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Should I Upgrade to HubSpot Sales Pro? | Market Veep

Written by Bill Viau | May 21, 2019

“Sales” is the all-in-one sales team platform offered by HubSpot for businesses of any size, in any industry. Every stage of the sales pipeline has helpful tools integrated into the HubSpot Sales platform that can help streamline and organize the sales process.

If you've decided it's time for a sales-focused CRM, HubSpot Sales has you covered—it integrates fully with HubSpot CRM, so all of your teams (sales, marketing, customer service) have access to the same resources. Sales can also handle email templating, task sequencing, live chat functionality, and more. The value proposition of the HubSpot Sales product is built upon the pure breadth of functions it contains.

HubSpot has also broken down its sweeping suite of features into three levels so that you can implement it at a scope that makes sense for your team. The premium tiers adds a host of advanced AI-powered automation tools that can kickstart your sales team into a full-fledged high-octane sales machine.

If you've already been using HubSpot Sales for a while, you may be aware that the legacy product became “HubSpot Sales Starter” when they introduced a more advanced “HubSpot Sales Professional” at Inbound17. There is also a “Free” tier with some basic functions at no cost. This has left plenty of businesses wondering...should I upgrade? When is the right time for my team to make the leap to Pro?

As luck would have it, in the several years since the new HubSpot Sales Pro hit the market there's been ample time to learn where it fits in the HubSpot Sales continuum and how much value it can actually offer. Let's take a look.

Three Tiers of Growth

HubSpot truly makes sales enablement possible for teams of any size, whether it's a freelancer in business for themselves or the sales department of a multinational brand. Here's a rundown of the core functions and identity of the first three HubSpot Sales tiers (a final “Enterprise” level was introduced in September 2018 that is targeted primarily at the largest sales enterprises).

HubSpot Sales Free

The free platform offers basic features for sales teams that are just starting out (or perhaps only an individual salesperson/entrepreneur). It doesn't have the bells and whistles of the other tiers, but on the plus side, you won't be overwhelmed by extra features you might not need at this point. This makes it a decent trial run to test out the HubSpot Sales ecosystem.

The foundation in Free can help you manage your contacts, send emails to clients, and stay organized. Tools like these make it easier to support traffic and lead growth for beginning businesses. A few key features are:

  • HubSpot integration with Gmail, Outlook, and G Suite, so your data is shared across each platform.
  • Automated email scheduling to reach clients easily (up to 5 templates).
  • Access to a live chat tool (Messages) for real-time online interaction.
  • Tools for contact management and task scheduling to keep info, to-dos, and deals organized.
  • Core CRM access (HubSpot CRM is totally free).

It's easy to appreciate “free,” but the complementary tools of HubSpot Sales Free are really intended to show you why it could be worth expanding into a more versatile paid package. The Free model offers only limited access to critical sales processes like the “calling” tool (just 15 minutes of calls per month!), and it's hard to truly personalize automated emails with the cap set at 5 templates.