We don’t often talk about clients parting ways with us, because why would anyone care? Every once in a while, though, a client grows with our program, allowing them to graduate from our partnership and continue their successes in-house.
Remember, our goal with every client is to build a sustainable GTM strategy that can scale with their company forever.
In 2022, Lux Research came to AK Operations because they were working within two systems: Salesforce and HubSpot. Both were over 10 years old and had changed administrative hands multiple times. The current team was not privy to the rationale behind the automations and customizations in place, and they were unsure how to start without wrecking the whole system.
We took ownership of their HubSpot right away.
As the system config manager, I retired dozens of outdated automations and old fields that probably served a purpose at one point but were no longer impactful for their current processes. It was important that we consulted with their entire team – sales, marketing, customer support – to get an understanding of what these tools needed to do. Alongside them, I defined target segments, implemented website tracking codes and changed the way forms were being used on the website to best drive HubSpot analytics.
To say it a different way, I cleaned house and then reimagined how the tool needed to work for them.
Inbound Management
We established a process to keep the different sales territories informed (Lux is a global company). Before AK Ops they didn’t know when people were coming inbound through their website or form fills. And if they did somehow get alerted through legacy programming, we didn’t know what happened to them after that.
Pipeline Tracking
We helped them to establish a “pre-qualification” deal stage process whereby they could track where meetings were coming from, and where they ended up in order to replicate successes at the top of the funnel.
Marketing Pillars
We developed a nurture system based on “pillar structure” that segmented the database and aligned the messaging with the type of marketing newsletter they received. Lux is a powerhouse for content development, which required a thoughtful marketing leader like Tina Xiang to care for and create a process that ensured each target audience only got the content that was relevant for them.
The engine was humming. Thanks to our early successes in aligning the systems and establishing a regular cadence of marketing nurturing for their database, Lux was able to build upon and automate many aspects of their process. As a result, their team became more efficient, relying on repeatable processes standardized by our team. This freed up capacity so they could run their CRM database – and the marketing programs we implemented – without adding headcount. With a more automated CRM, Lux can now do more with a small team of rockstars.
Seeing a partnership end, even on good terms, is sad. However, a two-year partnership that has helped a company grow and stand on their own two feet…that is worth celebrating!