In this article, we will walk you through our assessment of each system and why some users want to jump and make the change.
Both systems are strong contenders in the CRM space and have their sweet spots.
There are many reasons why many organisations widely use Salesforce. Salesforce has the highest market share among most CRMs. It is one of the most popular CRMs to date because of its capability, scalability and being highly customisable. Apart from its security features, Salesforce, without a doubt, delivers what it has promised.
However, just as with anything good, Salesforce also comes with its own setbacks or complexities if we were to be less ideal about it. Perhaps, the reason behind its complexities is that when people want to solve many issues and integrate them all into one platform, that’s where the complexities start. Sometimes, without knowledge, the complexities are inanimate-albeit being obvious.
When something is built to be a multi-faceted problem solver, the risk of being restrictively complicated, overpriced, and challenging to implement and use is obvious.
For companies with a larger headcount and have the resources to pay for something more complex, Salesforce may be a good CRM to match their needs. Training, implementation, maintenance, and tweaks are something to consider when you’re on the fence about getting a CRM that suits your business.
Despite the rave about Salesforce for large companies, small-medium entities may find that Salesforce isn't suitable for their needs. This could be mainly because of their limited budget, resources, time, etc.
Change comes as a challenge to anyone or any environment. In this case, end-user training is one of the most important phases in . In general, implementing something new in the workplace could already be CRM implementation a lot of work because of the many changes that happen.
Motivating your team to use the CRM is even more painful because its complex functions are hard to follow. For SMEs who only want to make simple changes to their business via a CRM, Salesforce may not be their top option.
Although Salesforce promises to be highly customisable and configurable, what sounds like “convenience” eventually translates to a tangled and disorganised mess. Sadly, using Salesforce may not be easy as pie for many people, especially those who are first-time CRM users. At this point, we can conclude that the CRM is more of a “hindrance” than a “help”.
Adding insult to injury, Salesforce is notoriously ‘hands-off’ when it comes to setting up and onboarding new users. With a demo-style version at the start and a few prompts, there is a painful lack of advice and help when getting started. The lack of resources and accountability leads to:
As an alternative solution, HubSpot is an entirely intuitive, user-friendly interface that comes with a step-by-step user guide. HubSpot’s user guide and training process is intricately designed to ensure that no information is missed, no matter the integrations.
HubSpot Academy also boasts a vast knowledge base “HubSpot Academy”. Users are able to find the answers to almost any question for HubSpot. There is a wide variety of courses throughout the academy that functions like an online media library for HubSpot users. In addition, HubSpot also has a wide array of blogs where users can find answers to whatever question.
These courses and blogs are designed to help any HubSpot user get up to speed with HubSpot’s nooks and crannies. In the marketing industry, HubSpot also has a glowing reputation for genuine care for its users, offering solutions to anything that seems vague and complex.
The staggering amount of duplicate records makes sales administration tricky and tedious. To anyone handling sales admins, duplicates in the forms of contacts, data, etc., are a major headache.
As a sales admin, do you manually remove your duplicates one by one?
What horror!
Here are unconscious and quiet ways that your resources have been going to waste because of manual work:
Removing duplicates in HubSpot is easy.
Begin by logging in and then navigating to your contacts' or companies' home screens. Click on “Actions” followed by “Manage Duplicates”. After which, you will be taken to a screen that shows records that are most likely to be duplicated. Once you've checked and found out that they are, in fact, duplicates, go ahead and review those. If they aren't duplicates, you can “merge” those. If they are indeed duplicates, “dismiss” or delete the contact.
Manually manoeuvring the typically vast and complex Salesforce ecosystem is already hard enough. Dealing with low-value repetitive workflows such as creating follow-up tasks and documenting visits makes the whole process all the more daunting. This is a great source of frustration for Salesforce administrators and end users. The main reason for enabling a CRM is to remove repetitive tasks and make work simpler and quicker. When your CRM makes things more complex and tedious, there is clearly something wrong with how it was built.
Here are some reasons why some of the processes are repetitive and deemed redundant.
Salesforce’s benefits are best leveraged when the tool is integrated with other business solutions in the organisation. For this reason alone, system integrations remain an essential consideration for most, if not all. Building a robust Salesforce integration initiative is far from simple. There are many integrations and add-ons to be considered, something that Salesforce has somehow not perfected yet. Although the tool is powerful, it remains a complex and imperfect CRM tool.
Some more pain points that Salesforce exhibits are the following:
Read this blog from HubSpot’s knowledge base for a detailed description of how you can make use of the HubSpot Import/Export functionality.
Storage capacity is possibly one of the biggest challenges that Salesforce is currently encountering. The predetermined storage allowance starts depleting in the 2nd year and may completely run out on your 4th year of using it. This is all dependent on data generation,
In general, data storage limits are strictly enforced with the use of Sandboxes.
Salesforce uses two storage categories:
The Salesforce Developer edition has a low data storage capacity of about 5Mb. On an estimate, this can be filled with 2,500 records. If you want to add more records, the simplest way to go is by deleting some of those records.
If you’re thinking, “Oh well, then I’ll have to buy extra storage”... Think again.
Do you want more information on how a CRM can impact your business?
Both CRMS, Salesforce and HubSpot are very strong contenders in the Marketing scene. Reach out to Ucidity for more information on what CRM suits your business needs!