The challenge: disconnected tools and unclear processes
The organization was juggling Salesforce as its CRM while managing marketing in silos. Leads often got lost without a clear handoff between departments, making it impossible to track the full customer journey.
Technical hurdles only added to the frustration. Email sending domains were not connected, preventing outbound campaigns. Even when messages did go out, bounce rates were alarmingly high despite assurances that lists were clean. To make matters worse, Salesforce integration errors undermined confidence in data quality.
Compounding the challenge was a lack of internal alignment. The company was in transition—bringing in a new sales enablement specialist, leaving the digital strategy role unfilled, and preparing for a major website launch. Without a clear roadmap, technology risks and stalled campaigns threatened growth.
The solution: prioritizing foundations and project-based learning
Recognizing the urgency, the onboarding consultant focused first on the essentials: configuring email domains, setting up a brand kit, and launching landing pages. This step gave the team momentum while creating immediate, usable assets.
Rather than rely on theory-heavy training, the consultant introduced a project-based learning model. The new sales enablement lead—experienced in HubSpot—was empowered to build a live campaign. This hands-on approach revealed the real causes of bounce rates and gave the team confidence to troubleshoot issues in context.
The consultant also delivered targeted sessions on HubSpot’s automation and reporting capabilities. By showing how personas could drive segmentation, how workflows could automate webinar registrations, and how analytics could measure closed-loop reporting, the team began to see how the platform could solve their most pressing challenges.
The results: a functional system and a confident team
By the end of onboarding, the organization had moved from a fragmented setup to a working, integrated HubSpot environment. They had launched a campaign with a landing page and automated follow-up, streamlining what was previously a manual admissions funnel.
Connecting domains and addressing Salesforce errors gave the team cleaner data and visibility into event marketing performance. Most importantly, they now had a roadmap—starting with campaigns, forms, and workflows, and extending into content marketing and a potential migration to HubSpot CMS.
Why it worked
This onboarding succeeded because it combined technical setup with experiential learning. By solving immediate problems while building long-term skills, the consultant positioned the team for ongoing success.
Instead of being paralyzed by disconnected systems, the client now has an empowered team, an integrated process, and the confidence to expand HubSpot usage in support of their growth goals.
