Item: HubSpot CRM
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use HubSpot to manage our SaaS software business development teams prospecting, deals, and team activities/outcomes selling annual subscriptions/licenses. We also use HubSpot for secondary channel sales products, whereby HubSpot allows us to feed data from our internal systems to measure our customer's activity on the platform (logins, interactions with training/sales materials, and orders) which allows our Account managers to make intelligent decisions on how and when to engage our customer base for the most impactful relationship builing and order flow. While simultaniously taking the guesswork out of diagnosing why an account may have reduced or stopped placing orders with us. The primary business problem HubSpot solves for us is that it allows Rex Labs to add multiple data sources we cross reference against the contacts and related data to create predictive buying models for our target market. We are able to have live data on when a prospect is expanding, contracting, or rebranding to move in and sell our Real Estate CRM solution and digital marketing solutions. Sometimes we are predicting what our customers will need before they go to market and explore options which gives us a 'free run' at securing their business before competitors are engaged by them.

Pros and Cons

Deal stages and flows
Channel sales structures for both the channel partner acquisition and throughput
UX is really nice
Customisable data fields

Allow for deals to in sold unit volume alongside $ revenue/margin.
The slack integration is frankly useless total rethink is required.
Email tracking opens and clicks is not on par with specialist tools like Yesware.

Return on Investment

HubSpot has allowed us to Sunset our internal CRM which was running at a great time and opportunity cost for our dev team.
HubSpot brought our two distinct sales teams together onto common performance & activity metrics.
HubSpot reports have replaced our former self-written shareholder sales reports, now being sent.

Usability

HubSpot is the most usable CRM I have ever used. I'm not saying it has the best functionality, but ultimately, if your team can't or won't use it then what is the point. UX is on point, simple, and clean. Custom fields are very easy to set up and contextualise to each contact type or deal or product. The reports are modular and easy to produce, we have our activity stats live streamed to a large TV in the office which keeps everyone on point and accountable. And it is very easy for any SDR, sales rep, or manager to log in and see what's going on in two or three clicks.

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce.com, Act! CRM and ActiveCampaign

It all comes down to the User interface, user experience, and ease of customisation I have selected HubSpot in the past after reviewing multiple options because it was often cheaper but had a UX that my team and staff would actually use. Salesforce does have the most advanced customisation, but these days you either need an in-house Salesforce Dev or to pay a fortune in time and money getting the customisation set-up done by Salesforce.ACT! is simply now an archaic system, when we used Sage accounting, there was some sense in using the two systems together; however, now that Xero is industry standard, I can't see them staying in business long term. Active Campaign is a very good marketing CRM system but very weak on the customisation and deal side. You can't effectively use it to manage a SaaS sales force and product.

Key Insights

Do you think HubSpot CRM delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with HubSpot CRM's feature set?

Yes

Did HubSpot CRM live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of HubSpot CRM go as expected?

Would you buy HubSpot CRM again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Notion, Miro, Yesware, Slack, Asana, Trello, Jira Service Management (Jira Service Desk), Intercom, Zendesk Support Suite, Salesforce.com, ActiveCampaign

Likelihood to Recommend

HubSpot is very well suited for channel sales, or strategic partnership acquisition as the multiple deal boards and how these deals interact with the customisable flows are very useful. A contact, company, or deal can be numerous things as a strategic partner and a prospect for different services or international markets. HubSpot makes it easy for different teams to have visibility of what's going on with a prospect and therefore identify the cross sell and leverage opportunities. HubSpot is weak, though, and managing and measuring Strategic Partnerships is not always about revenue. It can be leads passed, the business referred, or brand related. So a lot of work is required in custom fields to facilitate relationship building and management. Then to keep track of performance and financial outcomes are not always possible with just HubSpot, so it is often disappointing to have to use a Spreadsheet alongside the CRM.

All about that UX

Overall Satisfaction with HubSpot CRM