HubSpot, SalesLoft, and Salesforce

The power trio to sales productivity

Introduction.

73,400. That’s the estimated number of businesses using HubSpot marketing, sales, and service software in 2020 in over 120 countries (source: HubSpot). Not surprising, since HubSpot continues to improve its platform to solve marketing, sales, and service needs. But hungry sales reps want more – more data, more intelligence, and more tools. SalesLoft’s Best Practices of Top Performing Sales Reps highlighted that top-performing reps use productivity tools.

30% more than average performers, which contributes considerably to greater efficiency.

The report also broke down the daily tech stack used by sales reps, which typically includes a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce (sometimes both), LinkedIn, sales engagement platforms (like SalesLoft), and intelligence tools. With so many high-growth companies using HubSpot and Salesforce, as a Marketing Technology Agency, clients often ask us how we can solve the request for “more” from sales teams, while maximizing an existing tech stack.

As a partner of HubSpot, Salesforce and SalesLoft, we help our clients implement and often integrate these systems. While they are each impactful on their own, combining these three platforms has proven to be a power trio to sales productivity.

In this resource, we will help you answer that and the following questions:

Do my sales reps really need SalesLoft or can HubSpot Sales do all of the same things?

Do HubSpot and SalesLoft integrate?

Are they easy to use together?

Is the added cost worth it?

01

The Value of Using HubSpot plus SalesLoft

Being partners of HubSpot and SalesLoft, we love both platforms. When evaluating what’s right for a client, we consider their goals, sales process, and key foundational elements before layering on technology. So for the sake of this analysis, let’s assume that you are a high-growth company, with a sales team of more than 5 reps, with very specific revenue goals. If your situation is different, let’s talk and we can provide a recommendation.

Is there value in using SalesLoft and HubSpot? The short answer is yes.

Here’s why.

SalesLoft is not a marketing tool, so combining with HubSpot helps you meet the buyer where they are throughout the entire customer journey. SalesLoft is a sales engagement platform, providing personalized outreach at scale. While HubSpot Sales has some similar features (like sequences), SalesLoft is designed for revenue teams, making their features, like cadences more robust.

Comparison of Features
Sequences / Cadences	Put prospecting on autopilot to keep them from slipping through the cracks and free up more time to close warm leads. Emails To-dos	Create a repeatable series of steps, or sequence, that mimics your sales process to create a consistent process. Emails To-dos Calls LinkedIn Sales Navigator Other - “Research” or “Hand-Written Letter”
Analytics and Reporting	In-app dashboards FREE - 1 dashboard with 10 reports (out-of-the-box reports) STARTER - 1 dashboard with 10 reports (out-of-the-box reports) PROFESSIONAL - 2 dashboards, including 10 reports per dashboard (custom or out-of-the-box reports) ENTERPRISE - 26 dashboards, including 20 reports per dashboard (custom or out-of-the-box reports) Custom Reporting PROFESSIONAL - 20 custom reports ENTERPRISE - 500 custom reports	In-app included: Your Cadence Analytics Your Account Analytics Your Success Analytics Your Team Ranking Analytics Your Process Analytics Your Call Analytics Your Email Analytics Salesforce dashboards included: All Activities by Users All Activities by User Role All Cadence Activities by Rep All Non-Cadence Activities by Rep Overdue Steps Day 1 Steps Complete by User Steps Due Today by User All Calls by User All Calls by Role Active and Nonactive per User Active Account Penetration User Call Connect Rate by Disposition and Sentiment The SalesLoft Outcomes & Results dashboard provide more insights to show which Cadences, messaging, and activities lead to overall sales success as measured by outcomes and Opportunity generation

Comparison of Features

Feature

Hubspot Sales

SalesLoft

Sequences / Cadences

Put prospecting on autopilot to keep them from slipping through the cracks and free up more time to close warm leads.

Emails
To-dos

Create a repeatable series of steps, or sequence, that mimics your sales process to create a consistent process.

Emails
To-dos
Calls
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Other - “Research” or “Hand-Written Letter”

Analytics and Reporting

In-app dashboards

FREE - 1 dashboard with 10 reports (out-of-the-box reports)
STARTER - 1 dashboard with 10 reports (out-of-the-box reports)
PROFESSIONAL - 2 dashboards, including 10 reports per dashboard (custom or out-of-the-box reports)
ENTERPRISE - 26 dashboards, including 20 reports per dashboard (custom or out-of-the-box reports)

Custom Reporting

PROFESSIONAL - 20 custom reports
ENTERPRISE - 500 custom reports

In-app included:

Your Cadence Analytics
Your Account Analytics
Your Success Analytics
Your Team Ranking Analytics
Your Process Analytics
Your Call Analytics
Your Email Analytics

Salesforce dashboards included:

All Activities by Users
All Activities by User Role
All Cadence Activities by Rep
All Non-Cadence Activities by Rep
Overdue Steps
Day 1 Steps Complete by User
Steps Due Today by User
All Calls by User
All Calls by Role
Active and Nonactive per User
Active Account Penetration
User Call Connect Rate by Disposition and Sentiment
The SalesLoft Outcomes & Results dashboard provide more insights to show which Cadences, messaging, and activities lead to overall sales success as measured by outcomes and Opportunity generation

To put it bluntly, HubSpot is a great tool, but SalesLoft excels at specific sales engagement related features. Integrating the two tools together can improve your buyers journey and help you hit your goals faster.

02

How to Integrate HubSpot and SalesLoft

HubSpot and SalesLoft do not integrate natively to one another. There are a few third-party applications for connection, but nothing official.

Enter the power trio. Both HubSpot and SalesLoft integrate with Salesforce – which is typically the source of the truth for our clients. Having this main (and robust) CRM allows us to set up the integration so HubSpot and SalesLoft send and receive information to and from it.

Some clients like Salesforce to be the source of truth and only push to SalesLoft, others like data to flow back and forth similar to most HubSpot portals (same setup as one direction, bi-direction, etc.).

Here are some critical best practices for implementation:

Start with a strong process.
Tech stacks keep getting bigger – designed to increase efficiency, but without proper implementation and consolidation, adding more tools can hurt businesses more than they help. Marketing and sales should work together to determine stages and handoffs BEFORE any implementation occurs.

Avoid circular references.
It’s important to make sure things like status and stage values are aligned so no circular references occur between SalesLoft and HubSpot.

Sync properties.
If you have properties in SalesLoft like working, replied, or bounced, these should absolutely sync to HubSpot so there isn’t overlap or confusion in the communication coming from marketing vs. sales.

03

Creating a Frictionless Customer Journey

Once implantation occurs, the fun begins. This is where content is critical to creating a frictionless customer journey for your prospects.

There are a few ways to define workflows, cadences, and lead handoffs, but we find that businesses are most successful when they have clear ownership of each lead stage. That helps with goal setting and reporting.

Here’s an example of how to align SalesLoft, HubSpot, and Salesforce to support your customer journey.

The process should not be linear, giving your prospects the opportunity to move and connect at their pace. The goal is to respond quickly and infuse multiple touchpoints into the process so you can meet your audience where they are.

Here are some best practices for cadences via research from TOPO.

Category	Element	Inbound	Outbound	Account-based
Touch Pattern	# of Touches (per contact)	8 - 10	14 - 16	16 - 20
	Channels	Call, Email, Chat	Call, Email, LinkedIn	Call, Email, LinkedIn, Direct Mail, Video
	Duration (days)	14	21	28 - 35
	Response Time (hours)	< 1	N/A	< 4 (for inbound)
	Messaging customization	Templated based on persona, action taken	Semicustom first touch; then templated, based on account, persona	Semicustom or custom, based on account, persona
	Research	Account, persona	Account, persona, peers	Account, persona, peers, content
SDR Daily Activity	# of Touches (per contact)	125	60	40 - 50
	# of Emails	75+	30	20 - 25
	# of Dials	50+	30	20 - 25
	# of Conversations	8 - 10	4 - 6	3 - 5
	Live Call Duration (minutes)	6 - 10	6 - 10	10 - 15
Metrics	Results	MQL-to-SQL Conversion Rate Conversation Rate (touches / conversation)	#SQLs #SQLs/100 accounts Conversion Rate (touches / conversation)	Engaged Accounts #SQLs #SQLs / 100 accounts Conversion Rate (touches / conversation)

Based on SalesLoft best practices, across all communication and touch points, your messaging and touch points should:

Meet the buyer where they are.
Anticipate prospects’ needs with active listening.
Send targeted, personalized communication.
Share timely insight that helps the buyer make the right decision (even if that means they go with someone else).

04

What About the Cost?

When considering the cost of your marketing and sales platforms, consider your average customer value.

The first viable vendor to reach a decision maker and set the buying vision has a 74% average close ratio. (Forrester Research)

If you can layer on these tools to close more customers, faster, is it worth it? Doing that math, the extra cost is likely a no brainer.

The other justification for spending more is the sheer amount of increased visibility you will have access to. Right now, do you know how many touches your reps are making on a given day? Do you know what’s driving results from an account, cadence, or team member level? With SalesLoft, you can gain that visibility and replicate it across your entire team.

“Account Development Reps are able to do their jobs significantly faster. Our top performers no longer work in a silo. You can see exactly what they’re doing in SalesLoft, which allows us to quickly share what’s working with the whole team.”

Tim Kealamakia

Senior ADR Manager, Americas at FireEye

05

Ready for the Power Trio?

If you are ready to accelerate your sales enablement, or interested in implementing any of these platforms, our MarTech Experts are here to help.

SmartAcre®, Inc. is a Marketing Technology Agency. Our demand generation teams leverage technology (like HubSpot, SalesLoft, and Salesforce) to create solutions that align B2B marketing, sales, and service to drive results throughout the entire customer journey.

Founded in 2008, with a mission to create an agency that truly cares about our people and clients, our “SmartAcres” are located throughout Pennsylvania and Colorado supporting SaaS, technology and industrial manufacturing U.S. clients. SmartAcre has been recognized as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company, and a top ranked agency by AgencySpotter, Clutch and HubSpot.

Get in touch. Get SmartAcre.

Contact SmartAcre