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How a UK Coaching Business Eliminated Manual Event Operations to Scale Client Acquisition with HubSpot

Education 11-50 Employees Sales Hub | Marketing Hub
How a UK Coaching Business Eliminated Manual Event Operations to Scale Client Acquisition with HubSpot
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Background

Coach HQ is a UK-based professional coaching and training business serving executives and business leaders by delivering regular masterclasses led by two senior coaches, alongside one-on-one consultation services. Their revenue model combines event-based training programs with ongoing executive coaching engagements.
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Problem

Coach HQ faced a scaling constraint that looked like a platform problem but revealed itself as an operational architecture issue.

  • Revenue growth capped by operational bottlenecks, not market opportunity: Every masterclass required manual coordination: updating event dates in multiple places, managing registration lists for two coaches, manually tracking who attended live versus who watched replays, and stitching together payment data from Stripe with CRM records. Leadership needed to increase event frequency and scale their consultation pipeline, but each new event multiplied administrative work. Without fixing the operational foundation, growth meant hiring more people to manage logistics rather than focusing resources on client service and business development.

 

  • Lost deals from pipeline visibility gaps and poor qualification: Prospects scheduled calls, but there was no automated confirmation system or pre-meeting questionnaire to qualify intent. Sales follow-up after consultations depended on individual coach memory rather than a repeatable process. Leadership had zero visibility into which bookings represented real revenue opportunities versus exploratory conversations. The existing approach treated every booking as equally valuable, masking real pipeline health and causing coaches to invest time in low-intent prospects.

 

  • Inconsistent client experience threatening relationship quality: Marketing nurturing sequences existed but weren't connected to event behavior. Birthday outreach required manual calendar checks and individual message sending. Payment data lived separately in Stripe, requiring manual reconciliation with client records. Coach HQ had built workarounds within Ontraport's limitations and created manual checklists to improve consistency, but each solution created new friction elsewhere due to accumulated complexity.
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Solution

This project required migration architecture, not just data transfer. The goal wasn't to recreate Ontraport's structure in HubSpot; it was to design a system that separated client-facing operations from administrative burden.

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HubSpot workflow automation for Payment Link Purchase showing enrollment triggers filtering for Closed Won deals with succeeded payment status, followed by contact record editing and association creation actions
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HubSpot workflow automation for Payment Link Purchase showing enrollment triggers filtering for Closed Won deals with succeeded payment status, followed by contact record editing and association creation actions
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Part 1: Discovery & System Architecture

  • Mapped how information actually moved through Coach HQ's business, not how Ontraport organized it
  • Identified that event lifecycle management needed to be dynamic; each masterclass had a distinct registration date, event date, and replay period, requiring automated email timing and list segmentation
  • Discovered client data lived in closed systems across Stripe (payment records), HubSpot (CRM data), and landing pages (registration information)
  • Designed custom properties to track event participation, consultation status, and client classification, fields that would trigger automation rather than require manual updates
  • Created date-based properties that workflows could reference to send timely communication without someone having to remember to press "send."

 

Part 2: Migration & Workflow Implementation

  • Moved contact data from Ontraport to HubSpot first, establishing clean contact records with proper segmentation for Wilson's clients, Anna's clients, and prospects
  • Created automated confirmation emails, reminder emails with meeting links, and post-event LinkedIn engagement prompts
  • Designed workflows to track who attended live, who requested replays, and who never engaged, with automatic unenrollment from pre-event nurturing when events ended
  • Connected Stripe payment data through HubSpot's integration framework so leadership could see payment status directly in contact records and deal stages updated automatically when transactions cleared
  • Launched three custom landing pages for different program offerings, integrated with workflows to capture registrations and trigger appropriate nurturing sequences
HubSpot email template for Coach HQ consultation confirmation with personalized tokens for contact name, meeting date and time, embedded questionnaire link with URL parameters, and rescheduling option.
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HubSpot email template for Coach HQ consultation confirmation with personalized tokens for contact name, meeting date and time, embedded questionnaire link with URL parameters, and rescheduling option.
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HubSpot contacts per role report showing horizontal bar chart with 5 total contacts segmented by C-suite executive and Other categories with count breakdown
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HubSpot contacts per role report showing horizontal bar chart with 5 total contacts segmented by C-suite executive and Other categories with count breakdown
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Part 3: Reporting & Operational Control

  • Created event metrics dashboard that gave leadership real-time visibility without requiring them to pull reports
  • Built reporting to show contacts registered per event, attendance rates, and replay engagement by role or client classification
  • Automated birthday outreach, sending personalized messages without manual calendar checks
  • Designed flexibility points where Coach HQ's team can make strategic changes without breaking workflows, updating event dates, changing meeting links, or modifying email content
  • Ensured automated logic handles timing and segmentation regardless of content changes
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Results

Before: Event operations required manual list management, separate tracking systems, and team members checking multiple tools to understand client status.
After: Event participation, consultation pipeline movement, and client engagement happen automatically with clear visibility for leadership decisions.

  • Financial Impact

    • Eliminated revenue leakage from invisible pipeline gaps: Pipeline stages show where prospects drop off between consultation and payment, allowing leadership to identify high-converting programs and redirect resources accordingly.
    • Created capacity for revenue growth without proportional overhead: Automating event workflows eliminated hours of manual coordination per masterclass, allowing increased event frequency without additional administrative hires.

     

  • Operational Impact

    • Reduced event setup time from hours to minutes: Updating two date fields triggers automated nurturing sequences, reminders, and post-event follow-up based on attendance behavior.
    • Improved follow-up consistency across both coaching programs: Every consultation receives the same confirmation email and questionnaire at the same intervals, with automatic segmentation for Wilson's and Anna's audiences.
    • Faster qualification of consultation bookings: Confirmation workflow requires "YES" reply and questionnaire completion before the call, filtering serious prospects from casual inquiries.

     

  • Strategic Impact

    • Real-time visibility into event performance and client engagement: Event metrics dashboard shows registrations, attendance rates, and replay engagement by client classification without compiling data from multiple sources.
    • Single source of truth for client relationships and payment status: HubSpot centralized event participation, consultation pipeline, and payment data, ending confusion about contact ownership and follow-up requirements.
    • Growth-ready systems that scale without redesigning architecture: Automated workflows and payment integration handle increased event frequency and additional coach programs without fundamental restructuring.
Coaching businesses often outgrow their operations faster than their revenue—events multiply, consultation volume increases, but the administrative burden grows even faster. Coach HQ now has the infrastructure to scale client acquisition without scaling operational complexity.
 
If your business is facing similar constraints, where growth means more manual work rather than more impact, we should talk. Our free HubSpot consultation helps you see where your current setup creates friction and what's possible when operations support your business model instead of fighting it.
 
Book a free consultation to discuss your specific situation.

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