In this deepdive Makerpad breaks down how you can use technology to manage and automate a complex and custom project management solution using Airtable and Hubspot.
The solution has been created for a real world need in a start-up called Cottage. Cottage is a platform that helps homeowners design, finance and build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in the San Fransisco Bay area. People build ADU's to generate rental income, create an additional living space, and boost their home equity.
The solution covers everything from project management, managing meetings, sending out design surveys, questionnaires, on site surveys, creating task lists automatically, and then generating and sending contracts to the stakeholders. We go deep into the methods we used to automate the projects steps and workflows using Airtable & Hubspot supported by tools such as Zapier, X.ai, Gmail, Typeform, Slack and Pandadoc.
In this solution we use Hubspot as the database & Airtable as the flexible project management tool. The first problem we wanted to solve was to ensure that the foundation of our solution was able to keep all the information, for each step of the project centralised within Cottages existing CRM, Hubspot. In this tutorial you will lean how to set up the foundation of this solution, connect your airtable with Hubspot and set out your workflow base.
Tutorial: Connect Hubspot deals to Airtable
One of the challenges faced in multi-party projects is managing & co-ordinating meetings with clients & contractors. We use x.ai intuitive scheduling functionality that integrates with Hubspot & Airtable to solve automating the scheduling of in-person meetings with x.ai and Hubspot templates. In this tutorial you will show you how to set up the process of bringing your clients in as a prospect, setting up your first (in this case on sight) meeting and capturing the details of that meeting and next steps into your project workflow setup.
Tutorial: Automate recurring interactions in your Deal project cycle
Gathering the right information, moving it to the right place and ensuring all legal and compliance matters are met live at the heart of every complex project. We use Airtable's ability to interconnect with multi-function blocks and forms to automate this process. In this tutorial you will lean how to dynamically interconnect airtable blocks, forms and signatures to formalise your sales process and finalise an initial agreement/ payment.
Tutorial: Pre-fill Airtable forms and link forms to existing records
Tutorial: Generate pre-filled contracts in Hubspot using Pandadoc
Once all the steps of a project have been completed it's then important to make sure all the details are collected and housed in one location within your database. We use a series of automations to make sure that you have a single point of truth for all your information by capturing real time lead activity in Hubspot. In this tutorial you will lean how to ensure that your project information is managed and housed in the correct place within your client management system.
Tutorial: Sync files across Airtable, Hubspot, and Google Drive
Tutorial: Generate a task list for projects in Airtable
Full Solution Walk-through
We really think that the future growth and adoption of no-code & low-code technology is centred in showcasing how these tools can be used by anyone (regardless of your skill level) to solve real world, everyday business problems.
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