I was introduced to TalentWave by a HubSpot Account Executive. On a short prep call, he explained that they were looking to leave both Pardot and Salesforce for HubSpot. The rep had already worked through a series of software demonstrations and they were sold on the value of HubSpot. The HubSpotter knew his team's onboarding services wouldn't be enough, and chose to reach out to us as he knew we had performed several similar migrations in the past. Moving from one platform to another can be complicated, and their needs went well beyond software training alone.
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When I first met with Neal and Kristen I knew they were the kind of team we could build a successful partnership with. They were knowledgeable, proactive, and transparent. They were reasonable enough to know what they needed help with, and determined to position the organization for success and scale. In my book that made them a perfect fit for both HubSpot and Revenue River. We just needed to sort through the details and inventory a bit so I could put together a plan and timeline for them.
When we got to proposal I presented a 90-day plan to get them out of both Salesforce and Pardot and into HubSpot. The project consisted of four elements: HubSpot onboarding, data migration, asset recreation, and team training. They signed off quickly and we started the engagement with a team kickoff call to discuss goals and timeline. Here's a high-level look at what we set out to accomplish:
Project Overview
- Goal: Migrate Out of Pardot & Salesforce and into HubSpot
- Services: HubSpot Onboarding, Data Migration, Asset Recreation, Team Training
- HubSpot License: Marketing & Sales Pro
- Timeline: 90 days
Onboarding
At Instrumental Group, we have a dedicated team for HubSpot Onboarding and offer a host of services to help new customers activate their new HubSpot license quickly. Our HubSpot Success Managers are Master Training Certified by HubSpot themselves, ensuring they have a well-rounded and complete understanding of the entire HubSpot Suite. We introduced Kristen and Neal to their dedicated HSM and set forth completing the following steps.
- Step 1: Global License Configuration: We offer to pick up all the initial settings and global configuration on new portals. We started with a workbook to ensure we had the proper branding elements, then jumped in to set up the CRM and Sales Enterprise features to ensure their instance was ready for customization.
- Step 2: HubSpot Software Training: We held a series of calls to train the TalentWave team on how to operate inside HubSpot. We spent dedicated time training on the marketing tools and the sales pro tools, mixing team attendance by roles and responsibilities. The training series fulfilled HubSpot's requirements to allow for waiving their onboarding consulting fees.
Here's a short video with more about onboarding
Data Migration
TalentWave had over 30,000 contact records in Salesforce, along with 10,000 account records and hundreds of active deals. Because Pardot was fully integrated with Salesforce, the data they had in Salesforce was all they needed to migrate. For time and budget constraints, the native integration between HubSpot and Salesforce would do the trick.
- Step 1: HubSpot Field Mapping: We started with an audit of the existing SFDC environment to identify all required fields for migration. Then we configured HubSpot to match, ensuring the ability to migrate successfully.
- Step 2: Native Integration: We leveraged our custom SFDC <> HubSpot Selective Sync tool to integrate the two platforms intelligently. We chose all of the field data we wanted to move and developed a one-directional sync to push selected fields from SFDC into HubSpot.
- Step 3: Validation and Testing: We reviewed the migrated data together, ensuring accuracy. Everything checked out, the data was successfully moved into HubSpot in the proper fields.
- Step 4: Delta Migration: We decided to leave the sales team in SFDC and the sync in place as we completed other steps in the project. This allowed us to manage real-time delta migration throughout the period of overlap, ensuring all new activity and records were accurately passed into HubSpot. When we moved the entire team over to HubSpot we disconnected the integration and TalentWave removed their team from Salesforce.
Here's a short video with more about data migration
Asset Recreation
This is where TalentWave really wanted to improve. They were extremely unhappy with Pardot, and the state of their marketing assets. They wanted to reinvent their marketing collateral. They wanted to innovate, learn best practices in HubSpot, and really take a big step forward with this migration. Because of this desire, we advised them on a path to intelligent recreation of their primary assets only. This included a new set of email templates and landing page templates, strategic recreation of all critical emails, campaigns, workflows, landing pages, and web forms. Our team built an exhaustive inventory, then recreated all assets alongside the onboarding so as not to delay the overall timeline. Everything was ready for the switchover from Pardot to HubSpot.
Team Training
Our training methodology also aligns closely with HubSpot. We've adopted their preferred method of Change Management, ADKAR. We customize training curriculums to build awareness, create desire, develop knowledge, foster ability, and reinforce change and adoption. We'll plan a phase beyond this project that focuses on reinforcement specifically. For this project, we agreed to the following steps:
- Step 1: HubSpot Tour: We started with Kristen as our internal champion and power user. As the marketing leader, it was important for her to understand every inch of HubSpot so she could manage all marketing activities.
- Step 2: Role-Based Training: Our next step was to host two follow-up training sessions with the sales team to answer questions and provide support. Each session included preparation assignments, including content to cover, resources, and desired impact. Aligning team training based on priorities and feedback is key to successful adoption, which is why we customize training sessions for impact.
- Step 3: Documentation: We were also careful to document the CRM procedures. We created a library of training resources for refreshers, future reference, and new employee onboarding. All documentation and training videos were labeled and filed inside their HubSpot file manager for fast reference.
Results
Sometimes the first step in growing and scaling your business is to make a foundational move into a platform that sets your team up for success. In this example, our ability to successfully migrate TalentWave's sales records and marketing assets into HubSpot was important. Even more important, however, was our ability to make their entire team comfortable working in a new platform. The 5-star review we earned from Kristen really gave us confidence that their team viewed the project as a success:
💬 "Great HubSpot Migration Experts!
Instrumental Group was recommended to us as a trusted and competent resource to help us migrate our CRM and marketing automation platform to HubSpot. They've approached the entire project with a disciplined and thorough process to help us not only transition to a new system, but helping to ‘stand it up’ in a way that we can fully leverage the platform and adopt new, best-practices to maximize our investment. All of the different resources that we're working with (i.e. project management, strategy/planning, creative/UX, tech and implementation) at RevenueRiver truly are experts! Not only do they instill a lot of confidence, they are pleasant, fun, helpful and patient. Our whole team enjoys working with them and we look forward to future projects together!"
Kristen Schiffner - TalentWave
Next Steps
With everything in place and their team trained, and fully operational, we went into another phase of the relationship. It was time to activate HubSpot for growth. We were in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic and their primary national conference had been canceled. They needed leads, and we needed to get creative. The resulting HubSpot campaign is something we're extremely proud of, considering the circumstances.
Watch the video to see how we helped them build, promote, and host a virtual conference to drive new leads and fill their pipeline:
