build websites and do you have a graphic designer on staff. If they say yes, likely an agency. Company: For companies, most jobs will be marketing ops specific. This will change as HubSpot sales pro becomes more widespread in mid-sized companies. If you want to focus on SalesOps, you need to specific questions on what CRM they are using and if they view HubSpot CRM as a stop-gap (i.e. use until moving to SFDC) or they see it as a scaling platform.
Answer 2: All jobs are going to give various levels of experience. Short answer - you can learn to be a HubSpot Admin in any environment. In either a partner or company, make sure you understand how they view HubSpot and what RevOps function you will be using HubSpot for.
Question: Can you share SQL academy link? I started one on Coursera is this good.
Answer: Yes, two courses I like are provided in the slides.
