HubSpot sales automation could be just what you need when the opportunities you’ve worked hard to bring in start getting tough to keep up with. Between new inquiries, ongoing conversations, and proposals waiting for a response, reminders and record updates can take up more of your day than they should.
The good news is, automating some of that work gives you more time to focus on those important prospects. In this blog, we’ll cover what to automate first, share practical examples, and show you how to tell whether it’s helping your sales process.
Table of Contents
What Is HubSpot Sales Automation?
HubSpot sales automation handles repeatable sales tasks using rules you set. When someone requests a demo or a deal reaches a new stage, HubSpot can assign an owner, create a task, send a notification, or update information.
Much of what you’ll automate in HubSpot comes down to two sales tools.
- Workflows: Assign leads, create tasks, update records, and notify your team based on rules you set.
- Sequences: Schedule one-to-one emails and set reminders to call or send a personal follow-up.
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For example: When someone fills out a demo request form, a workflow can assign the contact to a sales rep and create a task for that rep to reach out. If the prospect doesn’t reply to the first email, the rep can add them to a sequence that sends a follow-up email and reminds the rep to call.
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How Do You Decide What to Automate First?
Start with work your team does often and handles the same way each time. A task might take only a minute, but if a prospect or teammate has to wait for someone to get to it, it can slow down the rest of the sale.
A good first automation has a clear starting point and a predictable next step. Look for a task where your team already agrees on when it should happen, who’s responsible, and what to do when information is missing.
Here are three places to start, beginning with what happens when a new lead comes in.
1. Start With Lead Assignment
If demo requests sit in a shared inbox until someone assigns them, start by automating lead assignment. Getting each request to the right rep sooner means prospects spend less time waiting for a response.
Use the rules your team already follows. That might mean routing by territory, company size, or the service someone asks about. If several reps share incoming inquiries, HubSpot can also rotate assignments among eligible reps with the right subscription and seats. Once the request has an owner, the same workflow can notify the rep and create a task to respond.
Example: Route a Demo Request
Say you have one group of reps for small businesses and another group for enterprise accounts. When someone submits a demo request, the workflow could:
- Check whether the contact already has an owner. If so, keep the request with that rep.
- If the contact is unassigned, use the company size recorded in HubSpot to find the right rep. If that detail is missing, send the request to a designated reviewer.
- Once a rep is assigned, notify them and create a task to reach out.
What Should You Plan For?
Decide which requests need a different route before you turn on the workflow. A current customer might need their account manager, while a partner inquiry might belong with someone outside sales. Give requests that don’t match your rules a clear place to go so they don’t end up back in the inbox waiting for someone to pick them up.
How Do You Measure the Impact?
Start by comparing how long requests take to reach a rep and how long prospects wait for that rep’s first call or email. If assignment gets faster but response times stay the same, take a look at what happens after the rep gets the task. Then track the percentage of inquiries that turn into meetings to see whether faster follow-through is leading to more conversations.
2. Keep Follow-Ups on Schedule
Once new inquiries are reaching the right reps, look at where follow-up gets delayed. If a rep needs to review the deal before reaching out, use a workflow to put the follow-up on their task list. If the rep already knows what they want to send and when, a sequence can handle the outreach.
Example: Use a Workflow to Remind a Rep to Follow Up on a Proposal
Say your team usually checks in two business days after sending a proposal, unless the prospect has asked to reconnect on a specific date.
A deal-based workflow can follow that rule, and here's what it could look like:
- Triggered when the deal moves to Proposal Sent.
- Wait two business days.
- Check whether the deal is still in Proposal Sent and whether the rep has recorded an agreed follow-up date on the deal.
- If the deal is still in that stage and the date field is blank, create a follow-up task for the deal owner.
This works when reps consistently record agreed follow-up dates in HubSpot. When the task comes up, the rep can read the latest messages and decide how to check in.
Example: Use a Sequence to Follow Up on an Unanswered Email
If a prospect hasn’t replied to a rep’s first email, the rep can enroll them in a short sequence. The sequence might send a follow-up email that picks up where the first email left off, then create a call task if the prospect still hasn’t responded.
By default, HubSpot stops the remaining sequence steps if the prospect replies to a sequence email or books a meeting using a link in the sequence.
Read More: Nurture Leads Better With Email Sequence Software
What Should You Plan For?
For workflows, agree on when a task should be created and where reps should confirm an agreed follow-up date. For sequences, decide how many times to reach out and how far apart those emails should be. Before enrolling a prospect, check whether they’re already in an active conversation, have asked to reconnect later, or have asked you to stop contacting them.
How Do You Measure the Impact?
For workflow reminders, track how many follow-up tasks go overdue. For sequences, look at reply rates and how many qualified meetings the outreach leads to. If reps are following up on time but few prospects reply, review who’s getting the emails, what they say, and when they go out.
3. Automate Routine Deal Updates and Handoffs
Once lead assignment and follow-up are running smoothly, look at what happens when a deal moves to the next stage. If your team updates the same fields or passes along the same details every time, HubSpot’s B2B sales automation features can take some of that work off your team’s list.
Example: Pass a Closed Deal to Onboarding
Say onboarding needs to know what the customer bought and who to contact before they can get started. When a rep marks the deal Closed Won, a workflow can create a task for the rep if either detail is missing.
A separate workflow can notify onboarding once the deal is closed and both fields are filled in. That way, if the rep adds the details later, onboarding still gets the handoff when it’s ready.
Which Updates Should Stay Manual?
In that example, the rep closes the deal and HubSpot handles the handoff. HubSpot can also move a deal to a new stage when there’s a clear signal it’s ready. If your team moves a deal forward when the contract is signed, for example, a connected contract tool can provide that signal by recording the signed status in HubSpot.
Some decisions need a closer look. If a deal has been in the same stage longer than usual, create a task for the rep to review it and decide what happens next.
What Should You Plan For?
Before you set up a handoff, agree on what the next team needs, who fills in any missing details, and who should get the notification. Decide what happens if a deal reopens and closes again, too. If onboarding only needs one notification per deal, set the workflow to run once per deal.
How Do You Measure the Impact?
Track how long it takes to hand off a closed deal and how often onboarding still has to ask for missing information. If you’re automating record updates, compare how much time reps spend on them before and after. If HubSpot is moving deals between stages, spot-check that they’re landing where they should before comparing conversion rates or time in a certain stage.
Get Started With HubSpot Sales Software Automation
If one of these examples sounds familiar, let’s talk about it. A recent inquiry, follow-up, or handoff can give us a place to start. Even a small task is worth a look when your team does it several times a week.
We’ll walk through how your team handles that step today and help you decide what HubSpot can take care of. From there, we can build and test the automation with the situations your team sees day to day, including what should happen when a detail is missing.
Talk with MDM about your first sales automation
HubSpot Sales Automation FAQ
Q: Which HubSpot B2B sales automation features should I start with?
A: Start with the task that regularly holds up the next step. If demo requests sit unassigned, start with lead routing. If reps have trouble keeping track of check-ins, start with follow-up tasks. If onboarding often waits for deal details, start with the handoff after a sale.
Q: Can I use HubSpot as my sales automation software?
A: Yes. You can use HubSpot to manage your pipeline and automate work around it, like assigning new inquiries, creating tasks, and notifying teammates when a deal moves forward. The automation options you can use depend on your subscription and assigned seats.
Q: How does HubSpot compare with other sales software for automation?
A: Compare what each tool can do with the information your team already tracks. If you want to remind a rep to follow up after a proposal, for example, check whether the software can see when the deal entered that stage, check for a follow-up date, and assign a task to the deal owner. That gives you a concrete way to compare tools based on how your team works.
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