As a platinum HubSpot Agency partner, we have worked with dozens of companies to automate their sales, marketing and customer services activities using this robust platform. While you may think much of that work is tactical, a big part of what we do is coaching and training internal teams on how to use the platform to its fullest potential.
Over the years we have seen all sorts of … fascinating ways that companies are using HubSpot. Some of them are more successful than others! But the mistakes we see people making over and over can generally be broken down into five distinct types.
Here are the most common mistakes we see companies making with HubSpot:
5 Common Mistakes Companies Make with HubSpot
1. Lack of Strategy
What do you want to achieve with HubSpot? Did word come down on high that you “needed” a CRM… without any guidance on why or how it should be used? Maybe you heard of HubSpot and knew it had something to do with managing customer and lead data - but once you got the system up and running, your team forgot about it.
If the use of your new CRM isn’t embedded in your sales and marketing processes, it’s not going to get used to its full potential. At Marketing Essentials, we always lead with strategy when talking to our clients, whether they are with us to talk HubSpot or other digital marketing and sales strategies, it all comes back to the work you put in ahead of time. Without a clear strategy, you are just making it up as you go along, and that makes the whole process way more stressful than it needs to be.
2. No Team Buy-In
If your team doesn’t believe in HubSpot, they aren’t going to use it effectively. Period. Ensure that your team is involved in the process of vetting CRMs, or - if you are inheriting a CRM like HubSpot - take the time to ensure that both you and your team get the training needed to both be comfortable using the system and to believe in the system. If you can’t communicate why using this platform will make their lives easier or why it’s a huge improvement from the old system, it won’t be used to its full potential.
3. HubSpot as Excel Spreadsheet
Many companies use HubSpot as a sales CRM - a way to track and store lead and customer data. The trouble is, once all the data’s in there, they aren’t sure what to do with it. This problem goes back to the overall strategy and team buy-in.
If all you’re using HubSpot for is customer data storage, you’re better off going back to that spreadsheet. HubSpot allows you to transform your sales, marketing and customer service processes to close more deals and reach more customers with a lot less effort. But if you aren’t taking advantage of the platform’s automation and data features, you’re missing out. This leads us to our next point.
4. Ignoring the Data
HubSpot provides a wealth of data for numbers-hungry sales teams and stakeholders. But how often are you analyzing that data and using it to guide improvements to your sales and marketing efforts?
HubSpot provides real-time dashboards about landing page, workflow, and newsletter performance - and so much more. Ensure that leveraging this data to forecast and steer your campaigns and communications is part of your process (it goes back to strategy, again!).
5. Not Integrating Apps
Did you know that HubSpot can integrate data across multiple platforms? The HubSpot App ecosystem is huge and growing all the time. You can synch tools into your platform such as data from PPC campaigns, Facebook Messenger and video streams.
HubSpot can bring data together from platforms as diverse as Slack, Zoom, Databox and Hotjar - and put it all in one place for your teams to analyze! No more hunting and pecking through a dozen sites to pull your data reports together. So start putting the “hub” in HubSpot and get your channels connected!
Finding A HubSpot Partner
Whether you’re just getting started with HubSpot or are looking to take greater advantage of its features to improve sales, marketing and customer service performance, contact Marketing Essentials. As a premier HubSpot-certified agency partner, we specialize in training, coaching, implementing and optimizing how companies use the HubSpot CRM and Marketing Automation platform.
