Losing time with the wrong tech stack
Entrepreneurs often discover that the tools they started with aren’t always the ones that can support them throughout their growth journey.
When LJ Finney founded IN-18 in 2019, her top priority was developing an innovative business idea, not how she would communicate with clients.
Choosing tools without thinking about future needs, “I ended up with a very large tech stack to manage and pull data from,” she recalls.
As the business grew, LJ noticed gaps within that tech stack. She wanted to expand the IN-18 newsletter but couldn’t identify the content clients wanted to consume. Despite having five payment platforms, clients preferred other options, leading to lost sales. Customer data resided in various spreadsheets, and disconnected data meant the team missed significant insights into prospective clients.
“We had a challenge identifying who was interested in what content we produced, what events we were attending, and finding one place to store all our ideal contacts and manage our potential clients,” says LJ.
LJ needed a more robust platform with greater capabilities to find and reach more customers, grow sales, get paid faster, and better understand and organize customer data.
A right-sized platform for any business
The first step was to consolidate as many tools as possible into one place and increase automation.
“We were sending too many emails at one time. We would blind copy and send a variety of emails directly to people,” she explains. “It was inefficient and didn’t allow us to have any visibility or transparency as to who read it or how many people opened it. It was very manual.”
LJ found a one-stop shop in HubSpot Starter Customer Platform. Designed to help small businesses find and win customers, the platform combines starter editions of HubSpot software—Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Content Hub, Operations Hub, Service Hub, and Commerce Hub—in one neat package.
Unlike other vendors, “HubSpot has its eye on the entrepreneur’s needs,” LJ says. In addition to being a recognized brand, the HubSpot platform had powerful functionality that LJ could anticipate needing in the future and features IN-18 could start using immediately to better tailor offerings to clients.
“The type of work I’m doing with leadership development and training involves very bespoke needs for each client,” LJ explains. “My peers felt HubSpot was a good place to do anything I needed.”
IN-18 began leveraging HubSpot to fine-tune outreach, streamline sales, and identify potential clients.
Improving newsletter engagement
The first improvement LJ noticed was increased newsletter signup from IN-18’s website. Instead of being low-quality leads, the new subscribers were high-quality prospects who had expressed interest in the company, increasing the likelihood the newsletter would land in the inboxes of those more likely to buy.
“We have people opting in because they’re curious about what we’re doing,” LJ said.
IN-18 initially had a large mailing list of subscribers who weren’t necessarily prospective buyers. Marketing Hub Starter allowed LJ to see who opened the newsletters, remove others from the mailing list, and develop a clearer picture of prospective clients.
IN-18 drives engagement further by diving into open rate and click-through trends, something LJ could never do before. By curating the content to what readers liked, IN-18 increased click-through rates.
LJ particularly loves the Preview feature, which alleviates concerns about how a newsletter layout translates across different devices. She can see exactly what newsletter subscribers see and ensure IN-18 communicates the right message.
“It allows me to reach more people and sell a service as a product,” she says.
Growing sales through seamless, instant payment
LJ once juggled five payment platforms, processed some payments manually, and still lost sales. People would click a link on IN-18’s website or newsletter, which took them to another platform. If they didn’t have an account with that platform, they wouldn’t complete payment. Instead, they’d ask for other payment options or drop off altogether.
Commerce Hub has simplified that process, reducing the time between clicking a link and submitting a payment.
“That has been tremendous,” LJ says. “It’s actually zero touch for us, and so it is extremely fast.”
Not only is the process faster, but it’s eliminated the need for those other payment tools, reducing costs.
“The HubSpot Starter Customer Platform is cost-effective because purchasing these tools individually was expensive,” LJ says. “It’s allowed me to decrease customer acquisition costs by saving time.”
The payment process has removed manual effort on the back end, enabling IN-18 to get paid faster and giving LJ a clearer picture of the company’s finances.
“It’s saved me time, and that’s probably the most valuable thing I can ask for as an entrepreneur,” LJ says. “I don’t have to log into five different applications to find how much I earned, and that is priceless.”
She estimates that at least 70% of IN-18’s sales are now clearly defined, significantly increasing efficiency and streamlining the company’s sales process.
Improved organization data surfaces more customer insights
The HubSpot platform has transformed the way IN-18 organizes and understands customer data. For starters, all meetings are now booked through Sales Hub, eliminating their previous four scheduling tools. LJ is beginning to delegate more tasks to a dedicated sales team, and using Sales Hub to book meetings helps keep everyone on the same page about customer interactions.
They’re also seeing a difference in data analysis. “For IN-18, it’s about identifying what sells and at what price point,” LJ says. Those insights are much clearer, allowing her to correlate profits to specific services and projects.
Looking at the bigger picture, LJ says HubSpot's Smart CRM has helped her “clarify who my ideal customer is.” HubSpot categorizes customers into different types and segments, a level of analysis LJ hasn’t seen from other tools.
These client insights are “a game changer” for the small team. They empower IN-18 consultants to take control of specific clients and segments, further promoting internal collaboration and accountability.
A CRM that grows with you
Small businesses are often forced into tools too big or too small for where they are in their growth journey. LJ recommends HubSpot to small-and medium-sized business owners because “this is the shoe that fits.”
She’s most excited about the platform functionalities IN-18 has yet to explore. “Once you use it, you start to think of different ways to make your life easier,” she explains.
Her advice for entrepreneurs exploring what tools to use? “Start with everything in one place.” HubSpot’s Starter Customer Platform has a community and team behind it to support anyone every step of the way.
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