AviaryAI — HubSpot Sales Process & Automation Design

Overview

During a complimentary strategy session with Aaron Grossman (Sales Lead, helloaviary.ai), Asymmetric designed a full sales process architecture to take helloaviary.ai from zero lead-gen infrastructure to a functioning, automated pipeline. The design centers on HubSpot Professional as the core automation engine, with Make/Zapier as integration middleware for non-email channels.

This article documents the process engineering decisions, funnel architecture, and campaign logic discussed. It serves as a reference for similar B2B niche-market engagements where a client has a CRM but no working pipeline.

See also: ^[1] | ^[2] | ^[3]

Starting Conditions

helloaviary.ai entered the engagement with:

• HubSpot Professional — licensed but not configured for automation
• Apollo — used for cold outreach sequences, yielding zero responses
• Make + Zapier — available but unused by the sales function
• No defined MQL/SQL criteria — no triggers, no stage logic
• No funnels — sequences existed but were disconnected from any structured pipeline

The founder's personal network had been the sole source of clients to date. Aaron's mandate was to build a scalable lead-gen system from scratch.

Step 1: Define MQL and SQL

Before building any automation, the team must agree on stage definitions and the triggers that move a contact between them. Key questions to resolve:

• What actions constitute an MQL? (e.g., downloads a white paper, opens 3+ emails, visits pricing page)
• What actions constitute an SQL? (e.g., requests a demo, replies to an outreach email, scores above a threshold)
• What triggers an automated task for Aaron to call a prospect directly?

"We take something like MQL and say, well, what does that mean to you? What's the definition of an MQL? What's the definition of an SQL? What are the triggers that move somebody from one thing to another?" — Mark Hope

These definitions become the logic backbone of every workflow and campaign.

Funnel Architecture

Three parallel funnels feed into one or more sales processes. The funnels are designed to run largely without human intervention until a contact reaches MQL status.

Funnel 1: Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

• Orientation: Inverted funnel — starts with a known target list, works backward to engagement
• Target list: ~3,000 credit unions (sourced via ZoomInfo or equivalent), filtered by size and geography
• Approach: Persona-based outreach emphasizing industry credibility (both founders worked in credit unions), specific pain points, and relevant use cases
• Goal: Secure high-value enterprise clients; quality over volume

ABM is "spearfishing" — deliberate, targeted, slow to scale but high-yield per contact.

Funnel 2: Niche Marketing

• Orientation: Traditional top-down funnel — broad awareness to qualified lead
• Target segment: Broader financial services (banks, credit unions, insurance companies)
• Approach: Pull marketing via content, lead magnets (white papers), and dedicated landing pages
• Goal: Build brand awareness and generate inbound MQLs at scale

Niche marketing creates gravity — prospects come to helloaviary.ai rather than being pushed at.

Funnel 3: Nurture / Re-engagement

• Orientation: Holding pattern for contacts not yet ready to buy
• Trigger: Contact explicitly signals "not now" or goes cold after initial engagement
• Approach: Monthly touchpoint email to maintain presence without pressure
• Goal: Catch prospects when their situation changes; re-activate into Funnel 1 or 2

Campaign Logic

Each funnel feeds into one of three automated campaign tracks. These run in HubSpot and are triggered by contact behavior and stage.

Awareness Campaign

• Audience: Contacts with no prior exposure to helloaviary.ai
• Content: Introductory emails, helpful industry content, no direct sales ask
• Trigger to escalate: High engagement (multiple opens, link clicks) → automated task created for Aaron to call

Consideration Campaign

• Audience: Contacts who know what helloaviary.ai does but haven't committed
• Content: Use cases, ROI evidence, customer experience data, competitive differentiation
• Goal: Pull contacts further down the funnel toward SQL status

Not-Ready Campaign

• Audience: Contacts who have engaged but explicitly deferred ("not now," "no budget," "not this year")
• Content: One email per month — low-frequency, low-pressure
• Trigger to escalate: Re-engagement with content → contact flipped back into Awareness or Consideration campaign

HubSpot Implementation Notes

Core Automation (HubSpot Professional)

HubSpot handles all email-based workflows natively:

• Enrollment triggers based on contact properties or behavior
• If/then branch logic for campaign routing
• Task creation for sales follow-up when engagement thresholds are met
• Stage transitions (Suspect → MQL → SQL → Opportunity)

Extended Automation (Make / Zapier)

For non-email channels, use webhooks to pull activity back into HubSpot:

• SMS outreach — trigger via Make, log reply activity back to contact record
• Direct mail — trigger send via Zapier, record fulfillment as a contact activity
• Any third-party tool — webhook back to HubSpot to maintain a single source of truth on the contact timeline

"If the activity is email, HubSpot is fine. We can do it all right in HubSpot. If we're doing other things, we may need to create webhooks and stuff to bring them back." — Mark Hope

Landing Pages

Each campaign should drive traffic to a dedicated, non-navigable landing page — not the main website homepage.

• One pain point per page — focused message, no distractions
• No site navigation — prevents visitors from wandering off before converting
• CTA tied to the funnel — white paper download, demo request, or contact form depending on campaign stage
• Built on Webflow (existing platform) by Asymmetric's creative team

Landing pages are included in the retainer scope.

Reverse-Engineering the Funnel

Before setting outreach volume targets, work backward from revenue goals:

1. How many new clients per month is the target?
2. What is the close rate from SQL to client?
3. How many SQLs are needed to hit the client target?
4. What is the MQL-to-SQL conversion rate?
5. How many MQLs are needed?
6. What top-of-funnel volume (impressions, outreach contacts) generates that many MQLs?

This calculation determines the required effort level and validates whether the retainer scope is appropriately sized.

Related Decisions

• ^[1] — client overview, status, and contacts
• ^[4] — prerequisite SEO work to make content viable
• ^[2] — strategic framing of the dual-funnel approach
• ^[5] — hybrid pricing model proposed for this engagement