As a sales manager, you know that choosing the right CRM and sales tools can make all the difference in your team's performance. HubSpot, a leader in the CRM industry, offers two popular sales modules: Sales Starter and Sales Pro. But how do you decide which one is right for your team?
In this blog post, we'll break down the differences between HubSpot Sales Starter and Pro modules, help you choose the best fit, and guide you through HubSpot Academy lessons and certifications to make the most of your investment.
Designed for small businesses and growing sales teams, HubSpot Sales Starter provides essential tools to help your team close more deals faster. Here's what you get with Sales Starter:
Email tracking and notifications: Keep track of your email interactions with prospects and receive real-time notifications when they open your emails.
Email templates and scheduling: Save time by using pre-built templates for common sales emails, and schedule emails to be sent at the most appropriate times.
Documents: Stores and share sales collateral, like presentations and brochures, with your team, and track how your prospects interact with these documents.
Calling: Make calls directly from your CRM, record conversations, and automatically log these activities in your contacts' records.
Meeting Scheduling: Share a personalized scheduling link with prospects, so they can easily book meetings with you.
Live chat: Engage prospects in real-time with live chat, which can be easily added to your website.
CRM integration: Sync your sales tools with HubSpot's free CRM to manage your leads, deals, and activities in one place.
If your team has outgrown the Sales Starter module or needs more advanced features to streamline your sales process, Sales Pro might be the right choice. In addition to the Sales Starter features Sales Pro offers:
Sequences: Automate your email outreach with a series of personalized, timed emails, so you can focus on building relationships.
Workflows: Create custom workflows to automate tasks, like updating contact properties or sending internal notifications.
Custom reporting: Build custom reports and dashboards to track your team's performance and gain insights into your sales process.
Multiple deal pipelines: Manage different types of deals or sales processes with multiple deal pipelines.
Sales automation: Automate repetitive tasks, like rotating leads, updating deal stages, or creating tasks for your team.
Required fields: Ensure your team collects the essential information by setting required fields on deals, contacts, and companies.
Salesforce integration: Sync your HubSpot CRM with Salesforce to maintain a single source of truth for your sales data.
Consider your team's needs and budget when deciding between HubSpot Sales Starter and Pro. If your team is small or just getting started with CRM, Sales Starter may be the perfect fit. However, if you require more advanced features to streamline your sales process and automate tasks, Sales Pro might be the better option.
Regardless of which module you choose, taking advantage of HubSpot Academy's lessons and certifications can help your team become more effective at using HubSpot's tools. We recommend the following courses for sales managers and new HubSpot users:
1. HubSpot Sales Software Certification Course: This course is designed to provide a solid foundation in the HubSpot Sales Hub. It covers everything from setting up the software to getting the most out of its features.
2. Inbound Sales Certification Course: This course teaches sales reps how to identify, connect, explore, and advise potential customers using the inbound sales methodology.
3. Frictionless Sales Certification Course: This course teaches sales teams how to align their sales process with the way people buy today.
4. Sales Management Training: A course specifically designed for sales managers, it offers strategies for managing a sales team, including hiring, coaching, and creating a winning sales culture.
5. HubSpot CRM Training: This course is essential for new users, offering a comprehensive overview of how to use HubSpot's CRM effectively.