How To: HubSpot CRM to manage DealFlow (Free Plan)

Hi, I'm Saad Abbas, CPA (www.SnapAdvisory.com). I started searching for anything that wasn't professional services and ended up buying professional services. Anyway, along the way I met many searchers and provided my financial & operational support but I found many needed better systems. Here's how I used Hubspot for deal tracking.

This is not sponsored by HubSpot, nor do I get a commission. The same logic can apply to any CRM tool; HubSpot just had the best free plan followed by a good entry-level plan. Everything I mentioned is included in the free plan.

As a searcher, tracking deal flow can be daunting, assuming your deals are flowing and not dripping. With so many potential targets to evaluate, keeping track of all your interactions with potential sellers can quickly become overwhelming. That's where a customer relationship management (CRM) tool like HubSpot comes in.

HubSpot CRM is a powerful tool that can help searchers manage their deal flow from start to finish for free. Here's how I use it

1. Add everyone I interact with as a contact in HubSpot. It will automatically pull people's domain info and combine people from the same company under that company using their domain. (i.e., redacted and redacted are under the same company but are still individual contacts.)

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2. Download the Mobile App, so when a million different numbers are calling that I've never seen before, the app will pull up the contact associated with that number and any deal associated with that contact.

3. Deal Tracking; when you find a deal, you can create one in your pipeline and associate specific contacts (brokers, sellers, advisors, etc.) to that deal. You can also create custom fields for Rev/EBITDA size, Asking Price, Location, Link to the deal, and different types of categories.

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New Deal creation;

Deal Detail screen;

4. As I progress with the deal, I log my activities to know the history of each deal and update the status as I go.

5. Make sure you have the add-on for your email client (Google or Office365) so that when emails come in, you see deals associated, and when you send emails, you can track/log them against the deal, so they show up in the activity section of the deal automatically.

6. Then, you can go back in history and look at your performance in the reporting. How many deals did you review, how quickly they moved along, where are your deals coming from that progress, etc.

7. There are more advanced features you can use like their marketing piece to outreach, but the features you want are on a higher tier and requires a reasonable amount of time to learn.

Using a CRM tool like HubSpot can be a game-changer for searchers looking to track their deal flow. By centralizing your pipeline, customizing your deal stages, and leveraging advanced reporting and analytics, you can streamline your search process and focus on the deals that have the greatest potential for success.

Here are some key benefits of using HubSpot or any CRM to track deal flow: 1. Centralized Deal Pipeline: HubSpot CRM provides a centralized platform to track and manage your deals in one place. This makes it easy to see where each deal stands in your pipeline, who you have spoken with, and the next steps. 2. Customizable Deal Stages: HubSpot CRM allows you to create and customize your own deal stages, so you can tailor your pipeline to your specific search criteria. You can also create reminders and set up notifications to keep you on track and ensure you don't miss any critical deadlines. 3. Deal Scoring: HubSpot CRM allows you to score each deal based on criteria such as fit, revenue potential, and the likelihood of success. This helps you prioritize your pipeline and focus on the deals most likely to result in a successful acquisition. 4. Contact Management: HubSpot CRM provides a powerful contact management system. This allows you to keep track of all your interactions with potential sellers, including emails, phone calls, and meetings. You can also set up follow-up tasks and reminders to ensure you stay on top of your outreach. Reporting and Analytics: HubSpot CRM provides detailed reporting and analytics to help you understand how your deal flow is performing over time. You can track metrics such as conversion rates, deal size, and time to close and use this data to make informed decisions about how to optimize your search.