Workflow based on Deal/Ticket Names

[DStone1]

A quick bit of context.

We are a school, using HubSpot for enquiries and admissions. A contact (parent) submits 'tickets' as a way of enquiring for basic info, then they submit 'deals' by completing a formal application form.

However, as we go from age 3-18, parents may submit multiple tickets for different children. So, we may have ticket 1 called "Child A, Year 3", and ticket 2 called "Child B, Year 7". Parents may then only submit one application for Child B.

I would like to create a workflow that, when a deal is created, if the name of the deal matches the ticket name, to close the ticket. Deal and Ticket names are exactly the same format and will be identical.

I have found a way to simply just close tickets if a deal is created, but I only one the relevant ticket to be closed. Is this possible?

[jolle · Accepted solution]

Hey @DStone1, thanks for reaching out!

Honestly, having HubSpot compare deal names to ticket names for an identical value is going to be hard to achieve. This is especially difficult because you're also comparing single-line text, where any value is possible, vs dropdown options where there's a limited set of values that you can match against.

I also haven't heard of someone using the ticket pipeline for initial inquiries then switch to the deal pipeline for the rest of the process. It sounds like you would be able to accomplish everything with the deal pipeline, where stage 1 would be "Inquiry" and a deal would be created there upon the initial form submission. You could then just move the deal to the "Applied" stage once the application has been received, keep everything within a single view, eliminate the need to automatically close out tickets, and probably get better insights into your sales cycle, gaps in your process, etc.

If you're using tickets to ensure that inquiries are addressed, remember that you can assign tasks through HubSpot and automatically create tasks using workflows. When you receive a new submission, you could build a workflow to assign tasks accordingly.

Happy to share additional thoughts if you can let me know more about your process now and what you're hoping to accomplish. Hope this at least helps you get you started though! Thanks!

[danmoyle]

@DStone1 I'm with @jolle here, and might rethink the process a bit to simplify it from the start. And possibly use Custom Objects (Enterpriese tier) for additional functionality. 

With that said, I'd also think about how to accomplish what you're asking without making it completely "automatic." Automation isn't always making everything "magically automatic." It could be setting a task to the Deal owner to check all tickets and move them when the new Deal gets created. Just a thought. 

[GRajput]

Hi @DStone1 

Yes we can do this by Zapier and Google sheet Integration. If you have any further enquiry please feel free to connect over this email gaurav.r@growthnatives.com

Please mark it as solved if you like the solution 

Thank you!

Gaurav Rajput

[jolle · Accepted solution]

Hey @DStone1, thanks for reaching out!

Honestly, having HubSpot compare deal names to ticket names for an identical value is going to be hard to achieve. This is especially difficult because you're also comparing single-line text, where any value is possible, vs dropdown options where there's a limited set of values that you can match against.

I also haven't heard of someone using the ticket pipeline for initial inquiries then switch to the deal pipeline for the rest of the process. It sounds like you would be able to accomplish everything with the deal pipeline, where stage 1 would be "Inquiry" and a deal would be created there upon the initial form submission. You could then just move the deal to the "Applied" stage once the application has been received, keep everything within a single view, eliminate the need to automatically close out tickets, and probably get better insights into your sales cycle, gaps in your process, etc.

If you're using tickets to ensure that inquiries are addressed, remember that you can assign tasks through HubSpot and automatically create tasks using workflows. When you receive a new submission, you could build a workflow to assign tasks accordingly.

Happy to share additional thoughts if you can let me know more about your process now and what you're hoping to accomplish. Hope this at least helps you get you started though! Thanks!

[DStone1]

This is the way it was suggested we set it up during the onboarding - I also wasn't here at the time, so it's "just the way it's done" - always the phrase to be wary of!

Your suggestion makes sense - adding deal stages and amending some forms wouldn't be too difficult. My only question would be:

A contact completes an enquiry form (really basic info), which creates the deal - they do this twice, one for each child. They then complete a formal application, which is a seperate, more detailed form 3 months later. How do I set up the workflow to just copy details into the existing deal?

[jolle]

@DStone1 thanks for your response and the extra context! Haha that is a phrase to be wary of indeed! 

Is there anything that can be simplified in the application process? If the end goal is filling out a single application, regardless of the number of children, it seems like it would make more sense for everything to live in one deal.

Could you use "Child 1,"Child 2," "Child 3," etc. properties to track multiple children in a single contact or deal record? When the parent fills out that initial form, maybe you could ask them for details on how many children they have and such or how many children they'll be applying on behalf of. Or, if you're capturing this information all at once within that formal application, you would just need to build workflows to copy the application info from the contact to the associated deal record.

All you would need to do is recreate the respective contact properties on the deal record. You could then create a contact worfklow triggered by that application form submission that uses multiple "copy property value" steps to copy values from the contact to the associated deal. Keep in mind that HubSpot will copy the values to all associated deals, so if there are historical deals associated with the parents, you'll want to be careful there. If that ends up being the case, it may be best to just keep this information on the contact record, ensure it's associated with the respective deal record, and then have reps use both the contact and deal records to process the application.

I'm not sure what level of HubSpot you have, but this could also be a use case for custom objects (children) that would be associated under the "parent" contacts. Otherwise, child-specific properties on the parent contact record or deal record should help you condense here. Just wanted to throw that out in case it's helpful!

[DStone1]

Thanks for the reply again @jolle.

We have to have seperate deals. They could enquire about a child aged 9, to start in 2025, and a child aged 10, to start in 2024. Obviously, these two different applications will have two different timelines, two different offer points (deals moving to closed etc). So it's essential that we are able to have two deals, with different information.

Hence, I am trying to find a way in workflows to only allow changes to be made to one deal/ticket where the name matches.

The names of deals and tickets are auto generated to be "Child name, Year Group", so deal/ticket names would always match.

[Jnix284 · Accepted solution]

@DStone1 I'm going to add a vote for simplicity - automation is amazing when it works the way we want, but in this case, I think the best automation is as @danmoyle suggested with creating a task that triggers the deal owner to close the corresponding ticket.

As someone who manages both tickets and deals daily, this can be done fairly easily without even leaving the contact view as you can manage the ticket status and deal stage from the right sidebar directly.

With proper naming conventions that you have established, it should take a matter of seconds compared to trying to automate this and spending hours and thousands of dollars developing a custom workflow.

With all of that said, I do agree with @jolle that there is a bigger opportunity to streamline the entire process, and even more so if you can use custom objects.