Darrell was mad!

“How could HubSpot say we were not a good fit for their partner program?” Darrell fumed.

Stormie Andrews and Darrell Evans started Yokel Local in Las Vegas as a local search services firm to help companies implement a digital strategy. By 2013 Yokel Local had become experts at driving web traffic for their clients, but they wanted to expand their client relationships into other services and become more of a full-service marketing firm. Both Stormie and Darrell had sales experience and wanted to build an agency that directly impacted the top line for their clients by helping them generate net new customers.

“We knew there was more to the story for our clients. They needed full marketing and sales funnel support, so we started looking for the best tools and a partner program that could help us. That is when we came to HubSpot,”¹ says Stormie.

David Weinhaus, the HubSpot partner sales rep assigned to Yokel Local, describes their first few calls this way: “They were offering their clients a local SEO type service in the Las Vegas area, so my initial thought was that these guys were not a good fit for our business. I wasn't completely sure, so I took the first call with them to ask some additional questions. Once we started talking, the differences became a bit clearer between the way they thought about the problems they solved for their clients and how HubSpot approached the problem.”²

So, David told them, “We can't help you right now. HubSpot is not a great fit for your business.”

A prospect proactively engaged with a software company with a strong intention to explore a purchase and become a certified partner and the software company said no. HubSpot didn't exactly say no, but they did say there didn't appear to be good alignment based on the information that Yokel Local provided at this time. HubSpot said, “Not now.” HubSpot was following their good fit persona research. The best partner persona at the time didn't include local SEO firms but focused on agencies that covered a large regional or national footprint.

David felt that the best way that he could help Yokel Local was to use his background and experience to dig in deeper into their goals, plans, challenges, and timeline and make an honest recommendation to delay a purchase until there was more of a fit with the types of agencies that generated the best results.

David's thinking embodies the inbound sales philosophy. “I believe inbound sales is about treating prospects like I would treat my best friend. I tell them the truth even if it is not what they want to hear. My goal is to give prospects the best advice I can give them even if it means that I lose a sale, like in the case of Yokel Local.”³

David didn't do this solely from an altruistic perspective. He explains:

Being selective in who we bring on as a partner makes a lot of sense for everyone involved. Based on our extensive partner experience and data, we know that a local SEO firm would be frustrated and disappointed with HubSpot if we selfishly brought them on at that point, just to close a deal. We always try to think about the long-term success of our partner relationships. If our mutual goals are incompatible, then it is always better to walk away and leave the relationship in a good place rather than take them on and create a negative experience for them and HubSpot.⁴

Many salespeople and business owners have a tough time connecting the dots between helping first and hitting their quota or sales goals. “Helping sounds nice, but if they don't buy, it won't pay the bills—that is the fear-based excuse for selling at all costs,”⁵ according to David.

So, what did Yokel Local do?

Darrell describes it this way:

We decided we would build our own solution—who needs those HubSpot folks anyway! We started building our inbound marketing solution by cobbling together all the tools HubSpot offered: site hosting, e-mail, SEO, blogging, and keyword tracking. We were so proud! We got these tools working for about half the cost of a HubSpot subscription, but it soon became a complete disaster. None of the technology was integrated, the separate products didn't connect to each other, and if a client left us, it was difficult to give them back their data and marketing copy.⁶

At about that time, a new HubSpot account manager assigned to Yokel Local reached back out to Stormie and mentioned that he saw them moving into a more regional focus and expanding their concept of marketing services. And thus begins Yokel Local's official partnership with HubSpot—not when they were originally ready to buy, but when the prospect aligned with the right buyer persona.

But that is not the end of the story.

In 2015, at the annual Inbound Conference in Boston, a HubSpot employee approached David and said someone was looking for him.

It turned out that Darrell and Stormie wanted to track David down. They were now HubSpot partners and enjoying great success.

David says, “When I finally met them, they had these huge grins on their faces.”⁷

The first thing Darrell said was, “You said we weren't going to be HubSpot partners two and a half years ago and now here we are. But, we have to admit, you were right. We weren't ready then and would have wasted a lot of time and money if we had moved ahead with HubSpot at that time. We had to build our agency and grow into larger projects with more national reach before we became a good fit and saw the benefits of working with HubSpot.”⁸

Stormie adds, “We were very frustrated at the time, but David was 100% percent correct. When David told us no, we were very surprised. But from where we sit today the moral of the story is be honest and transparent. Stick to your ideal persona and the result will be better for everyone. You build lots of trust and credibility, and HubSpot ended up getting a better partner that will be more successful because both our goals are aligned. HubSpot helped us grow our reach and in turn, helped our clients reach their goals.”⁹

What would have happened if David had sold Yokel Local when they first connected? David says: “There was a risk that they would have had a terrible experience if I either oversold them or if they had the wrong expectations. They would have recognized that they were in a tough situation and they would have had a bad taste in their mouth.”¹⁰

This story touches on many of the critical features of an inbound organization:

• Work with the right buyers, not every potential buyer.
• Build trust by helping first and then ask them to buy.
• Put people first, over the short-term bias of closing the sale.
• Match behavior to beliefs.
• Good salespeople must adopt the inbound mindset.
• Build win-win relationships with partners.

David Weinhaus is an inbound salesperson.