HubSpot can be a powerful tool for a growing company, but buying the software is only the beginning. Someone has to configure it, teach your team how to use it, and make sure it fits the way your business operates. So, who is going to do all of that? That’s why choosing the right HubSpot partner can make a big difference.
For many companies, HubSpot represents a significant investment. The more of your business you manage in the platform and the more users you have, the more important it becomes to make sure you’re getting the most out of that investment. If you’re committing to a platform like HubSpot, you should also be prepared to invest in its implementation, training, and long-term adoption.
As a rule, people don’t like change, and they definitely don’t like learning new software. If your team has a frustrating experience from the beginning, it can be difficult to get their buy-in later. A poorly configured system, confusing process, or training that doesn’t meet your team where they’re at can quickly turn into a platform people avoid instead of one they rely on.
At Holland Adhaus, e we work with companies brand new to HubSpot, companies that have been using HubSpot for years but never had the system properly configured, and companies with complex ERP systems that need to integrate with the platform. We work with small marketing teams and larger sales organizations. Across all of those implementations, we find one thing to be consistent: users need to feel comfortable in the system and understand how it fits into their day-to-day work.
I believe choosing a HubSpot partner isn’t just about finding someone who knows how to build workflows or configure your CRM. Different partners specialize in different Hubs, industries, integrations, and types of organizations. The right partner should understand your business, ask the right questions, provide training that works for your team, and continue to invest in what happens after the initial implementation.
If you’re considering working with a HubSpot partner, here are 10 questions I recommend asking before you make your decision.
1. Have you worked with companies in our industry?
Industry experience isn’t everything, but it can make a big difference when you’re implementing a CRM. A HubSpot partner who understands your industry may already be familiar with common sales processes, terminology, reporting needs, and challenges that are unique to your business.
That doesn’t mean you should automatically rule out a partner who hasn’t worked in your industry. In some cases, a partner with strong HubSpot expertise and a track record of learning new industries can be a great fit. The important thing is to understand how they’ll get up to speed on your business.
Ask the partner what they’ve learned from working with companies similar to yours and how they approach learning an industry they haven’t worked in before.
What you’re really trying to find out is: will this partner take the time to understand your business, or will they try to fit your business into the way they already do things?
2. What does your training and onboarding process look like?
This is one of the most important questions you can ask a HubSpot partner.
A successful implementation isn’t just one where everything is configured correctly. Your team also needs to understand how and why they’re supposed to use the system. If your sales team isn’t familiar with the terminology being used in the new pipeline, or your marketers aren’t comfortable building campaigns, it doesn’t matter how well the portal was built.
Ask the partner what training is included, who will be trained, when training happens, and what happens after the initial training is complete.
It’s also worth asking whether training is customized to your team. Your sales team may need something very different from your marketing team, and a company that has never used a CRM will likely need a different approach than a team that’s migrating from another platform.
We’ve found that hands-on and, when possible, in-person training can be especially effective. Being able to sit with a team, walk through their actual processes, and answer questions as they come up can make the transition feel much less overwhelming.
3. What HubSpot Hubs or services are you best at?
Not every HubSpot partner specializes in the same things.
Some partners focus heavily on Sales and Marketing Hub. Others may specialize in Service Hub, Operations Hub, CRM implementations, integrations, migrations, or specific industries. A partner may be excellent at one area of HubSpot without being the best fit for every project.
That’s why it’s worth asking a partner where they have the most experience.
If you’re primarily looking for help implementing Sales Hub, for example, you want to know that the partner understands the needs of a sales organization, not just that they’re generally familiar with HubSpot.
You should also ask whether they have experience with the specific features you need. If your project depends heavily on integrations, custom objects, automation, reporting, or a particular HubSpot Hub, make sure those capabilities are part of the partner’s actual experience and not simply services they offer on a website.
4. Have you worked with companies our size?
The needs of a five-person company can look very different from those of a 100-person organization.
Company size can affect everything from implementation strategy and training to user permissions, reporting, governance, and ongoing support. The same is true for the size of the team that will actually be using HubSpot.
Ask the partner how many users they typically support and what kinds of organizations they work with. The goal isn’t necessarily to find a partner who works with a company exactly like yours. It’s to make sure they understand the level of complexity your organization requires.
5. What HubSpot certifications or partner credentials does your team have?
Credentials aren’t everything, but they’re worth asking about.
HubSpot partners can have different levels of experience, certifications, and areas of specialization. Individual team members may also hold certifications that are relevant to your project.
Ask which HubSpot certifications your project team holds and what partner-level credentials the company has earned.
For example, our team has its HubSpot trainer certification, which means we’ve met the prerequisites and passed the official trainer coursework built by HubSpot. Additionally, we are proud to be a Gold-tier HubSpot Solutions Partner, which signifies that we have met specific criteria in sales, certification, and revenue to attain this status.
That doesn’t automatically make us—or any other partner—the right choice for your organization. Credentials should be one piece of the decision, not the entire decision. But they can give you a better understanding of a partner’s investment in HubSpot and their level of expertise.
6. How will you get up to speed on our current HubSpot setup?
If you’re already using HubSpot, this question is especially important.
You don’t want a partner to come in and immediately start rebuilding things without understanding why your portal was configured the way it was in the first place.
A good partner should spend time learning how your team currently uses HubSpot, what’s working, what’s frustrating, and where the biggest gaps are. That may include reviewing your existing properties, workflows, pipelines, reports, integrations, automations, and other parts of your portal.
Ask whether the partner offers an audit or discovery process and what they’ll review before recommending changes.
We’ve worked with companies that had been using HubSpot for years but weren’t getting what they needed from the platform because it wasn’t set up correctly in the first place. In those situations, the answer isn’t always to start over. Sometimes it’s about understanding what’s there, identifying what’s working, and making thoughtful improvements.
7. How will you account for our existing tech stack and integrations?
HubSpot rarely exists in a vacuum.
Your CRM may need to work alongside an ERP, accounting software, marketing tools, sales applications, customer service platforms, or other systems your team relies on every day.
If integrations are important to your project, ask the partner about their experience with systems similar to yours. More importantly, ask how they’ll determine what information needs to move between systems and which system should be responsible for maintaining that information.
We work with companies with relatively simple technology stacks as well as organizations with complex ERP environments. One of the biggest lessons from these projects is that an integration shouldn’t exist just because two systems can be connected.
The better question is: What business problem are we trying to solve by connecting them?
Understanding that before building the integration can save a lot of time, money, and frustration later.
8. What happens after the initial implementation?
Getting HubSpot live is not necessarily the end of the project.
Once your team starts using the system, you’re likely to find things you want to change. New questions will come up. Your processes may evolve. You may add users, introduce new Hubs, change your sales process, or discover that a workflow needs to work differently than you originally thought.
Ask what support looks like after the initial implementation is complete.
Does the partner offer ongoing support? Retainer services? Additional training? Consulting hours? Optimization projects?
There’s no single right answer, but you should know what your options are before the implementation ends.
A partner doesn’t need to be involved forever. But you should understand who you can turn to when your team has a question six months from now.
9. How do you measure the success of an implementation?
This is a question I wish more companies would ask. A partner should be able to tell you what they’re going to deliver, but you should also ask what success looks like for your business.
Is success having every workflow built? Completing the migration? Going live by a certain date?
Those things matter, but they’re implementation milestones, not business outcomes.
Maybe success means your sales team is consistently using the CRM. Maybe it means your leadership team finally has the reporting they need. Maybe it means your marketing and sales teams have a shared process. Maybe it means your team can stop relying on spreadsheets to manage information.
Before you start the project, talk with your partner about what you actually want HubSpot to accomplish. The best implementation isn’t always the one with the most features. It’s the one that solves the problems you bought HubSpot to solve. For new HubSpot implementations, one way we typically measure success is by surveying the users to gauge their level of comfort and understanding with the platform.
10. Why are you the right HubSpot partner for our organization?
Don’t be afraid to ask this question directly.
There are a lot of HubSpot partners, and they aren’t all the same. Some specialize in particular Hubs. Some focus on specific industries. Others have deep experience with integrations, migrations, custom development, or ongoing consulting.
Ask the partner what they believe they do particularly well and what types of clients they think are the best fit for their services.
You don’t need to look for the biggest partner, the one with the most certifications, or even the one partner with the lowest price. You’re looking for the partner whose experience, approach, and communication style make sense for your organization.
Choosing the Right HubSpot Partner
Choosing a HubSpot partner is an important decision, particularly when you’re making a significant investment in the platform. But you don’t need to find the partner who claims to be the best at everything.
Instead, look for a partner who understands your goals, asks thoughtful questions, has experience with the challenges you’re facing, and has a clear plan for getting your team comfortable with the system.
For us, that last piece is especially important. We’ve seen firsthand that a technically sound HubSpot implementation isn’t enough if the people using it don’t understand it or don’t see how it fits into their day-to-day work.
HubSpot is a powerful platform. The right partner should help make that power useful to your team—not make the system more complicated than it needs to be.
Frequently Asked Questions about HubSpot implementation
Q: How long does a HubSpot implementation typically take?
A: It depends on a few factors: the size of your team, how many Hubs you’re implementing, whether you’re integrating with other systems like an ERP, and whether you’re starting fresh or fixing an existing portal. A straightforward implementation for a small team looks very different from a complex, multi-Hub rollout for a larger sales organization. Rather than quoting a generic timeline, a good partner should walk you through what’s driving the schedule for your specific project.
Q: Do we need a HubSpot partner, or can we implement it ourselves?
A: Some teams can absolutely get HubSpot running on their own, especially if you have someone in-house with CRM experience and the time to dedicate to it. But most companies underestimate what it takes to configure the platform correctly, train the team, and drive long-term adoption. A partner brings both technical expertise and an outside perspective on how to structure things so your team actually uses the system.
Q: What makes Holland Adhaus different from other HubSpot partners?
A: We’re a Gold-tier HubSpot Solutions Partner, and our team holds HubSpot’s trainer certification, which means we’ve met HubSpot’s prerequisites and passed their official trainer coursework. But what we hear from clients most is that we take the time to actually understand their business before recommending changes, and we prioritize hands-on, often in-person training so teams feel comfortable in the system from day one.
Q: What if we've already been using HubSpot but feel like it's not set up right?
A: This is one of the most common situations we run into. We typically start with an audit or discovery process to understand how your team is currently using the portal, what’s working, and where the gaps are. The answer usually isn’t to rebuild everything from scratch. It’s about identifying what’s already working and making targeted improvements from there.
Need Help With Your CRM Implementation?
Whether your company is preparing to move to HubSpot or is already in the midst of implementation, ensuring the setup is correct from the beginning can significantly impact long-term adoption.
Holland Adhaus assists companies in customizing HubSpot to align with their actual sales processes, minimizing friction for sales teams, and developing effective onboarding strategies that enhance adoption from the start.
Contact Holland Adhaus to schedule a HubSpot consultation and discuss your implementation, training, or sales process goals.
