Salesforce vs HubSpot: CRM Showdown!

Salesforce’s 360 Blog states that CRM software can boost your sales figures by 29% while improving sales forecasting accuracy by up to 32% and improving sales productivity by 39%. Projections for CRM growth are showing no sign of slowing down and we can expect this to continue to grow in the coming years.

 

When choosing your first CRM, the options can seem overwhelming. However, there are two obvious players in the game. Salesforce and HubSpot are the two largest CRM systems in the world. You’ve got your choice down to two, but should you pick Salesforce or HubSpot? This blog will explore the features and highlights of both tools and help you make a purchasing decision to get started on your CRM journey.

 

Salesforce is the world’s number one CRM system and has been for some time now. Salesforce was founded in 1999 and since then has become the go-to CRM software for sales teams globally. Salesforce is the vendor for 20% of the world’s CRM users. HubSpot on the other hand was founded in 2005 but has quickly made a name for itself.

 

Which system will grow with your organisation?

One of the biggest concerns when considering investing in a CRM is ‘will my organisation outgrow the platform?

Making major investments in your CRM system, just to have to retire it after two years and start afresh with a new system is inefficient and not cost-effective. Luckily choosing one of the two major players in the CRM space can minimise the chances of outgrowing a system soon after investment. Salesforce offers amazing scalability. It is highly customisable and can be personalised to just about any organisation’s needs and desires. HubSpot doesn’t have the same level of flexibility as Salesforce, so many organisations end up struggling to fulfil all their requirements with HubSpot.

Salesforce offers a wide array of products such as Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud which gives you the ability to run your entire organisation through Salesforce and create a true single source of truth. Meanwhile, HubSpot offers five different products to help you manage your day-to-day processes. These include Marketing and Customer Service software which brings more of your operations under one platform. However, the list of products available falls short of Salesforce’s offering, which can limit your company’s growth when keeping a single source of truth in mind.

Which CRM is best for integrating with other systems?

At the point of making a purchasing decision on your new CRM, many organisations are concerned about how it will integrate with their existing tools. Both platforms use their App Marketplace to address this issue in part, we talk through the comparisons of the App Marketplaces in more detail later on.

 

HubSpot allows for integrations with systems such as Gmail, Calendar services and most social media platforms. This can help you to run more of your business from your CRM. These integrations, although helpful, can be considered more as ‘nice to haves’ rather than essential business processes. It is possible to build further integrations with API, but this is a complicated process and will often require technical support, which can be costly. When considering integrating with other systems, Salesforce comes out on top. Salesforce’s integrations include tools like Marketo, MailChimp, Shopify, Amazon, Sage, FedEx and PayPal, to name just a few.

 

The larger customer base has created an ecosystem full of constant innovation which has helped to build these integrations. The Salesforce ecosystem is one of the key benefits of going with Salesforce as your CRM, this ecosystem connects Salesforce users with consultants, app developers and each other through systems like the IdeaExchange and AppExchange. Not only does the ecosystem allow its members to share things like integrations, ideas, best practice and tips it also creates a huge new job marketing which is predicted to create 9.3 million jobs by 2026.

 

Which system is best for analysing data?

Increased visibility across your processes and data is one of the main benefits of having a CRM system. Both Salesforce and HubSpot offer data analysis and business intelligence features. HubSpot’s reporting isn’t as sophisticated as Salesforce’s but does give you some good sales data visualisations to help you understand your sales pipeline. Their Sales Analytics tool provides valuable insights into your sales process so you can make changes to improve results.

 

Einstein is Salesforce’s artificial intelligence (AI) system that provides predictive analytics. This means that Salesforce can learn your sales patterns and make predictions about future sales. HubSpot doesn’t have any AI-driven analytics.
Salesforce’s features are more user-friendly with easy-to-read graphics and breakdowns. Many customers find that they have to export their data from HubSpot and import it into Excel before they can properly interpret it. This creates more data security concerns with the moving of data between systems.

 

Which system offers the best app marketplace?

Both Salesforce and HubSpot offer a marketplace for apps and integrations. Salesforce’s AppExchange has over 5000 applications available while HubSpot’s Marketplace offers around 1000.

 

The interfaces of the app stores are very similar. Both give the app publishers chance to include photos and videos showcasing the app, as well as ratings and reviews. The main difference is the size of these marketplaces. Salesforce’s AppExchange is the largest business app marketplace in the world and has over 10 million app downloads. While HubSpot still boasts an impressive range of apps for selection, it falls short on choice when compared to Salesforce.

 

Salesforce vs HubSpot, which should you choose?

We hope that this Salesforce vs HubSpot CRM showdown has helped you understand a bit more about these two systems and make a decision on which one is right for you. By choosing one of the two major players in the game, you’re already ahead of the curve. Salesforce and HubSpot offer different features and advantages, so it’s important to decide which system is best for your organisation.

HubSpot rightfully holds its place as one of the top CRM systems on the market. It’s easy to use, has a great range of features and can add value to your organisation at an accessible price point. HubSpot does drop off though when your requirements because more complex. The smaller app store, the issues with integrations, the smaller range of products and limitations around custom objects can really hold you back and make it difficult for your company to reach its full potential. For these reasons, HubSpot should be considered a closer fit for small businesses that have limited goals around growth.

Salesforce wins this CRM showdown though with a highly customisable and more comprehensive CRM system that’s better suited for larger businesses with complex sales processes or organisations that have ambitious growth targets. Your company can run its whole business on Salesforce to truly create a single source of truth. From revenue management to bespoke customer portals and tailored one-to-one marketing automation to sales management with powerful analytics, Salesforce has the solution to your business challenge.

To get started on your Salesforce journey or find out how we can help you achieve your goals with CRM get in touch today at ask@pracedo.com or schedule an introductory consultation here.

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Pracedo is an award-winning Summit (Platinum) Salesforce Consulting Partner that delivers innovative Salesforce implementations to forward-thinking customers.

 

With over a decade of experience focused on Salesforce, we work with our customers to unlock the platform’s power through tailored implementations that facilitate achieving business goals and ambitions. Our talented team of over 80 Salesforce professionals globally means that Pracedo offers a boutique consultancy experience, delivered locally to you, with the breadth and depth of knowledge earned from delivering over 1000 projects across our locations.

 

Pracedo specialises in Digital Transformation and Change Management. Implementations and customisations include: Salesforce Sales CloudSalesforce Service CloudSalesforce Marketing CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Account EngagementSalesforce Revenue CloudSalesforce Experience Cloud and Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud.

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