Considering HubSpot? What Implementation Looks Like [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 155]

This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy. 

[01:00:00:03 - 01:00:33:10]

Bob Ruffolo

Are you considering HubSpot? Or maybe do you already have HubSpot and you're not getting the most out of it? Now first off, HubSpot is an incredible tool, but it could be a beast to implement. And that's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. We're going to walk through exactly how to implement HubSpot so you can start having results within just two months. So you can stop paying for those all those other softwares and actually get real business value out of it. And stick to the end, you're going to see exactly the plan that we use with our clients step by step to make sure you're not making any mistakes and you're getting the value out of that software as soon as possible.

[01:00:35:20 - 01:01:18:03]

Stephanie Baiocchi

You're listening to the Endless Customers podcast brought to you by the team at Impact. Endless Customers is the proven system to become the most known and trusted brand in your market. If you want to learn the principles of Endless Customers and how you can implement them in your business, pick up a copy of Endless Customers, a national bestseller, wherever books ready to start implementing Endless Customers in your business. Talk to Impact about how our coaching program can help you implement Endless Customers to success. And if you want to experience Endless Customers in person, don't miss our upcoming event, Endless Customers Live in Hartford, Connecticut, October 5th through the 7th, 2026. Registration is now open. And now onto the show. Here's your host, Bob Ruffalo.

[01:01:18:03 - 01:01:37:12]

Bob Ruffolo

Welcome everyone to Endless Customers. And we have a great episode today. I am joined by two incredible guests today. I'm going to start with one, Jess Palmeri, one of our lead HubSpot experts and specialists here. And Jess, so great to have you on the show. You've been on the show before. Oh, yeah. But for the audience that doesn't know who you are and what you do, can you please give a quick introduction of yourself?

[01:01:37:12 - 01:02:01:03]

Jessica Palmeri

Absolutely. My name is Jess Palmeri. I am the director of HubSpot training here at Impact. So I am the chief resident nerd when it all comes to all things orange. But I have been working at Impact for the past seven years. So I've been helping clients, hundreds of clients implement HubSpot and make the most out of their existing HubSpot portals. But I've been a HubSpot power user since 2013. So I've been around a few HubSpot portals to say the least.

[01:02:01:03 - 01:02:15:17]

Bob Ruffolo

And obviously, if you know in Impact, you know, we are big fans of HubSpot. We've been using it since 2011. And I would suggest I think I'm pretty good with HubSpot. But I mean, HubSpot can be incredibly involved. It can do so many things. And when I can't figure something out, I just call Jess.

[01:02:15:17 - 01:02:16:00]

Jessica Palmeri

Yep.

[01:02:16:00 - 01:02:24:18]

Bob Ruffolo

And Jess just figures everything out. She's absolutely incredible. And Jess, you've helped about how many companies implement HubSpot over these years. How many?

[01:02:24:18 - 01:02:26:02]

Jessica Palmeri

I've lost count, probably hundreds.

[01:02:26:02 - 01:02:27:00]

Bob Ruffolo

Hundreds of companies.

[01:02:27:00 - 01:02:54:10]

Jessica Palmeri

The range always matters in terms of big companies, small companies. You know, it's always a different use case. It's always a different challenge. So I really love that element of my job, just stepping into new industries, stepping into, you know, different size companies and finding how can we make this platform that can be very flexible, but also slightly complicated and a little bit, you know, intimidating at times, how can we make this system work for each and every business so they get the most out of the software that they're paying for.

[01:02:54:10 - 01:03:02:20]

Bob Ruffolo

And so Jess, you've worked with hundreds of companies now. And typically, when you're helping somebody implement HubSpot, what does that look like? Real high level overview?

[01:03:02:20 - 01:04:03:20]

Jessica Palmeri

Sure. So when you're, you know, onboarding in HubSpot for the first time, there is some general system setup and configuration. There's also some self education to figure out exactly how you want to leverage the tools that you are now paying for. But most importantly, you have to have the strategic guidance to figure out how will this fit with your existing business workflows? How will you find a way to make your life easier and not harder? And not just introduce, you know, admin tasks or, you know, repetitive tasks that to make your life, you know, more challenging on a day to day basis. So the software can work with you or they can work against you. It all depends on how you implement it. So that initial implementation is so crucial, which is why I'm really excited to introduce our other guests for today. We have Michael Rice, who is out of California. He is a real estate agent and he is the Conejo Valley Guy who is, you know, the authoritative person who knows how to buy and sell homes in Conejo Valley, California. So Michael, thank you so much for joining us today.

[01:04:05:02 - 01:04:06:20]

Michael Rice

Jessica, nice to see you again. Thanks for having me.

[01:04:06:20 - 01:04:40:05]

Jessica Palmeri

I know Michael and I, we hang out most of the times on Thursday mornings, because he is the most early morning in your neck of the woods. But we, you know, have been hanging out for the last few weeks going through our own HubSpot onboarding and implementation. And Michael, I know that you have been in the Endless Customers ecosystem for a little while now and you, you know, have kind of found your way to Endless Customers, you know, in an interesting path. So tell us a little bit first about how you came to this community and then we'll flip over into why you thought HubSpot was a great fit for your business.

[01:04:41:21 - 01:04:46:00]

Michael Rice

Sure. I'm a big StoryBrand fan, which is through Don Miller.

[01:04:46:00 - 01:04:46:10]

Bob Ruffolo

Us too.

[01:04:46:10 - 01:04:55:17]

Michael Rice

I discovered him in about 2019. I read his book and it made perfect sense for what I do, what I was doing. And it basically gave a framework to

[01:04:57:00 - 01:05:40:13]

Michael Rice

basically your customer, the hero and you the guide. And that completely changed every way in which I presented my website. I did a full redo on it in that infrastructure with that flow. So that was 2019. And then one day I was on a walk and I'm listening to a story brand podcast and Marcus is on there. Never heard of him before. I didn't know who he was. And it just felt like the two of them were the perfect marriage between the story brand framework and then the implementation through Endless Customers. So they was like the perfect marriage to me. So I immediately bought his book, the previous one, they ask you answer, read that, and then started going to your guys' webinars and really just kind of dove into your ecosystem. And from there, ended up at the conference and ultimately with Jessica.

[01:05:40:13 - 01:05:50:14]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah, that's awesome. Now, before we move forward here, tell us a little bit more about your business as well. She mentioned you're an agent, but you're a broker as well. So tell us more about what you specialize in.

[01:05:52:04 - 01:06:03:18]

Michael Rice

So I'm essentially, I'm going to have a broker's license, but I'm a real estate agent. But I work in the Canadian Valley. I'm the main person, but I do have someone who works with me as well. But I really view what I do is content creation.

[01:06:05:03 - 01:06:11:21]

Michael Rice

Basically your job as a real estate agent is not to sell houses. It's to find customers. Houses are the byproduct. So

[01:06:13:10 - 01:06:31:08]

Michael Rice

that's why everything you guys do and what I'm doing through story brand and all that is, it doesn't matter if it's real estate, doesn't matter whatever. I mean, when I went to the conference, there was all sorts of different businesses. Our jobs are to create content to attract customers. And that's basically what I do through my website. So I get about 70% of my business through my website. Yeah.

[01:06:31:08 - 01:06:40:17]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah. Now, so a lot of people watching this episode, their price, obviously the title of this episode is considering HubSpot. A lot of people are thinking about it. Maybe they've,

[01:06:42:02 - 01:06:57:07]

Bob Ruffolo

it's a big investment for companies. It's a big implementation to do it. So let's start with where were you before you implemented HubSpot? What was your digital systems look like? And what was that major say, Hey, we have to change what we're doing right now to be a little bit more sophisticated.

[01:06:57:07 - 01:07:50:18]

Michael Rice

It was very fractured. It was kind of like when I first did my website, I did it on my own through WordPress. And then I hired a company to finally, at one point, once I proved that it worked, I hired a company to basically stop, you know, take it out of the Frankenstein way I created it and make it more of a flow with branding and more uniform. So that was that part of the business. And then I realized as I started to go further, well, now the other parts of my business were very fractured between I counted, I had like six or seven different systems that I was all able to bring under one umbrella and HubSpot. But more than even that, I mean, even though I had these systems that kind of do some of the same things, they didn't work together. They didn't talk to each other. HubSpot brought that all together to where now it's one cohesive unit where I can track what people are doing. Like before somebody filled out a form or contacted me through my website, I had no idea what they did to get there. Now I do.

[01:07:50:18 - 01:08:08:05]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah. All right. So different systems. And so you mentioned that being one of the pain points, but what were some of the other challenges you were having that other people probably relate to when you have disconnected systems or you don't have a essentially a centralized customer database with all the information that or some other things that you're struggling with?

[01:08:09:20 - 01:08:47:03]

Michael Rice

Well, I just, I felt like I was missing out on potential business because I wasn't able to stay in contact with people who maybe had raised their hand and downloaded something. I sent them the emails and that was really it. Now through Jessica helped me set up workflows. And again, I'm still in the early stages of the implementation. So I'm really still 1.0, but even 1.0, I'm already seeing huge dividends, but I think like probably in the next two to three years when I really get more people into the process, my experience gets more advanced. I believe it's a hundred percent that it'll generate more business every year on an ongoing basis that I was letting slip through the cracks over the years.

[01:08:47:03 - 01:08:56:23]

Bob Ruffolo

Now, Jess, from your perspective, you obviously started working with him. So what were some of the things that you were focused on with him from what he, you saw in his business, what he needed and what were the first steps that he took?

[01:08:56:23 - 01:10:04:09]

Jessica Palmeri

Sure. Well, I remember even the sales process, Michael, I really drove home the fact that this was going to be a hands-on approach. I think how many times did I tell you, Michael, you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty and really implement this yourself. I believe so firmly in a coaching and training model. And it's one of the reasons I love working here at Impact because there are plenty of HubSpot agencies. You actually spoke to a few HubSpot partners that would essentially do everything for you, white glove treatment. But then at the end of the day, you don't own your systems. You can't make modifications easily. It was so crucial for us to lay out a coaching and training strategy that would allow you to onboard to this new system, as you mentioned, collapse other tools that you were currently using into one centralized HubSpot portal, but also allow you to do that importing process, allow you to make those connections and allow you to build those workflows so that you knew how to make those modifications. So as a solopreneur who is really running your business end-to-end, what did you think of that consultative approach that we know is quite different from other HubSpot onboarding programs that you might see in the marketplace?

[01:10:06:06 - 01:11:30:09]

Michael Rice

So I looked into HubSpot a little over a year ago originally because it was out in the world and I was hearing about it. And I always felt like it might be too much for me as an individual, as a small business. And it was maybe for more mid-sized businesses. And then I started to dive into it a little more in it, honestly, and I'm pretty comfortable in systems, but that felt overwhelming. I didn't know where to go. Even if I watch YouTube videos about using it for real estate, it still wasn't connecting with me. So I knew I needed, once I decided to do it, I knew I needed, I was going to need help. So I shelved it about a year ago. And then towards the end of this last year, I really started to get more into AI's helping me with different things I was doing on the website and it became more and more apparent that this was the missing piece for what I was doing. And I wasn't really going to be able to scale unless I had a management system for my customers and everything. So at that point, I started to really think about it. And then I talked to a couple of companies and I'm not even saying it was their fault. I just think I wasn't ready. And then I went to end this customer thing and I booked it and I was like, "You know what? Why don't I shelve this, go to end this customers because I knew you guys were a big part, big HubSpot users." And wait to see if maybe I make a connection there. And I'm so glad I did because I went there and I really left thinking, "Why would I look outside of the people I already know, like, and trust to help me implement something that's so important?" So it just made perfect sense. And then ultimately I ended up in your guys system.

[01:11:30:09 - 01:11:34:06]

Bob Ruffolo

So, Michael, there's a couple of things that were said here that I think are very, very important.

[01:11:35:12 - 01:13:23:02]

Bob Ruffolo

The companies that we've experienced and just verify this for me, but I think it's true. The companies that we see that get the absolute most out of HubSpot. They know how to use most of it themselves. Maybe not all of it. Because it is very complex and I know I go to you for very complex things, but I can filter contacts, I can create a report, I can create a property, I can add a user, I can look at my own analytics, I know how to navigate it. I've always known how to do that, but the businesses that have the most success, they can do most things in HubSpot on their own without ever needing to go call an agency to say, "Hey, can you create this for me or can you add this property for me?" So that's one thing that I think is really important that we really drive home here is that if you're going to make an investment in a tool like HubSpot, you're going to get the most out of it, you absolutely, absolutely, absolutely need to know how to get the most out of it yourself and know how to use it. And then the other one, Michael, you just alluded to is you talked about AI. And we are all, we're living in a world right now with all these headlines, YouTube videos, LinkedIn posts, one person companies, look at how you can scale your business, you can do all these crazy things, you can automate all these things using AI, but you can't do that without great data. And you have to have a system that everything is organized with great data, all your data is beautifully organized in that system. And it's accurate, it's up to date, it's rich, it's enriched sometimes and you connect all this stuff, and you just have everything in one place. Now you can do so much more with AI. And that's one of the main benefits of having a platform for all your customer information like HubSpot at the center of your business. So let's talk about those two things. Where do you want to go first? Knowing how to use it on your own or the AI side of it?

[01:13:23:02 - 01:14:11:10]

Jessica Palmeri

I mean, I will talk all day every day about owning your own platforms in your own business. I mean, I will say personally, as a former HubSpot user at a small company before working at Impact, we were one of those clients for HubSpot that an agency set up everything for us. We were given the white glove treatment. And that experience of having this Ferrari in the garage that I didn't know how to drive was a frustrating experience for me as a young marketer because everything had been built, all the automation had been designed by someone else. And when we severed that agency relationship, because it was no longer working for us, we had no idea how to drive the Ferrari. And Bob, imagine that you are a car nerd and you have the Ferrari in the garage and you're not allowed to drive it.

[01:14:11:10 - 01:14:12:14]

Bob Ruffolo

And you're also afraid to drive it.

[01:14:12:14 - 01:14:13:17]

Jessica Palmeri

You're terrified to touch it.

[01:14:13:17 - 01:14:14:20]

Bob Ruffolo

Because you're where you're going to break something.

[01:14:14:20 - 01:14:18:12]

Jessica Palmeri

Exactly. The insurance premiums alone are keeping you

[01:14:19:13 - 01:14:35:12]

Jessica Palmeri

away from that car in the garage. That's how I felt as a HubSpot user. And when I came to work at Impact, I made a personal choice that no client of mine was ever going to feel that fear of not understanding the system that they were working in. So when I work with clients like Michael,

[01:14:36:19 - 01:15:47:01]

Jessica Palmeri

make sure in that sales process, I tell him, you are going to do this work for you. It's going to be better for you in the long run. I will be your coach. I will be your trainer. I'm going to put you through bootcamp to make sure that you understand how to work this system. If you've ever had a less than ideal partner relationship with an agency, you know that those relationships can turn into a dependent relationship where you feel like you need to go to that agency for every little thing because you're worried about messing up the system that they built. So when I can work with an entrepreneur like Michael, I really focus on how can we build that confidence, build those skills in-house, whether it's a solopreneur, whether it's a small team, whether it's a large marketing team, sometimes those are the large businesses, sometimes have these over bloated teams that don't have a lot of unique skill sets or they've been so overly reliant on agencies that they don't actually have that skill set in-house to own their own marketing efforts. So it becomes very easy to point the finger at another agency or another partner to say, actually, no, the reason our sales are down, it's not our fault. It's this partner. And that can lead to stagnation. It can lead to lack of growth across your organization.

[01:15:47:01 - 01:16:03:00]

Bob Ruffolo

So Michael, now talking about owning your own HubSpot, and obviously it's been a few months now since you've been implementing, what are the things that you're doing on your own that maybe you learned from Jess or you figured out that you're surprised you're able to do on your own, but so valuable for your business that you can do that?

[01:16:05:00 - 01:16:26:15]

Michael Rice

Managing deals, managing transactions, managing workflows, all these things that I knew what they were and I knew basically what they offered, but I didn't know the functionality to how to actually make it happen. And that's the gap that Jessica filled in. And one of the things I want to say about AIs too is like, even when I was working with AIs, they were the ones advising me, hire Jessica.

[01:16:27:18 - 01:16:51:15]

Michael Rice

Your job is not to become a HubSpot expert. Your job is not to learn the ins and outs of how it works and all that. Your job is to make it part of your business. And so that was really the other thing for me. It's like, I'm not going to sit and learn every ins and outs and how it all works when I can just have someone else guide me through that and basically look over my shoulder and make sure I was doing it right. And that's why I ended up ultimately going with you guys.

[01:16:51:15 - 01:17:24:02]

Bob Ruffolo

So yeah, and that's like that balance between there are certain things that you only have to do once and maybe gets very technical. We don't want to break things. You want to have somebody overseeing it. At the same time, we have to know how to use it and use it every single day and get the most out of it. So all the data is in there, all the data is accurate. And we're not stalled because, oh, I have to do this right now, but I don't know how to do it. So I have to call somebody and hopefully that they get back to me in the next 24 to 48 hours. There's still that level of like, you have to have that ability. So you can do things really, really fast.

[01:17:24:02 - 01:17:47:00]

Jessica Palmeri

Absolutely. It's it's it's speeding the lead. I mean, you know, Michael, you mentioned that you get 60 to 70% of your business through, you know, inbound contacts from your website, which is fantastic. It's huge. It's such a testament to the the content you built via your website. So when someone new comes in, you know, what does that outreach process look like today? And how has that flow improved via automation in HubSpot?

[01:17:48:15 - 01:18:10:22]

Michael Rice

Well, there's two ways people come through. Sometimes it'll be a download of something. And then that way I'm able to see what they're doing, what they're opening, how they're interacting with the different pieces of content that I'm sending them and also what got them there. So because I have so many neighborhoods profiled on my on my website, I can see, oh, they went to these three neighborhoods. So I kind of already have a sense of what they're looking for before they even reach out to me, whether or not they downloaded

[01:18:12:08 - 01:18:23:21]

Michael Rice

download or filled out a form. So I I have much I have a much higher level conversation right from the beginning because I know more of what their behavior was. So that has been huge already for me.

[01:18:23:21 - 01:18:27:19]

Bob Ruffolo

And Michael, just let me cut you off. Yeah, but I have to say it's it's so funny.

[01:18:30:01 - 01:19:05:18]

Bob Ruffolo

In 2011, when I first discovered HubSpot, that was the most valuable part of buying HubSpot for me. And when I was recommended to even all of our early clients buying HubSpots, like you can see the pages that people viewed on your website and be able to use as context in your sales conversations. And HubSpot has grown and changed and add so many new features. I will still say today in 2026, talking 15 years later, it's still amazing. That's still the most valuable part of HubSpot that you don't really get from any other platforms like Google Analytics won't do that for you alone. And now I'm sure there's other tools that do. But HubSpot does the best.

[01:19:05:18 - 01:19:09:01]

Jessica Palmeri

It does it the best. And it's also the most user friendly.

[01:19:09:01 - 01:19:09:08]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah.

[01:19:09:08 - 01:19:27:10]

Jessica Palmeri

I mean, we talk about going through the onboarding experience and finding those little aha moments to say, ah, okay, this was worth it. Yeah. And Michael, correct me if I'm wrong, but being able to see those pages and contextualize your early sales conversations, that was an early win for you, correct?

[01:19:29:00 - 01:19:41:23]

Michael Rice

Absolutely. And it was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to implement HubSpot for that information. Because like you said, yeah, I can see Google Analytics, what an anonymous person did. That doesn't really help me. I want to know what the person who filled out a form did.

[01:19:41:23 - 01:20:04:22]

Jessica Palmeri

And I have to think that in a competitive space, like real estate, you're not the only person that someone might be considering talking to. So having that successful first meeting with that contextualized approach to really understand that you're a real buyer before they even say their name and say, hey, nice to meet you. I'm Jess. Knowing a little bit about them can make all the difference in the start, I have to think.

[01:20:06:13 - 01:20:38:12]

Michael Rice

And that's true. And also, because of what you guys help us learn to do through Endless Customers and the type of content that we write and building that trust before they even reach out, you're already 90% there by the time they reach out to you. To me, Elit is someone who's actually contacting me wanting to meet and do business. Elit is not just someone who randomly fills out a form or what most people consider a lead because the people who come who do get to that point, they're so high quality already because they already know, like, and trust you because of the content that they've already read on your site.

[01:20:38:12 - 01:20:42:08]

Bob Ruffolo

So here's where we are. So obviously, Michael

[01:20:43:13 - 01:20:54:11]

Bob Ruffolo

is growing his business, knew he had better organized his data, wants to take more advantage of AI in the future. So let's go back to, okay, we made the decision we're going to go to the first thing we did was we did a marketing hub spot.

[01:20:55:12 - 01:21:05:01]

Bob Ruffolo

Just help us understand what hubs did he buy and how did he start implementing it? What was the first thing you did? Then the second thing, the third thing that got him to where he is today.

[01:21:05:01 - 01:21:11:20]

Jessica Palmeri

Sure, I think, and you'll keep me honest, Michael, we focused on Sales Hub and Marketing Hub as the two drivers of our engine.

[01:21:11:20 - 01:21:13:02]

Bob Ruffolo

So we want to pick those two.

[01:21:13:02 - 01:21:17:08]

Jessica Palmeri

Marketing Hub really allows you to have the marketing automation machine. So if you are

[01:21:20:01 - 01:21:34:20]

Jessica Palmeri

a salesperson, you need to follow up after someone submits a form on your website to be able to use workflow automation to automatically send out additional pieces of content or additional follow up. Those marketing automation workflows are really a key driver for the decision to buy Marketing Hub.

[01:21:34:20 - 01:21:37:01]

Bob Ruffolo

Sales Hub, you picked that for what?

[01:21:37:01 - 01:22:13:06]

Jessica Palmeri

Sales Hub really helps you organize your sales approach. So I know that Michael had been using tools like podium and other tools to organize which buyers he was currently working with or which sellers he was currently working with. So having an organized and really streamlined sales approach is crucial. And the marriage between Marketing Hub and Sales Hub really allows you to see that full picture. So when we talk about content ROI, marketing ROI, having that marketing engine is one key element. But if you don't connect it to deals and revenue and understand the actual monetary impact to your business, you're only seeing half of the picture.

[01:22:13:06 - 01:22:19:09]

Bob Ruffolo

If you only have the free CRM and you don't have Sales Hub Pro, what are you giving up there?

[01:22:19:09 - 01:23:14:19]

Jessica Palmeri

I think that so many folks, you know, start off on free or start off on starter. And it's certainly it's a reason there's a reason they call it starter. It's a good place to start. But I think with the advantage of sales of professional, you have access to other outreach tools like sequences, or like personalized meeting links, ways to really engage with that buyer on a one to one level to really personalize the sales experience. And to automate elements of that sales process. I know, Michael, you've been using sales workflows to essentially ensure that all of the details of your closing experience, all of the key dates for that, you know, escrow process are organized and kept, you know, organized within your HubSpot portal and system. And I know that that's crucial for you. That's huge. You can't fall flat on that element as a real estate agent. So talk to me a little bit about the automation and the workflows and how HubSpot has helped you stay organized in that process.

[01:23:16:09 - 01:23:44:01]

Michael Rice

I mean, that's a key thing when you have multiple escrow going on and things have expiration dates, and you have to stay on top of things, it gets really difficult to remember that. So using a workflow to remind you that these days key dates are coming up so you don't fall through the cracks is another great. I mean, I was doing something like that through Podio, but again, nothing didn't all work together as one system. So that's where this completely changed is it's all umbrella and it just makes it less likely for things to fall through the cracks. And it just makes it easier to manage.

[01:23:44:01 - 01:23:57:01]

Bob Ruffolo

So Justin, so okay, we've got the two hubs now. What was the first thing that you did once working together? Now he both hubs are signed on. What was the first like month together? What that looked like?

[01:23:57:01 - 01:24:05:02]

Jessica Palmeri

I mean, we went through a six week accelerated onboarding program. So we wanted to do, you know, this BDS process to make sure that we were seeing value in

[01:24:05:02 - 01:24:08:12]

Bob Ruffolo

which is pretty standard what you do with most clients, right? This is a six week.

[01:24:08:12 - 01:24:21:04]

Jessica Palmeri

We try to basically work through a six week period for clients that can really move that quickly. Some clients we recommend a more bi-colleagues approach. They have larger organizations, if they have enterprise hubs, it might not be the best fit for every single business.

[01:24:21:04 - 01:24:23:01]

Bob Ruffolo

Okay, but this worked for for obviously Michael.

[01:24:23:01 - 01:24:30:21]

Jessica Palmeri

Yes, Michael was willing to take on the challenge. And I asked him several times in the sales process, are you ready for bootcamp? And he's, he said, let's go exactly.

[01:24:30:21 - 01:24:33:08]

Bob Ruffolo

So what's what are the steps that you go through when you do that?

[01:24:33:08 - 01:24:41:00]

Jessica Palmeri

I think the first step is usually just a technical evaluation of what tools are do we have to eventually collapse and integrate into HubSpot.

[01:24:41:00 - 01:24:43:15]

Bob Ruffolo

So Ponyon was one of them. Exactly. Well, in his case,

[01:24:43:15 - 01:24:47:12]

Jessica Palmeri

I believe it was Mailchimp. Is that correct, Michael, that we were looking to move

[01:24:47:12 - 01:24:48:19]

Michael Rice

your mailchimp was another big one.

[01:24:48:19 - 01:24:49:09]

Jessica Palmeri

Exactly.

[01:24:49:09 - 01:24:51:01]

Michael Rice

Yeah, that was a big one. Pony on Mailchimp.

[01:24:51:01 - 01:25:09:22]

Jessica Palmeri

Yes. So those were the two systems. We always asked to see, you know, what are the tools are you working that now you're essentially double paying for? We have another system that's kind of operating off on the silo, we want to see what tools can collapse and work within the HubSpot ecosystem instead. And we also want to be mindful of do you have any, you know, upcoming contract renewal dates, we don't want to be paying for two systems in the long run.

[01:25:09:22 - 01:25:26:20]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah, that makes sense. Because you know, time is of the essence when you sign up for HubSpot, you're right, you're paying for two different things. So you want to do it right, you want to have data loss, you don't want to be you get scared to turn off anything else. So it is exactly to make sure you're doing it the right way and get everything into one system. So the data migration is the first part that you do.

[01:25:26:20 - 01:25:35:08]

Jessica Palmeri

Exactly. First, we evaluate which systems we want to collapse in, then we do what I like to call a drive me through your process session, because every business is unique.

[01:25:35:08 - 01:25:35:15]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah.

[01:25:35:15 - 01:26:12:09]

Jessica Palmeri

And every workflow is slightly different. I've seen a lot of different approaches, but I need to understand how you work. And I really kind of take a backseat to that particular training call, because I want to I want to see you point and click in your existing tools. And I want to be take a little notes behind the scenes saying, Oh, that'd be so much easier if we just use a workflow here. Or, oh, that could be a great point to trigger a sequence. Or, oh, that would be an amazing opportunity for a standardized property or an approach. So I want to make sure that we are not just moving things over one for one. If we have the opportunity to improve your process, improve your workflow at the same time. Yeah, let's make sure that you are actually reorganizing that system.

[01:26:12:09 - 01:26:27:05]

Bob Ruffolo

Now I heard, I think, some point in this conversation right before this, Michael, were you trying to do some of this on your own using just chat chibi tea, trying to figure out how to do your own implementation. And then you eventually said, Hey, listen, I need some extra help here. Is that true?

[01:26:27:05 - 01:26:36:13]

Michael Rice

No, actually, no, I actually knew going in that I wanted to have help. And Jessica from that early on too, because she told me when we first got started, she goes,

[01:26:37:16 - 01:26:42:17]

Michael Rice

I'm glad you're starting fresh, because usually the first part of my process is correcting all your screw ups.

[01:26:43:17 - 01:26:52:08]

Michael Rice

I hadn't done that. Yeah, made it the foundation solid, which I knew that's what I want to do. I knew, yeah, I could probably do some of it myself, but I'm probably going to screw it up. So why not get it right?

[01:26:52:08 - 01:27:56:01]

Bob Ruffolo

Because you know, when you're looking at a tool like a chat chibi tea, they're great. But my experience is that sometimes HubSpot changes so rapidly, even when I'm trying to do my own troubleshooting, I want to bother just I'm like trying to figure it out. And it gives me instructions. It's like, well, it's wrong, because things have moved around the platform a little bit. But I think even more important is just you've done hundreds of implementations. I love that you do this this business, like tell me about your business processes meeting. Because you've seen so many business implementations, and you know what works and what doesn't. And we can do it one way, or maybe a HubSpot has a blog says to do it this way. But you know, from doing it that way that clients get frustrated, if there's a better way, and you might have hacked together a better way or figure out a better way. That's unique. And clients love that more. So that's that balance between like, it's great to have AI. And I know you use AI. I use AI like crazy every single day. But AI plus an expert is just 100 x is everything you go fast, you make better decisions, based on experience, judgment, things that AI does not have mixed with the education you do get from AI.

[01:27:56:01 - 01:28:09:09]

Jessica Palmeri

I mean, for better or worse, HubSpot is a tool that's flexible enough to meet your business where it's at. But that means that there's, at any point, three or four different ways to get from point A to point B, there are different tools that you can pair together to to

[01:28:10:15 - 01:28:31:09]

Jessica Palmeri

create certain automations or, you know, reestablish certain workflows within your business. But you have to choose the right path, that's the right fit for what you as a unique business as a unique organization are trying to accomplish. And if you, you know, don't have that additional context, you know, chat GPT or breeze might say something's possible. But is it the right choice?

[01:28:31:09 - 01:28:31:17]

Bob Ruffolo

Yes.

[01:28:31:17 - 01:28:41:23]

Jessica Palmeri

And that's where that additional context is really hard to, to kind of ascertain, you have to figure out what is the best path forward for your business.

[01:28:41:23 - 01:28:42:04]

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah.

[01:28:42:04 - 01:29:24:01]

Jessica Palmeri

And you can go down a certain path because chat GPT said, you know, this was possible. But that can lead to a lot of wasted time, energy, effort if it's going to have these negative downstream consequences based again on the unique requirements of your business. So it's so crucial to understand the strategy element to understand the full scope of the operation. And that's where, you know, chat can be a really great tool to say, Hey, how do I, you know, automate this task? Or how do I how do I do this thing? How do I do something in HubSpot is a great question to ask chat GPT or breeze. How should I do something is a harder question to answer.

[01:29:24:01 - 01:29:26:04]

Bob Ruffolo

It's really a point. I like that.

[01:29:26:04 - 01:29:28:07]

Jessica Palmeri

I've done this once twice before.

[01:29:28:07 - 01:29:33:01]

Bob Ruffolo

So so Jess, for people listening and watching this.

[01:29:34:21 - 01:30:17:05]

Bob Ruffolo

So you have that tell me about your business processes meeting. And let's get a little bit more specific in that some people might be want to try this at home. And like, alright, so I'm implementing hubs. I'm watching this episode. This has been great so far. I'm learning a ton. So I step one, I should probably after my migrations done, I need to start thinking about my processes and insert setting them up correctly in HubSpot. So obviously, step one of that is called Jess and have her lead you through that. But but step two and three from that. So so what does that typically look like when you're in in that meeting with them? Tell me about the processes and what do you do with that information? So how would you advise somebody that's listening to this to do that meeting for themselves?

[01:30:17:05 - 01:32:00:03]

Jessica Palmeri

I think the best thing that you can do is identify what will have the most outsized impact on your organization. There are a million places to start there are a million ways to use HubSpot for different tools. But one thing we really recognized early on is that for Michael, it was going to come down to accurately his deals board to track these larger opportunities and moving his email marketing platform off of MailChimp over to HubSpot. Because those were the two biggest drivers, you know, he wanted to have an accurate sales process. So he could identify those good fit leads, do quick and easy outreach, make sure that we are creating deals that represent true business opportunities and working them through a streamlined process. So that was going to be the main use case for sales hub. And then also, you know, integrating his email marketing efforts, because you can continue to use, you know, the tools that you're most comfortable with if you don't necessarily have to use HubSpot's email marketing tools, if you don't want to, if you wanted to pay for two systems, but you don't get the value of seeing, hey, you know, these, these folks that raised their hand six months ago saying, and maybe I'm ready to buy in the Koneo Valley, we don't know if they're actually starting to reengage if we don't see with context, oh, just seems to be opening that email a couple of times. So she's, she's reading my market update newsletter and really engaging with it. She's, you know, clicking on the links going to these specific neighborhoods to see exactly, you know, what might be available for her in this area of the Koneo Valley. So I can really follow that, that potential buyer on the earliest stages of their journey. And then I can, you know, work with that serious buyer on the final stages of their escrow. And you can be doing all within the same tool.

[01:32:00:03 - 01:32:25:18]

Bob Ruffolo

I think I'm gonna simplify what you just said, because I think I got what you answered out of this. So step one, what you do is you say, what are you already doing from what marketing are you, are you already executing? What touch points do you already have with a typical customer, specifically emails? And then tell me about your sales process, what stages do you typically already already have? Let's understand all that first. Then it sounds like there's a next layer of what do we want to be doing better?

[01:32:25:18 - 01:32:26:02]

Jessica Palmeri

Yes.

[01:32:26:02 - 01:32:56:16]

Bob Ruffolo

And then also bringing in brainstorm with you of here's what we could be doing better, because you might not even have these ideas. This is what we've seen work for other clients. Exactly. And you bring that in, and then you build out this is going to be our customer acquisition workflow, everything for marketing and every touch point sales, every touch point, this is how we're gonna bring deals to close, make sure we don't miss any opportunities, we tighten that up. And then you turn and you build it in HubSpot and work together to make sure that we know exactly how we're gonna operate this step by step by step. I think that gets that right.

[01:32:56:16 - 01:33:08:05]

Jessica Palmeri

Yeah, you operationalize your approach, you figure out what are your biggest opportunities? What are the tools that are going to really make the biggest overall, you know, quality and life improvement to your day to day workflow? And that's where you start to attack.

[01:33:08:05 - 01:33:08:12]

Michael Rice

Cool.

[01:33:08:12 - 01:33:24:06]

Jessica Palmeri

So, you know, Michael, in terms of the the tools that you adopted earliest on what has what has improved your processor approach the most? What area of HubSpot do you find that you're spending the most time in on a day to day basis to really get your workflow?

[01:33:24:06 - 01:33:43:15]

Michael Rice

Really tracking leads, tracking people who fill out forms and having them go through the flow of my system has been the number one thing. I mean, again, I'm still only what two months in. So I'm still in the getting things going phase. Although I, you know, with your help, I'm pretty much already there.

[01:33:43:15 - 01:33:53:14]

Bob Ruffolo

Well, I'm just just said two months in no many people we've met that have had HubSpot for two months, three months, four months, five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, 10 months, and they haven't done anything with it yet.

[01:33:55:05 - 01:34:02:03]

Bob Ruffolo

So it's awesome that you're at two months, you're already getting value out of it. So I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there, but that's a

[01:34:02:03 - 01:34:40:01]

Michael Rice

no, I mean, I'm absolutely getting value out of it. I always think too that a year or two from now, the value is going to just exponentially grow with I have the data and also just fine tuning things and getting it the system working even better. So that part is exciting. And another that I'm loving too is this whole AEO thing, which I just started to get more into. I mean, pulling that data, putting it into chat GPT and you know, how does this impact what I'm doing and making adjustments to make sure I'm improving on that data is hugely important. So there's so many layers that I'm just starting to get through that, you know, I don't even know where I could be in a year or two from now with it.

[01:34:40:01 - 01:35:54:02]

Jessica Palmeri

And that's one thing, key thing to point out. So Michael's a net new HubSpot, you know, here just sort of exploring the system. But I know so many HubSpot users that probably could go into their, you know, marketing tab and their navigation and find that there's this new AEO tool. And I wonder how many of our listeners have actually had the curiosity to click on that to go through the workflow to set it up to really, you know, see all these new tools and features that HubSpot is bringing out because one of the things I love most is that they never settle, they never really say, we're good. You know, this is this is the end we're done. This is the tool that we are going to be HubSpot really challenges the marketplace to say, Hey, this is a huge new, you know, challenge for marketers, we need to be on top of AEO and our visibility on these, you know, answer engines. So how are we going to help our customers see that with clarity and understand what actions and next steps to take. So if you if you're a listener of this podcast, you haven't clicked on that little AEO button yet. This is my call to action to all of you. Go check that out. Because as Michael just said, it's just one other element of HubSpot that allows you to see with clarity, is my content driving the right visibility to the right audiences to ultimately bring in new business for my

[01:35:54:02 - 01:36:18:20]

Bob Ruffolo

we have a we have a meeting on Mondays. We call it the expert exchange, all of our coaches, trainers, marketing team, we all get together here at impact. And we do different show and tell us different trainings ingested a training on the AEO tool. I didn't realize how powerful that tool was. So thank you for doing that. And showing exactly how it works, how we start using for all of our clients. So I will echo that too, if you're not using the AEO tool, go play around. It's not that hard.

[01:36:18:20 - 01:36:20:08]

Jessica Palmeri

It's very simple to set up.

[01:36:20:08 - 01:36:23:22]

Bob Ruffolo

But it's great if you want to track certain terms to see if you're showing up for it.

[01:36:23:22 - 01:36:48:23]

Jessica Palmeri

So yes, I will say I was well and told by my lovely friend Bob here that you should really show this off to the rest of our company. And it was it was a it was a great experience to kind of show off what I you know, work with them with my clients on a regular basis. It's always something new. And it's very easy to get lost in all the product updates. But every once in a while, one really shines through as something you've got to pay attention to. And HubSpot's new AEO tool is definitely the one for me.

[01:36:48:23 - 01:37:02:10]

Bob Ruffolo

So now we got HubSpot rolled out and Michael, I'll go to you on this. What's on the roadmap for the next six to 12 months? Where do you see building out more in HubSpot scaling it, automating more of your business? What are you seeing?

[01:37:04:01 - 01:38:10:21]

Michael Rice

Well, a great use case that I'm actually excited to do, but I won't get there for a little bit until I get more data in there is something I experienced on your end. What you know, once people get into your ecosystem, they're now able to be tracked. And so I know down the road that someone who maybe reached out today, they're just not ready to buy. But I might see down the road, they're looking at three, let's say, Westlake Village neighborhoods, I can set up automations. Now, hey, I noticed you checked out these three, check this out. And the way that came to be is how it worked on your guys end with me when it came to the Endless Customers Conference, is that I was already in your ecosystem. And this is really the turning point where I decided I have to use HubSpot. So I was already in your ecosystem and I was looking at the Endless Customers Conference coming up, which I was, you know, knew I wanted to go at some point, but wasn't fully vested at that point. I was just looking at it. And then within like 10 minutes, I got an email saying, Hey, I saw that you were looking at the Endless Customers or something you wanted to go to and etc. I just was a sales pitch, just a quick little check in thing. And I was like, that's genius. And that got me to the conference because I'm like, that's exactly what I want to be able to do on my business. So why not go to the people who are already doing it?

[01:38:10:21 - 01:38:16:10]

Bob Ruffolo

Well, yeah, you know, it's so funny. I'll tell a very old story here at impact.

[01:38:18:11 - 01:39:13:10]

Bob Ruffolo

Maybe the year was 2016, I think. Maybe even earlier. Do you remember signals? Oh, yes. The first product that they had like going to sales. And what it did was it gave you pop up notifications on your computer when someone's on your website. And I saw this guy who goes to our homepage and has names, he had must have been filled out a form, got an email. And then he went to like our services page and he went to another service page, I think looked at our pricing page and then he went somewhere else. And I'm watching this happen in real time, because I was doing a lot of the selling back then. So I sent him a very, it wasn't even auditing an email. But because I had that data, I said, Hey, I saw you were on our site, you were looking at these different things. I just want to be a resource to you. Is there anything that I can help you with? And he wrote back, he goes, Oh my God, I need to be able to do this, my business, let's set up a call because I need this features for our business. So I actually ended up being a whole inbound market retainer for us. That was a client for like three years after that.

[01:39:13:10 - 01:39:14:04]

Jessica Palmeri

Absolutely.

[01:39:14:04 - 01:39:18:03]

Bob Ruffolo

That's the power of having just that information. Now you don't want to be creepy with it.

[01:39:18:03 - 01:39:19:02]

Jessica Palmeri

No, of course.

[01:39:19:02 - 01:39:36:17]

Bob Ruffolo

So you got to have to meet people where they're at. But I think we're also living in a world people know if I they're on your website, most people know that you probably know what I'm looking at anyways. And if you're really just using that information to create a better experience for them, which we all want as buyers, then I think if there's, you know, that's fair game.

[01:39:36:17 - 01:39:38:15]

Jessica Palmeri

You got to use your superpowers to build trust.

[01:39:38:15 - 01:39:39:01]

Bob Ruffolo

That's right.

[01:39:39:01 - 01:39:39:22]

Jessica Palmeri

That's the end of the day.

[01:39:39:22 - 01:39:58:18]

Bob Ruffolo

That's right. So I don't think this is down the road for you, Michael. I think you can set that up pretty fast. I think that can happen. Yeah, it's again, you know, it's that's a very simple workflow to build. So I hope I hope you get that up and going faster because that could yield great results for you. Yeah. Have you thought about anything else?

[01:39:58:18 - 01:39:59:05]

Michael Rice

I totally agree.

[01:39:59:05 - 01:40:02:16]

Bob Ruffolo

Even bigger scale with AI or anything that you've been thinking about? Or so?

[01:40:02:16 - 01:40:28:05]

Michael Rice

Well, one of the ones that, and I don't know if this would actually be great enough that one of the AI is recommended was, you know, the, what do you call the chatbot on there? Yeah. I forget what the, whatever they call that way. Yeah. You could have that contextual to if someone is, let's say they're checking out Oak Park neighborhoods, which were known for the schools, I could have that come up and say, Hey, I noticed you're checking on this. Check out my blog on Oak Park schools and giving that contextual real time.

[01:40:29:13 - 01:40:41:16]

Michael Rice

Just basically bringing all your website could be overwhelming, right? You don't know where to go. So if you could have that basically directing people, Oh, you're here, probably care about this and then directing you there is another huge implementation.

[01:40:41:16 - 01:40:47:18]

Bob Ruffolo

No, it's another thought coming off of this, Michael. I love that. Definitely think you should build that.

[01:40:50:12 - 01:41:25:08]

Bob Ruffolo

Being curious and saying, I wonder if we can do this and constantly saying, how can we be doing things better? Now that we have this tool, how we can get the most out of it, seeing things online, like, Ooh, I want to be able to do that too. And just doing that activity alone can help you get a lot more of your own HubSpot investment or any other technology investment that you're making in your business. But I think the value of having someone like Jess here too, is when you write down those ideas and you share them with her, she can help you make a roadmap. She could tell you she knows exactly if it's possible or if it's not, or how long this typically takes to implement or what the effort is going to take to implement it.

[01:41:25:08 - 01:41:26:08]

Jessica Palmeri

Or should you

[01:41:26:08 - 01:41:27:18]

Bob Ruffolo

implement it?

[01:41:28:18 - 01:41:40:22]

Bob Ruffolo

And she can organize that all with you and put make a whole schedule milestones. Okay, this is where we're going to go. But then we all know as entrepreneurs, Michael, I'm sure you and I are similar in this, I think every entrepreneur ever met.

[01:41:41:23 - 01:42:20:03]

Bob Ruffolo

We have ADD like crazy. And it's like there's a shiny object over here and there and all over the place. And we have all these great ideas that we thought of six months ago. And we never actually implemented them because life got busy, clients needed us, new things came up, we have shiny object syndrome. But having somebody that builds a plan that holds you accountable to that plan. And then, you know, two or three months later, things are getting done, things are implemented, you're getting more out of it. And that really is the value of having somebody like a Jess involved in a HubSpot implementation. Because that's how things get done. It's not that Michael can't figure it out on his own. But we as leaders, we just

[01:42:21:04 - 01:42:26:18]

Bob Ruffolo

things fall through the cracks all the time. I'm not saying that you're that kind of guy. I just know most people I talk to.

[01:42:26:18 - 01:42:36:17]

Michael Rice

It's not our job. Yeah, it's not our job. I mean, it is our job, but it's not our job. I mean, my job is to work with customers and sell homes and all that. And this is, you know, not something that I should be spending all my time on.

[01:42:36:17 - 01:42:51:06]

Jessica Palmeri

Yes. You can go down so many rabbit holes. But you know, when we first met Michael, when we first met in sales process, I promised that I was going to put you through bootcamp and that we are going to hold you to a process. So I have to ask, was bootcamp worth it for you?

[01:42:51:06 - 01:42:51:13]

Michael Rice

Yeah,

[01:42:52:22 - 01:43:12:18]

Michael Rice

in fact, yeah, absolutely was. And I'm glad we did accelerated because I was, I would be too impatient to stretch out over a longer period of time. And I mean, also, you've made it easy. You gave, you know, homework assignments and through base camp, I could go back and see what I needed to do. And so that it wasn't scary to me at all was actually exactly what I would want it.

[01:43:12:18 - 01:43:16:23]

Jessica Palmeri

Excellent. Well, I don't know what better note to end on then.

[01:43:16:23 - 01:43:21:09]

Bob Ruffolo

And Michael, again, you're running a great business. And

[01:43:22:10 - 01:43:29:14]

Bob Ruffolo

any listeners that could be potential customers for you, who are they? And what would you want everyone to know if they want to get back in touch with you after this?

[01:43:31:02 - 01:43:42:12]

Michael Rice

I mean, we're 40 miles north of Los Angeles between basically Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It's called the Canoe Valley, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, those type of areas. So anyone looking to move out here? That's what I do.

[01:43:42:12 - 01:43:44:10]

Bob Ruffolo

Is it nice to live out there?

[01:43:46:03 - 01:44:00:17]

Michael Rice

It's one of the best areas for sure. I mean, it's kind of a little hidden gem. Really, I mean, obviously, I'm biased. It's kind of a hidden gem because a lot of people don't even know exactly where it is. I used to work with a lot of relocation people coming out and they thought they're moving to LA and they come to our area. They're like, "Oh, this is not LA."

[01:44:01:18 - 01:44:05:01]

Bob Ruffolo

All right. So for all of our listeners, move to California, call Michael, buy a home.

[01:44:05:01 - 01:44:05:18]

Jessica Palmeri

There we go.

[01:44:06:19 - 01:44:14:23]

Bob Ruffolo

And Jess, how do people get in touch with you if they're saying, "Okay, this was helpful. I think Jess can help me implement HubSpot." I like that she

[01:44:16:04 - 01:44:31:01]

Bob Ruffolo

helped me get all my data in there. She'll build out my workflows. So we'll look at all my processes, order of operation. So I'll help make it better. Two months later, we're getting value out of HubSpot. We're not sitting there with a cost and just paying for all these softwares. We're not getting the most out of it. If they want your help, how can they get in touch with you?

[01:44:31:01 - 01:44:35:05]

Jessica Palmeri

It all starts with a conversation. So we have a dedicated HubSpot training services page on

[01:44:36:14 - 01:44:52:16]

Jessica Palmeri

the impact website. We just relaunched it. So it is a brand new and shiny. And you can find out all about our different training products, our pricing, and have a conversation with me or another HubSpot coach to figure out what is the best training program to, again, put you to boot camp and make sure that you can do this for yourself.

[01:44:52:16 - 01:45:00:18]

Bob Ruffolo

We've had a lot of people be HubSpot trainers here at Impact over the years. I will say Jess is absolutely stellar, outstanding. We're very lucky to have her.

[01:45:00:18 - 01:45:03:21]

Jessica Palmeri

I'm lucky to be here, Bob. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else.

[01:45:03:21 - 01:45:12:04]

Bob Ruffolo

Awesome. Well, this has been another episode of the Endless Customers podcast. Thank you to our guests. It's a phenomenal episode. And until our next episode, we will see you then.

[01:45:13:23 - 01:45:20:08]

Stephanie Baiocchi

If you liked this episode, please take a minute to leave us a review. Thanks for checking out the Endless Customers podcast. Bye.