HubSpot’s Prospecting Feature: Everything You Need to Know

Sales prospecting tools are important time savers. There are many in the market but you need to look for one that also offers effective contact information management and reporting, like HubSpot’s new ‘Prospecting’ feature. It helps boost your business value significantly by saving your time and resources when building B2B relationships and generating income.

Many top sales prospecting tools are readily available in the market. However, when you use HubSpot, you can access an outstanding tool without even realizing it.

So what makes HubSpot’s Prospects Tool extra-special for your business? Let’s find out.

HubSpot’s Prospecting Feature: A Detailed Overview 

As you already may know, HubSpot is a leading customer relationship management and marketing software platform for businesses. Its new feature, HubSpot Prospecting, identifies a website visitor's company using the visitor's Internet Service Provider (ISP). 

Originally, the concept behind HubSpot Prospecting was straightforward. If someone from a company visited a website on their work computer while at their office, HubSpot Prospects would collect the ISP information, which could then inform lead conversion strategies.

But as remote work became more common, using ISP data became more complex. Instead of associating with a specific company, visitors might appear in HubSpot Prospects as their home ISP. For instance, your results might indicate a visit from AT&T – which might seem like a significant sales lead – but it could just be a remote employee's data.

The rise of work-from-home (WFH) and these newer models complicates this process of linking ISP to a prospect, so it's crucial to remember this distinction, as it can affect the accuracy of results. 

Further, the other important point to keep in mind is that often the ISP information isn't the same as actual contact information. The ISP does provide a layer of anonymity, giving a partial insight about a prospect from their website visit, long before they convert into a HubSpot contact.

Despite these challenges, the tool remains valuable for reporting on the companies visiting your site, especially for those crafting account-based marketing campaigns.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Using HubSpot’s Prospects

HubSpot Prospects offers significant potential, yet many users may not fully leverage this wonderful tool. Its availability depends on the type of HubSpot license you possess. The first step in using HubSpot’s Prospects feature is identifying your license type. 

There are two types of licenses for HubSpot.

1. Account Based Marketing (ABM) License: If you have this, you can access HubSpot Prospects directly from your HubSpot portal.
2. Standard License: Even without the ABM feature, you can still access the Prospects tool.

Follow these steps if you are an ABM License Holder:

a. Log into your HubSpot portal.

b. Click on the Contacts drop-down menu.

c. Navigate to Target Accounts.

d. Select Prospects from the left navigation pane.

If you are a user without an ABM license, follow these steps: 

a. Log into your HubSpot portal.

b. In the main HubSpot search bar at the top, type "Prospects."

c. Look under the "HubSpot Apps" section in the search results.

d. Click on the Prospects result to access the tool.

Align Sales and Marketing with HubSpot Prospects

HubSpot Prospects saves significant time with features such as filters, favorites, one-click company and contact creation, and report generation. This automation lets data gatherers redirect their time and allows sales and marketing teams to work together more effectively on data-driven contact targeting, ABM, and more.

HubSpot Prospects also equips sales and marketing teams in three key areas:

1. Maximizing ABM/ABM Hybrid Strategies: Sales and marketing teams can actively use insights from HubSpot Prospects to tailor their ABM strategies. They might design target-specific proposals or improve email templates to engage and persuade decision-makers.
2. Reconnecting with Previous Contacts: In business, some deals work out while others don't. If someone from a company you previously lost touch with visits your website, Prospects will notify you. This gives sales teams a chance to reconnect and possibly chase new business opportunities.
3. Retargeting Companies: HubSpot Prospects identifies multiple visitors from the same company. This feature allows sales and marketing teams not only to reconnect with old contacts but also to broaden their reach within the company. They can use paid ad audiences to ensure the right people see the right information, enhancing brand awareness and lead nurturing.

HubSpot Prospects could be the potent sales prospecting tool you never realized you needed. With its advanced lead tracking, nurturing, and targeting capabilities, it lays a strong foundation for sales empowerment and an effective inbound strategy.

How to Navigate HubSpot’s Prospects

If you have a Sales Hub seat, the prospecting workspace lets you effectively manage your daily tasks in HubSpot all in one location. Here's a quick guide on how to use the prospecting workspace to check your goals and progress, carry out your tasks, and go over your schedule and sales feed.

To access the prospecting workspace, go to Sales > Prospecting in your HubSpot account.

Checking Your Prospecting Activity

The Summary tab gives you a complete snapshot of all your prospecting activities, including both upcoming and overdue tasks as well as your meeting schedules and sequence tasks.

Within the Summary tab, you can:

Monitor Your Task Progress: See tasks sorted by type. Use the "Due today" dropdown to find tasks set for today or those overdue.

Task Overview: View tasks due today or those overdue, categorized by type. Click on a task type to see a detailed breakdown of each task and its associated record. If you want to see all tasks at once, click on "Start all [X] tasks due today." You can mark a task as complete by clicking the checkmark next to it. Use the task type dropdown in the top left to switch between task types or view all at once.

Schedule: Today's calendar is right in front of you. Click on an event to see comprehensive details, including virtual meeting links. For a complete view of your daily activities, click on the Schedule tab at the page's top.

Sequences: Here, you'll find task reminders from your active sequences. 

Click on a step name to see a detailed breakdown of each task, categorized by sequence step, along with its associated contact. 

To mark a task as done, simply click the checkmark beside it. In the top left, use the sequence title dropdown to switch sequences, and click the sequence step dropdown to change sequence steps. To view all tasks simultaneously, choose "All task steps."

Check Your Activity Feed: The Feed tab displays all your sales activity notifications from the past year. The system groups activities by contact and shows them based on the user account you're currently logged into.

To sort your activities by Activity type or Sequence enrollment, select the appropriate options from the dropdown menus at the table's top.

Exploring the Schedule Tab

The Schedule tab shows all your connected calendar events and tasks. Use this tab to strategize your workload. For instance, if you plan to be away for a week but have set tasks or meetings during that period, the Calendar tab will display these overlaps.

For a rundown of contacts you're meeting today, click on "Contacts with meetings today."

To see a contact's details, click their name.

If you want a different view, click the "Day" dropdown menu in the top right and choose Day, Week, or Month.

For a list of tasks in the chosen timeframe, click "[X] tasks due."

For comprehensive details of an event, including virtual meeting links, click on the specific event.

If you want to mark a meeting's result, click "Update the Outcome" next to the meeting.

Conclusion

HubSpot's Prospects feature is a powerful tool that allows you to organize and track leads through the sales funnel. By creating customized lists of prospects, scoring them based on engagement metrics, and automating follow-ups, you can focus your sales efforts on high-quality leads ready to convert. Implementing the Prospects feature can streamline your sales process and help you generate more revenue. 

Wish to Make the Most of HubSpot Prospecting? Let’s Talk!

Our HubSpot-certified experts would love to pitch in. Just write to us at info@growthnatives.com and we’ll get back to you.