Foreword xiii
by Brian Halligan, CEO and Chairman, HubSpot

Preface xxi

Our Stories xxvii

Acknowledgments xxxv

Introduction xxxvii

Chapter 1 Doing Business in the Twenty-First Century 1

Change Happens Gradually, Then Suddenly 1

Increased Competition from Everywhere 4

Chapter 2 Buyer Expectations Have Changed 6

Today's Customer Will Not Be Tomorrow's Customer 7

Traditional Industries Are Not Immune to the Challenge 10

Why the Inbound Organization Philosophy Is the Right Approach 11

Chapter 3 The Building Blocks of an Inbound Organization 14

The Disruptive Impact of Inbound 15

Chapter 4 Inbound Assessment and the MSPOT 19

Inbound Organization Assessment 19

Creating an MSPOT 28

Chapter 5 Start with Your Mission 33

What Is Your WHY? 33

Document Your Mission 35

Chapter 6 Building a Culture That Reflects Inbound Values 40

Trust, Transparency, and Accountability 42

Putting People First 45

Teams and Teamwork 47

Chapter 7 Inbound Decision Making 51

Inbound Decisions 53

Use Good Judgment 56

Chapter 8 Create an Inbound Operating System 58

Creating Your Culture Code 59

Open Communication Spaces and Tools 62

Employee Feedback Mechanisms 64

Regularly Scheduled and Structured Interactions 65

Chapter 9 Find Inbound People 68

Inbound Recruiting--The Candidate Experience 71

How Do You Find the Right Employees for a People First Culture? 74

Chapter 10 Cerasis--Culture Creating a Movement around a Mission 76

Chapter 11 Inbound Strategies--Change from Selling to Helping People 84

An Inbound Strategy Defined 87

Be Honest with Yourself and Your Team 89

Chapter 12 Inbound Strategies Are Engagement Focused 92

Connecting Emotionally 93

Delivering the Right Help at the Right Time 95

Try Before You Buy 96

Chapter 13 Inbound Strategies Are Persona Based 99

Buying Insight 101

How Target Markets Are Different than Demographics 105

Chapter 14 Politics, Personas, and Inbound 110

Chapter 15 Inbound Strategies Match the Buyer's Journey 115

Awareness 118

Consideration 120

Decision 122

Success 123

Chapter 16 Centralized View of the Customer 126

Warning 128

How to Build a Centralized View of the Customer 128

Chapter 17 My Car Dealer, No Help at All 131

Chapter 18 Inbound Marketing Is a Strategic Imperative 136

Why Inbound Organizations Must Be Great at Producing and Publishing Content 137

What Is the Source of Great Content? 137

What Are the Most Important Types of Content to Produce? 139

The Secret of a Successful Inbound Marketing and Content Strategy 141

What You Get from Inbound Marketing and Content 144

Chapter 19 Bell Performance--Content Attracting, Engaging, and Helping an Audience 146

Chapter 20 Inbound Selling 152

Developing an Inbound Sales Process 156

Personalize the Entire Sales Experience 160

Chapter 21 Yokel Local's Strange Trip to Becoming a HubSpot Agency Partner 162

Chapter 22 SMarketing 167

Implementing SMarketing 170

Set Common Goals with a Service Level Agreement 171

Chapter 23 Tube Form Solutions--Aligning the Sales Team with Buyers 175

Chapter 24 Inbound Service 184

Defining the Customer Journey 186

How Do You Build the Ideal Customer Journey? 189

What Buyers Expect from Inbound Service 190

Chapter 25 Measuring the Health of Your Relationships 192

Health Check as a Best Practice 193

Service Alignment with Marketing and Sales 195

Chapter 26 Inbound Back Office 197

Do Finance and Accounting Help Your Customer's Experience? 198

Finance's Role Moving Forward 201

Inbound Value on the Balance Sheet 201

Inbound Legal 203

Inbound IT 205

Chapter 27 Inbound Ecosystems 208

The Ideas behind an Inbound Ecosystem 210

Chapter 28 The Inbound Organization in 10 Years 214

Technology Will Drive Marketing and Sales Personalization 216

The Inbound Organization in 10 Years 218

Adopt Inbound 220

Notes 223

Index 237