Stop Buying HubSpot Blind: Design Your CRM Around Your Sales Machine First
Hot take: choosing a HubSpot tier before you blueprint your sales process is like buying couches before measuring the living room.
Why HubSpot Design Comes Before the Purchase
Raise your hand if you’ve ever impulse-bought software because a demo looked shiny.
Been there, maxed out the credit card, still paying for unused features. That’s why, as a HubSpot Solutions Partner, we refuse to sell licenses until we finish HubSpot Design—a discovery sprint where we:
Reverse-engineer your current sales process
Architect the data model and integrations you’ll need day-one
Audit user roles, then prescribe exactly which HubSpot seats each person needs—no more, no less.
Only after that do we talk packages—and yes, we negotiate on your behalf!
Sales Process Mapping: Your Guardrails for Growth
Think of Sales Process Mapping as the HGTV demo day for your revenue engine: we tear down the “it’s-all-in-my-head” walls and rebuild a flow that anyone on the team can follow (and improve). Here’s what these sessions deliver:
X-Ray the Current Chaos
We document every lead source, hand-off, and follow-up, from that trade-show badge scan to the contract signature, so you can finally see where deals stall.
Visual Blueprint, Not Word Soup
You leave with a living, breathing map (no tiny font, we promise) that spells out stages, exit criteria, and owner at each step. It’s the reference doc new hires use instead of “shadow Karen for a week.”
Lean Sales Meets TWI
We bolt the process to Training Within Industry principles—clear job functions, minimum standards, and a built-in feedback loop—so the system keeps improving long after the sticky notes are gone.
Data Schema
Because mapping without data rules is just pretty art, we sketch the high-level object/property relationships HubSpot will need (contacts ←→ deals ←→ custom objects) to set you up for Step 2’s deep dive.
Why it matters
A documented, test-driven sales process cuts onboarding time, boosts accountability (no more “I thought Frank was calling them”), and gives customers the same A-level experience whether they talk to you or a new sales rep.
Bottom line? Before we touch HubSpot software, we make sure your sales machine has an owner’s manual—and a pit-crew checklist—to keep it humming.
Data Architecture, Because “Misc.” Isn’t a Field Type
Your CRM is only as smart as the data flowing through it. During our Data Architecture sprint we:
Capture the flow. We inventory every lead source, form, spreadsheet and sticky-note list so nothing falls into the abyss.
Design the schema. Then we blueprint HubSpot objects (Contacts, Companies, Deals, Custom Objects) and the properties that bind them—so marketing can segment and sales can report without “export to Excel” gymnastics.
Automate the grunt work. Think lifecycle stage updates, pipeline automations, and nurture sequences that fire the second a property changes—no human babysitting required.
Integrate your tech stack. From billing platforms to Slack alerts, we connect the dots so data travels once and appears everywhere.
Surface decision-ready reporting. With the schema locked, dashboards actually… dash. Revenue attribution, win-rate by source, and sequence touch-point ROI appear in one click.
The result? Clean, queryable data that lets you tweak your sales engine with the confidence of a NASCAR pit crew, not a guess-and-pray bicyclist.
Right-Sizing Seats: Pay for Horsepower, Not Hood-Ornaments
HubSpot blew up its “one-price-fits-nobody” bundles last year, switching to a seat-based model that finally lets you hand-pick what each team member needs.
Here’s the cheat-sheet I run through during every license audit:
Core Seat – For the folks who create, edit, and actually do things in the CRM: update records, build sequences, launch emails. This is the “gets-stuff-done” seat.
Sales Hub Seat – Pipeline junkies who need quotes, sequences, call queues, playbooks, and conversation intelligence. If revenue is their scoreboard, this is their ticket to the game.
Service Hub Seat – Support pros juggling tickets, SLAs, and knowledge-base articles. Customer happiness lives (and dies) here, so give them the right tools.
View-Only Seat – Execs, advisors, or the intern who “just wants to look.” Totally free and unlimited—stop burning cash on dashboard lurkers.
Partner Seat – Yours truly gets in gratis so we can keep tune-ups rolling without eating one of your paid slots. Perks of the HubSpot Solutions Partner life.
Partner-Powered Contracts: No More Guess-and-Pray Purchasing
Signing a HubSpot quote shouldn’t feel like speed-reading a phone book while a timer ticks down. Here’s why looping in a HubSpot Solutions Partner (hi, that’s us) turns contract chaos into a strategic slam-dunk:
- Specialized expertise on tap. We live HubSpot all day, every day. That means we spot hidden “gotchas,” right-size your hubs, and map licenses to real job workflows—so you’re never paying Champagne prices for sparkling-water features.
- Optimization over price slashing. Sure, a Partner might be able to negotiate a better deal for you, but the real win is spend efficiency: buying exactly what you’ll use, shelving what you won’t, and timing upgrades to revenue milestones.
- Streamlined onboarding & training. Our implementation playbooks shave weeks off go-live. Less flailing in setup menus = more time selling, servicing, and marketing.
- Momentum that doesn’t stall. Need a new workflow, dashboard tweak, or campaign launch? Outsourcing to a Partner keeps projects moving while your in-house team focuses on revenue, not rabbit holes.
- Renewal & expansion muscle. Annual true-ups can sting. We audit usage stats, flag excess seats, and negotiate renewals or add-ons from a data-backed position—often securing extra value (or a cheeky discount) HubSpot reps don’t volunteer.
- Ongoing strategic counsel. From quarterly health checks to “Can we integrate this tool?” emergencies, you’ve got a pit crew on speed-dial instead of spinning up costly one-off consults.
Even if the sticker price the same, your total cost of owning HubSpot drops—fewer wasted features, faster ROI, and a growth engine that scales without throwing wrenches. Pay for progress, not panic.
Ready to Build Before You Buy?
Click here to schedule a HubSpot discovery call. Let’s measure the room before we order the couches—and make HubSpot the last CRM you outgrow.
Because grown-up tech decisions start with a blueprint, not a credit-card swipe.
About Amy Kant
Amy Kant is a Sales Architect at The Middle Six®. She specializes in process mapping and HubSpot data schema architecture. With over 20 years of experience in digital marketing, web development, project management, and communication, she thrives on transforming complex systems into streamlined, scalable solutions that drive business success. Amy uncovers operational efficiencies and optimize business and sales practices. She is passionate about innovation and problem-solving, empowering teams with the right tools and structures to work smarter.
Need some 1:1 attention?
If you’re looking for expert guidance on HubSpot architecture, implementation, or ongoing support, The Middle Six team is here to help. Visit our HubSpot services page to learn more and get started today.
