How to Get Sales Reps to Use the HubSpot CRM

For those of us who understand how critical proper CRM adoption is, it can be frustrating when we have members on the sales team, especially reps, who either push back or fail to use it properly. 

CRMs foster: sales efficiency; alignment across all teams that interact with customers; the ability to log a history of every interaction your company has had with a customer; transparency; and accountability. They also provide data on how the business is performing.

It’s no wonder that every single one of the largest and most successful companies in the world uses a CRM and sales tools similar to HubSpot.

We’ve helped hundreds of sales teams, both large and small, either switch to the HubSpot CRM or implement a CRM for the first time using HubSpot and Sales Hub. We’ve seen companies succeed and we’ve seen companies fail. 

That puts us in the unique position: to definitively teach the steps that absolutely must be followed if you want your sales team to embrace the sales productivity tools you’re making a substantial investment in.

In this article, we’re going to cover:

1. How to train/onboard your sales team on the HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub.
2. How to hold sales reps accountable for proper CRM management.
3. What to do if sales reps continue to fail to use the CRM properly.

Let’s get started.

How to train/onboard your sales team on the HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub

Before you jump into getting your sales team to use HubSpot, you need to address the question they’re asking that causes most sales associates to resist the process: What’s in it for me? 

Once your team understands how powerful the HubSpot platform is at helping them automate and drive the sales process, they’re far more likely to fall in line. 

Here are the steps you need to take to first answer this question, and then train your team.

Step 1: Explain the why behind the importance of the HubSpot CRM for your business

First thing’s first: If you’re going to get your sales team to use the HubSpot CRM platform, you need to teach them all about what’s in it for them (aka, the why). 

To do this, spend the first onboarding session explaining the ways HubSpot can save them time and help them get more sales by:

• streamlining communication
• centralizing the sales project pipeline and correspondence with qualified leads
• automating and tracking phone calls and emails
• creating custom dashboards to track metrics, data, and sales reports (such as open and won deals by rep, what clients are engaging with your content most, revenue channels and pipeline data, and closing rates)

That’s a lot of functionality in a single tool — and that’s not everything! 

With so much information at your sales team’s fingertips, they can access what they need without constantly having to ask each other for it, which saves them lots of time while streamlining the sales process. They just need to know how it helps them on a day-to-day basis.

Step 2: Organize a learning session or workshop

Next, organize a workshop for your team where experts can weigh in on the ways you can use the HubSpot CRM. This allows professionals to answer questions your sales team has directly and specifically, which can help them zero in on your team’s reservations and clear up any other issues that could be standing in the way. 

It’s also a great opportunity to stop telling your sales team how much HubSpot helps them and start showing them concrete examples of sales associates who have seen sales success with the tool, which can be far more powerful in motivating your team.

Step 3: Get everyone’s commitment

After educating your sales team on all the ways HubSpot can help them sell even better, get your team to commit to learning and using HubSpot tools. 

Explain that they don’t need to know everything at once. You can get a basic account or even start for free so you can add functionality as they learn (this way you’re not bombarding them with a lot of information at once). Build a roadmap and make it clear that by a certain date they will be fully adapted, and how they’re going to get there.

You can do this by picking one area to focus on at a time (such as leaving notes, then adding deals), but at the end of the day, they need to commit to the program and understand it isn’t an option. They will absolutely need to learn how to use HubSpot tools in order to shorten the sales cycle and improve their overall productivity.

How to hold sales reps accountable for proper CRM management

If you want to hold sales reps accountable for using the HubSpot CRM properly, designate one person to be in charge of the process. Having someone who is familiar with HubSpot be accountable for getting everyone else up and running will help the transition go more smoothly.

Have this person provide your team with support in the starting phases, as well as ongoing, so any issues that might hinder the process can be addressed. 

We also find that it helps to tell your team that if they don’t add the information to the HubSpot CRM, it’s like it never happened and won’t be counted. 

Be sure to also reward your team members for modeling great behavior, and provide lots of incentives for reaching milestones (prizes, celebrations, etc.).

What to do if sales reps continue to fail at using the CRM properly

If your sales reps still aren’t willing to use the HubSpot CRM after taking these measures, the reality is you need to let them go. 

CRM tools such as HubSpot are powerful in their ability to help your sales teams, but they’re also a significant investment. When your sales reps don’t want to use them, for whatever reasons they might have, it’s important to move on and find someone who will, so you can make the most of your investment. You want to cultivate a sales team that understands that using the right CRM software can shorten the sales cycle while greatly improving how much revenue they generate.

Get your sales team on the right track today

All these tips we shared with you on how to get your sales teams using HubSpot illustrate those we recommend to our own clients. It has helped them overcome the obstacles many sales teams face and go on to generate a healthy, efficient sales pipeline and millions in revenue.

But know, too, that there is so much more to selling than having the right CRM.

We also teach our clients’ sales teams how to sell faster than ever with an inbound marketing framework called They Ask, You Answer. Businesses that use this framework to make their inbound marketing and sales initiatives work better than the other businesses in their industry have seen incredible success.

To take the first step toward learning about and implementing They Ask, You Answer in your business, talk to one of our advisors who can walk you through how to see these incredible results at your own company.

If you’d like to read more before you reach out, here are some additional resources:

1. What is They Ask, You Answer?
2. IMPACT+ courses for any level

With strategic coaching and hands-on training for your sales teams, we can help your company improve your metrics and scale your business.