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HubSpot CRM is a customer relationship management platform with a wealth of free features and paid add-ons. Like other CRMs, HubSpot allows users to store consumer data, track leads and interactions, and automate routine tasks. This centralized, single source of truth streamlines collaboration, and proper use of the tool can lead to better sales numbers and all-around business outcomes.
But that proper use depends on a well-planned implementation, and teams that don't approach this process intentionally may never take full advantage of HubSpot CRM's features.
Here, learn how to properly plan a HubSpot CRM implementation and reap the rewards of a step-wise, strategic adoption process.
HubSpot CRM implementation best practices: Defining processes and structure
One of the most important aspects of correctly implementing the HubSpot CRM is setting the tool's configurations to support how teams actually work. Where possible, those configurations should also improve upon current workflows. Business leaders on the verge of implementing this marketing and sales hub should consider the following best practices for defining processes and CRM structure.
- Map current sales, marketing, and service workflows: Discover how your teams currently perform work by mapping their present workflows. Scribe Capture automatically transforms processes into user-friendly, visually-driven guides that enable professionals to visualize as-is work and pinpoint improvements a CRM tool can help make.
- Define how leads move through lifecycle stages: As part of your workflow discovery, determine how your sales team currently classifies leads and moves them through the consumer lifecycle. The HubSpot CRM tool has its own classifications (Subscriber, Lead, MQL, SQL, Opportunity, Customer, Evangelist) that you can model your new processes around.
- Standardize pipeline stages and required fields: Determining pipeline stages (like "new," "appointment scheduled," "qualified," or "closed won") and the fields where team members can enter data at each step encourages excellent data hygiene and an organized way of configuring workflows and keeping them consistent in the HubSpot CRM system.
- Clarify handoffs between teams: To build clear workflows in HubSpot, you must determine handoffs, defining who needs to perform what action at every point in a process. These "owners" are responsible for correctly moving the workflow along at certain moments.
- Identify where automation can support workflows: Software implementations of any kind imply changes to ways of working, and leaders can take advantage of these process shifts to introduce time-saving automations that maximize the CRM tool's value.
8 steps for a successful HubSpot CRM implementation
HubSpot is a user-friendly tool, and it can be tempting to jump right into using it without much planning. But adequate planning leads to a more functional CRM system and better adoption of the tool by end users. Use the following steps to structure an organized, intentional implementation plan that pays out in the long run.
- Determine goals, scope, and rollout approach: Determine CRM system goals that align with overall business ones and define the metrics to track them. For example, if your organization hopes to boost sales numbers with better lead tracking, ensure that the workflows that support these objectives will be modelled in the CRM tool. You can track the success of these optimized processes with KPIs like conversion and win rates.
- Capture current workflows: Using the process and CRM structure guide above as a reference, map current workflows, roles and responsibilities, handoffs, and pipeline stages. Look for opportunities for improvement—places where you can make processes more efficient or automate them to save human time.
- Prepare and clean contact, company, and deal data: Current sales and marketing data that will be transferred to the CRM system must be clean and coherent before the migration. Ensure that data points use consistent formatting, are accurate, and are not duplicated. This way, erroneous information won't carry over into the new system, spurring problems in workflows.
- Configure CRM objects, lifecycle stages, workflows, and permissions: Configure contacts, dashboards, permissions, lifecycle stages, and workflows in the new CRM system. While some customization is needed to support your teams' preferred ways of working, resist the urge to over-customize, overriding the helpful functionalities that the CRM tool offers. If there are opportunities to use the platform's ready-made objects and properties to improve upon current workflows or eliminate redundant steps, take them.
- Connect integrations with marketing, sales, and support tools: The HubSpot CRM system integrates with other commonly used business support platforms like Salesforce, Shopify, and Mailchimp. Connect the CRM tool to these others so that it can pull information from them as needed to execute processes and perform data hygiene.
- Test workflows across teams and edge cases: Test the workflows in the HubSpot CRM with real end users, simulating routine work scenarios and edge cases—extreme situations, like needing to enter data that can't fit into a field or perform a step that falls outside a normal workflow.
- Train users by role and daily tasks: Have business area leaders train their direct reports on using the tool in role-based tutorials. This training methodology helps end users understand how the platform integrates with their daily work and provides space for role-specific questions. When users can genuinely understand the value of using the tool in real-life scenarios, adoption is stronger. Scribe helps teams easily create, update, and share workflow documentation to streamline the training process as new software is rolled out.
- Launch, monitor usage, and refine continuously: Launch the process company-wide and monitor usage—especially after the initial rollout period. While buy-in might be good at first, it may drop off if users run into issues and don't get help for them. Team members can create workarounds to avoid interacting with the tool. So, establish clear channels for sharing suggestions and reporting problems, and have IT personnel dedicated to correcting issues and refining workflows.
Common HubSpot CRM implementation mistakes
Most common HubSpot CRM implementation issues can be avoided with smart planning, careful configurations, and constant user input. Here are a few common problems to have on your radar and avoid.
- Treating HubSpot as plug-and-play: The HubSpot CRM may be easy to use, but teams still need to plan a thoughtful implementation that supports its unique workflows.
- Skipping process definition before setup: The only way to truly know how work currently gets done and improve upon these steps during the implementation is to map as-is workflows and study them for inefficiencies.
- Not practicing change management: Inform team members on the "why" behind the implementation, demonstrating the value of the tool. You can also encourage a positive change management process by inviting end-user feedback early in the process, so that team members feel a sense of ownership and like the platform truly meets their needs.
- Overusing automation: Automations should support current workflows, not muddle them with extensive HubSpot CRM implementation triggers (if/then logic) that could ultimately lead to long streams of causal errors. Start with a few automations that have visible benefits you can monitor before automating more.
- Inconsistent lifecycle stages and pipelines: Teams should be clear on what each stage of the lifecycle means and their role in moving leads through them. This way, you avoid inconsistencies, like some team members labeling leads with more advanced lifecycle stages than others.
- Poor data hygiene: Cleaning up data pre-migration is a must. Before using a CRM, teams often hold data in dispersed locations (like spreadsheets) and in distinct formats. For the new tool to run reliably, data needs to be gathered from all current sources and verified first.
- Limited post-launch ownership: Team members should be assigned monitoring responsibilities they can carry into the future, constantly seeking ways to optimize and get more out of the CRM.
Sustaining value after the HubSpot CRM system goes live
Successful HubSpot implementations don't end at rollout. They're continual, iterative processes, always focused on continual improvements.
Assign monitoring responsibility, invite feedback, and have clear channels for reporting errors and receiving IT support. And review the adoption and functionality at frequent intervals, i.e., quarterly.
As processes change, it's important to document new ways of working. Scribe Capture automatically turns processes into easy-to-follow documentation that mirrors teams' most up-to-date workflows. With Scribe, you always have a reliable single source of truth.
How Scribe supports HubSpot CRM implementation
Use Scribe Capture to automatically document HubSpot CRM processes, driving faster adoption and maintaining consistent, efficient workflows with a single source of truth on the latest workflows.
Scribe Capture transforms your workflows into visually-driven, user-friendly playbooks that:
- Support role-based training without heavy live sessions
- Reduce reliance on HubSpot admins and consultants
- Keep documentation current as workflows change
FAQs
Is HubSpot easy to implement?
Yes, the HubSpot CRM system is so easy to implement that teams sometimes jump in too quickly, skipping important planning steps and introducing errors into the platform that won’t allow them to take full advantage of its capacity to improve workflows.
How long does a HubSpot CRM implementation take?
Most users report that the implementation takes fewer than three months, though a complex process at a large organization may require more time.
What does a HubSpot CRM implementation cost?
The HubSpot CRM has a free version and add-ons that can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars based on how much customization and external support are needed.
How do I ensure long-term HubSpot CRM success?
Monitor adoption over the long term and regularly check in with end users, gathering their feedback on process improvements. Also, routinely update workflow guides to encourage consistent workflows and provide reliable training resources for new and existing team members.
