ISA Cybersecurity Saves 40 Hours Per Month With an Optimised HubSpot Platform
ISA Cybersecurity is a fully-fledged end-to-end services firm focused solely on cybersecurity. With over 32 years of experience, they are dedicated to guiding clients through their cyber programs, offering advisory, technology implementation and managing security solutions.
Four years ago, ISA Cybersecurity started using HubSpot and has since seen a need to evolve the way they’ve been using the platform.
When Melissa Gallo, ISA Cybersecurity's Interim Marketing Director, joined the team, she noticed inefficiencies within the small team, particularly in data management and internal communication. This lack of efficiency and outdated data highlighted the urgent need for a HubSpot optimisation to enhance performance and collaboration, especially between marketing and sales.
The Challenge
ISA Cybersecurity used Microsoft Dynamics 365 for its CRM and sales efforts, supplemented by Marketing Hub for its marketing efforts. Before the HubSpot optimisation project, the two systems weren’t communicating with each other and HubSpot features were being underutilised.
When they partnered with Six & Flow in 2023, they had outlined a roadmap for revenue growth but lacked the right processes and integrations to effectively enable their teams and measure performance.
Disconnected Tech Stack and Marketing-Sales Misalignment:
The absence of a seamless integration between HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics 365 led to outdated lists and hours wasted each week.
Without a clear hand-off process between marketing and sales, ISA Cybersecurity’s marketing team found themselves in a repeat cycle of manually compiling lists and chasing sales executives for lead and contact lists. When sales received those lists, and with no processes mapped inside their tech stack, there was no clear next step.
Without a defined hand-off process between marketing and sales, ISA Cybersecurity experienced long lead follow-up times and saw opportunities slip through the cracks.
Data Duplication and Integrity Issues:
With marketing and sales teams using separate, disconnected systems, ISA Cybersecurity faced cohesion and visibility challenges.
“Microsoft Dynamics sat as our source of truth, but HubSpot was not synchronised. We periodically pulled lists into HubSpot throughout the year, but we didn't know if the contacts we imported were still contacts, leads, or customers,“ expressed Melissa.
This segregation, coupled with a lack of processes in HubSpot to preserve data integrity, made it difficult to trust the data and create highly effective campaigns.
Inadequate ROI Measurement and Attribution:
Challenged by data integrity issues and lacking a direct integration, ISA Cybersecurity found it difficult to accurately gauge the ROI of its marketing activities in HubSpot. This made it hard to assess the effectiveness of their go-to-market strategies and allocate resources efficiently.
To tackle these challenges, ISA acquired a Sales Hub Pro licence, significantly enhancing BDR activities. This advancement facilitated smooth transitions of deals into Microsoft Dynamics 365, empowering the sales team to efficiently mark deals as won or lost.
ISA Cybersecurity partnered with Six & Flow to elevate the performance of their HubSpot Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, while also integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 for a streamlined operation.
The Goal
To enhance ISA Cybersecurity’s sales and marketing capabilities, we focused on optimising their HubSpot portal and integrating it with their CRM system, Microsoft Dynamics 365.
The goals set out for our optimisation and integration project included:
- A more efficient HubSpot portal, aligned with their business needs, coupled with a reporting setup that clearly illustrates how ISA Cybersecurity is moving towards its revenue goals.
- Enhanced data integrity, ensuring that senior leader’s decisions are based on accurate and reliable information.
- Integration of data syncing bi-directionally with Microsoft Dynamics 365, facilitating a seamless flow of information across platforms.
Furthermore, we aimed to achieve:
- Improved attribution reporting on marketing activities, enabling the team to understand the full impact of their marketing efforts from start to finish.
- Full utilisation of HubSpot's sales productivity tools, allowing the BDR team to work more efficiently and progress deals faster.
Phase 1: CRM Strategy Workshop
Customer Journey Mapping
The initial phase of the optimisation process was a CRM Strategy workshop. The goal was to dissect and understand the intricate web of interactions customers have with ISA Cybersecurity, from initial contact through to sales conversion.
By mapping these interactions in detail, we aimed to uncover hidden friction points that could impede customer satisfaction and identify opportunities to enhance the overall experience.
Sales - Marketing Alignment
A pivotal aspect of the workshop was bringing together senior decision-makers from both sales and marketing. This collaboration was crucial in aligning goals, setting shared definitions and metrics, and crafting a cohesive contact lifecycle and handover process.
The discussions led to a mutual understanding of success criteria, laying the foundation for a unified front in ISA Cybersecurity's go-to-market market approach.
Phase 2: HubSpot Optimisation
The workshop process enabled us to pinpoint underused features that boosted operational efficiency and revenue growth. Sales and marketing leaders now share common definitions and use workflows and lead scores for efficient lead distribution, ensuring timely follow-ups.
Sales teams' adoption of sequences has improved access to customer data, automating and personalising sales activities to enhance customer engagement and relationship building.
"We realised that if no one follows up on our marketing and lead generation efforts, it's a waste of resources. So, our leadership team created a joint goal for marketing and sales. We now share a conversion rate goal between marketing-qualified leads and sales-qualified leads. This shared goal has significantly impacted performance. Sales are now proactively reaching out to follow up on leads," explained Melissa.
There's now better coordination and communication between sales and marketing, streamlining the handover process.
All marketing leads are now automatically assigned to a BDR, where they are then enrolled in sequences or nurtured into the appropriate next touchpoint. Previously, uploaded lists would often go nowhere.
ISA Cybersecurity’s marketing team has honed their ability to identify and target ideal customer profiles (ICPs), crafting specialised email programs for different audience segments. This strategy has led to more personalised, high-intent nurture programs, improving engagement and outcomes even for niche audiences.
ISA Cybersecurity has since built sophisticated HubSpot dashboards that integrate actual revenue figures from data they capture in both HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Phase 3: Re-Onboarding & Training
The value of Six & Flow's training and workshop became evident through the comprehensive involvement of the team in the project's entire process. "The training was beneficial, but the real advantage was the team's involvement from start to finish," expressed Melissa.
This inclusive approach was not just about creating a marketing funnel; it was about ensuring a seamless transition to sales. "We needed a clean pass-off to sales, which meant everyone needed to be on the same page," she added.
By having the team engaged from the outset, the training became significantly more effective. They were already familiar with the system, understanding the crucial data points and steps before a lead was even received.
Results
Since optimising its HubSpot system, ISA Cybersecurity has experienced significant operational efficiencies, saving its marketing and sales teams a collective 40 hours per month. This optimisation has not only enabled the teams to operate with greater agility but has also led to a three-week reduction in sales cycles.
Their Business Development Representatives (BDRs), tasked with acquiring new clients, have achieved nearly a 30% rise in leads converting into sales-qualified leads. These advancements have allowed ISA Cybersecurity to leverage new revenue streams to expand its team by adding a new BDR. This expansion has facilitated time and cost savings while boosting activity.
The enablement and optimisation of these tools have enhanced the volume of activities ISA Cybersecurity can execute from both marketing and sales standpoints. It has also sharpened their strategic decision-making, empowering them to make more informed, data-driven choices based on up-to-date and reliable information.
What’s Next
Since the optimisation project, ISA Cybersecurity has continued to work with Six & Flow where we are currently in the process of building a Renewal Deal process with a subsequent sequence to nurture customers as they reach their renewal date.
Our teams are collaborating closely to introduce operational efficiencies across the customer journey, ensuring ISA Cybersecurity continues to meet its ambitious revenue goals.
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