About the P.S. from Attacat newsletter
P.S. = Problem Solved
This monthly newsletter aims to create the “I didn’t realise HubSpot could do that” moments for our clients and other invested HubSpot users. Each month, we’ll share feature updates, opinions, and inspiring real-world examples, large and small, to help you rethink what’s possible with HubSpot.
Best delivered straight to your inbox…Subscribe Today >
In this edition
The art of the possible
Challenges big and small that we have been working on recently that might spark an idea for you.
“Matching” efficiency improved for a recruitment consultant
Do you routinely spend hours trying to pull together data for sales prospects? If so, this story may resonate.
Background: Business development managers (BDMs) at this recruitment consultancy make cold calls to hiring managers, offering lists of relevant candidates for active job postings to win contracts.
The problem: Preparing candidate lists for these calls was time-consuming and error-prone, relying on clunky macros and manual filtering in an overly complex spreadsheet that had “grown arms and legs”.
The solution: We imported the hiring managers’ currently advertised jobs into HubSpot in a structured format and created dynamic matches with relevant candidates. This allowed all the information to be displayed in HubSpot during the BDMs’ calls.
The “clever” bit: HubSpot’s “custom code workflow action” allowed us to create associations between the job and candidate objects based on defined matching criteria all held in HubSpot.
The impact: Countless hours were saved, enabling BDMs to focus on connecting with hiring managers rather than wrangling spreadsheets. With all the data now in HubSpot, new possibilities have opened up for lead scoring, automated email outreach, and follow-up.
What other situations might this apply to? This approach could work for any process involving “requirements” matching, such as:
- Matching collectors to auction items
- Pairing holidaymakers with holidays
- Connecting tenants to properties
- Matching car buyers to cars
And of course, any time you’re battling a bloated spreadsheet!
Improving response rates for a customer survey
Are your customer surveys being ignored, leaving you with little to no useful feedback? If so, this might strike a chord.
The problem: The CEO needed insights from her customer survey! So a comprehensive customer survey was created. However the response rate was very poor resulting in almost no insight.
The solution: We replaced the intense survey with a simple CSAT survey, complemented by automated workflows to follow up and collect the CEO’s additional data in a more targeted way.
The “clever” bit: Simply recognising that the survey was perceived as overwhelming and accepting that it’s better to get a higher response rate on more limited data first and then seek to gain additional insights where you can.
Keeping the deal pipeline up to date
Do deals in your pipeline often stall or get forgotten, leaving money on the table? You are not alone!
The problem: Deals in the pipeline were going stale because they were simply being missed by the sales team.
The solution: We introduced deal tags and automated notifications, making it easy for the sales team to see which deals needed attention. This was supported by a hands-on teach-in to ensure adoption.
The “clever” bit: Taking a holistic approach (combining the customisation of the tools with practical training and making the pipeline more visible to the team).
Proving the impact of regular events
Are you struggling to show the ROI of your events, or finding it hard to keep up with post-event follow-ups? If so, this story could help.
The problem: Running regular marketing events was becoming a significant overhead with no visibility over their impact. Additionally, post-event follow-up might be (politely!) described as “inconsistent”.
The solution: We used HubSpot to streamline the event management process, set up consistent automated follow-ups and developed a customised dashboard to measure event success.
The “clever” bit: using workflows, injecting some consistent process and working out the right metrics.
What other situations might this apply to? Tracking the impact of webinars, training sessions, or product launches.
HubSpot updates
Are these the problem solvers you’ve been waiting for?
Datasets are now available in all hubs
(professional upwards)
One for the analysts! Datasets allow you to create new data fields by joining data in HubSpot using formulas (examples). In the past, this usually involved exporting data to a BI tool or other third-party tool, only to then display the output in a clunky square in your HubSpot dashboards. In extreme cases, we have used hidden pipelines and all sorts of workarounds to solve problems that datasets can now do. Tip: Use ChatGPT to help you create formulas.
Why do we care? The ability to answer many more questions for management without painful workarounds.
New and improved lead-scoring
The legacy lead scoring tool will be retired in August, but the good news is that it’s been replaced with a far more powerful and flexible alternative. If you’re still using the legacy tool, be aware that from May 1st, you’ll no longer be able to create new custom lead-scoring properties. So now is the perfect time to rethink how you score your leads and improve the accuracy of your insights.
Why do we care?
The new system offers:
- More flexible scoring criteria
- Built-in engagement decay for more realistic insights
- The ability to test as you build
- Fewer workarounds and workflows needed for complex scoring
If lead scoring matters to your business, this upgrade is worth exploring.
HubSpot now reports on Google’s PMAX campaigns
Google has been pushing advertisers to use PMAX campaigns for the last few years. As a result, they have become a mainstay for any company taking their Google Ads seriously. Finally, HubSpot can now report on them in the Ads report.
Why do we care? The lack of it was something we were moaning about in our Google Ads webinar in November! The problem was that it rendered the Ads report in HubSpot entirely useless.
Troubleshooting corner
Niggles put to bed. (A gentle bit of self-promotion to highlight the sort of small but painful challenges that we often end up sorting for clients). Please feel free to share your own discoveries that might help others.
- A pop-up not firing on a key page due to a redirect issue on an old site nobody had access to.
- A sudden unexplained drop in newsletter list size – in this case, it turned out to be related to a seasonal peak leading to increases in emails being automatically removed by the “unengaged” filter.
Good question!
Our view on questions we’ve been asked or have asked recently.
Q. Could you use the HubSpot AI assistant as a Grammerly alternative within HubSpot?
A. Not in its current form sadly. It only writes in US English and needs user proactivity rather than just working in the background as Grammarly does. It is useful for translation though! (Thanks to Lou at The Royal Mint for this really thoughtful question!)
Q. HubSpot are making a big sales push on Content Hub at the moment. Do I need it?
A. Yes, but only if you’ve done the prep work first! You’ll need to have developed a really good knowledge base and, for now, that needs to be one hosted on HubSpot. Expect it to get better over time and, in due course, we’d also expect it to be able to use content not hosted on HubSpot so it’s one to keep an eye on. It’s also a good reminder of the need to invest in your help content.
Until next time!
