When starting up Zendfast we came from big companies which were well-oiled machines when it came to all the processes needed to run business operations smoothly. Accounts, marketing, sales, HR, IT, customer service all had their processes in place which helped everyone do their jobs properly and effectively.
When you’re a start-up, you try your best to plan for the future and set things up so that you can function your business without pulling your hair out. That’s easier said than done. At Zendfast we had to choose and implement processes from scratch for each department. We needed all these departments of our business to run effectively such as our marketing, sales, accounts, customer service, IT etc but we needed it to come within a startup budget while not sacrificing quality.
When choosing a CRM system we originally went with a free version of Zoho. After some research, it did the job we needed and we were happy enough with the results. After a rebrand and launching a new website on the platform WordPress. We wanted to integrate a chatbot on the new website. Again we did our research and HubSpot pops up on our radar. We thought that HubSpot was only a marketing software, little did we know the depth of services they provide. We made the switch to integrate HubSpot and we are delighted with the results.
Understands my needs and training
Once we decided to move to HubSpot, little by little all the different features we needed started to be integrated into our business and instantly help us in what we wanted to achieve in our marketing and sales functions. The first was HubSpot’s CRM which is the cornerstone of what happens on the platform, connects everything together and is very user friendly.
Second, we integrated the HubSpot chat bot software to our website which helps increase engagement with the traffic we drives to the different pages. I started off copying and pasting the code needed to each page on our website for the bot to pop up. If you’re reading this article on our blog check it out live yourself. It’s on the bottom left of the page.
Next, we integrated the HubSpot WordPress plugin, this instantly automated a lot of the features we used Hubspot for, such as our contact forms and pop up’s. This helps us capture leads at different stages of our sales funnel. Our email marketing improved and we had the ability to create multiple email lists which we could mass email potential customers and customers to help bring them along our sales journey. This was all put together with analytics in mind so that we could make better decisions for our business.
I integrated all these features myself also learned a lot more about inbound marketing and how to get the most out of HubSpot. I did this by the easy friendly way the software is build but also from the Hubspot Academy
Free and upgrades I want but when I’m ready
Yes, everything we have integrated to date is free. As a small business, you can’t ask for better value. Free CRM, email marketing integrations, WordPress integrations, chatbots and many many more features. It’s absolutely fantastic.
When we are ready we have the list of upgrades we want which will probably be the sequences and workflows to help automate keeping on top of leads and sales tasks. We are also keen on social media software which will help save time posting content to multiple channels and also give a more in-depth analysis of our social media posts.
User friendly and automation
We find everything from the CRM to integrating different products very user friendly and has UX at the forefront of the software. Also with the HubSpot academy to help teach you what to do, you are never far away from figuring out things on the platform.
We have managed to automate loads of administration tasks through the platform. Small bits like logging emails, collecting email lists and sending repeat emails.
Saves time
Ultimately you invest in sales and marketing software like HubSpot to save time. We have done this in spades. Zendfast may be small and offer a limited number of products like Zendfast Same Day but we are growing. With HubSpot we are growing even faster than before. We may not have a big budget now as a small business but the support by HubSpot at this early stage of our journey will pay off in the long run as we are already sold on the upgrades HubSpot will offer us in the future.
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