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HubSpot’s Shift Toward Enterprise Shouldn’t Scare You

Picture of Garrett Hunt

HubSpot Is Moving Upmarket—But Should SMBs Follow?

At this year’s INBOUND conference, HubSpot made its strategy clear: go big on enterprise. From flashy AI demos to complex sales reporting and “Loop”-style engagement frameworks, most of the new features looked designed to compete with Salesforce.

That’s good for HubSpot’s stock. But if you’re running a small or mid-sized business (SMB), you should be asking yourself: does this actually help me?

Spoiler: not always.

The Enterprise Temptation: Why SMBs Copy and Fail

Enterprise “best practices” look shiny. Dashboards layered six deep. Dozens of deal stages. Governance committees. ABM teams.

But for a 25–200 person company, copying Salesforce-style playbooks inside HubSpot is a recipe for frustration:

  • 14 deal stages that reps never update.

  • Approval workflows that slow deals instead of closing them.

  • Overbuilt ABM campaigns that burn time without pipeline.

The truth? SMBs don’t need enterprise processes. They need clarity, discipline, and systems their people will actually use.

What SMBs Actually Need from HubSpot

Instead of chasing enterprise features, SMBs should focus on three fundamentals inside HubSpot:

1. Clean Data

Bad data kills growth faster than bad strategy. Start here:

  • Deduplicate contacts and companies.

  • Standardize core properties (e.g., “Revenue,” “Customer Type”).

  • Document ownership—who maintains what.

👉 (Related reading: The Ultimate HubSpot Playbook.

2. Clear Processes

Your pipeline doesn’t need 12 stages. It needs consistent, shared definitions:

  • “Proposal Sent” should mean the same thing across all reps.

  • Marketing > Sales handoffs should be automatic.

  • Service tickets should connect to accounts, not live in silos.

3. Tools That Don’t Slow You Down

HubSpot should reduce friction, not create it:

  • Automations that remove manual busywork.

  • Dashboards that highlight actions, not vanity metrics.

  • Playbooks scaled to a team of 10, not 200.

Why Copying Salesforce Backfires for SMBs

Enterprises run complex systems because they can. They’ve got 200+ reps, multi-layer approvals, and specialized admins.

SMBs? Not so much.

  • Every extra field is another blank.

  • Every extra stage is another “stuck deal.”

  • Every extra approval is another week lost.

Trying to “act like an enterprise” usually means slowing yourself down.

The Takeaway for SMB Leaders

HubSpot is smart to chase enterprise customers. But you don’t need enterprise playbooks to win.

Your edge as an SMB is agility-being able to make decisions and move faster than your bigger competitors. HubSpot can support that, but only if you keep it simple.

At Huntscape Ops, we help SMBs cut through the jargon and get HubSpot working as a growth engine—not a bloated Salesforce clone.

Because here’s the truth: SMBs don’t lose to enterprises because of tech. They lose when they copy enterprise habits.

Want a HubSpot system your team actually uses? Talk to Huntscape Ops.
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