What we know
Tools we've used properly, not just watched a demo of.
Anyone can list logos. Here's the same list with an honest opinion attached to each one, because knowing when not to use something is the useful part.
CRM
HubSpot
HubSpot is brilliant when it's set up around how a team actually sells, and an expensive filing cabinet when it isn't. Most of the work is deciding what not to track.
What it's good at
- Getting sales, marketing and service looking at the same contact record
- Lifecycle stages, sequences and reporting that people will genuinely use
- Workflows that quietly do the admin nobody wants to do
- A well documented API, so it plays nicely with everything else
Where it gets awkward
- Association limits and object design bite you months later, not on day one
- Custom properties multiply until nobody trusts the data
- Pricing tiers hide the feature you assumed was included
- Marketing contacts creep up if nothing tidies them
Our experience with it
We've migrated teams into HubSpot, rescued portals that had drifted for years, and rebuilt reporting so the numbers matched reality. We're usually the ones deleting properties rather than adding them.
Things we've built or connected
Two way sync between HubSpot and a bespoke operations database
Lead routing that reads form answers and books straight into the right diary
Quote to invoice handover into Xero without anyone rekeying it
Usually in the same conversation