Winning Combination: USGA Standardizes Its Tech Stack Across 15 Member Associations,With Mole Street
The United States Golf Association (USGA) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates, serves and advances the game of golf.
Solutions:
Technical HubSpot Consulting
Growth Driven Design
Industry Membership Associations, Non-Profits
Timeline: December 2022 - Present
HubSpot Products: Marketing Hub Enterprise, Sales Hub Enterprise, CMS Hub Enterprise, Operations Hub Professional, Service Hub Professional
Challenge
Individual golf associations within the USGA had disparate tech stacks and an outdated CRM. Some tools were used by all associations, like the Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN) – a service offered by the USGA for handicap management. Other tools were used by only some associations, like Golf Genius – a common tool for tournament management.
The USGA sought to modernize its CRM platform, and decided to orient around HubSpot for the flexibility and scalability to manage membership development, retention, events, and donations. In addition, the USGA wanted to integrate key tools with HubSpot, most notably Golf Genius – a never-before-created integration.
Finally, some associations additionally sought to revamp their outdated websites, create more intuitive user journeys, and leverage data from a brand new HubSpot CRM to help populate website contents.
The USGA needed a partner who could lead HubSpot setup, implementation, onboarding, training, and reporting for 15 of its associations. Mole Street was selected as the consultancy of record with its deep expertise in implementing the HubSpot ecosystem and track record of success with membership associations.
“We were upgrading from a 10+ year old CRM when we made the move to HubSpot and we were lost in many respects as we attempted to transition,” said a project lead for the USGA. “The Mole Street team listened to our needs, quickly understood the uniqueness of our non-profit operating model and our needs for integration, and have completely streamlined our system capabilities.”
“Mole Street listened to our needs, quickly understood the uniqueness of our non-profit operating model and our needs for integration, and have completely streamlined our system capabilities.”
Build and implement Sales Hub and Marketing Hub for 15 golf associations
Design and develop on the HubSpot CMS and set up additional Hubs depending on each golf association’s needs
Migrate all sales and marketing activities to HubSpot
Develop the first ever integration between HubSpot and Golf Genius
Implement the Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN) app with HubSpot
Develop custom objects for event and membership data in more complex CRM setups
Lead onboarding and training, customized for each association
Build new reports capturing metrics around membership, events, and donations
Results
With a significant scope of work that needed to be executed across 15 associations, Mole Street assembled several internal teams, each of which was assigned to work on a subgroup of the associations. The teams regularly aligned internally on progress, challenges, and successes – cross-pollinating ideas and ensuring consistent execution, from association to association.
Every scope included a standard setup of Sales and Marketing Hubs. A major highlight of the CRM work with USGA is Mole Street’s development of a first-of-its-kind integration between HubSpot and Golf Genius. Mole Street built the integration from the ground up to provide real-time data on current and historical events (i.e., registrants, attendees) that each association holds throughout the year.
Scopes of work for the associations additionally included a swath of custom setups, integrations, and training. These customizations depended on factors like other Hubs beyond Sales and Marketing that an association was subscribed to. For instance, some associations additionally wanted to set up Service Hub. Others wanted to rebuild their website, including the Southern California and Virginia State Golf Associations.
For the Southern California association, Mole Street redesigned all key web pages. Mole Street also developed more complex pages that are automatically populated by the association’s HubSpot CRM data and by information using the Golf Genius integration developed by Mole Street.
For the Virginia State association, Mole Street built an entirely new and modern website, as well as a VIP card purchasing and donations process using HubSpot payments. This process integrates with GHIN, Golf Genius, and the association’s native app – requiring significant and complex development.
With every association having varying levels of technical savviness, Mole Street tailored all onboarding and training to meet each association’s needs. Customization also extended to areas like timelines. Each association has its own busy season, which Mole Street factored into timing for onboarding, implementation, and training.
In total, the USGA associations have realized key business benefits, including
Established a new modern tech stack with HubSpot at the foundation
Standardized CRM platform and setup
Enabled seamless integration of critical tools, including Golf Genius and GHIN
Provided more modern and intuitive website user experiences
Acquired HubSpot acumen for managing membership development, retention, events, and donations
Gained consistent visibility into sales and service pipelines
The USGA’s project lead sums up the experience. “Partnering with Mole Street has been an absolute success!”
He also looks ahead: “We continue to partner with Mole Street as we build out HubSpot and the rest of our stack to work for us. Happy to say we have now found our path forward. Thanks to the Mole Street team for being a huge part of our success so far!”
The USGA’s project lead sums up the experience. “Partnering with Mole Street has been an absolute success!”
He also looks ahead: “We continue to partner with Mole Street as we build out HubSpot and the rest of our stack to work for us. Happy to say we have now found our path forward. Thanks to the Mole Street team for being a huge part of our success so far!”
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