OpGen Media: Marketing Ops & Demand Generation Insights

How to Switch From Salesforce to HubSpot Sales CRM

Mar 29, 2021 11:20:08 AM / by Brandon Pindulic

Your demand engine depends on a high-quality sales process. That sales process requires a rock-solid foundation to ensure you’re able to connect with your customers at every stage of the funnel. A powerful CRM tool can help.

 

CRM

 

There are many CRM solutions available on the market. Salesforce and HubSpot are often seen as the two main contenders. If you require an out-of-the-box solution that’s easy to use, customize and scale, HubSpot Sales CRM is a great choice.

Why Make the Switch From Salesforce to HubSpot CRM?

Both Salesforce and HubSpot are scalable with tools to support your marketing and B2B sales efforts. Yet, there are many reasons why many B2B companies choose to make the switch to HubSpot:

  • Pricing: With HubSpot, you only pay one price for all included features. Plus, the only extra users you’ll pay for are those who generate revenue. Salesforce charges for every user and requires payment for some essential features.
  • Usability: HubSpot is remarkably easy to use and typically doesn’t require a specific administrator for operation. Salesforce typically requires an administrator for daily use, which can be costly for your business.
  • Adoption: HubSpot offers a user-friendly adoption process, allowing you to quickly set-up and take advantage of your new CRM. Salesforce is powerful with endless customization, but it takes time to implement the features and additional training is often required.
  • Support: Salesforce charges a percentage of your net price for premier support. In contrast, for companies using any of HubSpot’s paid solutions, phone and email support is offered at no extra cost.

How to Seamlessly Migrate From Salesforce to HubSpot CRM

Ready to make the switch? We know you have lead generation, MQL and pipeline goals, as well as revenue targets to meet. You may even feel stretched thin with little to no internal marketing support. Migration may already seem overwhelming without these factors weighing heavily on your team.

The good news is that the transition from Salesforce to the HubSpot Sales CRM is relatively straightforward and can be done without business interruption. Here are the basic steps.

1. Analyze Your Data & Processes

You’ll need to take a deeper look at the data you house in your current system, including leads and existing customer data. Start by answering these questions:

  • What types of data do you keep? 
  • How is the data organized? 
  • Which data will you want to migrate to the next system?
  • Where will the data need to go once moved?

Before moving on, document your current process, including all workflows, current automation and integrations. This ensures your new set-up matches your current process.

Important: Before you start the migration process, it’s critical that you back-up your data. If something goes wrong during migration, you don’t want to lose it all.

2. Build Out Your Customizations in HubSpot

The next step is to build out your custom properties in HubSpot. This is especially important for ensuring all of your data transfers successfully. 

HubSpot offers built-in properties for basic data such as customer NAP information. Yet, for data that doesn’t fit these basic properties, you’ll need to create custom ones.

Integrations

With custom properties defined, you’ll need to set-up your integrations inside HubSpot. The software offers over 500 pre-built connectors ready for implementation. If HubSpot doesn’t have the integration you need, you can use the open API to build one that fits.

You will also want to take any other customizations into account such as lead routing and assignment, lead notifications, and/or other automation. 

Note: Use this time to analyze your current process and eliminate what’s holding you back. One of the benefits of moving to HubSpot is the simplifying of your workflows.

3. Perform a Data Migration Test

With the backbone created for your data, it’s time to perform a test to see how everything works together. This ensures you can make any tweaks before you move forward with a complete migration.

Start by transferring a bit of data to your system to see how it works. You may find holes in your process or areas where your data is incompatible. Continue to test until the CRM works as it should.

4. Export & Clean Your Data

We recommend exporting your data into a .csv file. Next, you can perform a final clean up of the data to ensure accuracy. This includes the removal of any duplicate data or unused fields within your system. 

HubSpot does some of this work for you by checking for redundant data during migration. For example, HubSpot will deduplicate company domain names and email addresses. However, deals and tickets will not be deduplicated. It's still recommended to have the cleanest import spreadsheet possible to eliminate any potential data issues or errors.

5. Migrate Your Data

Once clean, you’re ready to upload. HubSpot offers a native Salesforce integration to automate the migration. For data that are complex or don’t transfer via .csv, you can use an API or third-party tool to complete the migration.

6. Get Support

Even with a powerhouse tool like HubSpot, migration can be challenging for large SaaS enterprises. For a seamless transition, we recommend reaching out to an experienced CRM system support team.

OpGen Media is a HubSpot Platinum Partner. We have years of experience assisting companies like yours migrate from one platform to another to improve customer relationships, increase revenue and improve ROI.

We’re here to help you through the technical steps in migration. We’ll also uncover and correct holes in your process to improve your demand engine.

Take Back Control of Your Demand Engine With OpGen Media

A solid demand engine requires a high-quality CRM management system for success. HubSpot and OpGen to the rescue. As a HubSpot Platinum Partner, OpGen Media is ready to help you scale your business through complete B2B marketing automation set-up. To learn more, reach out to our team today.

Topics: B2B, Demand Generation, Marketing Automation, HubSpot, b2b sales, CRM, Salesforce

Brandon Pindulic

Written by Brandon Pindulic