HubSpot Inbound ‘23 - Automating the Sales Process with AI

Inbound 23 is now a fond memory that many of us will remember for the exciting announcements and high-caliber guest speakers. HubSpot CEO Yamani Rangan acknowledged how AI and data intelligence are changing the sales and marketing environment. Then, during the show, HubSpot demonstrated the new tools available to sales development teams to increase productivity and build those vital connections needed to grow your business.

Sales Hub Refresh

One of the most significant changes at Inbound ‘23 is the relaunch of the HubSpot Sales Hub. No longer a stodgy old sales CRM, HubSpot Sales is now a flexible and powerful sales enablement tool to challenge existing third-party tools. The transition will be seamless if you already use HubSpot as your CRM. The automated sequences, sales pipelines, and detailed dashboards will all look familiar. 

There’s now a new prospecting center designed for the sales development rep. All the information you need to make a sale, including contact information, tasks, deals, and scheduling, is now available on one screen. You also can tag contacts as leads and create pipelines for leads. This will help you clean up your sales opportunity pipelines and give leads their own set of reports and dashboards. 

Sales development reps can take advantage of a new and improved handoff process. SDRs can schedule calls and transfer leads to inside sales or account executives from within Sales Hub. Scheduling calendars are now integrated with the Sales Hub saving time from jumping in and out of other calendar apps.

A less popular but perhaps more important feature is the improved integration with Salesforce. HubSpot Sales Hub can now be integrated as an object within the Salesforce ecosystem. That means Salesforce users can use HubSpot Sales as a fully integrated sales enablement app in the same way many users use HubSpot Marketing with the Salesforce CRM. 

Now is a great time to schedule a demo, see HubSpot Sales in action, or read more about Sales Hub here. 

AI Toolkit

HubSpot is excited about AI and how this new technology makes it easier for B2B sales and marketing to increase connections with prospects. HubSpot’s new Smart CRM is integrating these new AI features throughout the application. 

New AI features for salespeople include: 

AI Subject Line Generator -  Generate email content and subject lines from within the email editor

AI Conversation Summary - Generates summaries of conversation threads

AI Chatbot - Provide an AI-powered conversation experience for your website visitors

AI Inbox Content Assistant - Receive help with a wide range of tasks to improve writing and content generation

AI-Generated Reports - Use AI tools to automatically generate reports based on the questions you ask, such as Who’s your best salesperson?

To read a more detailed article about the new AI features, go to Exploring The Future Of AI-Driven Enhancements In HubSpot.

SMS Features

SMS is one of the features HubSpot customers and partners have been requesting for years. Partners created several excellent SMS tools, but they were never fully integrated into HubSpot. Now, SMS messaging is included with HubSpot Pro Sales and allows you to send private SMS messages to your customers. 

Use SMS messaging to improve open rates, contact rates, and customer conversation engagements. 

Learn more by reading the Inbound AV article HubSpot SMS Is The New Email Marketing.

Commerce Hub

HubSpot bundled all of its Commerce and payment features into one centralized location called Commerce Hub. Now, you can create quotes, invoices, and payments and integrate with accounting applications all from one location. 

CRM Customization

HubSpot released several new tools to build new CRM record pages, reports, property lists, and stage trackers. A new UI Customization feature allows you to create a customized user interface (UI) to meet your organization’s unique needs. You can also define conditional properties to create custom properties in your CRM record pages.

Service Hub 

Service Hub didn’t receive a full facelift like Sales Hub, but several of the AI features, including Conversation Intelligence and Content Assistant in Inbox, will be available within Service Hub. Some of the new handoff features, including A/B testing in Sequences, Sequence Step Analytics, and Booking Meetings on Behalf of Others, will be available in both Sales and Service Hubs.

The Bottom Line

HubSpot continues to run laps around its sales/marketing automation competitors by providing more features, automation, AI, and reporting features. Their product development process involves customers and partners through their private and public beta programs, and everyone benefits from the results. Even if growing small businesses are already using Salesforce and other third-party applications, they should seriously consider reviewing HubSpot’s new features, which will improve productivity, help your business grow, and make your employees happier with all of these user-friendly features.