About Client
The client is a Canadian cybersecurity firm specialising in compliance-as-a-service, virtual CISO (vCISO) engagements, and GRC platform management. Built by security architects who secured Canada’s national payment infrastructure — processing $400B+ nightly — Client serves enterprise clients including Payments Canada, Pfizer, CGI, and CMHC.
Their services span multiple compliance frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, CMMC, CPCSC, and HIPAA. Their website, built on HubSpot CMS, acts as a lead generation engine with multiple entry points including compliance scorecards, strategy call bookings, and educational content.
The Challenge
Client’s sales process is relationship-driven and consultative. Prospects typically engage through multiple touchpoints — scorecard tools, strategy calls, and long-form content — before converting. As the business scaled across service lines and compliance frameworks, the team needed a CRM that could keep pace.
Before the implementation, the core problems were:
- Contacts were scattered across email threads, spreadsheets, and disconnected form submissions
- Deal stages were informal and did not reflect the actual sales process
- No reliable way to know where a prospect was in the buying journey
- Attribution across five scorecard entry points was impossible to track
- Follow-up was manual and inconsistent, creating gaps in a long sales cycle
- Leadership had no live pipeline visibility — reporting required manual effort every week
What Was Implemented
1. CRM Architecture & Pipeline Design
Built a clean deal pipeline mapped to Client’s actual sales process — from initial scorecard completion or strategy call booking through proposal, legal review, and closed-won. Each stage was defined with clear exit criteria so the pipeline reflected reality, not intent. Removed ambiguity from the sales process entirely.
2. Contact & Company Object Setup
Structured contact and company records around Client’s buyer profile: CTO, CISO, and founder personas at growth-stage B2B companies. Custom properties captured compliance framework interest (SOC 2, ISO 27001, CMMC etc.), current GRC platform in use, company size, and deal source — enabling precise segmentation and targeted follow-up.
3. Lead Source Attribution
Mapped all inbound entry points to HubSpot campaigns with proper UTM capture — including the SOC 2 Scorecard, ISO 27001 Scorecard, CPCSC Scorecard, strategy call bookings, and blog CTAs. For the first time, marketing influence reporting became reliable and leadership could see which entry points were driving pipeline.
4. Workflow Automation
Built automated follow-up sequences triggered by scorecard completion and strategy call bookings. Workflows routed leads based on compliance framework interest and company size, ensuring the right message reached the right prospect. Lifecycle stage transitions were automated to keep the CRM accurate without manual data entry.
5. Reporting & Dashboards
Created a leadership dashboard covering pipeline value by stage, lead source breakdown, deal velocity, and weekly activity metrics. Replaced manual status update emails with a single live view that leadership could check at any point without asking the sales team.
Results
| Area | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Pipeline visibility | Went from informal to fully structured within the first two weeks of implementation |
| Lead follow-up time | Reduced from 24–48 hours to under 2 hours via automated sequences |
| Attribution tracking | All five scorecard entry points became trackable for the first time |
| Sales onboarding | New rep ramp time reduced with documented pipeline stages and CRM processes |
| Leadership reporting | Replaced manual weekly reports with a live HubSpot dashboard |
| Data hygiene | Contacts consolidated from email threads and spreadsheets into one clean system |
Technologies Used
HubSpot CRM • HubSpot Marketing Hub • HubSpot Sales Hub • HubSpot Operations Hub • Custom Workflow Automation • UTM Tracking & Campaign Attribution • Custom Deal Pipelines • Lifecycle Stage Automation • Reporting Dashboards
Implemented by Ashish Patel | Certified Full-Stack HubSpot Developer | Available for CRM, CMS & RevOps engagements