How to use HubSpot CRM to track internal process of a customer journey

[aaminphotos]

Long time listener, first time poster- I've been using the HubSpot CRM free just to simply store contacts and track emails. However now that I'm getting serious with my business, I am looking for a way to use HubSpot to track the customer journey (from first contact with an inquiry, through to sending out a quote, assigning a job number to make the job active, iterations all the way until delivery of the final product). Assuming it would be some sort of funnel (a repurposed sales funnel perhaps?)

I'd love to be able to track all the steps that the customer is in, find where the bottle necks are and and see how we can improve our process. It's also great to be able to keep track of jobs and see where they are in the process- to trigger any follow ups etc.

If someone has done something similar, would love to hear how you've done it. Any advise will help.

Thank you!

Adam Amin

[warrendavey]

@aaminphotos 

I wanted to add a few more things and echo @Josh 's suggestions and best practices.

Yes, don't go too crazy with the custom properties. 

I would also suggest that in your upgrade you use quotes and products.  This will help eliminate the creation of non-standard fields. 

Also, you can look at the new HubSpot App Market for other tools or connectors that could help you.

[Josh · Accepted solution]

Hi @aaminphotos,

It sounds like you aren't using the deal pipeline. That's where I think most of this can take place. You can customize your deal stages so that they match your sales process/customer journey.

You would also want to use the lifecycle stage and lead status dropdowns within HubSpot to start further defining where your prospects are at in the journey. It may also be valuable to create some custom properties that you know are important in understanding the prospect and where they're at, but I would suggest using those custom properties wisely. We've come across several instances in which people go too far with custom properties, causing duplicates, unneeded data tracking, and just, in general, a messy setup.

I'd be happy to discuss this via a phone call if you'd like. Just book some time on my calendar.

Josh 

[maggiebutler]

@Josh This was a really thoughtful reply & really great advice. Do you have a template or a model you use for mapping out the CX or the customer journey? It sounds like you also have some good pitfall experience for others to avoid...

I ended up here because I'm starting a new community board this week for operations folks (I'm from MOps at HubSpot) and this would be a really great topic to discuss or thing to share; I'm looking for thought leaders with ideas like yours. Please, let me know if this interests you! I'd love to tell you more. 

[aaminphotos]

Hey Josh,

Thanks so much for that insight. I will look into the deal pipeline and repurposing that for the customer journey.

Will reach out if I have any other queries!

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers,

Adam