Sales and Marketing Just Got Better: Say Hello to HubSpot's New CRM

Mark my words… this is the biggest update in HubSpot product history. Ever.

What began as a simple blogging and content platform has now transformed how tens of thousands of marketers across the world are connecting with their prospects and customers-- both online and off. As true inbound marketing nerds, we find ourselves on the edge of our seats around August of every year, awaiting the new feature updates that HubSpot has been brewing up the past 365 days.

Each update helps us markets what we do best: converting, closing, and delighting customers. In the words of Brian Halligan, Co-founder and CEO of HubSpot,"We started HubSpot because we felt the way consumers shop and buy had fundamentally changed. The inbound movement has helped transform the world of marketing, and we really feel like there's a huge opportunity to transform the customer experience with sales technology that enables companies to sell more, better, and faster." We couldn’t agree more.

We couldn’t be more excited to share how HubSpot, more than ever, has helped close the loop between marketing and sales this year. And they’re doing this via two massive product unveilings: Sidekick, and a CRM. You heard me right, a CRM.

Let’s face it. Sometimes sales doesn’t have it too easy. Being tasked with closing new business, above all else, sales account executives get bogged down with monotonous tasks that, while small, are required to keep the overarching sales machine running.

Pick up the phone. Ask for contact information. Record the contact information. Submit to your CRM. View the contact’s profile. Enter additional notes. Assign tasks.

The point here is that salespeople are currently required to do things that take them away from what they do best… closing customers. And HubSpot’s new CRM is targeted to attack that very pain point.

Some of the key features you can look forward to:

• The new CRM will feature a timeline for each new contact created capturing every touch point that the individual has had with your site, giving your sales team the insights they need to gauge interest for each prospect.

• True to HubSpot’s nature, the CRM makes things easy by eliminating time-consuming tasks found in other CRMs.  You can automatically create company records and associate contacts, log deals and tasks, and remove duplicate leads, allowing your team to focus on more important tasks.
• The CRM integrates with Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail. Instead of togging between applications, you will easily be able to send emails directly from a contact record.
• Similarly, the CRM integrates seamlessly with Google Calendar, allowing you to create new appointments and schedule meetings without ever having to open a new window.

• Calling a contact is one click away. Using VOIP, you can call any contact directly from the CRM. For an additional cost, the call can be recorded and saved in the contact record potentially saving your salespeople hours of logging notes.

• The CRM features all the data you need. Contact and company records include background information, details on key personnel, social data and handles, related companies, and more.

• While not officially part of the CRM, Sidekick Notifications shows you when, where, and how your prospects are interacting with you. You will receive notifications when your email is opened or clicked, or your website is visited.

The best part? It will be available free of cost. CEO & Founder, Brian Halligan, put it best. “"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."

In short, HubSpot’s new updates will help us accomplish one things, more than anything else: closing the loop. This couldn’t be more imperative to determining what your business’s most successful digital marketing channels are. Forget the back and forth of exporting and importing of customer spreadsheets. Forget the Greek of attaching “Closed//Won” marked opportunities in Salesforce to contact profiles in Salesforce. Do yourself, and your company a favor, and integrate all of these sales and marketing best practices into one platform.

If your business is looking to get the most out of their sales team and take the technology that helps you move forward to the next level, you will not want to miss HubSpot’s new CRM and additional marketing updates to the software. They’re a “smarketing” (sales and marketing, of course) no-brainer.