Managing the HubSpot Salesforce Integration In-House (Instead of an Agency)

One of the toughest choices we’ve seen companies face is deciding whether they should run their marketing technology in-house or hire it out. And the truth is there are many arguments on both sides.

For many companies, working with an agency allows them to keep their team laser-focused on revenue-generating tasks and connecting with prospects. For others, it helps keep the team small by only hiring workers for essential jobs.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen time and time again companies that fall prey to dodgy agencies who overcomplicate things to create dependency. So we decided to do things differently.

At Coastal Consulting, we pride ourselves on giving you the skills and resources (and the technical setup) you need to run your HubSpot Salesforce integration long after we’ve done our job. This was an intentional decision as we believe that you shouldn’t need to rely on any third party to run something as important as your customer relationships.

Here’s why we believe that managing your marketing technology in-house is the best approach.

3 reasons why we recommend managing your HubSpot Salesforce integration internally

1. Lower costs

We don’t need to tell you that investing in HubSpot Salesforce implementation can quickly run your marketing budget. If you choose to work with an agency, you can add a long-term engagement to your software subscriptions, meaning extra $$$.

Many times, agencies charge a retainer fee. So you'll probably pay the same whether you’re calling them up every week or don’t hear a beep in months. Others may have special fees for unexpected issues or charge an hourly rate for things like “exclusive access to HubSpot support,” which everyone has as HubSpot is renowned for its customer support.

 Of course, this isn’t cost-effective in the long run.

Instead, having your team manage your HubSpot Salesforce integration enables them to quickly solve issues that could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars if you’re going through an external provider. So you’ll save on the service itself but also on the quick turnaround because any downtime could mean missed sales.

2. Simpler processes

Ask an engineer how to do something and they’ll come up with a super high-tech, detailed plan to accomplish it.

Ask the person who’ll be using the solution every day, and chances are they’ll make a streamlined version of it — that still gets the job done.

Marketing technology — and marketing in general — is one of those things that can be as complicated as you want it to be. Hiring an agency will usually mean that they’ll design highly technical processes and solutions to achieve an objective. There’s nothing wrong with that, but sometimes, simple is best. Plus, as we said earlier, complicated setups create further dependency, meaning that you’ll need to turn to them any time something goes wrong or you need to roll out a change.

On the flip side, running your martech internally allows your team to come up with leaner workflows that accomplish the same objectives without the external dependency, which leads to…

3. More autonomy

When you self-manage your martech, anyone in the team can spot an improvement opportunity and bring it up with a quick Slack message. This isn’t the case when you work with an agency, as there’s probably a hierarchy and stringent processes to get things done. 

An analyst may notice something wrong and bring it up to their supervisor, who runs to the manager, who consults with the director, and eventually, someone reaches out to the account exec in the agency. Then the change may or may not happen, depending on factors like budgets and approvals.

Instead, rolling out changes is simpler when all you need to do is align with your team and strategize together about the best path forward. After all, your team is the one using the software every day. They understand your internal needs and how your customers interact with you, which is the foundation for effective martech. So who’d be better equipped to figure out how things would run more efficiently? 

Consideration: Should you simplify your martech stack if you’re going in-house?

Many times, companies’ biggest objection to managing their marketing technology in-house is that their team has enough on their plate as it is. So adding martech to the mix can be overwhelming. And they fear that things will start slipping through the cracks.

Plus, in many cases, going in-house for your martech will require a training investment. While most software platforms have free training, like HubSpot Academy and Salesforce Trailhead, that’s a lot of time for your team to devote to education. 

So we recommend two fixes for this. First, simplify your marketing technology as much as possible. Most companies can do just fine with one or two comprehensive tools — no need to use a gazillion. For instance, HubSpot’s features include everything from chatbots and email marketing to customer service tickets, so you could easily replace your lead gen tools, chat integrations, ESP, and content management systems with HubSpot. This way, your team will only need to be proficient in one tool, and processes will be simpler for everyone involved.

The second fix we recommend is having a third party come in to implement specific aspects of your marketing technology, like your initial setup or troubleshooting. This approach combines expert hands for the things that truly need it while keeping your day-to-day operations slim. That’s what we do at Coastal — we come in to design the workflows, customize your integration, and create educational resources so you’re able to run everything on your own after the initial setup.