We refer to ourselves as a Growth Partner—rather than an agency.
An agency typically has expertise in a specific field or "lane." Agencies typically charge based on output rather than outcome. Agencies help businesses perform and scale the functions and tasks that the business already has in place—whether those are working or not.
As a Strategic Growth Partner—Squad4 is focused on outcomes and helping our partners achieve their growth goals.
Ensuring success is a combination of #strategy and #execution—and the nature of the work we perform is more in line with consulting. When we work with partners, there is an initial discovery period where we absorb/learn as much as we can about the business so that we deeply understand it's history, purpose, challenges, and 'current state.'
Together, we define the ideal 'future state' and then take our knowledge to work semi-autonomously—but as an extension of our partner organization.
This enables us to take full ownership—and have the budget and authority—to ensure the successful union of strategy and execution that equates to results.
For more info on what's keeping most B2B orgs from hitting their growth goals—see #TheProblem.
A Certified HubSpot Partner is a business—like Squad4—that has been certified (and maintains certification) and proven their expertise using the HubSpot platform.
HubSpot has some strict criteria and an entire tiering system for their partner program.
Squad4 is FAR from being the largest or most successful Certified HubSpot Partner. That's not even our goal.
Our goal is remain a "small" "boutique" partner that builds close, strong relationships with our clients and does awesome, bespoke work to ensure growth and success. We're about quality over quantity.
We have ZERO interest in "turning out" HubSpot implementations to climb the ladder—like some HubSpot partners.
To that point—did you know that nearly 50% of HubSpot Implementations fail? Yep. Wonder why that is? Check out #TheProblem.
Haha. Glad you asked!
From the customer operations standpoint—businesses have three primary teams/functions:
These teams have drastically different job functions and goals. This can cause problems and friction within an organization.
As most businesses grow—'silos' often appear between these departments.
We aim to change this dynamic by adding a fourth team/function. Squad4 focuses on the alignment of all three CX (customer experience or operations) functions. By ensuring that we have a foundation layer for technology, data sharing, and process alignment—organizations communicate more effectively, reduce friction between teams (and customers), and grow better. Faster.
That's the short of it :P
For more information—check out About Us.
Listen—HubSpot isn't for every organization. There are some organizations that it just doesn't make sense for.
For organizations wanting to store ALL contact information in one place but needing to be HIPAA complaint—HubSpot IS NOT for you. (There are workarounds—where we think HubSpot is still the best Sales/Marketing CRM—separated from patient data, but that's a longer conversation)
There is ONE MAJOR reason to go with HubSpot over Salesforce (or any other CRM).
It might not be what you expected.
PLG & Enablement. HubSpot #wins every time, hands-down for organizations looking to centralize data and operations while providing their teams with robust tools and an easy-to-use interface.
That's typically what most B2B Tech companies are looking for (SaaS, Software Development, Cybersecurity, IT/MSPs, etc.)
Hey—if your more interested in ENFORCEMENT of ALL aspects of processes across a large and distributed workforce—Salesforce (with decades of market-leading acquisition power) has the feature set or "sister-company tech platform integration" to serve your needs... It also has the #SalesforcePriceTag.
That said—HubSpot can still accomplish all of that with some workarounds. But at that point—is it the CRM that has shortcomings—or is it your approach to process and change management? Just asking.
As an enterprise-grade CRM, HubSpot has come a LONG way since it's early days in Marketing Automation. We can show you if you're interested.
Here are some other reasons to choose HubSpot:
That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Let us know if we can answer any questions for you or chat about a customized demo based on your needs.
Great question! The short answer is Yes.
We have years of strategic and technical "hands-on" experience with a variety of CRMs/platforms including: HubSpot, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zoho, FreshDesk, Zendesk, SugarCRM, home-grown CRMs, Microsoft Excel...
Yep, we added those last two even though they made us cringe.
Back to the question—we love helping companies grow and align their buyer's journey, customer journey, customer operations, RevOps, and CX functions. There is no ONE PLATFORM that is best at everything (but we do think HubSpot is the best for the companies we work with and outshines the others in terms of enablement, ease-of-use, etc.)
Hey! We'll consult and provide guidance that is agnostic for any platform—because the underlying strategy and approach works with any system.
But we focus on being MASTERS with HubSpot. We also focus on working with growing B2B Tech companies like SaaS, cybersecurity, Software Development, MSPs, etc. where HubSpot is the clear #winner in terms of enablement, value, experience, and end-user happiness (adoption).
For more information—get in touch.
In short—HubSpot Onboarding is the process of ensuring success any time a customer begins using a new hub within the HubSpot ecosystem.
During onboarding, we ensure the hub is setup, configured, and aligned with your internal teams and functions. It typically includes core setup, training sessions, and ongoing support.
It takes time for team members to adopt and learn how to fully leverage a new tool. Choosing a Certified HubSpot Partner to help with this process maximizes the value of your investment in HubSpot and ensures that the tool gets used.
Plus—we're around for all those questions that will surely come up ;)
Check out HubSpot Onboarding for more info.
Typically ~1–3 weeks.
We operate under a "first come, first serve" model and limit the number of onboardings that we commit to and manage at any given time based on resource capacity.
We do this to ensure that EVERY client and onboarding receives the time and attention they deserve to achieve success and maximize results.
Check out HubSpot Onboarding for more info.
Short answer? Typically 60 to 90 days.
Longer answer... Onboarding, training, and adoption is just the beginning of the journey. Building—and adapting—a CRM and RevOps platform like HubSpot is an ongoing process. Depending on the complexity of your business and your goals we can help adapt our onboarding and implementation approach to reach your goals.
How large is your team using HubSpot? Are we migrating datasets? How complex are your data and operational needs? Are we setting up additional Sales Ops processes like CPQ, Agreements, etc? How about sales enablement—successful organizations protect their CRM investment by ensuring their sales teams have the collateral, training, and ongoing coaching needed for success.
Contact us today for free consult. ZERO-obligation, no-hassle—just insights from our experts.
Are you looking for basic guidance to DIY? Or an implementation partner to manage the project?
With HubSpot's Onboarding—you get 4–5 weekly calls with a HubSpot employee who will help guide you on how to do the work yourself.
With Squad4's Onboarding—you get a dedicated, highly technical, and experienced implementation partner. We help scope, design, and fully manage the technical implementation—as well as provide training to support your rollout and platform adoption. We don't just configure the platform—we design a data model, the automations, and a back-end infrastructure to protect your investment.
Check out HubSpot Onboarding for more information.
When you choose any of Squad4's Onboarding packages—you receive a dedicated Growth/Revenue Strategist who will help guide and coach you through the implementation of the HubSpot platform. This includes a detailed implementation plan, checklists, tools, playbooks, and training to help you succeed.
When you choose one of Squad4's Growth or Accelerator packages—you also receive dedicated project management and access to expert HubSpot technicians—as well as a team of full-stack developers to fully manage and implement HubSpot for you.
Check out HubSpot Onboarding for more information.
We've been working with HubSpot for years. It's our focus and expertise. Period.
Our entire mission is to help companies achieve success with the implementation and adoption of HubSpot—enabling them to stay focused on business operations and revenue generation.
By reducing initial learning and implementation burdens on your team—we help maximize your odds of successful adoption while minimizing your time-to-value with the HubSpot platform.
You COULD do it yourself—but do you...
If you still choose to DIY... We have a plan for that. We'll provide you with weekly meetings, guidance, templates, and insights to help save you time.
Check out HubSpot Onboarding for more information.
There's no obligation for you to continue working with us—but our mission is to provide you with so much value that you'll want to keep our squad on as an extension of your team to leverage our expertise in CRM administration, RevOps, change management, and sales enablement.
The reality is—business and customer operations evolve. Digital systems and data need to be managed and maintained. Organizations that treat their CRM and RevOps like a product (continuous improvement) fair far better and generate more revenue than those that consider it a one-time project.
(Also, let's face it... Working with a handful of subpar agencies who don't take full responsibility for the value they deliver—sucks.)
Check out HubSpot Onboarding for more information.
Revenue Operations (RevOps) is a cross-functional approach to managing and optimizing revenue generation in a business. In short—it involves aligning and integrating the processes and functions that contribute to revenue across departments such as sales, marketing, and customer success (i.e. service). The key components of a Revenue Operations team includes data analytics, sales process optimization, marketing automation, and customer experience alignment.
We help our clients #win with RevOps. Click here to learn more.
The role of RevOps is to manage and optimize the revenue process in a business. It involves aligning and integrating the processes and functions that contribute to revenue generation across departments such as sales, marketing, and customer success. The goal of RevOps is to ensure that all revenue-generating functions are working together efficiently to drive growth.
We help our clients #win with RevOps. Click here to learn more.
There is no "One Size Fits All" answer or approach to Revenue Operations. It'll depend on your unique needs, challenges, and goals.
That said—here are some indicators that it's time to look at Revenue Operations or a Strategic Growth Partner to help drive bottom-line growth:
Your revenue is growing. If you're beginning to grow or scale—it's more than likely worth it to ensure you have a team of experts who are focused on alignment and efficiency for those revenue-generating activities. That way you can scale revenue without needing to scale overhead costs.
You're struggling to align marketing and sales efforts (maybe service too). If you still feel like there is friction between the teams—it's probably time to take a fresh approach and bring in a function that is focused on this alignment and ensuring growth continues—even gets easier.
You're juggling tools, platforms, and software systems to get the job done. Cobbling together software and managing them through integrations can be more cost-effective sometimes. But if they're causing friction between departments—it's likely you're losing more on opportunity cost and lost productivity than that savings is worth. RevOps with a unified platform can help streamline processes, reduce friction, maximize team productivity, and improve your data/insights for better future decision-making.
You're facing inefficiencies or bottlenecks in Sales or Sales Operations. If you run into problems where deals get hung up—a RevOps team can help you put in place the measurement systems and strategies to improve processes and get results.
We help our clients #win with RevOps. Click here to learn more.
The function of Revenue Operations (RevOps) helps align customer-operations teams and put in place systems and strategy to measure everything throughout the customer journey.
There are lots of metrics that are important to various teams, but some of the most important metrics and information include:
More important than any one of these metrics is ensuring their accuracy and visibility so that executive teams can make confident decisions about the future of the business. Are your teams spending hours/days each month "pulling/creating" reports with inaccurate information to support executive decisions?
RevOps teams can also help analyze data and support customer ops teams by:
For more information—see RevOps As A Service.
RevOps and Sales Operations are related but with some important differences.
Sales Operations is a function that focuses on optimizing the sales process within a business, while RevOps takes a holistic view of revenue generation and involves more than just the sales function.
Sales Operations is only focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales team and processes. This typically involves tasks like sales process optimization, sales enablement, sales forecasting, and data analysis for—yes—sales.
On the other hand, RevOps involves aligning and integrating all revenue-generating functions across sales, marketing, and customer success departments and teams.
We help our clients #win with RevOps. Click here to learn more.
RevOps and Marketing Operations are related but with some important differences.
Marketing Operations is a function that focuses on optimizing—yes—the Marketing process within a business, while RevOps takes a holistic view of revenue generation and involves more than just the sales function.
Marketing Operations is only focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the marketing team and activities. This typically involves tasks like marketing automation, campaign management, marketing analytics, lead/demand generation, and data analysis for—again—marketing.
On the other hand, RevOps involves aligning and integrating all revenue-generating functions across sales, marketing, and customer success departments and teams.
We help our clients #win with RevOps. Click here to learn more.
RevOps and Customer Success (CS) are related but with some important differences.
Customer Success focuses on ensuring customers are successful in using the organization's products or services. By doing so they retain customers longer and even drive increased adoption/utilization. Customer Success includes activities such as onboarding, training, support, and account management to drive recurring revenue and minimize churn.
In many Customer Success is often treated like a cost center—rather than a revenue producer. Which is unfortunate—because happy customers and recurring revenue are two of the pillars of stable, growing businesses.
On the other hand, RevOps takes a more holistic look at the customer-operations functions as a whole. RevOps focuses aligning and integrating all revenue-generating functions across sales, marketing, and customer success departments and teams. In part this means ensuring that goals for CS teams are known AND that CS is prioritized early in the buyer's journey to align customer expectations and better customer engagements.
RevOps helps champion for CS—as well as the other CX functions—and helps put in place the systems and strategies to drive alignment and growth as a whole. Because successful organizations lower friction to improve revenue performance while being able to spend more time on high-value activities and building relationships with customers.
For more information on how we help our clients #win with RevOps. Click here to learn more.
No problem! Our team is happy to answer any questions you may have! Contact us today and we'll get you answers!