If you find one of those “top ten best CRMs” lists that doesn’t include HubSpot, you can safely close the page and find another one – it’s not to be trusted.
HubSpot is simply up there with the best of them, and in our opinion it should be considered one of the greats in the complete pantheon of business solutions since the digital revolution started.
If you’re new to the platform, here are the basics.
What is a CRM?
A customer relationship management (CRM) solution is a piece of software that keeps a database of your business’s interactions with existing and potential customers. You can imagine how complicated it is to keep tabs on all your leads, customers and ex-customers, especially as they are probably spread over several departments (or, in smaller businesses, different individuals).
A CRM lets you have complete visibility of each customer’s interactions with you – what they’ve bought from you, where they are in the sales funnel, or why they left you. You then use that information to win new customers, delight existing ones and win back those pesky leavers.
HubSpot combines marketing and sales
One of the most notable benefits of HubSpot CRM is that it combines marketing and sales under one platform. Since both teams each have their own goals, wouldn’t it make sense for each to know how the other is performing, so they can better assess their own prospects?
It’s a surprisingly uncommon feature in the CRM world, yet HubSpot provides a common hub so both elements of the sales funnel can see the progress of individual targets or groups. Marketing can see how their hard-won leads are progressing, and sales can identify fertile ground for future marketing efforts.
It’s free for small businesses
If you’re a start-up, the last thing you need is more expenses, so it’s thrilling to know that you can get a top-ranking professional CRM for free. Naturally, the free version is stripped down, but if you’re just looking for the basics including contact database, sales pipeline and reporting, it’s good to go.
Once you pass a million contacts, you have to start paying, so most small businesses don’t have to worry about that threshold. And if you want to enhance the experience, the add-ons will cost money, but again, if you’re at the stage where you need the extra services, you’ll probably be profitable enough to pay for them.
It has a built-in CMS
We’ve already written about the built-in content management system that can be used with HubSpot. It’s a perfectly good site-builder, and although it has nowhere near the usership of WordPress, it comes with its own range of tools to achieve 100% integration with the main CRM. If you’ve got a Magento or WordPress site, don’t worry – you’ll still be able to integrate customer tracking through the HubSpot integration or plugin.
You can link it to social media
If you rely on social media to get your name and your offering out there, HubSpot is your natural choice. It seamlessly integrates with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to get user data from those who interact with your business, making it easier to move from the “awareness” to the “interest” stages of the sales funnel.
Partner with a HubSpot developer
If you like what you see but don’t know where to go next, have a chat with Gooey. We’ve got dedicated HubSpot experts ready to take on your business and combine your website, sales, marketing and CRM into one powerful integrated tool.
