CRM advice from the person who has to make it work
Most writing about these tools comes from people who evaluate them. I'm usually the one wiring them into a billing system and finding out what breaks six months in. Every article starts from an account I set up myself — and where I haven't tested something, it says so on the page.
Find which CRM fits you — 5 questions →
Choosing
Which tool fits the shape you are in, and the question that comes before that.
- CRM for consultants: the threshold where a spreadsheet stops workingMost independent consultants don't need a CRM yet, and the ones who do can name the exact moment it changed. Here's the threshold, and what to do on either side of it.
- Choosing a CRM for a marketing agency: what the setup tells you before you commitI set up HubSpot's free CRM as a one-person agency and wrote down what the onboarding assumed about me. Plus the three questions that matter more than any feature comparison.
- HubSpot alternatives: what you're actually trying to escapePeople look for alternatives for four different reasons, and each one points somewhere else. Here's how to tell which one you have before you migrate anything.
Limits & plans
What each tier actually gives you, counted from official sources.
- HubSpot free plan limits: the numbers, and which one you hit firstEvery hard limit on HubSpot's free tier, taken from the official catalog — plus which ones actually stop an agency, and the one the onboarding spends for you.
- HubSpot workflows: the tier you actually need, and how they differ from sequencesWorkflows are Professional and above. So are sequences. Neither exists on free or Starter — which changes what 'start free and upgrade later' actually costs.
- Marketing automation for agencies: what the free tiers actually automateHubSpot's free plan allows one automated action. Workflows need Professional, not Starter. Here's what that means if automation is the reason you're shopping.
Making it work
After you have picked: setup, pipelines, and what breaks quietly.
- CRM integration: the six things that break, and what they look likeIntegrations rarely fail loudly. They truncate a field, poll instead of sync, or fire twice — and the damage is found weeks later. Here's what to check before you trust one.
- HubSpot forms: free on every plan, with three walls you find laterForms work on the free tier. Raw HTML markup, campaign association and conditional redirects don't — and each sits behind a different subscription.
- HubSpot pipeline stages for an agency: why the default seven are wrongThe setup builds you a seven-stage sales pipeline even when you tell it you work alone. Here's what an agency pipeline should actually contain, and why fewer stages hold up better.