Salesforce claims that it is the #1 CRM out there. And just a few months ago I’d completely agree with them. And then I started using it. I signed up for Salesforce Essentials CRM. And at first I was impressed. I finally got to use my dream CRM.
But shortly thereafter I began hitting some roadblocks. These roadblocks were your typical issues; I can’t find a setting, I kept losing my password, and there were a lot of steps to get things prepared in the system. Then I went to go integrate Salesforce into the rest of my systems. Surprise! Salesforce doesn’t let you integrate with anything on their Essentials Plan.
Okay no worries. I’m just a solo founder. It can’t be that bad that Salesforce doesn’t talk to anything else. It was. For one when I would open my email on my phone, I couldn’t link any emails to leads or contacts. It had to be on my desktop using their Chrome extension to link anything. And the Chrome extension would crash half the time making me unable to link anything. I also couldn’t track when leads and contacts opened my emails.
So I decided to try out HubSpot. I’ve used HubSpot here and there over the years but was wildly underwhelmed. But over the last several years HubSpot has really stepped up their game.
All emails are automatically linked to contacts in CRM. Their Chrome extension has never crashed on me. And their interface has a nice clean feel to it that is just smoother than Salesforce’s. And the best part, there are so many integrations for free!
I went from spending $35 a month on Salesforce to spending nothing on HubSpot and I’m already getting so much more value from HubSpot than I ever did with Salesforce.
Move over Salesforce because HubSpot is coming for you! HubSpot for the win!