Customer Relationship Management systems have become incredibly important in the modern business landscape. If your business hasn’t invested in one of these powerful systems yet, it’s likely that you could be falling behind your competition.
You might have heard of the most popular CRMs such as Salesforce, Pipedrive, and even Monday.com. The problem is that the majority of these CRM systems are pricey and don’t fit into most small and medium-sized businesses’ budgets.
But, there is one CRM that stands out above the crowd when it comes to affordability. HubSpot is an outstanding CRM that you can use for free. You might be asking: “what’s the catch with free Hubspot?”. Keep reading to find out if it’s truly a free CRM that fits neatly into the budget of any business.
First of all, what exactly is a CRM? CRM is short for the “Customer Relationship Management” system. While strengthening the bond between your business and its customers is one of the main priorities that this system has, it’s one of many advantages that CRMs provide for businesses.
CRMs can become the foundation of your entire business, and this allows the CRM to streamline your organisation. Team members can collaborate on projects across departments and geographic locations, and they can even keep track of any other projects within your business.
CRMs allow you to automate some smaller tasks that tend to take up a ton of time. This allows your team to become more efficient and productive than ever before. Moreover, you can integrate hundreds of third-party apps into your CRM — from Zoom to Slack and even Google Docs. This allows you to access any apps that you usually use without even having to switch tasks and slow your devices down.
So, what is the best CRM on the market? There are hundreds of CRMs out there that your business can choose from. Some of the biggest multi-million dollar companies in the world like Adidas, Amazon, and Apple, use the more expensive top-end CRMs like Salesforce and Pipedrive.
But, these are far too expensive for any other business to incorporate. When it comes to more affordable CRMs, HubSpot is the stand-out option in its class. Even when comparing HubSpot to some of the bigger CRMs it stacks up incredibly well, which is surprising considering that you can use it for free.
HubSpot has been around since 2005, so the company has tons of experience under its belt. Hubspot is the pioneer of inbound marketing, which means that if it’s generating new leads and organic traffic that you’re after, then this is the perfect CRM for your business.
The HubSpot system has a project tracker that keeps your entire team and your customers in the loop on progress, and it also features more third-party integrations than any other CRM on the market, with over 500 third-party apps working seamlessly with the system.
So, what’s the catch? Is HubSpot truly a free CRM? Our modern world is filled with “free” apps and systems, but once you install them on your device you’re met with hidden fees and time trials. But, that’s not the case with HubSpot.
HubSpot is a fully functional free CRM that any business can use. Some features are limited, but overall, the free version of HubSpot is perfectly sufficient for small businesses, and the majority of medium-sized businesses.
What’s even better about HubSpot is its flexibility. HubSpot’s CRM is divided into three different branches: the Marketing Hub, the Sales Hub, and the Service Hub. Each of these branches can be upgraded independently, which gives your business the flexibility to choose which part of the CRM is most important and needs to grow with the business.
For example, if you need to upgrade your Marketing Hub to the paid version to unlock more features, but you don’t feel that there’s a need to upgrade the Service Hub and the Sales Hub, you can do that. By sticking with the free versions of the Sales and Service Hub, your business can get what it needs without having to pay for features that it doesn’t need.
This flexibility is what makes HubSpot stand out from the rest of the CRMs on the market because it’s something that you can’t find anywhere else. While the free version of Hubspot is a fully functional CRM that works perfectly fine, there is the option to move towards paid versions of the CRM as your business grows without having to massively increase your budget.