HubSpot Migrations & CRM Efficiency

[00:00:00] Chintan: Which processes should manages prioritize while automating in HubSpot to have the biggest efficiency gain

[00:00:05] Martijn: clean, duplicate and standardize your currency ran data, and then plan your mapping carefully.

[00:00:11] Chintan: What are the most critical processes CRM managers should focus to ensure that HubSpot system scale seamlessly

[00:00:17] Martijn: centralized communication and data?

[00:00:19] Martijn: So shared dashboards, centralized contacts, and log notes for visibility.

[00:00:24] Chintan: How should companies break down, the migration process into a manageable phases to reduce risk?

[00:00:29] Martijn: Start with planning where you define objectives. Assemble your team, of course, with the team. You have to audit your data, create the migration plan, and select the tools to use, and then start your preparation.

[00:00:41] Chintan: What specific tools should CRM managers ensure to have a clean and reliable data during the migration? TopSpot

[00:00:48] Martijn: For, for data cleanup tools, you can use Excel or Google Sheets for basic duplication.

[00:00:57] Chintan: Today we are excited to chat with [00:01:00] Martijn, a true CRM expert who, who has experience of more than 20 years and, and managing more than founded successful CRM implementation. As the founder of Systony and a HubSpot Diamond partner, he has helped businesses simplify migration, cleanup mass data, and unlock the power of, automation and HubSpot.

[00:01:17] Chintan: So if you’re a CRM manager, if you’re managing HubSpot and looking for a practical advice. You should definitely look after this conversion and stay tuned. Great. Let’s start. Hey, Martijn.

[00:01:27] Martijn: Hi. Good morning. Good

[00:01:29] Chintan: morning. So to start with, let’s go through the first major concern of, the CRM managers at which we, they normally are worried about when they’re transitioning from one CRM to other right.

[00:01:39] Chintan: Managing and entering that how. CRM migration is managed or, is done in a smoother way. Right? So you have already managed multiple CRM implementations, CRM migrations, right? And right now a lot of CRM managers are struggling with minimalizing disruptions during migrations. Like, and, you managing [00:02:00] multiple years of experience and multiple, same implementation.

[00:02:02] Chintan: Right. You undoubtedly would’ve faced this multiple times. Right. And in one of your posts you also mentioned that how. Your team ensures that the HubSpot migration, which your team does, is seamless, right? Without any error flaws or any, any, data concerns. So can you, can you walk us through, the al steps that you recommend to ensure smooth migration to HubSpot?

[00:02:22] Martijn: Yeah, of course. although it will not be a short answer because we use an eight step approach to, ensure smooth, HubSpot migrations. For us, the first step is always to define goals and objectives. So you have to clarify why you are migrating, to HubSpot. So identify the specific features and functionalities you need, like, CRM functions, marketing, automation, sales, customer service.

[00:02:50] Martijn: So it’s, it’s important to set measurable goals, for what you aim to achieve, post migration. And then you, you have to. Audit your existing data. Yep. [00:03:00] So identify, what needs to be migrated. Think of contacts, companies, deal records, tickets, emails, but also tasks, appointments, workflows, etc.

[00:03:12] Martijn: yep. And you have to clean that data, by removing duplicates or, outdated information or irrelevant records of. Course, and, and then you have to, and that’s, that’s our first step in our approach. You have to develop a migration plan. So create a detailed timeline for the migration process, including milestones and deadlines, and you have to assign roles and responsibilities to team members for.

[00:03:35] Martijn: Each phase in the migration and then decide whether to use HubSpot, native import tools, or, partner with an integration specialist like, like us, for complex, migrations. And then the fourth step is to prepare your data for migration. so export data from your current system into, compatible files, like CSV files or Excel files.

[00:03:59] Martijn: And map data [00:04:00] fields, from your existing system to HubSpot to ensure compatibility and of, of course, you have to check for any custom fields that needs to be created in HubSpot. And in HubSpot we call those properties. And then you have to set up your HubSpot, so configure HubSpot to match your organizational needs, including your.

[00:04:17] Martijn: Your pipelines properties, like discussed before, workflows, and of course user roles. Mm-hmm. And then, the sixth step is to perform, a test migration. So conduct a trial migration with a small subset of data so you can identify potential issues, validated test migration to ensure data accuracy and completeness.

[00:04:40] Martijn: And then finally, the seven step is to. Execute your full migration after the test migration was performed successfully. And then last but not least, you have to verify the migration after you have executed the full migration. So crosscheck the migrated data against your source, system. And you, you [00:05:00] have to confirm that workflows, pipelines, reports and integrations.

[00:05:04] Martijn: Function, as expected.

[00:05:06] Chintan: Got it. Got it. So that, that’s a quite detailed eight step checklist, right? Making sure that you don’t miss out any of the areas which are, which are critical to manage your migration. But, but one thing which I would definitely love to understand and would also help the existing CRM managers, that what’s the most overlooked aspect, right?

[00:05:22] Chintan: So in overall eight steps or eight step checklist, which you mentioned, right? Which is the step which is majorly ignored by most of the CRM managers.

[00:05:31] Martijn: Yeah, I think, forming of a test migration that’s mostly overlooked and mostly, mostly skipped. And that’s, in our view, the most important step of the migration.

[00:05:42] Martijn: So don’t speed your process. Always perform your test migration first.

[00:05:46] Chintan: Got it. So yeah, testing, testing and validation is, is something which needs to be done. Right. And, and. For the CM managers who are, who are listening to this, they should make sure that the, the testing is done at par. Right? You, you can’t compromise it if you’re managing the [00:06:00] migration for yourself.

[00:06:01] Chintan: The other area, which normally the CR managers are concerned about is making sure that. Data quality is managed right during the migration. Right? And then, which is, and we know data is the key, right? You can’t ignore it. And, that is a recurring issue, right? Which normally occurs during the migration.

[00:06:14] Chintan: They have a massive data, right? If they’re using CRM, they might have still a structured data, but. Someone who is moving to a CRM first time, right? They, they haven’t used CRM so far moving from Google Sheets, let’s say multiple data, warehouse platforms, right. And moving them into HubSpot, right. They would’ve a unstructured, messy, unreliable data.

[00:06:34] Chintan: Right. And, and you, you also mentioned one of your. Blog post somewhere that how critical it is to clean data, with, for a successful CRM system or, or, or platform. So based on your experience, right, what specific processes or tools should CRM managers ensure to have a clean and reliable data during the migration?

[00:06:51] Chintan: HubSpot?

[00:06:52] Martijn: Yeah. Lemme talk to, talk you through the tools we use most often and, uh. For, for data cleanup tools, you, you can use [00:07:00] Excel or Google Sheets for basic deduplication and formatting and validations, or you can use, data management platforms like, open refine, or data ladder. we use those for more advanced cleaning of data.

[00:07:14] Martijn: Mm-hmm. Or, you can use. CM specific tools like the, the, the build in d duplication tools, that HubSpot offers. Or you can use third party tools like in cycle, for instance. Yeah. And for, for migration tools, you can of course use HubSpot import tool for native CS three import functionality, but most often we use that for the more simple migrations.

[00:07:37] Martijn: And when they become more complex, we use third party migration tools like import two. Which then are used for more complex migrations. And sometimes we also use data validation tools like never Bound or Zero Bound to validate email addresses or phone number validation tools like, Trilio Lookout.

[00:07:58] Chintan: Got it.

[00:07:58] Chintan: So yeah. So there, there [00:08:00] are a set of tools which are. More around deduplication. Right? Among deduplication, there are tools around making sure that you have a valid email as valid phone numbers, right? So these are the tools which would help, the CM managers to make sure that they clean up and, and make sure that data is reliable.

[00:08:13] Chintan: Great, great insight moving forward. We also heard that. HubSpot, right? Or HubSpot as a CRM or CRM is all about automation, right? Automation is the key process for CRM, right? So, and we know automation is a game changer right in CRM. So, it’s, it’s, it’s important to make sure that your process are automated as much as possible, giving the benefit to all the CRM users.

[00:08:32] Chintan: And Martijn, you, you have helped organizations implement HubSpot automation for more than a decade, right? If I’m not wrong. Right. And, and, and which processes should manages prioritize while automating in in HubSpot to. How the biggest efficiency gain.

[00:08:46] Martijn: Yeah. First of all, audit your data. So clean the duplicate and standardize your currency.

[00:08:52] Martijn: Run data and then plan your mapping carefully. So document your field mappings, address data types, and plan [00:09:00] your custom properties. Then, we talked about that s your migration. So perform a pilot migration, with sample data to validate mappings and formatting, and it’s. Always so important to use reliable tools, like HubSpot, import tools, or your third party solutions.

[00:09:17] Martijn: Or you can also create the custom scripts, for the more complexer needs. And another important thing I like to mention is, to maintain your data relationships. And what I mean with that is you have to use unique identifiers to preserve links. Between your data entities like contacts, companies, deals, notes and emails, et cetera, and your last but not least, collaborate, involve key stakeholders to validate priorities and requirements.

[00:09:45] Martijn: That’s very, very much important.

[00:09:47] Chintan: Got it. So collaboration, right? The area which you mentioned is, is a key, right? Making sure that your good collaboration among the stakeholders and team members. So while while you were managing or while your team was managing. The HubSpot migration, [00:10:00] right? Or, or for CRM managers, how, how they can overcome cross team communication because, we have seen many times that a lack of communication across teams can derail even the best CRM systems and migration.

[00:10:11] Chintan: Right? So what actionable steps you would recommend to CRM managers to take, to foster better collaboration using HubSpot among multiple stakeholders, right, with whether sales, marketing, the operations, right? What should be the best way for them to have a better collaboration?

[00:10:25] Martijn: Communicate, communicate, communicate.

[00:10:27] Martijn: That’s quite simple, but that is the best answer I can give you.

[00:10:33] Chintan: Yeah. So it’s about making sure that you keep that, transparency, making sure that you keep everyone aware of the progress, keep involved everyone during your communication and, and planning and strategizing. yeah. Yeah, Adam. Yeah, of

[00:10:46] Martijn: course.

[00:10:46] Martijn: And, and then set goals. define essential customer insights to retain based on the, the team needs. so, so yeah, you have to collaborate with the stakeholders. So involve sales. Involve marketing and support teams [00:11:00] to identify the essential data for their workflows, and then again, audit your data. So categorize data as essential, useful, or redundant based on properties.

[00:11:11] Martijn: Properties like, the creation data for record, or the last modified data, or the number of interactions in the last 12 months, those kind of things.

[00:11:19] Chintan: Got it. So, yeah, that, that’s more about, having, having the collaboration or involvement of all the stakeholders at all the eight pointers you mentioned at each and every step, making sure that they are involved.

[00:11:30] Chintan: and it’s not about just informing, but also consulting them if there’s anything they want to add up, right. During that complete process. What other, another area which I would love to talk about is, is, um, making sure that how to, how to scale CRM systems, right, for growth goes. And when someone is using or moving to a new CRM right, their objective is to make sure that they have aim.

[00:11:50] Chintan: Go for that growth. Right? Which is which everyone needs. Right. And, um, scalability is, is a major part, right? Because you, you started migrating your spo, [00:12:00] CRM, you are your planning to use it, but then that, let’s say there are multiple users, there are multiple aspects to it. So how, how or what are the most critical features or processes.

[00:12:09] Chintan: CRM managers should focus to ensure that HubSpot system scales seamlessly right with their business growth, because they might be having a. A team of let’s say four or five salespeople, two or three marketers. But as in when their business grows, they’ll have more salespeople, they’ll have more, more marketers, they’ll have more channels to use.

[00:12:27] Chintan: Right. So how, how they will, or what are the most critical features or processes you recommend for them to scale the HubSpot system?

[00:12:34] Martijn: There are. Quite a few steps I can think of. Yeah. But just, just let me share a few, first of all, centralized communication and data. So shared dashboards, centralized contacts and log notes for visibility.

[00:12:47] Martijn: Mm-hmm. But also, align goals, set shared objectives. define lead qualification and establish as a for handoff for, for example, but also improve task management, design task set out, set you [00:13:00] dates, and, use task queues for instance. Leverage HubSpot tools, that’s important. So, share email templates, integrate, um, meeting links and use collaborative workflows.

[00:13:12] Martijn: Also integrate external tools. connect HubSpot with, with Slack, Google Workspace or teams. So tools that, your teams are used to work with so you can, improve seamless communication with HubSpot. Yeah, and, and of course, um, standard standardize your. Processes. So use sales templates, create sales playbooks, train your teams, and maintain a shared knowledge base for knowledge sharing.

[00:13:39] Martijn: And on the organizational side, I can think of, yeah, again, collaboration. So review collaboration regularly, whole alignment meetings, collect feedback from your teams and optimize your workflows, but also promote ownership and teamwork. So. Point CRM champions involve all teams and [00:14:00] campaigns and, um, celebrate the shared successes.

[00:14:04] Chintan: Got it, got it. So you, are you, you definitely pointed out a good option or good point around CRM Champion because many of the organizations miss out this area. Right. Having CM Champions would definitely help them to keep up a constant watch and also have someone whom they can reach out. Right. If they’re stuck anywhere.

[00:14:20] Chintan: Maybe it, marketing, sales, or operational team. So having someone as a, as a center. Point of contact A CRM champion definitely is going to ease out the game. We, we discussed about, data, right? Data is an important aspect and, and CRM managers needs to make sure that data identification deduplication or making sure that valid data has been migrated through, multiple tools for email verification and phone number verification, which you mentioned in your conversion.

[00:14:44] Chintan: We would also love to move forward if there are, there are scenarios, let’s say CM managers would find some irrelevant data, right? So as a CM expert, how do you identify more unnecessary data during a migration and while still. Making sure that valuable customer insights are not, [00:15:00] manipulated.

[00:15:00] Martijn: First of all, you have to set goals.

[00:15:02] Martijn: So define essential customer insights to retain, so to keep, based on the, the needs of your teams, and therefore you have to collaborate with your STA stakeholders. So you have to involve sales, marketing, and your support teams to identify essential data for the workflows. And then you can audit your data.

[00:15:20] Martijn: So categorize the data as essentially useful or redundant, based on properties like, the create data. Last modified date, number of interactions in the last 12 months, et cetera.

[00:15:31] Chintan: Yep, definitely. So it’s, it’s more about, again, involvement and collaboration with multiple teams, right? making sure that they have their inputs and, what data is, necessary, what data is not.

[00:15:42] Chintan: Right. Yeah. Getting that buy-in from all the stakeholders. Perfect. One, one last thing Right. Which we have seen as a, as a common pitfall or, or a challenge is, CRM managers are, are in, in rush, are in hurry to migrate everything at once. Right, because they are tight deadline, right? That’s the previous CRM [00:16:00] is getting, the subscription is getting expired in next 30, 45 days.

[00:16:03] Chintan: Want to migrate everything to c spo before, the CRM subscription ends. The previous CRM subscription ends and, and this is the major concern where they want to migrate everything at once. Looking at the tight timeline. So how should companies break down, the migration process in, in, into a manageable phases to reduce risk?

[00:16:21] Chintan: Because when you migrate, when, when you try to migrate everything at once. That’s always going to be challenging.

[00:16:26] Martijn: Yeah, I think that’s quite, it’s quite simple to manage. Always start with planning where you define objectives, assemble your team, of course, with the team, you have to audit your data, create a migration plan, and select the tools to use and then start your preparation.

[00:16:43] Martijn: So clean your data. Map your fields, configure HubSpot and back up your source data. And then the testing starts. perform the trial migration, validate data accuracy, and, resolve your errors during the testing phase. And after the [00:17:00] successful testing, the final migration can start. And the final step is the validation step.

[00:17:05] Martijn: So crosscheck your data after migrating, test the functionality. And it’s very important to gather user feedback.

[00:17:13] Chintan: Got it. Got it. So it’s more around making sure that you divide each and every steps into smaller phases, migrate them, test it out, and then move to the next steps. And not to be in Rush.

[00:17:23] Chintan: Right. Because that is always, if you are in rush, there is always going to be challenge, challenging things to create a situation where you might not be able to do a proper migration. Great. So. That’s what we had with, Martijn and, Martijn, thanks for giving us a detailed overview on multiple areas, starting from a smooth CRM migration, right?

[00:17:42] Chintan: How to manage the data quality, how to collaborate with multiple stakeholders, making sure that you don’t migrate, migrate everything at once. Managing the automation, right? Utilizing the automation and processes. Also looking into making sure that when the businesses are at scale right, are at growth. How to make sure that you.

[00:17:59] Chintan: [00:18:00] You use the SPO system or implement the SPO system in a better way that it, it, it scales with the business. So thanks for walking us through the, the details, Martijn, and we really appreciate your time and, the knowledge.

[00:18:13] Martijn: You’re welcome,

[00:18:14] Chintan: Perfect. Thank you.