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Running a sales team is never a walk in the park and having the right technology can make all the difference. Your customer relationship management (CRM) system is the centerpiece that ties everything together.
Among the many options, HubSpot and Salesforce are preferred by many top sales organizations thanks to their robust solutions. If you're trying to decide between HubSpot Sales Hub or Salesforce Sales Cloud, here are the pros and cons you should consider.
HubSpot is a cloud-based CRM platform made up of 4 components: the Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, and CMS Hub, with each of these Hubs wrapped around their robust CRM. Its Sales Hub is a powerful, easy-to-use, all-in-one sales CRM that includes engagement software, CPQ tools, and powerful sales analytics designed to help teams of any size work efficiently and grow revenue.
Salesforce is also a cloud-based CRM platform with applications for sales, service, and marketing. Its Sales Cloud is an all-in-one sales CRM that brings together sales automation tools, reporting, deal management, and more for managing leads, tracking progress, and automating sales processes.
Sales Hub's list price is $500/mo for 5 paid users at their Pro plan. HubSpot charges a flat fee of $500 for professional onboarding and offers additional technical consulting services for a fee. Platform maintenance, customer support, and sales engagement software are available at no extra cost; and their support (phone, email, and chat) is available 24x7x365; for free!
As you scale up, you only need to pay for revenue-generating sales seats. Free seats are available for users who need visibility into the business (e.g., executives) without access to the sales tools like the meeting links, linking email to track communications, and the outbound calling features.
The list price is $300/mo p/u plus another $75 p/u p/m to do quoting, and another $45 u/m for calling which HubSpot includes in their pro plan. So for $2,100 a month for 5 users, plus $5,000 for one-time implementation. Then, Salesforce charges 20% of the net cost for phone support, 30% of the net cost for additional support features, $45/user/mo for outbound calling software, and $25/user/mo for sales engagement software.
The platform charges for every user. If you want to give executives the ability to access the reporting functions -- which is key to aligning sales and marketing -- you'll have to pay for the extra seats even if they don't use the sales tools. Wait, you wanted to report on your sales and marketing funnel?
By one estimation, the total cost of ownership for the first year for a team of 15 sales users for Sales Hub Pro is around $18,000 for HubSpot and a whopping $75,600 for Salesforce without implementation and support costs. HubSpot has a more transparent and scalable pricing model to support fast-growing companies.
Sales Hub is well-known for its ease of use. With the introduction of the custom, objects feature at Inbound 2020, business users can fully customize the platform by structuring the CRM data to match unique business needs with minimal IT help.
You can get started with Sales Hub with a low upfront investment and pay for additional seats as you grow. Pro and Enterprise customers get world-class customer support at no extra cost and all users can access HubSpot Academy, which provides cost-effective training for new and experienced users alike.
The platform's complexity means most users need to bring in a consulting agency or hire full-time admins for implementation and maintenance. It's hard to customize the software to meet your exact business needs without large upfront investment and ongoing costs.
Since it charges a percentage of the net contract price for 24/7 support, you'll have to pay more for the same support as you scale up. Not to mention, you'll need to forecast your teams' needs to select the right plan so you don't overpay.
Salesforce may offer more customization options but often come at a high cost that doesn't make sense for most businesses. On the other hand, HubSpot's flexible configuration and intuitive interface allow you to scale up quickly with minimal upfront costs.
This suite of powerful tools covers everything you need to run a sales team, from contact management and sales analytics to automation, pipeline management, quoting, and more. The all-in-one platform offers a unified and consistent user experience across the organization to break down silos and enhance alignment between sales and marketing.
The platform is built from the ground up so all the features integrate seamlessly with each other. The software's focus on user experience and usability allows reps to get up and running in no time, which helps improve sales productivity while reducing training costs.
Sales Cloud offers top-of-the-line functions such as contact management, dashboards, analytics, pipeline management, sales automation, forecasting, and more. However, the user experience is less integrated because the platform has grown mainly through acquisitions (e.g., Pardot.)
Salesforce's extensive customization options often come at the expense of usability. You'll also need to invest heavily in implementation and employee training to take advantage of the breadth of functions. IF you want quoting that's separate if you want to do outbound tracked calling, that's separate, advanced reporting... you get the idea.
Most businesses are better off using a CRM system with an intuitive user experience so reps can easily master the software with minimal training. Also, HubSpot makes integrating sales and marketing activities a breeze with its "Smarketing" approach, which is a key to B2B success.
Migrating a CRM system involves a lot of moving parts and here's how you can orchestrate a smooth transition from Salesforce to HubSpot without missing a beat:
Working with a HubSpot partner can help you orchestrate a successful migration and make sure that all the key areas are covered so you can transition efficiently with minimal impact on your sales productivity. Get in touch to see how we can help you get the highest ROI from HubSpot Sales Hub.
