Standing out as a new agency
When Richard Wood launched Six & Flow in 2015, he and his small but growing team knew they needed to stand out from the competition. There were a lot of other lead generation agencies in Manchester, where they were based, and they needed to differentiate themselves in the market.
“We wanted something to make us stand out in the crowd,” Richard explains. “In Manchester, in particular, there are a lot of agencies that do what we were planning on doing. We needed something that would make us different and that would help us move past the transactional client-agency relationship that lead generation can often be.”
As an agency, they wanted to sell more services, build longer-lasting relationships, and generate more revenue from existing clients. “We were looking for something that would add a lot of value to our customers,” Richard adds.
Overhead costs and disparate tools
At previous agencies, Richard had seen the cost and inconvenience of using disparate tools that don’t always communicate well with each other. On top of that, Six & Flow was trying to limit overhead. Adding too many different tools would make scaling more complicated and more expensive. A streamlined tech stack would make it easier to grow quickly.
“If you’re using disparate tools, there’s a lot of overhead,” Richard says. “And as your team grows, there’s also a lot of additional training for each tool that you have to manage and get the team to execute on…in those early days, we were looking for ways to keep our startup costs down as well.”
HubSpot’s Manchester partner
When Richard was first invited to HubSpot’s 2015 INBOUND conference, he was intrigued. By the end of his week there, he was convinced. The HubSpot Solutions Partner Program was the perfect opportunity to offer more to Six & Flow’s clients and differentiate their agency. If they acted quickly, they could become recognised as HubSpot’s leading partner in Manchester, since no other prominent agencies in the area had joined the partner program yet.
During the implementation and onboarding phase, Six & Flow worked through HubSpot’s certifications to qualify as a new HubSpot partner. Their Channel Account Manager (CAM) and Channel Consultant (CC) helped them shape their offering and create their pricing structure and service packaging.
“They helped us build the foundations of our agency,” Richard says. “The Sales Small Group Coaching in particular was instrumental in our early success. We wouldn’t be where we are today without that initial training support.”
Creating better value
Joining the HubSpot partner program has allowed Six & Flow to add the strategic value they wanted for their clients. Now, they can go above and beyond helping clients optimise their paid media spend to generate leads. They use HubSpot to build full-funnel nurturing campaigns until leads are converted, then create additional campaigns to cross-sell and upsell to those customers once they’ve signed. “With HubSpot, we can help our clients take a single lead or opportunity and turn it into three or four opportunities that they can sell into,” Richard says.
And being seen as a “package deal” with HubSpot has advantages for Six & Flow, too - “Our clients are buying HubSpot through us, so they see us as a package deal. Obviously, they could go to another agency, but we are supporting them with a new toolset, and that inherently makes that relationship stronger.”
Becoming Elite
Six & Flow progressed quickly through the HubSpot partner tiers, and soon became the second ever HubSpot partner to reach Elite level in the UK.
As they’ve progressed, they’ve seen compounding benefits from the partner program:
- As they’ve moved up, the direct sales team has taken more notice of Six & Flow. They’ve been invited to participate in larger and more lucrative deals as a result.
- They rank higher in the partner directory, which has SEO benefits and has led to an increase in referred leads.
- They’ve had more contact with the HubSpot leadership team, which gives them better insights into changes in the Partner Program and the company at large.
- They’ve had more insight into HubSpot products and roadmaps, which helps them better plan how to support their clients in the future.
- They get more support from HubSpot, including a strategic channel account manager and a senior channel consultant dedicated to Elite partners.
HubSpot support
At every step of Six & Flow’s journey, the HubSpot partner team has offered valuable support. “They’ve become like an extension of our team,” Richard says, pointing to the skateboards behind him on the wall. “Every member of Six & Flow has their own skateboard, and both of our main points of contact at HubSpot have their skateboard up there too. Their level of support is incredible. They help us grow and deal with the challenges of growing, which has been very useful as we’ve scaled.” YoY revenue grew by 70% in 2022, and another 60% from 2022 to 2023.
The entire Six & Flow sales team has gone through Dan Tyre’s Lions Bootcamp training program. When they hire a new salesperson, their Channel Account Manager participates in the hiring process by conducting a role-playing interview with them. “Our CAM and CC are intrinsic to our business,” Richard adds.
His advice for any partners starting out? Tap into that support. “If you are going to become a HubSpot partner, work closely with your HubSpot team. They are experienced, and they will help guide you.”
The leading edge of an ecosystem
Today, Six & Flow are leaders in B2B strategic marketing & RevOps. They’ve expanded their team and added members across the globe, and they have exciting plans to acquire more agencies and grow into new regions, supported by HubSpot. “From a partnership perspective, I’m most excited about being able to grow alongside HubSpot in the coming years,” Richard says.
Life without HubSpot would look very different today for Six & Flow, he adds. “I don’t think we would be at the leading edge of an ecosystem, like we are today. I think we would be a small boutique agency based in Manchester, delivering paid media and inbound, and we would be less technical as a business. I think that a lot of the global expansion we’ve seen has been driven by the opportunities we’ve gotten from the HubSpot partnership program.”
90% revenue from HubSpot clients
As an Elite HubSpot partner, Six & Flow makes 90% of agency revenue working with HubSpot clients on things like implementation, integration, support, and running marketing campaigns. They’ve been able to differentiate themselves in the market and move away from transactional relationships with clients, thanks to their HubSpot-based services. “A lot of the service lines we offer are made possible because we are using HubSpot. It’s created a separate revenue stream by bringing commissions into the business, which allows us the freedom to explore new services and toolsets.”
Their customers have great things to say about their partnership with Six & Flow:
“We implemented HubSpot across nine brands into one HubSpot instance with Six and Flow. The team works very digitally and gets the job done to the schedule provided, using great expertise. They are very flexible and understanding of challenges and provide the resources and skills needed to achieve the outputs required. A top class agency.” - Craig Keenan, Project Lead, The Citation Group.
“I am just wrapping up an almost 8-month long project with Six & Flow. We have had an amazing experience, and have truly been blown away with S&F's level of commitment! They have gotten to know our business inside and out, and were able to provide such a custom proposal for us based on our current and expected needs. Not only did they help us optimize HubSpot and use all of its features to the highest potential, but they also empowered our team to feel comfortable and confident to continue using HubSpot even now that our project with S&F is complete. We can't thank the Six & Flow team enough for all the support they've given us along the way! I highly recommend S&F for all your HubSpot needs!” - Tiffany Tippin, COO, Mommy Labor Nurse.
Almost as importantly, being part of the HubSpot ecosystem gives Six & Flow the chance to build relationships with HubSpot’s other tech partners, which in turn leads to even more growth.
“Being part of the HubSpot ecosystem allows us to build relationships with complementary tech partners as well, and we can offer their products to our clients,” Richard says. “Because of our positioning as an Elite HubSpot partner, we’ve been able to build deeper relationships with those companies too.”
.png){kind=logo}
