Cloning a Deal

[cfleishman]

Need to be able to clone an individual deal. This is helpful for recurring revenue organizations and building MRR. Please! 

Update from @JoeMayall: Due to a technical error on HubSpot’s end, this thread has an inflated upvote count. As of June 10th, 2020, we estimate this thread has around 500 upvotes. I'll continue to update this count as the thread receives upvotes."

[cfleishman]

Hey HubSpot Community,
Here to share an un-fun update. We explored Cloning Deals in the second half of 2023 but are not ready to execute yet. Projects like this seem easy on the surface, but both technical and customer experience implications really matter. We're committed to providing the best experience, and sometimes that means taking extra time to do so. I know this is still a pressing need, and plan to make strides this year. In the meantime, as folks on this thread have mentioned, either using a workflow or an app like Deal Duplicator are your, admittedly not perfect, best options.
-Maggie

[cfleishman]

Survey permissions have been updated! Please try here and let me know if you're encountering issues: https://forms.gle/7RRi8jUMTnLqP9M38. 

[cfleishman]

Hi HubSpot Community great news! Our product team is prioritizing this feature and actively working on a solution. To help us better understand what exactly you'd like to clone (e.g. properties, associations, activities), could you please take this short survey? Thank you!

*Update: Survey link has been fixed, please let me know if you're still not able to access it.

[cfleishman]

Hello HubSpot Community, 

Thank you all for your incredible patience. We reckon an update is warranted. 

Unfortunately, this idea remains unplanned. The team is currently planning some really valuable, high-impact features (e.g. team goals, deal overlays, color coding the deals board) that fall higher on the priority list. We can't take this on. But we understand the need and see the value in a cloning feature. 

Fortunately, there's a workaround. You can use workflows to create a new deal and copy data from the existing deal. 

Thank you for making HubSpot CRM a better tool. 

[cfleishman]

Hello HubSpot community,

Thank you for your continued feedack here. I wanted to provide an update on the status of this idea. Cloning a deal is absolutely on a list of things we’d like to do. However, the list is long and time and resources are limited, so building this functionality is ultimately a question of priorities, and this is a lower priority compared to some of the other things we’re working on right now. We're continuing to keep an eye on the use cases provided in this idea and are always re-evaluating our top priorities, I'll be sure to update this thread when this is a more near-term priority. 

- Dylan 

[cfleishman]

Hello HubSpot community, 

Thank you for your continued input on this idea. As I mentioned in a previous post, saving reps time is squarely in the realm of things we are thinking about on the HubSpot Product Team. 

To help us continue to deliver a product that helps your business grow better, could you answer this 3 question (only 1 required) survey about your detailed needs for cloning deals? 

Thank you in advance! 

[cfleishman]

Hello HubSpot community,  

Thank you all for your continued input on this idea. I'm a product manager on our CRM team and wanted to provide you all with a status update here as the status of this issue is a bit complicated.

For starters, @JoeMayall recently made an update to the core idea. There was a technical error on our end that increased the number of votes on this issue by about 300.

When it comes to cloning deals, we hear you! We've been steadily looking into all of the context provided here and its clear there is product pain in a few areas.

Recurring revenue - the ability for HubSpot to support a recurring revenue model can be painful due to the fact that deals need to be re-created month over month, or quarter over quarter.

Saving reps time - sometimes deals are created that are very similar to a previous deal and the rep creating the deal wants to use the same data. Re-typing this data is inefficient.

Regarding recurring revenue: We're currently working on several aspects of the product that will help recurring revenue models. This includes invoices, reports, and even forecasting.

Regarding saving reps time: Our entire product is shaped to help you grow better. When reps are doing duplicative tasks, this slows you down and hurts growth. However, different businesses have different needs around "cloning". Some want just the deal name, others want the same deal amount, others want to copy the entire contents of the deal (including activities and emails), some want the deal to be included in the same reports as other deals. Since there are such vast requirements amongst our user base - this would inherently create the need for "settings" to allow admins to choose exactly how a deal cloning would work.

Both of these things are goals that we have our eye on. The problems that are expressed here are likely to be solved in many ways. There is not a "clone deal" silver bullet. We plan on working continually towards solving all of this pain, every day. However, at this time we do not have immediate plans to build or launch a "clone deal" button and have our energy focused on solving other problems that help our customers grow better.

[Daxchemist]

@bashomosko Just shot you a PM!

[WebfootMarket]

For any Zapier users out there, I SOLVED THIS PROBLEM, at least for our purposes. Have a look:

Solution:

1. I created a custom deal property that I call "Clone Deal" and then just made it a checkbox (TRUE/FALSE) property. 
   1. see here:
2. I then created a zap with zapier that monitors that particular field for a change. As soon as the estimator makes the change to that "Clone deal" property and saves the changes in the deal the zap fires. Here is what I built out in the Zap:
   1. See here:
3. Step two in the zap is a filter that will only proceed if the "Clone Deal" value is set to "Yes" (TRUE), just in case an estimator changes the property to "No" we do not want to continue cloning the deal.
4. Step 3 is just the HubSpot --> "Create Deal" function, and I just input all the properties from the deal that triggered the zap into the new deal that is being created.
5. Step 4 finds the Contact ID that is associated with the original deal
6. Step 5 associates the newly created (or cloned) deal to the same contact.

You could also add another step that emails the user when the deal is done being created with a link to the newly cloned deal, but I haven't don that yet.

Also, you could do this process multiple times, but just switching the Clone Deal property back to "No." Saving the deal. Then Switching it back to "Yes" and saving again.

Background on how we use it:

Our painting company will create deals when a customer calls for an estimate. Frequently, the customer is in need of multiple services for example carpentry, drywall repair, and interior painting (we abbreviate that with "CARP DRY INT" for context). We want to keep those three services as one deal initially because the estimator is going to the house one time to give an estimate for all the services. However, once the customer excepts the deal we want to be able to split it into three separate deals because often times we need to schedule and produce those deals months apart (especially if there is exterior work that is weather dependent). So our estimators need to duplicate the original deal three times, and literally everything is the same except the project type, and the dollar amount. 

Hope this helps someone out there!!

[AAnderson8]

This would be really helpful for us. When a sales person wins a deal it needs to be cloned into our services pipeline to be managed for delivery. 

It's ideal for the delivery team to not have to recreate the deal every time when all of the required fields are included in the sales deal already.

[Daxchemist]

@AAnderson8 Our app clone attack will not only do your duplicates, but will soon allow you to set defaults when duplicating, as well as change the pipeline/stage upon duplication!

Check it out here - https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/sales/crm/appchemist-clone-attack-229629

[dave-ops]

Use Case: We want to make sure notes that were in prior deals with a prospect or client (that didn’t come to fruition but now are back on the table) aren’t missed in the current deal.

[JHerlem]

Hi Hubspot,

+1 for this basic option. In our group, we have lot of recurrent deals that I need to duplicate. 

Tx in advance for this new feature !

[BradSalerno]

We currently transitioned from PipeDrive to HubSpot.  While there are many reasons why we made the switch (your reporting is much better for example,) one of the important features of PipeDrive is the ability to clone a deal.  I have many projects where the same products are deployed in several or many different locations.  In HubSpot, the deal name and quote name are the only data that change in this instance.  Having to completely repeat this information over and over again is VERY time consuming and prone to errors.  PLEASE fix this!!!

[Daxchemist]

Hey @BradSalerno and all you cloning folks!

We've added several new features to our app Clone Attack that duplicates Deals, Contacts, and Tickets:

• Set the new Pipeline and Stage when you duplicate
• A full config page to set defaults for different properties (or prevent them from being copied)
• Duplicating as a workflow action coming up next!

Feel free to message me if you need a specific feature. Check out the app here! 

https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/sales/crm/appchemist-clone-attack-229629

[SkeeStylus]

@JHerlem @BradSalerno I support @Daxchemist message.  We've been using his Clone Attack.  It does what we're all asking for and more.  Easy to use, and I would contend, a permanant solution, not just a stop gap for this Hubspot problem.  

[LWitlox]

We concur.  Cloning a deal is indeed needed. What is staus on development since this appears to be a question from 3 years ago?

[bashomosko]

@LWitlox I agree with @SkeeStylus that Clone Attack is a solid, long-term solution. https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/sales/crm/appchemist-clone-attack-229629

Especially since I don't see Hubspot moving on this any time soon. 

[juan_goslinga]

This is such a basic feature. Please develop it! Right now we have to download deals and upload them again if wanting to create clone deals.

[pblessing]

This is a critical requirement for our company.  It is a standard feature in other CRM's.  Based on the feedback provided, this should be a priority for 2021.   Adding the same deal month after month is time consuming and not an effective way for our team to sell.  

[JMerkel]

Yes! Cloning a deal woud be so helpful for a long term project with different shipment dates. It would save our team a ton of time!

[AntonyM]

Wondering when the last 'Hubspot' Product Owner comments was as there are years of customers saying the same thing....i.e. this is an essential feature

[Edith]

Hey Everyone,

this issue started in 2017... What I can see since then two types of comments: 1. please we need deal cloning feature, 2. hey, why don't you use an additional application to solve your issue.

I really don't get it what takes so long, to develop this function, and why is this even a question, whether HS does it or not? This is so obviously needed. Is it really a rocket science?

And yes, a HubSpot Moderator's up-to-date comment would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Edit

[Issen007]

So much fun that a 3rd part company making money on this core function.
I think HS could easy avoing this large thread of complaining by do a easy plugin for this and just put in a Beta Format and let us customers decided what to clone or not.  

[LWitlox]

Thank you to the additional commentors.  And, please no more solicitations from 3rd party apps to clone a deal.  Our company has zero interest in additional fees when this should be native to HUBSPOT.  Thank you.

[ZChenier]

HS should be embarassed that this was identified 2.5 years ago and nothing has been done. Duplicating is a BASIC and NECESSARY feature people are pleading for, and HS can't be bothered. I imagine them high-fiving in the boardroom when Clone Attack came out, as they feel they've killed two birds with one stone - they make a few bucks off Clone Attack, and can cross this off their development tasks. Brutal.

Don't worry about custom clone settings, customizing this or that, only cloning certain fields... Just add a button to clone the whole deal. It's 100x easier to clone the whole thing and delete comments/notes/attachements as needed, than to do any amount of re-typing from scratch. 

Make your customers happy Hubspot. Stop forcing us into PAID third party apps for what can be very easily argued as missing core functionality.

[ICM]

I just want to add that this idea would really help CSMs or AMs use Hubspot (making it stickier in organisations). When a deal is closed won I need to replicate that deal and move dates out by a year (for annual SaaS contracts), the associated contacts, properties and deal amount should be the same (for now). I currently need HS open on two screens in order to do this, which is a faff and time sink.