HubSpot has become the go-to CRM and marketing platform for growing businesses. But its power can be overwhelming—so many features, so many options, so many ways to overcomplicate things.
This guide helps small businesses set up HubSpot effectively, focusing on what actually matters and avoiding common pitfalls.
Choosing the Right HubSpot Plan
HubSpot offers several hubs (Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS) at various tiers. Don't buy everything immediately.
Starting Point for Most Small Businesses
HubSpot CRM (Free) + Marketing Hub Starter is typically sufficient initially:
- Free CRM with unlimited users and contacts
- Email marketing tools
- Basic forms and landing pages
- Simple automation
- Live chat
- Reporting dashboards
Total cost: £15-40/month for Starter
Start with less than you think you need. HubSpot makes upgrading easy, but downgrading is harder. Prove value at a lower tier before committing more budget.
When to Upgrade
Consider Professional tiers when you need:
- Advanced automation (more than simple triggers)
- Sophisticated lead scoring
- A/B testing
- Custom reporting
- Marketing campaign management
- Sales sequences
What Most Small Businesses Don't Need Initially
- Sales Hub Professional (unless you have a dedicated sales team)
- Service Hub Professional (unless you have significant support volume)
- CMS Hub (unless you're moving your website to HubSpot)
- Enterprise tiers (until you're significantly larger)
Initial Setup: The Essentials
Step 1: Configure Your Account
Company details:
- Business name and logo
- Time zone and currency
- Fiscal year settings
- Social media accounts
User setup:
- Add team members with appropriate permissions
- Set up teams if needed
- Configure notification preferences
Domain settings:
- Connect your email sending domain
- Authenticate for better deliverability
- Set up tracking code on your website
Step 2: Import Your Data
Most businesses have existing contact data to import. Clean it first:
- Remove duplicates
- Standardise formats (phone numbers, addresses)
- Verify email addresses if possible
- Map fields to HubSpot properties
Pro tip: Create a test import with 10-20 contacts first to verify mapping works correctly before importing thousands.
Step 3: Customise Properties
HubSpot includes default contact properties, but you'll likely need custom ones:
Common custom properties:
- Lead source (how they found you)
- Industry or sector
- Company size
- Specific interests or needs
- Lifecycle stage criteria specific to your business
Resist the urge to create dozens of custom properties. Every property needs data entry—complexity kills adoption. Start minimal and add as needed.
Step 4: Set Up Pipeline Stages
Your deal pipeline should reflect your actual sales process:
Simple service business example:
- Enquiry received
- Discovery call scheduled
- Proposal sent
- Negotiation
- Closed won / Closed lost
Keep stages meaningful and distinct. If you can't clearly define when a deal moves between stages, you have too many or poorly defined stages.
Essential Automations for Small Businesses
Lead Capture
Set up forms on your website connected to HubSpot:
- Contact form → Create contact, notify team
- Newsletter signup → Add to newsletter list
- Content downloads → Create contact, send asset, start nurture sequence
Welcome Sequence
Automate your response to new contacts:
Trigger: Form submission Actions:
- Send immediate thank you email
- Wait 2 days
- Send helpful content email
- Wait 3 days
- Send introduction to services
- Update lifecycle stage
Task Creation
Automate follow-up reminders:
- New form submission → Create task for sales
- Deal stuck in stage → Create follow-up task
- Customer anniversary approaching → Create check-in task
Internal Notifications
Keep your team informed automatically:
- High-value lead submitted → Slack/email notification
- Deal moved to proposal stage → Notify relevant team member
- Support request received → Alert support team
HubSpot's Starter tier limits you to simple automation (single trigger, single action). For complex workflows, you'll need Professional.
Setting Up Effective Reporting
Essential Dashboards
Sales Dashboard:
- Deals in pipeline by stage
- Revenue forecast
- Activity metrics (calls, meetings, emails)
- Win/loss ratio
Marketing Dashboard:
- Website traffic
- Lead sources
- Email performance
- Conversion rates
Reports That Actually Help
Focus on actionable metrics:
- Contacts created by source: Where do leads come from?
- Deal stage funnel: Where do deals stall?
- Email engagement: What content resonates?
- Activity vs. outcome: Is activity translating to results?
Avoid vanity metrics that look good but don't inform decisions.
Common HubSpot Mistakes to Avoid
Over-Engineering from Day One
It's tempting to build complex systems immediately. Don't.
Start simple:
- Basic contact management
- Simple automations
- Standard reporting
Add complexity only when you've mastered basics and have clear needs.
Poor Data Hygiene
Garbage in, garbage out. Establish data standards early:
- Naming conventions for contacts and companies
- Required fields for deals
- Regular cleanup processes
- Duplicate management routine
Ignoring Lifecycle Stages
HubSpot's lifecycle stages help segment your database:
- Subscriber
- Lead
- Marketing Qualified Lead
- Sales Qualified Lead
- Opportunity
- Customer
- Evangelist
Define clear criteria for each stage and use them. This enables targeted communication and accurate reporting.
Not Using the Mobile App
HubSpot's mobile app is excellent for salespeople:
- Log calls immediately
- Update deals on the go
- Access contact information anywhere
- Receive real-time notifications
Ensure your team uses it.
Forgetting Integration
HubSpot's value increases when connected to other tools:
- Email (Gmail or Outlook)
- Calendar
- Calling tools
- Accounting software
- Other marketing tools
Set up key integrations early.
Integrations Worth Considering
Essential Integrations
- Email: Gmail or Outlook integration for tracking and logging
- Calendar: For meeting scheduling
- Website: Tracking code for visitor identification
Valuable Additions
- Calling: Aircall, RingCentral, etc. for call logging
- Proposals: PandaDoc or Proposify for document tracking
- Accounting: Xero or QuickBooks for invoice sync
- Slack: For team notifications
Training Your Team
HubSpot adoption fails without proper training:
Minimum Training Requirements
- How to log activities
- How to manage deals
- How to use tasks
- How to access reports
- Mobile app usage
Ongoing Reinforcement
- Regular check-ins on usage
- Address friction points quickly
- Share wins enabled by HubSpot
- Continuous improvement of processes
The best CRM is one people actually use. If adoption is poor, simplify your setup. Complexity you don't use is worse than useless—it's a barrier.
Getting Help
HubSpot offers various support resources:
- HubSpot Academy: Free courses and certifications
- Knowledge Base: Detailed documentation
- Community: Forums for peer advice
- Partner agencies: For implementation support
For complex implementations or limited internal capacity, working with a HubSpot partner can accelerate setup and avoid common mistakes.
The Bottom Line
HubSpot is a powerful platform, but power doesn't require complexity. The most successful small business implementations:
- Start with essential features only
- Focus on adoption over sophistication
- Maintain clean data
- Build on proven foundations
- Add complexity only when needed
Get the basics right, and HubSpot will transform how you manage customer relationships and marketing.
Need help setting up HubSpot or other marketing systems? Our marketing systems service includes CRM setup and automation. Get in touch to discuss your needs.