Having a hard time of organizing your marketing activities in one place? During all my years working with Marketing/CRM/Sales the hardest part is to get all data into one simple system or software. Instead I have been focusing on integrations between CRM and e-mail marketing software’s or web forms to a sales system. This can be a jungle of keeping track of what integration connects with what system and how is it connected – who did the integration? In the long run this is not a solid solution and that is why I want to tell you a story about my open relationship with Hubspot CRM.
The beauty and the beast
My first encounter with Hubspot CRM and the service “Marketing Hub Starter” was about a year ago, and like a love story I have not stopped talking about the system – it got me so deep and changed my way of living. Alright enough now. Let’s talk business.
Hubspot CRM is free – to a limit of course. But the most beneficial with using Hubspot is that you will go the extra mile with your sales and marketing when using the free services. But there is always the limit.
This is what includes in Hubspot CRM for free: CRM package, Marketing package, Sales package and Service package.
CRM package
- Simple CRM with adding, edit contacts and custom fields.
- Work with both Contacts (users) and Companies.
- Activity tab: Measure and see insights of what is being added, edited or any other activity in your CRM.
- Track and add deals to companies.
- Add Tasks to contacts or companies.
Marketing package
- Custom web forms. Add a form to your website or use Hubspot landing page to create and design your own form. When submitted it will be added to Hubspot CRM.
- E-mail Marketing. All you are doing in MailChimp today – use Hubspot e-mail marketing solution instead. Now you really have everything in one system.
- Dynamic lists depending on your criteria. Use these to do e-mail send outs.
Sales package
- Add a live chat to your website and convert more leads or talk to customers. All activities from the live chat are being saved within Hubspot CRM.
- Add chat bot to the live chat and start qualifying leads before they touch sales. A lead with more than 50 employees? Route it as high priority so you don’t miss out sales opportunities.
- Adding documents to companies or contacts to keep track of what you’ve sent.
- Book meetings through the CRM or integrate with e.g Google Calendar.
Service package
- Ticket handling. Track customer issues with tickets to keep track of what you said and promised. Also set deadlines and follow up actions.
- Be able to call directly through the browser or Hubspot App.
With all these features I can easily manage to run a smaller company. The reason I would recommend to upgrade to at least Marketing Hub Starter is to get rid of the Hubspot branding when adding form to your website. But this also opens up to integrate with different software’s such as Calendly, Google Calendar, Outlook, Gmail etc. The upgrade also includes adding more dynamic lists also known as segment/filter.
It’s hard to get a sense of the different Hubspot packages since they are working with Bundles, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub and Hubspot CMS – even if you read about the different packages you will be surprise how difficult it is to get an understanding of what the packages actually includes. My recommendation is to start with the solid free version of Hubspot CRM and write down all the things that you are missing and then give Hubspot a call so they can guide you through the different bundles and packages.
Other: Hubspot CRM is web based and you will not need to download a client to your Mac or PC. Simply register your account and just go for it. A tip is to try out the Hubspot App to Android and iOS.
Never ending story
Me and Hubspot CRM have only been dating for the last year, but it feels right and I think it’s just a matter of time before the system will meet my parents. Looking forward to a bright future for Sales and Marketing managers.