Getting started in Hubspot CRM is a lot of work upfront for a lot of saved headaches later. Kind of like doing your dishes while you cook, except it’s for sales!
Hubspot is a top choice for small and medium-sized businesses, and for good reason. It is nearly infinitely customizable, free, and offers industry-leading support. We like to think we can do it all, but a timelapse of the office will more often than not look like a one-person anthill without smart marketing technology.
If you’re looking to get started on Hubspot, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get into a few tips! (For the purposes of this blog, we’ll assume you have already set up a free account)
Assemble Your Team
Getting your contacts in order can be done in a few simple steps! From your HubSpot account, click the settings icon settings in the main navigation bar. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Users & Teams. In the upper right of this menu, click Create User.
From here, you can either add in contacts manually through inputting their email addresses or add a collection of contacts through a .CSV file.
Huh? What’s that? A .CSV file is like a simple contact book for digital mail platforms. Want to export your own from Gmail? It’s easy!
Set Up Your Sales Batcave
It’s time to turn your team loose! The quickest way to do this is to build your CRM database. This database is where your processes and customer base meet. Hubspot calls these “properties” and will have four defaults upon setup. These are:
Contacts – Anyone who interacts with your business.
Companies – Organizations your company interacts with.
Deals – Tracking customer interactions that may lead to revenue.
Tickets – Customer inquiries and trends compiled over time.
By getting these minor parts into place, you are setting yourself up for success by visualizing your overall processes. If these categories aren’t enough, you can set up your own!
Once your information is in place, you can associate them with each other—contacts to organizations, deals to tickets, etc. This process will allow you to visualize, optimize, and run more effective campaigns.
Get Specific
With your metrics and contacts in place, you can more effectively expand your understanding of processes. Hubspot encourages this through “saved views.” Metrics are your friend, and why you’re putting your content into these services in the first place!
With saved views, you can view different groups of records at a glance from the object’s home. The lists tool provides some additional criteria options and allows you to take action on your contacts.
In reframing and visualizing the processes that lead to your conversions, are blocking your forward progress, or acting as connecting threads in your unique pipeline, you can grow in the short term and solidify practices for the future. That’s CRM, baby!
Implement Add-Ons
Once you’ve got a handle on Hubspot’s free features, explore any of their apps and add-ons!
These services increase the flexibility and effectiveness of your platform, allowing you to integrate with other apps or communications platforms you use. Integrating add-ons could either be the last step or a first step, depending on the technologies which have offered you success in the past.
Installation and setup vary, but Hubspot’s award-winning integrations mean you’ll never be set too far back by loading them into your homepage.
Getting started with Hubspot means getting started on the strategies which will grow you for years to come. This blog company is only a brief overview of some of Hubspot’s services—for more, check out their how-to’s or click around for yourself!
Phew! We know that seems like a lot of information to digest in one short article. If the prospect of trying to get started in Hubspot is giving you major anxiety, let us do it for you! That’s right, instead of taking the time out of your busy schedule to click around a new website and try to learn all its ins and out, Megan Killion Consulting can do it all while you focus on other priorities. Book a chat with us today and let’s see how we can help you.