Migration to HubSpot CRM from Google Sheets

The client: IT software development company
Top-level task: Maintaining and systematizing the sales process to avoid chaos and determine the capacity of each sales rep and ROI for every sales/marketing channel.

Exploring the Context

Migration is the first small step in building the sales process that should be scalable. To scale, we need to understand the process and its effectiveness.
The client had a diversified sales team: from Ukraine, Denmark, and the UK. Each rep had his sheet in the big spreadsheet, adding leads manually and marking them with different colors or statuses.

This is fake data, but it's a real example of how my client approached Google Sheets as a CRM

Disclaimer: there is nothing wrong with Google Sheets, the client database in Google Sheets, or any other tool as soon as your company works and generates the target revenue.
However, being set up correctly, a CRM is just a tool that simplifies and optimizes the workflow.
The problems appeared when the company started using many different lead sources, and the number of leads increased significantly. Sounds like a dream, right?
However, along with many lead sources came a wide variety of leads, and that’s where the lead scoring makes sense. The sales team spent tons of time following up on leads to find a context of previous communication. New leads appeared every day, and they also needed to be taken. Even basic funnel analysis was impossible. My task was to fix it.

Customer Journey Map

Before you set up a CRM, you need to understand the customer journey in a particular business. There is always a process, anyway. So I talked to the team, explored the work principles, and visualized it first.

Customer Journey Map

I also added a content and email marketing funnel, a separate channel with its roadmap and activities. At that stage, I only outlined the stages and principles, but later we started these activities, too.

Migration to a CRM

Time to choose a CRM in which to implement the sales and lead generation flow. I chose HubSpot. 
I decided that the company should operate with two entities: Contacts and Deals. All other states would be set with Properties.Later, it turned out that the Deal stage was not necessary as the deals closing process was simplified. 
The Lead source property defines the source of the lead: Referral, Upwork, Jivosite, Website form, {Cold_outreach_campaign_name}, Albacross, etc.
For some lead sources, I set up Integromat to automatically add a contact to Hubspot with the necessary Lead Source. However, for some sources, it should be set up manually.

Before a contact becomes a Sales Qualified Lead, it remains a Contact. When a lead is qualified, the Contact is attached to the Deal. This means that the lead will go from the lead generation funnel to the sales funnel. 
The Lead Status property sets the lead generation funnel stages. It is the default property in HubSpot, but I always customize it for each client. 
After implementing the funnel stages, I added the associated rules, guidelines, and criteria the company uses.
For instance, these could be BANT qualification criteria or lead enrichment guidelines. This helps simplify the onboarding process for new team members.
The company generates leads via inbound and outbound activities, so this is important not to lose leads over the funnel and to assign leads correctly among the reps.
For different stages, I suggested different follow-up rules, qualification criteria, and lead nurturing criteria.
I recorded video guidelines and tutored the sales team according to the customer journey map and CRM settings. This allowed for a successful migration to a proper CRM, increasing the efficiency of the client’s sales and marketing efforts.

I love creating the Loom videos, so each client receives tons of videos during our cooperation

As a next step, we started using HubSpot and measured the metrics for each rep. During 1 month, we understood what and where we can maintain this process.
So, when you migrate from GoogleSheets to CRM, the basic plan should be the following:
1. Understand and visualize your customer journey
2. Visualise lead generation and sales funnels
3. Define the entities you’re going to operate and properties you’ll need to use
4. Set up CRM with necessary properties and stages, automation if needed
5. Create the profiles and accounts
6. Prepare the guidelines (video/text) with the straightforward process of using CRM
7. Teach and tutor the sales team
8. Watch the progress, and meet the team once in a few days to answer the questions.
Need help or consultation about HubSpot or CRM implementation? Let's talk.