Preparing for Your Foundational Onboarding Sessions

What This Guide Is For

Welcome! This guide is designed to help you get the most out of your Foundational HubSpot Onboarding with ThinkFuel.

This document explains:

• How to prepare for your onboarding sessions

• What access and materials you’ll need

• Who should attend each type of session

• How to stay on track throughout the program

What to Expect from Foundational Onboarding

Foundational Onboarding is designed to help your team:

• Build a strong HubSpot foundation aligned to your business goals

• Understand why things are set up—not just how

• Gain the confidence to continue building and optimizing independently

Because this is an enablement-first program, your participation is essential. Sessions are working sessions, not passive training.

How to Prepare for Success

1️⃣ Bring the Right People

Each session is most effective when the right mix of decision-makers, HubSpot admins, and day-to-day users are present. Attendance recommendations are outlined below for each session type.

At least one attendee per session should be able to:

• • • Answer process questions

    • Make decisions

    • Confirm next steps

2️⃣ Complete Homework Before Sessions

Most sessions include light preparation work such as:

• • • Reviewing short videos or documentation

    • Gathering examples of your current processes

    • Making simple decisions (naming conventions, stages, rules)

Why this matters: Completing homework ahead of time allows us to spend live session time building and applying—not catching up.

3️⃣ Ensure Access Is Ready

Before your Kickoff Call, please ensure:

• • • HubSpot access is granted to all required users on the ThinkFuel team, and your internal team

    • Admin or appropriate permissions are assigned

    • Access to connected tools is available (email, calendar, website, domains, forms, etc.)

If required access is missing, sessions may need to be paused or rescheduled.

4️⃣ Make Empowerment Package Selections on Time

If your onboarding includes Empowerment Packages, we’ll ask you to make your package selection and provide the appropriate supporting inputs (copy, rules, branding, logic).

To stay on timeline:

• • • Submit selections by the requested deadline

    • Provide required inputs promptly

Delays may result in Empowerment work being deferred or removed from scope.

Who Should Attend Each Type of Session

Below are recommended attendees for each session type. These are guidelines—not rigid rules—designed to set you up for success.

🧭 Kickoff (KO) Session

Purpose: Align on goals, scope, timeline, and ways of working.

Recommended Attendees:

• • • Executive sponsor or project owner

    • Primary HubSpot admin

    • Department lead(s) for the Hub purchased (Marketing, Sales, or Service)

This session sets the foundation for the entire project.

📣 Marketing Hub Sessions

Purpose: Build and enable your marketing tools, automation, and reporting.

Recommended Attendees:

• • • Marketing manager or director

    • HubSpot admin

    • Team members responsible for campaigns, content, or demand generation

    • (Optional) Sales leader for handoff-related sessions

Helpful to Have Ready:

• • • Buyer personas or draft assumptions

    • Campaign goals and KPIs

    • Examples of emails, landing pages, or content

    • Website and domain access

💼 Sales Hub Sessions

Purpose: Configure pipelines, enable reps, and support the full sales cycle.

Recommended Attendees:

• • • Sales manager or sales operations lead

    • HubSpot admin

    • One or two active sales reps

Helpful to Have Ready:

• • • Your current sales process and stages

    • Qualification criteria

    • Deal requirements and common objections

    • Calendar and inbox access

🎧 Service Hub Sessions

Purpose: Design ticketing workflows and customer support processes.

Recommended Attendees:

• • • Customer support or customer success manager

    • HubSpot admin

    • A frontline support representative

Helpful to Have Ready:

• • • Current ticket intake methods

    • SLAs and response expectations

    • Common customer issues and categories

    • Knowledge base content (if available)

🔁 Empowerment Package Sessions

Purpose: Allow ThinkFuel to complete specific pre-approved build work for you.

To keep these sessions effective:

• Empowerment selections must be finalized in advance

• Required inputs (copy, branding, logic) must be provided on time

These sessions are most successful when expectations and inputs are clear before work begins.

📊 Training & Reporting Sessions

Purpose: Help your team use HubSpot confidently and independently.

Recommended Attendees:

• Day-to-day HubSpot users

• Team leads responsible for adoption

• HubSpot admin

Helpful to Bring:

• Real use cases and questions

• Metrics your team wants to track

🚪 Offboarding Session

Purpose: Review what was completed, confirm ownership, and discuss next steps.

Recommended Attendees:

• Primary HubSpot admin

• Executive sponsor or project owner

• Department leads

How to Prepare:

• Review shared documentation and recordings

• Collect any final questions

• Align internally on ownership after onboarding

Tips for a Smooth Onboarding Experience

• Assign a dedicated internal project owner

• Keep a consistent core team throughout onboarding

• Block time after sessions to complete follow-up tasks

• Ask questions early—we’re here to help

Questions?

If you have any questions about preparation, attendees, or expectations, your ThinkFuel HubSpot Specialist is your best point of contact. We’re excited to partner with you and help you build a strong HubSpot foundation.