Over the last 2 months, I've had the pleasure of waking up every week to the highly intense energy of Dan Tyre, while participating in HubSpot's intensity driven Pipeline Generation Bootcamp.
To say I walked away with a lot would be an understatement. Let alone the growth that we have experienced as an agency here at Chirp Media.
I'd like to share with you the biggest takeaways from this bootcamp, and how the bootcamp changed the course of our business as a Growth Driven Agency.
5 Lessons I Learned in HubSpot's Pipeline Generation Bootcamp
1. Get out of your own way. Take an action.
It's common with everybody that the greatest inhibitor to our success is ourselves. We can lose sight of the prize easily, when we're only focused on how we're getting to the race. What's really needed is a plan and some accountability.
We were tasked with weekly homework. Weekly homework has you take accountability and action. We love checking boxes don't we?
Having that clear plan on what the weeks tasks should be, really helped focused my efforts, both in developing new business and maintaining existing business.
I would spend the evenings preparing my next day. My preparation looked like asking myself questions and assigning myself tasks such as:
- Who was I going to call tomorrow?
- Who could possibly make a referral?
- How many calls should I make?
- What projects need to be completed?
- And, does my wife need assistance with our newborn?
Pair all that up with the support of our HubSpot CAM (Channel Account Manager), and it all worked.
Put that all together and in motion and we started seeing results immediately.
We started booking 5-10 meetings a week, most of which started within the first 2 weeks. These were in response to the lead generation efforts we were developing in the bootcamp. And these were qualified and ready to chat!
2. Learn, Test and Learn Again
One of the greatest nuggets from Dan, was that it didn't have to be perfect. With each week we'd increase the frequency of our calls. Not every call was perfect, but it got us to the next one.
Having the support of the Lions (more on this later) and the learnings, I'd review the calls later.
Then I would ask myself:
- What did I need to work on?
- How could I make the call more fun?
- Was I providing value?
Then I'd test it out on the next call, and do it all again.
The connect calls became so exciting for me as an opportunity to brush up on my skills that I wanted do even more. Yes, Dan made us pick up the phone, but he's good because it really works.
3. Generating new business is a journey
There's a flow to every sales process, conversation, and life.
We all have to start somewhere, and much of the first portion of the bootcamp had us focusing on that first connection with a prospect - showing us how to really connect the human on the other side of the conversation.
It really set the foundation for the process, allowing us to shed away all that extra "me" talk from the conversation all together. We worked on our positioning, and how we can be of value to the other person using it.
We focused on ultimately being able to truly guide a prospect from connection to close, all the while being a guide and not a pusher. This all culminated into who we as a business want to do business with, and create growth...
4. Learned The Numbers, By Setting Goals
One clear takeaway I discovered in this bootcamp, was that I had not really developed a strategy to reach our own goals internally.
I know how many deals I need to close in a month, and it's always just worked out, yet I've never had to put any math to it.
Once we started getting into the meat of how many initial calls, how many follow-ups, how many discovery sessions I need to make each week, I started to get the picture. I needed to know my numbers.
I even crafted a handy little dashboard that tells me how far away we are from our annual revenue goal.
Then I took it a step further, and built out a section that told me how many connect calls (the initial touch point in our sales process), I needed to have to reach that goal.
This implementation made things easier on me to be honest.
At any given day in month, I can look at it and go "I need to call 4 people today" or "this month I need to connect with 2 new prospects, have 4 exploratory calls...".
Furthermore, it allowed me to set realistic goals, create a structure that works, and of all things it's repeatable. I know when I need to open the valve and work more prospects.
Truthfully, it's created a sense of comfort, and I've realized I actually love getting on the phone and learning about what other business owners are up to.
5. Rome Wasn't Built In a Day, So Why Sell That Way?
The last big takeaway is no surprise, but it had me really look at what I was trying to accomplish.
I've set some lofty goals for Chirp this year, and to hit it is going to take work. I realized though, that my old way of doing things just wasn't going to cut it.
I was trying to bunch too much into a single call with a prospect. I was blasting them with so much information (to which I thought was providing value), almost to the point that would leave them confused.
It's easy to take the cheese, a phrase that was commonly used within the bootcamp.
Hearing your prospect ask about keywords and strategies, and you would immediately jump on it and begin pitching. I had to remind myself "we're not at that conversation yet, we're still uncovering their needs".
It made a tremendous difference in the process, one where we actually were starting to provide value in each call. A tidbit here, a tidbit there; actions they could take immediately while on the call or after.
By the time we would get to the next call, the prospects were excited, they wanted more. A relationship and rapport had been built and the prospect felt we knew their business.
The Results
After everything is said and done, it obvious the next conversation is about the results.
Before the Pipeline Generation Bootcamp, we were having 1-2 initial connect calls and subsequent calls per month. Nothing to really brag about, and I was okay with that, we were keeping the lights on and the team paid. But we weren't growing, at least at any nominal pace.
With the coaching provided in the bootcamp, we now have roughly 8-10 connect calls per week, and I'm excited by everyone. I get the opportunity to learn new industries, meet new and exciting business owners, and help businesses grow.
It goes without saying, that if you put in the effort you will win! I highly recommend this bootcamp to any sales professional, or HubSpot Partner Agency.
Article by Richard Walsh
As a certified inbound and content marketer, Richard believes in the need to create high-quality compelling content, that drives engagement and interaction. Richard has been developing brands and high-quality web experiences since 2001. Book a meeting with Richard to talk about your branding and marketing efforts.
