Event Recap
Breaking Barriers:
Aligning How We Sell and Service

All the resources you need to dig into what was shared during our latest partner and provider event.

A Quick Recap

That's a wrap! The final, full community event of 2021 was one for the books. 

In the opening conversation, Brian Halligan, HubSpot Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, filled us in on some fun, behind-the-scenes moments from INBOUND 2021. Then, CEO Yamini Rangan gave her perspective on the three ways partners can invest and play to win in the HubSpot ecosystem. And during the partner spotlight, VP of the Solutions Partner Program Brian Garvey and Senior Director Angela O’Dowd shared how HubSpot is investing to help partners be successful and talked about some upcoming program updates. Lastly, because selling and servicing better together was the major theme of the event, we got tactical and hands-on with sales and service experts in role-based breakout sessions. 

Didn't make it to all the breakout sessions? Couldn't attend the event? We've got you covered. This page gives an overview of the key information shared.

Click here to watch the recording of Brian Halligan, Yamini Rangan, Brian Garvey and Angela O'Dowd.

What We Covered at "Breaking Barriers"

Fireside Chat with HubSpot Co-Founder & Executive Chairman Brian Halligan

In conversation with Laura Moran, Director of Events at HubSpot, Brian Halligan shared his favorite INBOUND 2021 moments, as well as the company updates he’s most excited about. Lastly, he spoke about what a modern CRM should look like and how we’re working to make that happen with some recent product updates here at HubSpot.

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CEO Keynote, Yamini Rangan, HubSpot CEO

HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan connected the dots for us on HubSpot’s product roadmap, go-to-market strategy, and what she’s seeing and hearing from partners. She answered the one question you all have: Where should partners and providers play to win in the HubSpot ecosystem? 

Yamini shared three key pieces of advice:

Focus on multi-hub and suite

Invest in building expertise around combining hubs as value pairs and taking your clients on a multi-hub journey, because that’s where the opportunity is. 

If your goal is to go deep with your expertise, become an expert in at least two hubs and show customers how they work together to yield the most value.

If your goal is to go wide with your expertise, then you need to get really good at the suite game.

Build your technical expertise

Our shared customers are going to need it.

Today's buyers want a customized tech stack and in the future, HubSpot's most successful partners and providers will have the deep technical expertise to leverage the extensibility and flexibility of the HubSpot platform to build unique customer experiences. 

Get really good at sourcing, selling, and servicing

This will allow you to grow.

Customers' needs are more complex, so they want to partner with you from the start of the sales process through the implementation and beyond.

Yamini rounded out her keynote by highlighting the business momentum over the last year and the huge opportunity ahead for partners and providers.

Want to learn more about how to win with HubSpot? Check out Yamini's Partner Guide below!

Program Keynote, Brian Garvey, VP of the Solutions Partner Program and Angie O’Dowd, Senior Director of Partner Operations

During the event’s program keynote, VP of the Solutions Partner Program Brian Garvey and Senior Director, Partner Strategy & Operations Angie O’Dowd spoke about the ways HubSpot is investing in partners and providers.

Brian and Angie went into detail on the three areas of investment HubSpot is making in the partner program and how they’ll result in upcoming program changes taking place this year and in early 2022. The three areas of investment include:

  1. Scaling Servicing with credentialing and matching
  2. Scaling Selling with systems and enablement
  3. Building Stronger Foundations with programs, people, and technology

Check out the sections below for more information on each of these key updates.

Missed the event? We've got you covered.

Watch the recording

Scaling Servicing

Matching & Credentialing

In 2022, we’re making credentials more advanced and more technical, as well as increasing the number of available partner-specific certifications and courses by the end of 2022. We’re also going to dedicate more investments in credentialing to non-English content. Plus, we’re adding more accreditations to the curriculum for platinum, diamond, and elite partners. 

Our final major servicing investment is in our matching programs. This will include additional cohorts of Partner Scaled Onboarding and a new CMS Matching Bot, which we are currently piloting. Most importantly, we will be automating more of the matching process while making it both more equitable and scalable. 

Learn more about credentials here.

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When will the accreditations become available?
The existing 4 accreditations will be available to all plat+ partners in 2022, with plans to add more over time, which you’ll hear more about at Partner Kickoff. 

How does matching work?
Matching is the process of matching customers and partners together based on the customer’s needs and by a partner’s validated expertise. There are several types of matching programs we use today including the Solutions Directory, and pilot programs like Partner Scaled Onboarding and CMS Matching App.

What is PSO?
With PSO (Partner Scaled Onboarding), customers pay for HubSpot onboarding services and then HubSpot assigns a partner to deliver those services on our behalf. HubSpot then pays the partner directly once that onboarding is complete. 

How do I get involved in PSO?
Currently, PSO is invite-only. We will be expanding the number of partners involved in 2022. 

Is the CMS Service Matching App just for CMS Hub related services?
Yes, this is for CMS Hub related services only. 

How can I get involved in the CMS Service Matching App pilot?
Currently, applications are closed as we’re keeping the pilot small and collecting feedback. We may open applications again in the future. Visit this link for more details. 

Can providers get involved in the CMS Service Matching App?
Currently, applications are closed. Generally speaking, providers can participate in the CMS Matching App. The requirements are that you have at least one full-time in-house front-end developer, completed the CMS for Developers Certification and the CMS for Marketers Certification. Additionally, you must be an active solutions partner or provider with a live profile in the Solutions Directory. Lastly, you must have sold and launched at least one CMS hub website that fully leverages themes and drag-and-drop OR have at least one theme in the Asset Marketplace.

How do we prevent conflict between partners if one partner sold a customer, and they work with a different partner through the matching tool?
Normal lead ownership rules apply. If the secondary partner has the opportunity to cross-sell a new product line, they would be eligible for commissions and tier credit through our standard cross sell rules.

Why only CMS hub?
CMS Hub is a product that requires a high degree of expertise, which makes it a perfect product to pilot matchmaking for customers and partners. 

How is this different from getting business via #find-a-partner?
#Find-a-Partner is an internal tool for HubSpotters to use and is relevant to all customer requests, not just CMS requests. The CMS Service Matching app is an external, customer-facing tool for customers to find the right partner for their CMS needs on their own.

Will hubspotmatch.com be accessible from the Solutions Directory? If not now, when?
Currently it is not. This may change in the future, but we don’t have a timetable yet.

Scaling Selling

Capacity Reductions

Our domain registration system has governed how our partners and providers sell and included a capacity system that caused high rejection rates. Capacity no longer aligns with what we value, which is closing good-fit deals. 

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To overcome the obstacles of an antiquated domain registration system, we rolled out a new deal registration system that involves two steps:

  1. The launch of the new shared selling tools, which went live in September 2021. 
  2. Moving away from domain registration and capacity, which involves a reduction of capacity for all tiers.

The table to the left outlines the new limits by tier, and these new capacities will go into effect February 1, 2022. Partners who are over the new capacity limits on February 1 won't be able to register new domains or extend the registration on existing ones until they get under capacity. Partners will need to be at the new capacity limit by April 1, 2022.

How can I find out more about shared selling tools?
Our new shared selling tools rolled out on September 22, 2021. Learn more about the shared selling tools here.

When do partners need to be at the new capacity limits?
All partners and providers should be within their new capacity by February 1, 2022. If partners are not under capacity limits by April 1, 2022, commissions may be withheld.

What are the new capacity numbers?
Elite 175, Diamond 75, Platinum 25, Gold 15, Untiered 10, Provider 5. 

Do we have to re-register domains?
No changes to domain expiration and re-registration. Your domains will remain registered for 6 months, and partners can still increase this by an additional three months, if needed, which is no change for how the system works today. However, partners can only re-register existing domains if they are under capacity. 

Will over-capacity partners be able to extend registration on registered domains?
No. 

Will over-capacity partners be able to register new domains?
No.

Will my domains be unregistered?
No. On February 1, 2022, no domains will be unregistered. However, partners who are over the new capacity limits on February 1 won't be able to register new domains or extend the registration on existing ones until they get under capacity. 

How do I get below capacity?
You can de-register domains in your HubSpot portal. For best practices, work with your CAM and consider things like de-registering your existing customers, domains for companies based in countries you don’t do business in, and only keeping domains in your target vertical.

Building Stronger Foundations

Upsell Credit

One of the biggest investments we’re making in 2022 is in our infrastructure, which means investing in people and technology. Our investment in our systems means a huge investment in our partners and providers, including how we think about their credit and commissions. 

In the past, partners and providers couldn’t receive credit for upselling Starter customers that they didn’t originally sell Starter to. We know this is a major pain point, which is why we’re making changes. Starting November 1, 2021, partners and providers can earn tier credit and commissions for upselling Starter customers that were originally sold by HubSpot or who purchased touchlessly and were not already registered to another partner or provider. Note, this will only  apply to deals closed after November 1st, and not before. 

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This solution doesn’t solve for everything — including giving credit for upselling Professional to Enterprise, adding seats, or a Starter deal sold previously by a different partner or provider. However, we’ll continue to evolve our systems and processes to deliver a more holistic solution in the future.

Right now, we’ll manually accomplish this internally, and no action is needed from partners to get credit on Starter deals. As we strengthen our foundations, our goal is to provide an automated solution to upsell credit in the future.

Will I get credit on previous Starter upsell deals?
No, only deals closed after November 1 are eligible. 

What happens if I upsell on a deal that another partner originally sold?
If another partner sold Starter to a customer, then you upsell that customer to Professional or Enterprise, you will not get credit with this change (the original partner who sold Starter will get the credit). If a HubSpot direct sales rep sells Starter (or a customer purchases touchlessly), and then a partner upsells, that partner will now get credit with this change.

What about upselling from Professional?
This change will only apply to Starter upsells. However, we’ll continue to evolve our systems and processes to deliver a more holistic solution in the future.

How do we get credit?
We’ll accomplish this manually internally, and no action is needed from partners to get credit on Starter deals.

If we get credit on the upsell deal through this update, do we get credit on the whole product line or just the upsell?
Whole product line. 

Does this mean we can collab on Starter deals now?
No.

Services Breakout

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Solutions Partner Essentials: Managing & Retaining Clients Workshop

The Agency Account Management Essentials training you know and love is back, but now with a new name: the new Solutions Partner Essentials workshop. Event attendees got a sneak preview of this new offering, which teaches partners and providers how to use HubSpot to manage, retain, and grow their client base in a scalable and repeatable manner.

This workshop is best suited for partner or provider employees who are responsible for client success and retention throughout their lifecycle and have managed a HubSpot client for at least three months. Learn more about this interactive, hands-on course here. Or, if you're ready to sign up, you can click here.

 

Missed out? Or attended the Sandler training instead? Don't worry, you can watch the recording of the services breakout here. 

How long is the Solutions Partner Essentials: Managing and Retaining Clients (SPM) course?
The full Solutions Partner Essentials: Managing and Retaining Clients training is 2 days long, 5 hours per day. 

Can providers sign up for this course?
Yes, any partner or provider who has been using HubSpot for at least three months may sign up for this workshop. 

How much does the course cost?
This course is $750 per person. 

Who is this course best for?
Solutions partners and providers who are responsible for client success and retention throughout their lifecycle. They have been using HubSpot as a partner or provider for at least three months. 

Are there any prerequisites to take this course?
No, but you must have been using HubSpot for at least three months. 

Is the training in-person?
No, the training is delivered virtually. 

When does the course start?
There are many different available dates that you can sign up for or join the waitlist. These accommodate different time zones, and the first one will be on October 26th & 27th. 

Sales Breakout

Sandler Sales Training for Partners and Providers

Sandler Training is the worldwide leader in sales training. In this session, Sandler coaches delivered a personalized training just for HubSpot partners and providers. And that was just a taste.

Sandler and HubSpot have teamed up to offer special pricing for the full 8-week Sandler Sales Training Program just for you. Sandler expert trainers will teach you how to identify the right deals, get ahead of objections, and clarify and address what the prospect really wants to know.

Learn more about the Sandler training here and sign up for the training here.

Click here to watch the recording.

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How long is the Sandler workshop?
The full Sandler training is 8 weeks long, with one 90-minute session per week.

Can providers sign up for the Sandler workshop?
Yes.

Where can I find more information about the Sandler workshop?
This PDF highlights the program topics, outcomes you can expect and more. 

How much does the Sandler training cost?
Typically, the training costs $1,800. With the HubSpot special partner pricing, partners and providers get the discounted price of $1,300. 

Who is this course best for?
There will be two objective-based courses provided by Sandler. One series of classes is designed for those who want to focus primarily on improving their sales skills. The other series has classes on selling skills, along with broader skills development sessions on hiring, coaching, etc.

Community Opportunities 

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And we have even more ways for you to get involved.

We re-opened applications for some exciting networking programs like the Partner User Groups (PUGs), and there are many more opportunities for partners and providers to get involved including events, networking, trainings, and more.