Routing leads to distributors

[Edyta7510]

Hi, 

• Our company has a contact us form on our website. 
• For a demo request (one of the request types), we're also asking the company to select from a dropdown menu the number of their subscribers. 
• Beyond a certain threshold, we don't want to route these leads to our internal sales team, but to distributors that we work with (1 for Europe and 1 for the Americas). 
• Distributors do not have access to HubSpot today and I don't imagine granting them this access

Here's my question: 

What would be your recommended way to: 

1) forward requests to resellers -> this could be a simple forward of the notification email that form fill generates (any alternatives?)

2) tracking progress on those requests - during regular calls with resellers we could go through a HubSpot report on contacts(?) - it would make no sense to create deals for them in the pipeline. 

Any suggestions, please let me know!

2) track the status of those requests (could be done 

[Shweta95]

Here’s a recommended approach for routing leads to distributors and tracking progress:

1) Forwarding Requests to Distributors

• Email Forwarding: Use HubSpot’s workflow automation to trigger an email notification to the appropriate distributor (based on region) when a form submission meets your criteria (e.g., number of subscribers above the threshold).
• Dynamic Content in Email: Include all form submission details so the distributor gets the necessary information without accessing HubSpot.
• Alternative: Use integration tools like Zapier or Make (Integromat) to send form data directly to distributors in their preferred format, such as a Google Sheet, Slack notification, or CRM.
• Lead Distribution Software: Consider using a tool like LeadAngel to automate and streamline lead distribution. It allows you to set custom rules for routing leads to distributors, ensuring accuracy and reducing manual work.

2) Tracking Progress on Requests

• Custom Properties for Status: Create a custom property in HubSpot, such as “Distributor Status” (e.g., "Forwarded," "In Progress," "Closed"). When you follow up with distributors during calls, update this property for each contact.
• HubSpot Report: Use this custom property and filters (e.g., contacts routed to distributors) to create a dashboard or report that tracks the number of leads forwarded, their regional breakdown, and statuses.

Additional Suggestions:

• Shared Tracking Sheet: Automatically log distributor-forwarded leads into a shared Google Sheet (via Zapier/Make) so distributors can update statuses directly.
• Distributor Follow-Up Reminders: Set automated reminders or tasks in HubSpot to check in with distributors if no status updates are received after a defined period.

[deltaglider]

Hello @Edyta7510 @karstenkoehler ,

+1 on your suggested solution.

I'm currently looking at a similar challenge. In our case these are not distributors but partners that we reffer customers to. I just need a way of sending emails to partners with our customer information and a way to track these things (email sent) in order to base our comission calculation on it.

It sounds like this approach could also work in our case. I was wondering, since you started to use this some months ago, if you have any learnings that you made so far?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @Edyta7510,

Theoretically, you could set up permissions in HubSpot in a way that these resellers only see what they need to update record information. Depending on the framework contracts, non-disclosure agreements that you have with them and the opinion of your IT team, this could be a feasible option.

If it isn't, then yes, you would use contact-based workflow that branches based on the logic you described. You would then use the 'Send internal marketing email' workflow action to send these notifications. You also already pointed out the biggest challenge: keeping these records up to date when the resellers aren't working from HubSpot.

Personally, I wouldn't use a report for that last part, I would set up saved filtered views for each reseller on the contact index page (Menu > Contacts > Contacts). During a video call, you can go through this filtered view and update values (Lead status, Lifecycle stage etc) as you go, by clicking into any cell. (This was added recently to HubSpot.) Reports are read-only.

Alternatively, you could ask the resellers to track certain information in Excel files and bulk update their contacts via import. In this case, you should provide an Excel template along with your email notifications.

Let me know if that answers your question!

[Edyta7510]

this is perfect @karstenkoehler ! thanks a lot! 

A bonus question: 'Send internal marketing email' can be triggered to anyone (=distirbutor) or internal HubSpot user who would forward this request to distributor? 

+ agreed on using the filtered view vs report. Editing those truly got so much easier!

Thanks

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Edyta7510,

Yyes, in workflow that I created recently (in fact, I'm working on one right now haha) this workflow action allows for adding both internal and external email addresses. It's important to test this however, depending on your GDPR settings, HubSpot might require an opt-in for the subscription type chosen for the marketing email. In other words, HubSpot will run the usual checks on whether an email send is 'compliant', even though it's not a regular email send.

Best regards!