7 Takeaways From Beta Testing HubSpot’s New CRM Platform

Yesterday, in front of a packed house at INBOUND 2014, HubSpot Co-Founders Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah introduced two major new products to the HubSpot product suite, including HubSpot’s own CRM platform and a sales acceleration tool called Sidekick. 

“Traditional sales technology is necessary but not sufficient. HubSpot’s Sales Platform is designed to arm sales teams with the context they need to improve how they engage with companies, prospects, and leads to drive sales instead of driving people crazy.”

Brian Halligan – CEO & Co-Founder, HubSpot

HubSpot new sales tools have been built from the ground to meet the demands of the modern sales rep. The CRM is intuitive to use, seamless to integrate and takes care of the little details like logging emails, recording calls, and managing your data – freeing up valuable selling time in the process.

As a Platinum HubSpot Partner Agency we actively participate in HubSpot’s Beta Testing Program. Over the last few months we have been using these two new sales tools and admittedly it’s been quite hard to remain tight lipped about how awesome these products really are.

These are our initial thoughts about the new CRM platform:

1. It’s easy to use from day one. Where other systems are made up of dozens of tools and complicated features to learn and customize, HubSpot CRM is designed to get your team started quickly and keep them focused on selling without changing the way they already do things.
2. The platform saves your team time instead of giving them more to do. HubSpot CRM works in the background, organizing every interaction between you and your contacts as you go about your day. It’s there when you need it, and out of the way when you don’t.
3. It is built around the way people shop and buy today. Today’s sales process happens across dozens of channels and hundreds of touch points – from your website and social media to your emails and phone calls. HubSpot CRM tracks and organizes every touch automatically.

To give you a behind the scenes look at these new sales tools we put together an overview of the new features and functionality along with this short review of our experience using the products thus far:

7 Takeaways From Beta Testing HubSpot’s New CRM Platform.

1. If you already use HubSpot – Setting up the CRM is Completely SeamlessHubSpot’s new CRM uses all of same inbound marketing data you’re familiar with, and providers additional layers of context that will change the way your sales reps approach the sales process. Because the two systems use the same database, setting up the CRM for the first time will only takes a few minutes. There is no need to export lists, upload CSVs or do any heavy lifting.If you are already using HubSpot setting up the CRM for your organization will simply be a breeze.
2. This tool is built for sales people – not sales managers – and that’s greatIf you work in sales you know darn well how time consuming managing CRM data can be. Logging emails, recapping calls and setting tasks – all these little steps are a real time suck. Fortunately, HubSpot’s new CRM is built to eliminate the need for data entry so your sales team can be more efficient with their time.
3. Lead Lifecycle Management is More Important Than EverWith all of the data from your inbound marketing activities tied directly into the native HubSpot CRM you can really start to measure the performance of your sales and marketing funnel. Within the CRM you can quickly create lists and pull reports on how leads are progressing through the customer lifecycle.
4. Integrated Pipeline Management Will Uncover New Marketing InsightsRight out of the box the HubSpot CRM focuses on your attention on the metrics that matter the most. The platform has clearly been designed to help sales and marketing teams understand the ROI of each marketing channel, lead source and campaign. It’s a beautiful thing.
5. Kanban Boards Introduce Agile Methodology to SalesKanban boards, frequently used in agile methodology, are a visual representation of your current work situation. The HubSpot CRM has a kanban board built right into the tool.  This approach to task management will help your sales team adopt a more agile sales methodology, shorten your sales cycle and ultimately close more deals.
6. Lead Profile Targeting is Super Powerful The CRM’s ability filter leads into super targeted lists is really powerful. With just a few clicks of a button you can segment hyper targeted listed based on company location, industry, vertical, annual revenue or any custom field you have configured within HubSpot. The CRM shares a database with the marketing product so really filter by any piece of information that you record.
7. HubSpot + Sidekick + CRM = all you need to power your business

HubSpot’s product development team went to great lengths to understand the demands of the modern sales team and deliver a product that streamlines the sales process while leveraging contextual marketing information. 

We’re already huge fans of the HubSpot inbound marketing platform, but with the addition of a native CRM and Sidekick, their new sales acceleration tool, we are now completely convinced that HubSpot’s software platform has the power to run both sales and marketing.

If you were considering either implementing a CRM or getting started with inbound marketing – now is your time. This new HubSpot CRM is truely sales & marketing alignment at it’s finest.

“HubSpot’s CRM and Sidekick are perfect for companies that want to transform how they attract, engage, and delight prospects, customers and leads and want sales technology that matches today’s buying process.”

Brian Halligan – CEO & Co-Founder, HubSpot