No HubSpot implementation is completely straightforward, but of course, the needs of some – usually very large – businesses are particularly advanced.

This means projects for multi function, multi location, enterprise-level businesses across APAC – especially ones where risk-mitigation, internal management and successful embedding of the platform and processes are key to long-term success. So of course we wanted to throw our hat, and our IP, in the ring.

That's why HubSpot created the Advanced Implementation Certification (AIC). The goal was to find the best of the best among the HubSpot Partner network. Those who could tackle the really big, really complex challenges.

Around 150 of the World's top HubSpot Partner Agencies applied, but in the end only 13 cut the mustard and reached the standard required to be certified.

Hype & Dexter are pleased to announce that  we are one of those agencies.

Check out this video (that Ryan sneakily captured in Boston) of Romi being interviewed by HubSpot shortly after we received the news.

"Congrats Hype & Dexter! This is a great accomplishment for your team, and a big win for HubSpot clients across APAC."

- Adi Shah, Partner Professor at HubSpot

Advanced Implementations can only be referred to an AIC Partner Agency by HubSpot themselves. But, to chat to us about your implementation, hit the link below:

Read on to find out more about the process and what was involved...

Getting Certified

Getting the Certification was a real challenge and HubSpot put is through the wringer. It took around 10 weeks from start to finish.

Step 1 was to nominate the team who would be part of the application process. There was a set number of executives and team numbers who had to be part of the process, but you couldn't even start the AIC if you hadn't already passed the Sales Hub Enterprise Implementation course.

For Step 2 we had to take the AIC course and exam, which meant we qualified for the practicum part of the process. 

It's worth noting that of all the partners who initially applied, only around 20 made it this far! 😅

Step 3 presented us with a case study, and an imaginary client 'Med-Rom'. This medical equipment supplier had hundreds of sales reps across half a dozen countries, operating out of countless different systems. And we were tasked with creating a Scope of Work to consolidate all this into a simple tech stack with HubSpot at the core to run the CRM, marketing Automation, and Customer Service functions.

Once we submitted our proposed solution, the final step was to put it all together for the final presentation. For this, the HubSpot Academy team would assuming the roles of Med-Rom executives, and we had to boil down our solution for their complex situation into a 45-minute presentation.

No mean feat in itself, but especially hard when we realised the HubSpot team were not going to make it easy! In fact they surprised us with some really tough questions that we had to respond to on the fly.

At the end, they gave us some great feedback on the presentation, explained why they had asked certain questions, how we could have handled them differently, and they even complimented us on the effort we'd put into designing the deck. 

We felt... frazzled. Not sure if we'd nailed it, but confident we'd passed muster. And as it turned out, with a score of 95%, we'd done pretty well overall.

A snapshot of the solution

We had to show how our solution would get Med-Rom from this:

To this:

Fortunately we had our ace (or fox) in the hole, and were able to demonstrate how our proprietary tech Integration Fox could create a seamless sync between platforms as we migrated the complicated tech stack, over to HubSpot. 

Part of our strategy for the presentation was to demonstrate how this implementation was going to benefit end-users (aligned to the roles that HubSpot would be playing in the room):

Right through to the detail of how we would phase and stagger the work across separate streams:

Of course there was much more to it, including case studies right through to detailed pricing, inclusions and exclusions. But ultimately we were able to get across the benefits of the solution in a way that made the proposition really appealing to the Med-Rom 'Executives':

We put as much effort and thinking into the solution as we would have for a real potential client.

But it was worth it!