Why HubSpot Projects Fail: The Top 5 Problems (And How to Fix Them)

Buying HubSpot is easy. Getting it to work for your business is hard.
Many companies spend thousands on the software, but 6 months later, nobody is using it.
We don't want that to happen to you.
Here are the top 5 problems businesses face with HubSpot, and how you can avoid them.

1. The "Ghost Town" Problem (Low Adoption)

The Issue:
You build a great system, but your sales team refuses to use it because it doesn't help them. They keep using spreadsheets or notebooks. The CRM becomes like a "ghost town" with no data.
The Solution:
Involve your sales team before you build. Ask them about their process pains and what the ideal world would look like. Then build HubSpot in a way that fixes that specific thing first. If the system helps them sell faster, they will use it.

2. The "Messy Data" Problem

The Issue:
You import thousands of contacts from an old system. But now you have duplicates, missing names, and old emails. Simply put, if the data is bad, your team won't trust the system enough to use it.
The Solution:
Clean your data before you import it. It is better to have 100 clean contacts than 1,000 messy ones. Establish clear rules for who is allowed to add new data.

3. Paying for "Ferrari" Features (But Driving a Ford)

The Issue:
You buy the "Professional" or "Enterprise" package because it sounds good. But you only use the basic email tools. You are wasting thousands of pounds every year on tools you don't touch.
The Solution:
Start small. You can often start with the "Starter" tier or just one "Professional" Hub. Upgrade when you are are sure you're actually ready to use the advanced features.

4. Systems That Don't Talk (Silos)

The Issue:
HubSpot is great for marketing, but your inventory is in your ERP and your finance data is in another system again. Your team has to switch between 3 different tabs to answer one customer question.
The Solution:
Integration is key. Don't let HubSpot sit on an island. Use connectors to pull all that data into one place. A single view of the customer changes everything, especially when your sales reps only need to use HubSpot.

5. No "Owner" in the Building

The Issue:
You hired an agency to set it up, but once they left, nobody in your office knew how to change a property or fix a workflow.
The Solution:
You need a "HubSpot Champion." Pick one person on your team to be the expert and give them time to learn the system. If nobody owns the CRM enough to keep it updated, it'll soon get stuck in the past and it won't get used.