6 Questions to Consider before Beginning Your CRM and HubSpot Integration

Many companies new to HubSpot, or those looking to increase their ROI with the automation software, find the idea of an integration with their customer relationship management (CRM) system an appealing one. Not only does an integration help remove the need for manual lead assignment to a sales team, but it brings closed loop marketing to the forefront of savvy marketers looking to prove campaign success.

However, the idea of an integration can often be overwhelming with the worry of moving around data from one software environment to another. It's important to first communicate internally about the vision for how HubSpot and your CRM will work together. To get the conversation started, we've compiled six questions to discuss between your marketing and sales teams before beginning the integration process. 

1. What are you looking to achieve with the integration?

The integration between your CRM and HubSpot portal can help you achieve a variety of goals. It helps to plan your quarterly, yearly and 5-year goals before you begin your integration. Defining your goals helps you determine why you’re moving forward with a HubSpot CRM integration. Answers may include:

• Increase lead generation
• Improve customer engagement and lower churn
• Implement content marketing to help the sales team during a buyer's journey
• Track closed-loop reporting and revenue attribution from your marketing efforts
• Boost sales and revenue

2. How's your data quality?

Data quality is a crucial aspect for ensuring your CRM integration proceeds smoothly. Duplicate records can cause major hassles, so you want to ensure you identify any duplicate records to determine why they exist. Questions to ask are:

• Do you have duplicate records? Is this intentional or by accident?
• If your duplicate records are intentional, is your policy for creating them well-documented so the integration can follow the necessary logic?

Your job here is twofold. You first want to merge any accidental duplicate records so you begin the integration with cleaned-up set of records. Your second task is to implement a duplicate detection policy to avoid complications once you’re connected to HubSpot.

3. Are all your key stakeholders on the same page?

Before you move forward with the HubSpot CRM integration, you want to ensure everyone involved is aware of and supportive of the plan. Questions to ask include:

• Do you have buy-in for a marketing and sales integration?
• Does everyone understand what HubSpot does and how you're going to use it?
• Are you clear on the organization's goals and who is responsible for achieving them?
• Do you have enough resources to get the job done?

The last question focuses on resources from your marketing, sales and IT departments, as you don’t want to come up short or scrambling with any of the above.

See Also: How Closed Loop Marketing Can Help Align Your Marketing and Sales Teams

4. What is your current lead generation strategy?

HubSpot inbound marketing tools are exceptional for helping you convert visitors into leads. To make a smooth transition, you want to review how your current lead generation strategy functions. Questions to ask include:

• How do leads find you?
• How do you qualify leads for the sales team? Do you use lead scoring, manual review and hand-off, or other criteria?
• Do you have a lead quality review meeting with sales?
• How do you improve your lead quality over time?

If you’re having trouble answering any of the above questions, it may be time to implement processes that fill in the blanks. This would also be a good time to revisit your definitions of qualified leads, detailing what makes a marketing qualified lead and what makes a sales qualified lead.

5.) How will you measure success?

Just as it’s tough to reach your goals if you’re unclear about what they are, it’s even tougher to gauge your success if you don’t have a way to measure it. Before you move forward with the HubSpot CRM integration, ask yourself:

• What metrics, KPIs, and what reporting do you have in place?
• Will those be the same metrics, KPIs and reporting you want to use going forward?

Keep in mind that HubSpot offers an array of analytics you may want to incorporate into your success measurements.

6.) What lead and customer data is important for you to access in HubSpot?

Now you’re down to the nitty-gritty, determining what data you want to pass between your CRM and HubSpot. Choices in HubSpot include standard property fields, such as First Name, Last Name, and Email Address. You can also create up to 1,000 custom property fields to suit specific, out-of-the-ordinary needs. Questions to ask:

• What fields will you use for segmentation, workflow triggers and content personalization?
• What fields would be helpful specifically for:
  • Lead/contact data?
  • Accounts/company data?
  • Deal/opportunity data?
• What custom fields do you need to create to properly retain and use existing data?
• What fields are important for your reporting needs?

Once you’ve thoroughly reviewed and answered the above questions, your company will be better prepared to move forward with your HubSpot CRM integration. You’ll have a solid idea of everything from your objectives to your measurements for success, along with a platform to help you achieve it. For more help with integrating your CRM with HubSpot, contact Lynton today.