How To Simplify Your Sales Processes Using HubSpot Workflows

Most small business owners appreciate how tricky and time-consuming it is to manage the sales process, especially with a small team, and with sales staff already stretched thinly. From following up with leads to updating your CRM records (or spreadsheets) and tracking the progress of deals, sales tasks demand precision, accuracy, and coordination. Unfortunately, when managed manually in a small SME sales team, something often has to give, which is why many leads end up going cold and opportunities are missed. This doesn’t indicate anything wrong with the sales proposition necessarily, but simply inadequate resources and processes to communicate systematically and strategically with your sales leads.

This is where HubSpot workflows can help you. HubSpot’s workflow automation tools help you to streamline your sales processes by automating a wide range of repetitive tasks and facilitating greater alignment between your marketing and sales functions. Here’s how you can use this powerful platform to supercharge your sales efforts.

What Are HubSpot Workflows?

HubSpot workflows are an automated series of tasks or communications triggered by a customer’s specific actions, behaviours, or conditions. It’s like a set-and-forget system designed to execute routine tasks without direct intervention by your team. For instance, when a new prospect completes a contact form on your site, a HubSpot workflow can automatically assign that lead to a specific salesperson, notify them via email, and send a welcome email to the lead. Workflows can also be designed to nudge leads along the sales funnel by sending tailored follow-up communications based on their interactions with your resources and content. These workflows are fully customisable and can be set up to streamline multiple elements of your sales process.

Lead Assignment Workflows

One of the biggest issues that SMEs come up against in the sales process is ensuring that leads are routed to the appropriate salesperson quickly and efficiently, so they can be followed up appropriately. Unfortunately, manual processes leave plenty of room for error and delay in this regard.

HubSpot workflows help you to automate this crucial step, also assigning leads to the right person based on predefined, customisable criteria. These can include:

1. Location
2. Sector
3. Lead score
4. Product or service interest

For example, a workflow could use lead scoring to assign a higher value prospect to you or one of your senior directors or sales reps. At the same time, a less engaged lead might be assigned back to your marketing team for nurturing, or a lead in a specific area may be assigned to a salesperson covering that region. This system makes sure that high-potential opportunities and leads ready for conversion get the priority they need without effort being wasted on sorting and assigning prospects manually.

Consistent Communication For Better Engagement

Success in sales often hinges on consistent and appropriate follow-up with leads, especially at the early stages. This can be challenging without automation, meaning that many leads go without contact for hours or even days before anyone gets in touch. HubSpot workflows make it easier for you to create follow-up sequences triggered by lead behaviours. If a lead opens an initial outreach email, for instance, but doesn’t respond, a workflow can send them a friendly reminder 48 hours later. Likewise, if a lead downloads a specific guide or e-book, or spends significant time on one of your service pages, HubSpot workflows can trigger a personalised email highlighting the key features of the product, or providing follow-up content.

Deal Tracking Workflows

Once leads are converted into potential sales deals, closely tracking their progress through the sales funnel is essential for conversion. HubSpot workflows streamline your communications with decision-level customers by automating updates and helping create proactive notifications. This is done through ‘stage-based updates’ that trigger workflows based on the status of the deal in your pipeline. If, for instance, a deal has moved to the negotiation stage, a workflow can prompt one of your salespeople to send a follow-up email with a detailed proposition, estimate, or pricing breakdown.

HubSpot workflows can also alert you to a stalled or cold deal, preventing you from losing opportunities due to neglect or inactivity. By monitoring deals that have gone without updates or actions for a specific period, HubSpot can trigger alerts to remind your sales team to re-engage the prospect, suggesting templates for check-in emails or even scripts for phone calls.

Next Steps

Investing in marketing automation can deliver faster sales cycles for your business, more leads and sales, and a more engaged sales team. To find out more about HubSpot, please download a free copy of our HubSpot Marketing Automation Guide today by clicking here.