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Does HubSpot actually help businesses grow, or is it just another overhyped software tool?
If you’re considering investing in HubSpot, you’re likely looking for a way to attract more leads, improve sales processes, and ultimately drive revenue. The problem is, many businesses assume that simply using HubSpot will automatically lead to growth. When they don’t see instant results, they feel frustrated and wonder if the platform was worth the investment.
HubSpot is a powerful tool, but it’s not a magic solution.
Growth comes from having the right strategies in place – strategies that HubSpot can help facilitate but won’t create for you.
Businesses that succeed with HubSpot aren’t just relying on the software; they’re implementing key growth strategies like:
- Customer journey mapping
- Sales training
- Marketing and sales alignment
In this article, you’ll get an honest review of whether HubSpot truly helps businesses grow, where it delivers the most value, and what you need to have in place to see real results.
What HubSpot Does Well
HubSpot has built its reputation as an all-in-one CRM, marketing, sales, and customer service platform. Unlike many other tools, it isn’t just about managing contacts—it’s designed to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers throughout their journey.
But what does that actually mean in practice?
Here’s where HubSpot delivers real value:
| Feature | Description |
| Automated Marketing | HubSpot automates marketing based on user behaviour, helping sales reps manage deals effectively and close more deals through nurturing. For example, it can send cleverly timed emails and SMS messages based on a prospect’s actions to maintain engagement or it can automatically trigger an email to a prospect as soon as they visit your pricing page, as well as notify your sales team. This reduces mundane tasks for sales reps, allowing them to focus on selling. This results in a snowball effect—more sales, increased growth, and better business outcomes. |
| Single Customer View | HubSpot centralises marketing and sales activities, integrating email marketing, landing pages, social media, blogging, CRM, and analytics in one place. To learn more about how HubSpot gives your business a single customer view, check out this article here. |
| Helping Sales Reps Close More Deals | HubSpot helps sales reps prioritise warm leads by tracking website visits, engagement patterns, and interactions, ensuring they focus on the most relevant prospects. For example, if a lead revisits an email or a webpage after weeks of inactivity – this signals renewed interest, prompting a timely follow-up that can make all the difference in closing the deal. |
| Reducing Sales Admin Work | HubSpot automates follow-ups, emails, and SMS messaging, cutting down on administrative tasks and freeing up more time for selling. |
| Cost Savings on Tools | HubSpot unifies marketing, sales, and CRM into a single platform, reducing the need for multiple tools and simplifying your tech stack, saving significant costs. |
These features make it easier to scale and streamline operations, but none of them guarantee growth on their own.
Businesses that use HubSpot successfully understand that it’s a tool to enhance strategy, not replace it.
Why Strategy is the Key to Growth (Not Just Software)
Many businesses turn to HubSpot expecting it to be the solution to their growth challenges.
They assume that by implementing the platform, leads will start flowing in, sales will improve, and revenue will grow. When that doesn’t happen, they blame the software.
But HubSpot—like any tool—is only as effective as the strategy behind it. Businesses that succeed with HubSpot don’t just rely on the platform’s features; they use it to execute a well-defined growth strategy.
Software alone doesn’t drive business growth. What does?
- A deep understanding of the customer journey – Knowing how buyers move from awareness to decision-making allows businesses to use HubSpot’s tools effectively, delivering the right content and messaging at each stage
- A strong sales process – Sales teams need training, structure, and a clear method for converting leads. A CRM can help manage deals, but it can’t sell for you
- Marketing and sales alignment – Growth happens when marketing generates high-quality leads and sales follows up effectively. Without alignment, businesses end up with wasted opportunities and disjointed customer experiences
HubSpot provides the framework, but it won’t fix a broken strategy. Businesses that grow aren’t just investing in software—they’re investing in the right processes, training, and alignment to ensure that every lead has the best chance of becoming a customer.
Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey mapping is the process of creating a visual representation of the customer’s experience, detailing each interaction and touchpoint a customer has with a brand, product, or service.
Here’s an example of what a customer journey map might look like:
This technique helps businesses understand their customers’ needs, expectations, and potential pain points throughout their engagement with the company.
HubSpot thrives on personalised automation, but without understanding your customer’s decision-making process, emails, workflows, and touchpoints may miss the mark. Mapping the journey helps create targeted lead nurturing sequences that align with where prospects are in their buying process.
For example, if a prospect downloads a pricing guide but doesn’t book a demo, should they receive a follow-up email or an SMS reminder? A journey map helps determine the right response for every stage.
On top of that, without a clear map, different teams (sales, marketing, and customer service) may overlap efforts, sending redundant or irrelevant messages. Journey mapping clarifies who interacts with a customer at each touchpoint, ensuring a consistent and frictionless experience.
Download our complete guide on developing a Customer Journey Map for Sales Enablement. This will teach you how to develop a Customer Journey Map, step by step.
Sales Training
HubSpot can help generate leads, automate follow-ups, and track sales activity—but it won’t close deals for you. Many businesses struggle with growth not because they lack leads but because their sales team isn’t equipped to convert those leads into paying customers.
Here’s why HubSpot likely won’t work as well without sales training:
- Consistent messaging – Sales reps need to know how to communicate the company’s value proposition clearly and consistently
- Better objection handling – Training helps sales teams anticipate and address common concerns that might otherwise stall a deal
- Faster deal cycles – A well-trained team can move prospects through the sales pipeline more efficiently, reducing the time it takes to close deals
Sales training is a critical but often overlooked part of business growth. Without it, even the best CRM becomes nothing more than an expensive contact database.
Read: Does your business need sales training?
Luckily, HubSpot supports sales training with some key features:
- Call recording and coaching – HubSpot’s sales tools allow managers to review sales calls and provide targeted feedback
- Deal tracking and reporting – Sales teams can analyse which strategies are working and refine their approach accordingly
- Sales playbooks – HubSpot enables businesses to create structured sales guides that help reps stay on track during conversations
Sales training isn’t a one-time event—it’s an ongoing process. The businesses that see real growth with HubSpot aren’t just using the software; they’re actively investing in their sales teams to ensure they can convert leads into revenue.
Marketing and Sales Alignment
One of the biggest reasons businesses struggle with HubSpot is a lack of alignment between marketing and sales. Marketing generates leads and builds content that helps sales reps build trust, but if sales doesn’t follow up properly—or if they’re targeting the wrong prospects—growth stalls. Without alignment, even the best CRM can’t deliver real results.
When marketing and sales work together as a unified team, businesses see higher lead conversion rates, shorter sales cycles, and stronger revenue growth.
Alignment isn’t just about using the same tools—it’s about creating a culture of collaboration where marketing and sales operate as one team. When that happens, HubSpot becomes a powerful engine for growth rather than just a piece of software.
Read: How to Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams Using HubSpot
Who HubSpot is Right (and Wrong) For
HubSpot is a powerful platform, but it’s not the right fit for every business. Some companies see massive success with it, while others struggle to justify the investment. The difference often comes down to whether the business has the right strategy and team in place to use the platform effectively.
HubSpot is a great fit for businesses that:
- Have a defined customer journey – Businesses that understand their buyers’ decision-making process can use HubSpot’s automation and CRM tools to guide prospects smoothly from awareness to purchase
- Invest in sales training – Companies that actively develop their sales teams will see better conversion rates when using HubSpot’s pipeline and reporting features
- Align marketing and sales – Businesses that foster collaboration between these teams can fully leverage HubSpot’s shared CRM, lead scoring, and closed-loop reporting
- Are ready to commit to the platform – HubSpot works best when businesses dedicate time to setting it up properly, training their teams, and continuously optimising their strategies
HubSpot might not be the right choice for businesses that:
- Expect instant results – If a company is looking for a quick-fix solution without a clear strategy, they’ll likely be disappointed
- Don’t have a structured sales process – Businesses without a strong sales function may struggle to see ROI, as HubSpot doesn’t close deals—it just facilitates the process
- Aren’t willing to invest in training and strategy – Without the right processes in place, HubSpot can end up being an underutilised expense rather than a growth driver
HubSpot is an excellent tool for the right business. It can help automate processes, improve customer interactions, and align marketing and sales—but it won’t create a growth strategy for you.
Businesses that succeed with HubSpot are the ones that use it as an enabler of strategy, not a replacement for it.
If you have a clear customer journey, a strong sales team, and a commitment to marketing and sales alignment, HubSpot can be a powerful growth engine. If those pieces aren’t in place, investing in HubSpot before refining your strategy could lead to frustration rather than success.
Next, read our guide on how to ensure you set up your HubSpot portals correctly to get the most out of it right from the get go.
