At Real Inbound, we’ve worked with many businesses who’ve invested in HubSpot expecting it to revolutionise their sales, marketing, and customer service operations. But for many, it doesn’t quite go as planned. Why? They’ve encountered what we call the HubSpot Adoption Gap—the space between buying HubSpot and actually getting it to work properly within the business.
The truth is, HubSpot is only as powerful as the way you use it. And while it’s a brilliant tool, it isn’t a magic wand that will solve your business problems without the right implementation and usage. In this article, we’ll discuss the symptoms of the HubSpot Adoption Gap and, more importantly, how to fix them so you can finally unlock HubSpot’s full potential.
Symptoms of the HubSpot Adoption Gap
Before diving into the solutions, let’s look at the key symptoms that indicate your business might be suffering from the HubSpot Adoption Gap.
Data is the foundation of any CRM. But if your HubSpot data is incomplete, outdated, or full of duplicates, it’s not going to deliver the insights you need. This is one of the most common symptoms of the HubSpot Adoption Gap. Without clean, accurate data, your sales and marketing teams will struggle to make informed decisions, and your customer service teams will lack the context they need to provide exceptional support.
The Fix:
Start by performing a full data audit. This means cleaning up your contact lists, merging duplicates, and ensuring that all customer records are up to date. Going forward, set up data governance rules in HubSpot, such as mandatory fields for new contacts and automated deduplication tools. This will help keep your data clean and actionable in the future.
Quick Tip: HubSpot has a built-in Data Quality Command Centre to help you stay on top of data hygiene. Use it regularly to monitor data health across your entire platform.
Are your marketing efforts all over the place? If your campaigns feel disjointed, you’re not alone. When HubSpot is underutilised, businesses tend to lack a clear marketing strategy. This results in low-impact campaigns that don’t connect with their audience.
The Fix:
The key to closing this gap is marketing automation. HubSpot’s marketing automation tools allow you to create cohesive, multi-step campaigns that guide prospects through the buyer’s journey. Start by mapping out your marketing goals and building workflows that automate repetitive tasks, like email follow-ups or social media scheduling. Make sure your messaging is aligned with your audience’s pain points and your sales strategy.
Quick Tip: Use HubSpot’s Lead Scoring feature to prioritise high-quality leads and set up smart content to deliver personalised messages that resonate with your prospects.
If your sales team is struggling to hit targets or your pipeline feels disorganised, this is another common sign of the HubSpot Adoption Gap. Without the right sales tools in place, leads slip through the cracks, and follow-ups become inconsistent.
The Fix:
HubSpot’s Sales Hub is designed to give your sales team all the tools they need to stay on top of their pipeline, close deals faster, and work more efficiently. Start by creating a structured sales process within HubSpot. This should include:
By using these tools, your sales team can improve both their efficiency and their consistency, leading to more closed deals.
Quick Tip: Use HubSpot Sequences to automate personalised follow-up emails and streamline outreach efforts.
One of HubSpot’s biggest strengths is its ability to align your marketing, sales, and customer service teams. But if your teams are working in silos, they’re not taking full advantage of HubSpot’s potential. Siloed teams create friction, miscommunication, and inconsistent customer experiences.
The Fix:
To overcome this, break down silos by fully integrating HubSpot across all departments. HubSpot should become the single source of truth for your entire organisation. This means:
By using HubSpot as a centralised platform, you’ll encourage collaboration and reduce friction between teams.
Quick Tip: Set up HubSpot Dashboards that can be shared across departments so everyone can see key performance metrics in real-time.
Finally, if your reporting process feels disjointed or takes too long, it’s a clear sign that HubSpot isn’t being used effectively. Without centralised reporting, it’s difficult to track the success of your marketing campaigns, sales efforts, and customer support activities.
The Fix:
HubSpot’s reporting tools allow you to generate custom dashboards that pull data from across the platform, giving you real-time insights into every part of your business. Instead of wasting time manually pulling reports from different systems, you can get all the information you need in one place.
Quick Tip: Use HubSpot’s Attribution Reporting to see exactly how your marketing efforts are driving revenue. This will help you focus on the strategies that are working and refine those that aren’t.
What HubSpot Can Do When Fully Adopted
Now that we’ve identified the key symptoms of the HubSpot Adoption Gap, let’s talk about what your business stands to gain when HubSpot is fully adopted and working properly.
When HubSpot is fully adopted, you’ll have real-time access to reporting at every stage of your processes. Whether it’s marketing performance, sales pipeline activity, or customer service resolution times, HubSpot gives you a comprehensive view of your business operations.
This kind of visibility is critical for making data-driven decisions and allows you to flex your sales and marketing plans instantly.
When all your teams are using HubSpot, it becomes your single source of truth. This means you’ll have a complete picture of your customers—from their first interaction with your website to their latest support request. Having this centralised data allows you to deliver a consistent customer experience across all touchpoints.
With real-time data and powerful insights at your fingertips, you can quickly adjust your sales and marketing strategies to respond to changes in the market or customer behaviour. HubSpot’s flexibility ensures that you’re always able to stay ahead of the curve, making quick decisions that keep your business moving forward.
One of the most powerful benefits of HubSpot is its ability to act as a business-wide Management Control System (MCS). This means that HubSpot not only helps you manage your marketing, sales, and service efforts, but also allows you to measure performance across the entire organisation. With HubSpot, you can set key performance indicators (KPIs) and track them in real-time, ensuring that your business is always on track to meet its goals.
HubSpot also allows you to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that streamline operations and create efficiency throughout your organisation. By building workflows and automations into your HubSpot setup, you can ensure that repetitive tasks are handled consistently and efficiently, freeing up your team to focus on higher-level strategic work.
Why HubSpot Alone Won’t Solve the Problem
Here’s an important thing to remember: HubSpot is a tool, not a strategy. Simply buying HubSpot won’t solve your business challenges. You need to build your strategy into HubSpot and then use the platform in the way it was intended.
Many businesses make the mistake of expecting HubSpot to do the heavy lifting without putting in the effort to fully adopt it across their teams. But here’s the truth: HubSpot needs more from you. It requires commitment, training, and a focus on aligning your processes with the platform’s capabilities.
How Real Inbound Helps Close the HubSpot Adoption Gap
At Real Inbound, we specialise in helping businesses close the HubSpot Adoption Gap, no matter what symptoms they’re experiencing. Whether your data is disorganised, your teams are siloed, or your reporting is lacking focus, we’ll work with you to create a tailored adoption plan that gets HubSpot working for your business.
Here’s how we do it:
By working with us, you’ll get more than just a tool—you’ll get a strategy for success.
Conclusion: HubSpot Needs More From You to Deliver More For You
The HubSpot Adoption Gap is real, but it’s not insurmountable. By addressing the symptoms and fully adopting HubSpot across your business, you’ll unlock its full potential and start seeing real results.
Remember: HubSpot is only as powerful as the way you use it. It requires more than just implementation—it requires integration, alignment, and ongoing optimisation.
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