In this HubSpot sales training, we’ll walk you through how to set up your HubSpot Meetings tool.
HubSpot offers such a robust and powerful suite of marketing and sales tools, it can be easy to overlook some of its simpler features. The HubSpot meeting scheduling tool is one such feature that we’re surprised to find not everyone is using!
Whether we’re trying to schedule a meeting with a lead or make plans with friends, we all know how tough it can be to sync up calendars. Unlike dinner plans, however, losing out on a meeting opportunity with a lead can put a dent in your bottom line.
The HubSpot calendar tool eliminates the back and forth and makes booking a meeting with you friction-free. The HubSpot calendar integration works with Gmail and Office 365 (also known as Outlook), and is super easy to set up and use.
We’ll show you how to set up your own HubSpot calendar tool, but first let’s take a look at some of the coolest things you can do with this meeting scheduler.
We love the HubSpot Meetings tool because it allows you to…
Add your meeting calendar link to emails, templates, sequences, snippets, and more.
The HubSpot meeting scheduler provides you with a link that can be shared just about anywhere. Sending a meeting asking if a lead would like to book a discovery call? Send a meeting link and let them pick the time and date that works best rather than going back and forth. The Meetings links can also be easily accessed and added to a strengths of the HubSpot CRM including snippets, templates, and sequences.
Add your Meetings link to your email signature.
One of the first places we recommend adding your Meetings link is in your email signature. This makes it so that every lead you email with has the opportunity to book your calendar in real time. In fact, HubSpot has a pretty neat email signature generator where you can add in your meeting link with ease.
Embed your HubSpot Meeting calendar on your website.
In addition to a shareable link, you’ll be armed with an embed code for your HubSpot Meetings calendar that can be added to your website and landing pages. One quick win is to embed that calendar on your website’s contact page making it easier than ever for visitors to book a meeting directly with you rather than submitting a contact form and waiting for a response.
Book Meetings in HubSpot chats.
In HubSpot Conversations, you can create a chatbot that can book meetings directly on your calendar using your Meetings integration. You can also book meetings during live chat conversations on HubSpot. This gives you yet another channel where you can book meetings with leads with little to no friction.
View Meetings on contact records.
One of the core HubSpot Sales Starter or above is that every interaction with a lead is curated in a single place: the contact record. When you set up your HubSpot calendar, it will automatically attach booked Meetings to the associated contact and you’ll be able to see that interaction on their timeline of activities.
Report on Meetings.
Some basic metrics available to help you analyze your Meetings are the number of views of your Meetings page, the number of meetings booked, and the conversation rate (the percentage of views that turned into a booked meeting).
There are also reports that can be added to your HubSpot Sales Dashboard to monitor and measure Meetings performance. Here are some of our favorites:
Report: Call and meeting totals by type
Answers: What types of calls and meetings are booked most?
HubSpot description: View the total number of calls and meetings your reps are booking with their prospects. See what types of meetings or calls they are, such as demos or check-ins.
Report: Call and meeting totals by rep
Answers: Which sales reps are engaging most with their leads?
HubSpot description: View the number of meetings booked and calls placed by your sales reps. See what types of calls and meetings they are, such as follow-up meetings or demos.
Report: Meetings booked totals by day
Answers: How many meetings are my reps booking?
HubSpot description: View the total number of meetings booked in the last 30 days. Click on a specific day to see more info on the meeting. Like when it’s booked, who it’s booked with, and what it’s about.
Report: Meetings booked by rep
Answers: How many meetings are my reps booking?
HubSpot description: View the number of meetings each rep is booking. See who is booking the most meetings and who is booking the least.
Report: Meetings booked with reps by activity date
Answers: When are my reps’ upcoming meetings?
HubSpot description: View a list of your reps' booked meetings by the oldest activity date. See which contacts or companies your reps are meeting with. And some more details on the meeting.
How to Set Up the HubSpot Meetings Tool
In your HubSpot Sales Hub portal, select Sales from the top navigation and then Meetings from the drop down menu. Click on the button for either Gmail or Office 365 (aka Outlook) and you’ll be prompted to log in to connect your account.
Next you’ll be walked through configuring your meeting tool settings. First, set your available hours by choosing options from the drop down menus. You can click + Add hours at the bottom to add availability on additional days, such as weekends or split availability on the same day (example: available 10am-2pm and 4pm to 6pm on Tuesdays).
The next two settings determine how far out your meeting can be booked. We generally recommend the period of rolling weeks to be This week and next week, but the tool can allow people to book as far as 11 weeks out.
Minimum notice time prevents someone from booking you at the immediate moment, giving you time to prepare to meet with them. For example, if someone looks at your HubSpot Meetings calendar at 2pm and you’ve set the notice time to 1 hour, they will see available meetings starting at 3pm.
Buffer time is the minimum amount of time you want to block out in between meetings. If you have a booked meeting for 12-12:30pm and a buffer time of 30 minutes, your calendar will show that you’re unavailable until at least 1pm.
Lastly, the start time increment helps standardize your meeting scheduling. If you set it to 15 minutes, leads will be able to book you at 1:00pm, 1:15pm, 1:30pm, and so on.
On the next page, you’ll be able to customize the form that leads will need to submit in order to book your calendar. If you have HubSpot Sales Starter or above, you’ll be able to add any contact properties you’d like to this form or even create custom questions. By default, you’ll want to ask for their name and email address so you have a way to contact them. We also recommend adding phone number, company name, and persona, but it really depends on what information is important for you to know going into the meeting.
You can turn on pre-population if you’d like, which makes it so if a lead has their contact information stored in their browser it will automatically be filled in for them so they don’t have to type it in manually. Honestly, I personally prefer to turn this off since people’s saved information might not be accurate (for example, it might input their personal email address instead of their work email address).
I don’t typically recommend turning on the auto-submit feature, since it doesn’t give people the opportunity to edit their information before the form is submitted.
Depending on your privacy needs, you can opt to turn on GDPR for your form using the last toggle option on this screen.
At long last, you’ll be able to see a preview of your HubSpot Meetings calendar and even test it out to see how the form functions. Once you’re happy with the settings, you can get the link to your very own HubSpot calendar link on the next page.
What Are The Benefits Of The HubSpot Meetings Tool?
Wouldn’t it be nice to never have to say “let me check my calendar” again? The HubSpot Meetings tool can make it happen, with a blend of sales tools designed to make scheduling appointments easier than ever.
Best of all, the Meetings scheduler is part of HubSpot’s suite of free tools. Yep, signing up for a free HubSpot account is the only thing standing between you and a whole new level of scheduling freedom. If you happen to subscribe to a paid version of the HubSpot Sales Hub or Service Hub, you’ll even enjoy a set of upgraded features.
But what sets HubSpot Meetings apart from any other scheduling tool? Glad you asked. Here are ways HubSpot Meetings can make your life a lot easier.
Cut the back and forth out of scheduling
We’ve all been there. What should have been the simple process of scheduling a meeting turns into a long, drawn-out dilemma.
Sometimes, attempting to find a time that works for everyone can result in a seemingly endless flow of emails. Other times, the stress may stem from the simple act of fumbling through your calendar as your hard-earned prospect waits on hold.
The HubSpot Meetings tool can help make such frustrations a thing of the past. It allows you to simply direct prospects to your online calendar, so they can quickly and easily match their availability with your own. You can even attach a calendar link to your emails or embed it on your website with no coding required.
Integrate Meetings with your favorite calendar tool
Wondering what will become of your Google Calendar or Office 365 Calendar if you decide to give HubSpot Meetings a try? Rest assured, there’s no need to kick your favorite scheduling tool to the curb.
The HubSpot Meetings tool easily synchronizes with both of the aforementioned tools, not to mention plenty of others. Part of what sets HubSpot's Meeting tool apart is that it’s designed to sync with the tools you and your team are already using. HubSpot Meetings is designed to work with your favorite apps rather than replace them.
Enjoy plenty of customizable settings
With HubSpot Meetings, it’s easy to customize meeting options in several different ways. You can choose to offer as many or as few meeting duration options as you like (15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, etc.)
If you want to offer online meetings, then you can also integrate your Meetings tool with apps like Zoom, Google Meet, UberConference, or Microsoft Teams. When a contact books a meeting, they’ll receive a meeting link along with their confirmation email.
You can also choose to include easy reschedule or cancelation links, upload a custom image or avatar, and set buffer times to make sure you don’t end up overbooked. HubSpot also helps avoid confusion by automatically syncing your availability with each prospect’s time zone.
Schedule multiple types of meetings
If you enjoy a coveted seat on a Sales Hub or Service Hub paid plan, you weld the power to use the Meetings tool to schedule appointments with multiple people. To explore your options, head to Sales > Meetings > Create a scheduling page.
Here you’ll be presented with the following three meeting scheduling choices:
- One-on-One: This option is exactly what it sounds like - it’s designed to help you schedule meetings between yourself and another attendee.
- Group: Sometimes a prospect may want to schedule a meeting with you and other members of your company. That’s when the Group scheduling option can be a lifesaver. Rather than attempting to coordinate everyone’s schedules, you can send your prospect a link that suggests meeting times when every team member they want to meet with is available.
- Round Robin: The Round Robin option is perfect for when a customer or prospect wants to schedule a meeting with any available rep. This scheduling tool syncs with each team member's schedule to display every time slot when anybody is available. That way, your lead can book a time that works best for them.
Take your HubSpot Meetings tool to the next level.
Believe it or not, there’s actually a lot more that you can do with the HubSpot Meetings tool. You can add branding to the appearance of the calendar, customize your Meetings link and domain, and even generate team meeting links. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about getting the most out of your Meetings tool, or if you just want to geek out over all the great tools that HubSpot has to offer!
Want to learn more about HubSpot Meetings and how it stacks up against similar pieces of software? As a HubSpot Certified Partner, We’ll help you get started with answers to several frequently asked questions.
