Hi all,
I’m currently on HubSpot’s free plan with just over 300 contacts. I’ve built a labelling and tracking system that works for me right now, but I’m concerned about how well it will scale as the database grows and as I hand it off to future team members.
I’m mainly reaching out to companies (not individuals), and I’m currently using Lead Stage to segment contacts. I’ve also been using the First Name field for company names, which I’m not sure is best practice.
I’d love guidance on:
- Best practices for organizing and tracking company-based outreach
- How others structure properties, pipelines, or segments as their database grows
- Whether upgrading would provide a walkthrough showing what I am currently doing and how it can be improved.
Is there a way to book time with someone to review our setup?
I really appreciate any help you can provide.
Hi @SVolkamer,
While the free CRM does limit how many custom properties you can create, I’d always advise against storing information in fields that aren’t meant for it. In other words, storing the “Company name” in the first name field is going to cause issues in the long run for you, in some way or another.
It would be better to work with the associated company object and update company information in the default company fields there:
The same goes for “Lead status” / “Lifecycle stage”, these are explained here: https://community.hubspot.com/t5/Ask-Me-Anything-and-Panel/AMA-Demystifying-HubSpot-s-lifecyle-stages-deal-stages-and-lead/m-p/514256
For anything else, it’s best practice to use either default properties (as they are meant to be used) or create custom properties: Create and edit properties
Upgrading to a higher subscription will not provide best practices out of the box, no. The documentation for these different features (as linked above) is going to be your best friend.
Let me know if you have any follow-up questions!