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6 Lessons Learned from HubSpot’s Prospect Generation Bootcamp
By Alisha Chocha and Ishani DePillo, Co-Founders
As co-owners of an up-and-coming digital marketing agency in Orange County, we spend most of our time strategizing and developing unique digital marketing campaigns to propel our clients’ brands further—with more customers and higher revenue.
On the flip side, we are constantly searching for ways to better engage our own audience and find more clients to support. We know we have a lot to offer prospective clients—really, who wouldn’t benefit from great marketing? But we needed to generate more inbound leads for our boutique agency. And that meant more emphasis on marketing and selling our agency to prospective customers.
Enter HubSpot’s Prospect Generation Bootcamp led by Dan Tyre, one of the company’s senior-most sales trainers. When Ishani and Alisha first discovered the HubSpot bootcamp, we were both excited but hesitant. We both live and breathe marketing and strategic development, but sales is not our forte. And Ishani is a self-proclaimed introvert!
The question became: How can we step outside our comfort zones to really connect with prospects?
Let us tell you, this five-week bootcamp definitely whipped us into shape! Below we share our biggest takeaways, but first we’ll discuss HubSpot’s Flywheel Model and why understanding it is the key to inbound marketing success.
Flywheel vs. Funnel
If you’ve ever been in a marketing or sales meeting, you’ve heard of a sales funnel. The problem with the funnel is that customers are viewed as an afterthought rather than the driving force behind a sale.
And customers are definitely a driving force.
Funnels produce customers but don’t consider how those customers can help you grow.
With the Flywheel Model, you’re using the momentum of your satisfied customers to drive more referrals and repeat sales. Customers are at the center giving energy to marketing, sales, and service, which keeps your business spinning.
6 Prospect Generation Bootcamp Takeaways
1. Never make a cold sales call.
Alisha: Dan spoke a lot about building relationships and how you’re not a cold sales caller ever. You’re not trying to sell your services; there is no script. It’s about genuinely helping people grow their brands. When you get ready to make a call, consider this: You’re simply calling to help the prospect with their marketing efforts, not pushing your agency on them.
2. Learn about your prospect before picking up the phone.
Ishani: Research your prospect on LinkedIn prior to your discovery call. Notice their interests, past experience, etc. to understand as much as you can about who you’ll be speaking with. This allows you to customize your conversation and offer true value, rather than going in cold.
3. Connect with your prospect (and do it with a phone).
Alisha: Yes, it took us a lot of energy at first, but picking up the phone and calling is the first step to building a relationship with a prospect. Don’t just email—clients will respond better to a phone call and only 20% of agencies are dialing to make those connections. So you’ll have a competitive advantage by just dialing.
4. Stand up and smile.
Ishani: This is one of the most interesting tricks I learned. As an introvert, the simple act of standing up and putting a smile on my face before making a call helped me get out of my head and it became a confidence booster for me. Get up and smile!
5. Don’t let “no” discourage you.
Alisha: Hearing “no” can be difficult. However, who doesn’t want to grow their business? Marketing helps. It takes practice, skill, and a lot of understanding to learn to combat the prospect’s objections. But remember, more often than not, when they are saying “no,” they really mean “not right now.” So follow-up! And keep that relationship going.
6. It’s more than just marketing, you’re growing your clients’ brands.
Ishani: Rather than calling yourself a marketing agency, call yourself a growth agency. Because that’s what you do. You’re growing your client’s overall company and revenue and accomplishing their goals.
Prospects into Customers
At Your Marketing People, we view our clients as partners. We’re here to build relationships with them so we can put our best efforts toward growing their brand through the digital marketing tactics that drive the best results. Meet our team of industry experts and let us know how we can help.
But don’t worry, if you don’t contact us, we will just contact you! Ring, ring!
