The Best CRM for the Building Industry

The Power of Email Open and Link Tracking

Any tech-savvy salesperson will know if you opened the email he or she sent you. They’ll also know if you clicked a link or if you opened the embedded document. 

This is because modern CRM systems, such as HubSpot, use tracking cookies to help sales and marketing teams connect in the best way with their ideal customers. 

In your business, this can provide your team members with the confidence that they need to take the correct next step forward.

Let’s consider two scenarios.

Scenario One

You don’t invest in modern software that shows email opens or clicks, and your sales team is sending cold emails to prospects that are entering your database. They’re supposed to send two emails and follow up with a call if neither are responded to. Ask yourself the following questions:

• How much data is this process giving your sales people? 
• How will they know if the customer has read their emails?
• How can they gauge the interest of that client before calling them?

This process places your team at a disadvantage. They basically have to ask, “Did you see my emails?” before they have the context necessary to proceed with the conversation. 

Scenario Two

You invest in HubSpot because you want your team to have the best tools at their disposal. Your sales team follows the same process as above, but now they can see how a recipient interacts with each email. Therefore, even though John Smith never replied to either email, your sales rep can know before calling that:

• John opened both emails multiple times.
• John clicked the link to your blog article in the second email three times.
• John opens his emails around 6:15pm each day, based on his engagement time with both of your emails. 

Your rep then calls at 6:15, knowing all this information. He reaches John, exchanges pleasantries, and then your rep asks John if he found the blog article helpful. By knowing this data ahead of time, your rep was able to steer the conversation in a direction that focused on value instead of awkwardly asking if the recipient had opened his emails.

If you’re incorporating video email, it will be especially helpful to know if the recipient watched the video before you call them. If the recipient didn’t click the link, your rep can treat the phone call as if there’s not been a formal introduction. But, if the recipient did watch your video, your rep can immediately presume a more conversational tone and introduction, which will put the recipient at ease because they will feel like they’ve met the rep before. 

As you can see, email opens and link tracking are powerful tools for your sales team. 

For your marketing team, the benefits also apply — but you’ll be looking at the bigger picture. How many people opened? How many clicks did it receive, and what buttons were clicked? How many people took the action that was the goal of your email? 

With data like this, your team will be able to see what’s driving the most conversions and will be able to continuously improve your email marketing strategy.

How Meeting Links Can Get You More Meetings With Less Friction

Meeting links are essentially a link to a calendar you’ve set up in advance that allows someone to schedule a meeting through the link’s form. Meeting links are a powerful, low friction way for your sales team to spend more time connecting with prospects.

There are a number of meeting link software options available, but if you’re already using HubSpot then you already have access to theirs!

Here’s how to set up a meeting link:

1. Set up the link and connect it to your calendar.
2. Define when you’re available, buffer time between meetings, and so on.
3. Set up the actions that are taken after someone books a meeting, such as calendar invitation automated emails.

When someone clicks that link, they can easily select from the available times and options to schedule a meeting that conveniently works for both of you. And since it’s synced to your calendar, you won’t have any double-booking happening, as long as you keep your calendar up to date.

With the basics behind meeting links now in place, you’re probably thinking, “Ok, so how are these so low friction? How do people get them?”

That is a fantastic question! Creativity will be your friend here, but these are the top ways we see meeting links being used:

• In email footers: When you send a 1-to-1 email to someone, you can put a link or button right in the signature that says, “Book time on my calendar!” That way, people can easily schedule a meeting from any email you’ve sent them.
• In email templates: If your sales team is sending templates, which you should seek to avoid doing, a great idea is to put a line in the email that says, “…or, you can book time on my calendar here.” Of course, their unique link would be hyperlinked there, where a recipient could then take that action and schedule a meeting.
• In marketing emails: As your inbound marketing strategy grows, your email will end up in the inbox of someone who is now ready to take that next step. By including a strong call to action with a meeting link, you can help those people efficiently raise their hand as ready-to-talk. 
• In website forms: If your website is positioned well, it’s possible that people who are sales-ready will be browsing it looking for a contact point that works for them. Utilizing a strongly-worded pop-up that leads to a meeting link can be an awesome way to connect that person to your sales team!

Templates That Align Your Sales Efforts and Can Be Tracked for Performance

In the world of sales, if something can be measured, then it can be improved. Email templates are a low-hanging fruit that so many business owners simply don’t think about implementing for their teams.

The goal is to streamline the process as much as possible for your team members. You want them selling, not spending time repetitively writing emails that are very similar to each other.

That’s where templates come in. If your team sends the same or similar email multiple times, then they would benefit considerably from having templates built. 

In HubSpot, you can track the opens and link-clicks of templates. This means you can optimize and improve those emails based on actual data over time instead of relying on guesswork. 

Here’s some popular templates that we’ve built for our clients:

• Welcome template: When a new lead enters the database, send this email with some initial information regarding their sales person, contact information, and a helpful piece of information such as a link to a downloadable PDF.
• Reconversion template: If an existing contact submits a new form on your website, they may be trying to find new information or ask for help. A template focused on the intent of the form can be an easy way for a rep to touch base and offer assistance, like this — “I see you filled out our newsletter form on the pricing information page. Were you looking for more information regarding our pricing?”
• Break up template: Break up templates are sent when a contact has not responded to five or more contact attempts. The template asks if the person is still interested and gives them one last chance to respond before they’re removed from the list. A well-written break up template can have a response rate of over 30%, according to this HubSpot article on breakup emails. Although some responses will be polite people telling you they’re no longer interested, you’ll now know you don’t have to spend any more effort on that contact. 

Ultimately, any email that’s sent repeatedly will likely benefit from being turned into a template. If members of your sales team use different communication styles, their templates can be further adapted to reflect the sender’s personality. Nothing is worse than sending a template that doesn’t sound like it’s coming from you.

Integrations to Your Favorite Tools Like Zoom

When it comes to integrations, HubSpot has a massive library of software connections to things like Zoom, Quickbooks, and Google Calendar. Using these integrations puts the power into your sales team’s hands to customize their processes in a way that works best for them.

Do they like using video conferencing? The Zoom integration will allow them to schedule and send Zoom invites, right from within a HubSpot contact record!

Is their schedule managed by their Google Calendar? Easy syncing between HubSpot and Google ensures that they can always see all that’s on their plate. This is especially powerful for reps who have active meeting links. 

Would automated meeting reminders be helpful? The Gong integration specializes in that. 

Integrations are some of our favorite parts of the HubSpot ecosystem because they’re so versatile. Our favorite one happens to be with a tool that really will set your sales team apart from anyone else in the industry — video email. 

Using Video Email for the Building Industry

If your sales team isn’t using video email, they’re missing out on the most personal way to show up in someone’s inbox today!

Companies like Soapbox and Vidyard allow you to seamlessly produce and share videos that can be sent by email. The recorder’s face and/or screen can be recorded, allowing you to show what you’re talking about in real time.

This means that instead of your sales team’s emails being a big block of text, they can express the same concept to their camera and then send a short message to the recipient. This adds a fully human element to the experience of receiving an email.

Here’s a two minute video to show you how this works:

Soapbox – Video Email Demonstration

We’re massive fans of using video in emails, and your team will be, too, once they learn how easy it is and how much it enhances their efforts to connect with their recipients.

Yes, there will be people who don’t like recording videos to send to someone else. Truth be told, I didn’t like it at all either when I started. 

I dislike the sound of my own voice and fidget when I’m uncomfortable. To me, both of those things seemed very obvious in a video email. But I stuck with it, because I knew that sticking out in someone’s inbox is one of the best ways to get a genuine response. 

Today, instead of writing emails, I’ll often simply record a quick video to say whatever needs to be said. 

Here’s three of the best applications we’ve seen for video email:

1. Introductions: Short of meeting in person or on a video call, nothing allows your salesperson to show as much of their personality and care as video email does. The recipient will immediately begin to feel like they know the salesperson, because they can see their facial expressions and body language.
2. Sensitive topics: Whenever possible, sharing things like price quotes should be done on video calls or in person. However, there’s plenty of situations where that can’t happen. If your team needs to share bad or potentially bad news, a video email can help soften it by showing that there’s a real person who cares on the other side. 
3. Status reports: Even after someone becomes a client, sharing status reports with them can be a powerful, human way to stay connected. We use video email for all of our reporting at The Coutts Agency, because we know that it’s impactful for our clients to see our face each month as we explain how their marketing strategies are working.

The bottom line is that video emails are powerful tools to set your business apart. If your sales team is willing to stand out and have better conversations, video email can be the perfect tool to make that happen.

The best part of sending a video email with HubSpot is that you’ll be able to see if the video was watched. Your sales team can then use this data to guide conversations. 

Now you have a good understanding of why the HubSpot CRM is a must-have tool in your building industry business. HubSpot Onboarding is one of our specialities. Schedule a consultation today to get your sales and marketing aligned and supercharged!