Why Use the Hubspot Salesforce Integration — And Why Ditch Salesforce Altogether

Most sales teams using Salesforce dread the possibility of migrating to another platform. Changing your tech stack can be complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. So once your sales team is up and running with Salesforce, chances are you’ll have a tough time convincing them to go elsewhere. 

Still, your marketing and service departments need tools to run their side of the show. So many companies end up with split stacks. For example, if your sales team uses Salesforce, your marketing team may be running an ESP like Mailchimp and your CS team relies on Zendesk.

But running operations like this means that there’s no single source of truth for all of your customer data. Not to mention how complicated things get when there are multiple accounts to monitor… and pay for.

Thankfully, there are many ways to combat these siloes. 

Using the HubSpot Salesforce integration aligns your teams from the first point of contact

One of the main reasons you should consider using the HubSpot Salesforce integration is if your sales team is already using Salesforce. 

Simply put, Salesforce doesn’t have native marketing automation. You could use Salesforce Marketing Cloud or other solutions like Pardot. But they’re just not as robust as HubSpot. And they won’t save you the work of the integration.

HubSpot is also consistently rated at the very top in terms of customer experience and usability. And with its free Academy, your team will be able to handle basically any HubSpot feature without much trouble.

Using the HubSpot Salesforce integration, any contact created in HubSpot becomes a lead in Salesforce. Then, they convert and go from Salesforce to HubSpot as customers.

There’s no doubt that the HubSpot Salesforce integration is a powerful martech stack. It mixes the range of HubSpot’s inbound features with Salesforce’s sales capabilities to bring sales and marketing alignment to a whole new level. It also simplifies the process of adding marketing and customer service to your tech as it’s not a full migration but rather an addition.

So how do you know whether the HubSpot Salesforce integration is right for you?

When should you consider using the HubSpot Salesforce integration?

The first factor to consider is, are you already using Salesforce? While HubSpot is more user-friendly, if your sales team is already in Salesforce, you’ll run into two factors. 

For one, you’ll probably face resistance as they won’t want to move to a whole new tool. And second, uprooting your team would be expensive and could mean downtime for your operations — a no-no when it comes to sales.

So it makes sense to choose to integrate HubSpot if you’re already in Salesforce, as it is the best marketing automation with a native Salesforce integration.

In addition, Salesforce’s sales reporting is more robust than HubSpot’s. And third, Salesforce’s workflow customization is more powerful than HubSpot’s, so using the integration allows you to tap into Salesforce’s power.

When should you consider using HubSpot and not the HubSpot Salesforce integration?

If you’re not using Salesforce yet, your best bet might be to use HubSpot alone. HubSpot’s Sales Hub is a powerful, more user-friendly CRM than Salesforce. And since it’s all within the same ecosystem, you can easily implement automation and create a cohesive customer experience from lead gen to conversion and beyond.

Next, think about the level of complexity of managing the integration. The HubSpot Salesforce integration is a robust setup perfect for big companies with tons of data (and teams who are already used to SF). But with the right structure, HubSpot alone could be enough. 

And finally, consider the tasks you’ll be performing in your martech. Salesforce is a powerful sales tool — but that’s about it. If you want further customization and features, you have to integrate (and pay for) them. So it quickly adds up in complexity and investment.

Instead, HubSpot’s ecosystem includes everything you need. You only need to choose the tier of service you want to sign up for based on aspects like the number of contacts and sophisticated features like a sandbox or conversation intelligence. 

Let’s look at a textbook HubSpot use case. A real estate services firm with a few regional locations, less than a hundred employees, and a clientele consisting of real estate agents could need a platform that allows:

• Regular newsletter campaigns
• Internal emails (like a monthly newsletter)
• Lead generation
• Content management
• Social media posts
• Ads management
• Reporting and attribution
• Blogging

You could easily manage all of this using HubSpot alone. So there’s little argument for using the HubSpot Salesforce integration if you’re starting from scratch.

Final words: What should you do?

Your choice between using the HubSpot Salesforce integration will come down to a few things. 

First, you’ll need to think about whether your team is used to working within Salesforce or you’re starting from scratch (like coming from another CRM or, gasp, no CRM). 

Another factor to weigh in is whether you truly need Salesforce’s more complex reporting or HubSpot’s will be enough. If you choose to go with the integration because of the reporting and end up not using it, it’ll be a costly reversal compared to starting small and getting the integration later on.

Next, consider the investment. Both platforms come with costs depending on the number of seats you need as well as the number of contacts you manage. But HubSpot’s plans are tiered and you can buy add-ons like additional contacts without having to move up to the next plan. Plus, if you use the integration, you’ll have to pay for both platforms — vs. paying for only HubSpot.

What’s more, the software subscription is only part of the cost, as you may need an expert to implement the integration. Partly because there’s a steep learning curve to it, but also depending on how your Salesforce is set up.

At Coastal Consulting, we believe in empowering teams to manage their marketing technology internally. This helps you keep control of your data and scale efficiently.

With this in mind, we created the first HubSpot Salesforce integration course, a program designed to eliminate dependencies and help you build systems based on your business’s unique needs. Enroll now.