This quote has been popping into my head all week.
I was on a call a few days ago with a company that has been using HubSpot for 12 years. They had to be one of HubSpot’s first marketing automation customers which means their leadership team at the time was quite progressive and forward thinking to implement such a new tool.
The problem is that their system has barely evolved since then.
They still use HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, but they never connected it to their Dynamics CRM because the sales team didn’t adopt the CRM so there’s not much data in it. Because of this disconnect, the marketing team has no way to ‘close the loop’ and measure the outcomes they’re working hard to create.
This also causes the data in HubSpot to be incomplete, meaning:
These are fundamental things that should be simple with any CRM. Not to mention leveraging AI is impossible if you don’t have good data.
It was a very frustrating call (for me!). I can only imagine how frustrated the two people I was speaking with are. They know they could have SO much more impact, but their leadership team is either stuck with the status quo or simply hasn’t communicated why they can’t or won’t invest in CRM optimization to get a better return on their marketing and sales investments.
Which brings me back to Lauren’s quote above. Lauren, a recent RevOps Champions podcast guest, previously owned a CRM implementation consultancy, similar to Denamico, where she helped companies implement both Salesforce and HubSpot. She’s an expert in both tools and built her career on her CRM experience.
Ultimately, when an opportunity opened up at HubSpot, she decided to sell her company and join HubSpot. Her reason was that she truly believes HubSpot improves customers’ quality of life and is passionate about the impact it can create for people.
One story she shared was about a senior sales executive she knew at LinkedIn, who tried to hire a senior sales rep. It was a big role with a total compensation package of $1M per year.
Shockingly, the favorite candidate declined the offer after learning that LinkedIn didn’t use HubSpot. This person felt they could not be successful without a CRM that was both powerful and easy to use. Without HubSpot, they didn’t think they could be productive enough to reach their personal or business goals.
Lauren’s words keep echoing for me because I hear similar stories every week.
So many companies invest in complex tools like Salesforce or Dynamics, thinking more power will mean better results. Instead, what often happens is that the tool is overkill for what the business and its people actually need. User adoption doesn’t happen, teams feel frustrated, and the data that should be driving smarter decisions is missing.
At the end of the day, technology should make work easier, not harder.
A better experience at work really does lead to a better life.
What do your sales reps and marketing professionals tell their friends about the tools they use for their jobs? Do their friends want to come and work at your company or is it the other way around?
Cheers to better work (and life),
Kristin
Kristin Dennewill
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