Prospecting

Staff members have a streamlined view of their daily priorities, allowing them to stay on track without distractions. This includes clear reminders about tasks, follow-ups, and any leads needing attention.

Team members can see which prospective students or leads they must follow up with. They get a list of people to contact, making it easy to prioritize communication and increase engagement with prospective students.

The built-in calendar provides a quick look at upcoming events, meetings, or reminders directly within HubSpot, making it easier to plan the day without switching between multiple tools.

HubSpot suggests activities to help manage outreach efforts efficiently. For instance, it might suggest following up on an email from a prospective student or researching new leads before engaging them further. It can also recommend enrolling students in automatic email flows for consistent engagement.

• Accessing the Tool

  • Go to HubSpot's main navigation bar, click Workspaces, then select Prospecting. This will bring you to the Summary tab, where you can see an overview of tasks, calendar events, and prospective student leads.

  • The modules on this dashboard are movable, so feel free to rearrange them for a setup that best suits your workflow.

• Managing Leads

  • Click on the Leads tab next to Summary. In HubSpot, “leads” are individuals interested in your colleges programs.

  • Here, you’ll find tools to engage each lead individually. Click on a lead’s name to send them emails, track their progress in their enrollment journey, and review recent communications. This space keeps everything organized and centralized for efficient follow-ups.

• Using Your Calendar

  • Go to Workspaces > Prospecting in the navigation bar, then click the Schedule tab. Here, you’ll see a read-only view of your connected calendar, which includes all scheduled events and tasks.

  • This view helps you plan your daily workload and immediately see any schedule conflicts, making it easier to stay organized.

• Tracking Engagement in Real-Time

  • The Feed tab, located next to Schedule, offers a detailed history of activity notifications. This includes when leads interact with your emails or other outreach efforts, allowing you to gauge their interest and prioritize follow-ups.

  • If you see a prospect engaging heavily, such as opening emails multiple times quickly, it could signal a good opportunity for immediate follow-up to maintain their interest.

• Focused Outreach for Success

  • HubSpot’s prospecting tool helps college staff maintain relevant, timely conversations with prospective students. By keeping all communications, tasks, and schedules in one place, staff can minimize distractions and stay focused on effectively engaging top prospects.

Setting Up Leads in HubSpot

• Contacts vs. Leads:

  • Contacts include everyone in your system (students, prospective students, alumni, etc.).

  • Leads are a subset of contacts likely to engage or convert—those you plan to reach out to soon. Leads represent opportunities, not people directly. They’re intended to help staff stay organized by prioritizing outreach.

Defining and Tracking Leads Using Lifecycle Stages

• Lifecycle Stages help categorize contacts based on their engagement level. Suggested stages might include:

  • New: Unqualified contacts

  • Qualified Lead: Ready for outreach

  • Opportunity: Linked with potential enrollment

  • Customer: Enrolled students or alumni

  • Evangelist: Supportive alumni or ambassadors

  • Other: Anyone who doesn’t fit other stages

• Align on Lead Criteria:
  Ensure your team agrees on what makes a good lead (e.g., filling out an interest form, attending an event, etc.).

3. Creating Leads in HubSpot

• Manual Creation:
  In the CRM > Contacts, select individuals and mark them as leads. Assign them a Lead Pipeline Stage based on where they are in your outreach.

• Automatic Creation:

  • Use the Lifecycle Stage Property to auto-populate leads. In the Leads tab, use Actions > Pull in leads to filter by stage and timeframe.

  • Workflow Automation: In Automation > Workflows, create workflows to automatically add leads based on specific actions or criteria (e.g., email engagement, website visits).

• Workflow Setup:
  Choose the type of workflow (Contact, Company, or Lead-based), set criteria, and select actions to create leads automatically.

4. Using the Prospecting Workspace

• Access the Prospecting Tool in Workspaces > Prospecting. You’ll see all your leads under the Leads tab.

• The Schedule tab lets you view your calendar to plan follow-ups effectively.

• The Feed tab shows a real-time list of engagement activities, so you can follow up at the best times.

5. Benefits

• The prospecting tool helps college outreach teams prioritize engagement with prospective students, streamlining communication and increasing efficiency.