As your business grows, so do opportunities to engage with prospects and potential clients through multiple channels. The best thing about a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is that it can help you track leads, nurture customer relationships and organize contacts.
Did you know that HubSpot has a free CRM to help you do this, as well as paid options for growing businesses that may need more features?
Wondering if it is time to upgrade your HubSpot CRM? While the benefits and advantages of doing it can be far-ranging, before making any decisions, it is best to understand the key differences between various versions, such as HubSpot Sales Free, HubSpot Sales Starter, and Sales Pro.
Can you easily get by on HubSpot Sales Free? Do you really need to choose a paid or premium option to get all the features and functionality that are important for your sales team? Read on to find out.
Who should use HubSpot’s Free CRM?
You will be happy to know that with free HubSpot CRM, you’ll get plenty of tools and features to improve customer relations as well as post-sales processes. It is worth noting that the software comes with many built-in features for managing your contacts and leads, monitoring sales performance, and tracking deals. It is ideal for any business that wants to maintain a healthy relationship with its customers.
Important HubSpot Features for Sales Reps
- An intuitive and customizable deals dashboard to see the entire sales pipeline
- Meeting scheduling, email tracking, live chat, and prospect tracking
- Outlook and Gmail integration as well as email templates in order to help your sales team easily email and communicate with leads
Did you know that HubSpot’s CRM also provides a centralized database that can connect all your departments? This means that everyone on your team can understand each client’s unique needs and situation. As a result, they can work together in order to provide your customers with timely and better support.
HubSpot Sales Hub Starter
Sales Starter from HubSpot offers you access to more of all the features that you loved about HubSpot Sales Hub Free. This means you get more templates, more meeting links, and more documents.
You will enjoy features like currencies and functionality to keep track of your goals. You can also create quotes from your HubSpot account, which is convenient.
Also, note that the addition of unlimited notifications is valuable as it means your team can start to prioritize active leads.
Features
Live Chat: With this feature, you can let your target audience or prospects get in touch with you easily. While the tooling is almost the same as with the free HubSpot Sales Hub, you will not see HubSpot branding.
Conversational Bots: Like Live Chat, Sales Hub Starter offers you the same functionalities and features as the free plan, but there is no HubSpot branding.
Keep in mind that the Sales Starter Version is mainly for small and growing teams that have limited reporting needs as well as limited sales collateral management needs. Note that it can be a great start on your HubSpot journey. Did you know that most sales organizations use this version as a stepping stone to HubSpot Sales Hub Professional?
HubSpot Sales Pro
Finally, larger sales teams and more established organizations will likely gain more from the Sales Pro Version. You should know that once your company has grown and expanded to a certain size, generating leads and traffic —while still one of the top priorities—becomes a certainty.
You will be happy to know that Pro is an upgraded sales engine boasting rigorous automation tools and features for full-scale professional sales and marketing operations.
It is ideal for larger teams as they want to understand specifically which sales and marketing strategies are efficiently converting, which leads to loyal customers. This allows them to capitalize on those results rather than wasting their time and resources on ineffective efforts.
How Much Can Your Business Afford?
When it comes to software upgrades, you may assume that the free option has limited access compared to the version that you’ll eventually be persuaded to purchase. However, keep in mind that with a HubSpot CRM upgrade, you may not benefit from the more expensive or new options unless you are ready for them.
Is the HubSpot Sales Starter or Professional experience really worth the premium price? When answering that question, you should keep your budget in mind. The HubSpot Starter comes at $50 per month. In contrast, HubSpot Sales Professional is $400 per month.
Final Thoughts
If you’re new to CRMs or would like to test HubSpot’s features before you invest in a plan, the free Sales CRM is an excellent place to start. On the other hand, HubSpot Sales Pro is designed to be your one-stop sales management tool. The key here is to get the most value out of the version you have chosen.
