Are You Ignoring these 5 HubSpot CRM Features? The Shocking Truth About Your Customer Relationships

Introduction - what you’ll get out of this article

You can stop losing customers to inconsistent follow-ups, siloed data, and manual busywork. Read this and you’ll walk away with five HubSpot CRM features you’re probably overlooking - features that reduce churn, shorten sales cycles, and make every rep more effective.

Short. Practical. Game-changing.

Why these five matter (fast)

Many teams log contacts and close deals. Few treat their CRM as the living system it can be. The result: missed signals, slow follow-ups, and bad customer experiences - all invisible until it’s too late.

This post covers five underused HubSpot features, realistic examples that show the business impact, and quick steps so you can implement them this week.

Feature 1 - Playbooks: stop relying on memory and hope

What it is

Playbooks let you embed repeatable sales and support guidance directly inside a contact, company, or deal record. Think of them as living scripts and decision trees your reps can use on the call.

Why teams miss it

They think playbooks are only for enterprise sales. Or they assume templates and notes are good enough.

Real-world example

A B2B software vendor had three senior reps who closed most deals. New reps couldn’t replicate their success. After turning the seniors’ tactics into Playbooks (discovery questions, objection responses, next-step options), the team’s average time-to-first-demo dropped from 8 days to 3 days and win rates rose 18% in three months. The knowledge finally lived in the CRM - not just in heads.

Quick wins (how to start)

• Map one repeatable scenario - onboarding calls or pricing objections.
• Create a Playbook with bullet prompts, recommended next steps, and links to collateral.
• Attach the Playbook to the deal stage or contact view most relevant.

Pitfalls to avoid

Don’t create 50 generic playbooks at once. Start small and iterate from observed calls.

Learn more: HubSpot Playbooks docs: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/sales/use-playbooks

Feature 2 - Custom Objects: model what your business actually sells

What it is

Custom Objects let you create CRM records for entities HubSpot doesn’t include by default - subscriptions, hardware assets, partner agreements, service entitlements, licensing seats, or physical installations.

Why teams miss it

They shoehorn non-standard data into notes or awkward custom properties on contacts and deals.

Real-world example

A managed services company sold recurring site-inspection contracts. They tracked everything on deals and spreadsheets. After building a Custom Object called “Site Audit” and linking audits to companies and tickets, they automated renewal reminders and service-level reporting. Renewals increased 27% and support SLA violations fell by half because every audit and remedial action was now visible in one place.

Quick wins (how to start)

• Identify the entity you need (e.g., License, Asset, Audit).
• Model the fields and relationships - what links to Contacts, Companies, Deals?
• Create the Custom Object and import historical records.

Pitfalls to avoid

Don’t over-model. Each Custom Object adds complexity. Make sure you need it for reporting or automation before building it.

Learn more: Create custom objects in HubSpot: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/crm-setup/create-custom-objects

Feature 3 - Workflows beyond marketing: internal automation that actually saves time

What it is

Workflows are powerful automations that update properties, create tasks, rotate leads, send internal notifications, and more - not just marketing emails.

Why teams miss it

They think workflows are only for marketing nurture. Sales and operations underuse them.

Real-world example

A fintech company used manual rotation of inbound leads. Leads sat in inboxes for hours on busy days. Implementing a workflow that auto-assigned leads based on territory and current workload reduced average first-response time from 6 hours to 35 minutes. Conversion on inbound MQLs jumped 22% in two months.

Quick wins (how to start)

• Automate low-value manual tasks first - task creation, owner assignment, and status updates.
• Create a workflow to change lifecycle stages and trigger a Slack or email alert to the owner for high-value actions.
• Monitor the workflow’s performance and reduce false positives.

Pitfalls to avoid

Workflows can produce too many notifications. Make sure alerts are targeted and meaningful.

Learn more: HubSpot Workflows docs: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/workflows

Feature 4 - Sequences: sales cadences that scale without sounding robotic

What it is

Sequences let sellers send a series of timed emails and tasks to prospects with built-in pause and personalization options. It’s cadence automation for one-to-one outreach.

Why teams miss it

They rely on manual outreach or generic marketing cadences, missing the personalized one-to-one follow-up power of Sequences.

Real-world example

An HR tech startup had a tiny SDR team juggling demos and follow-ups. They standardized outreach by building three Sequences (cold, nurture, and re-engagement). Within six weeks, the team increased meetings booked per rep by 40% and reclaimed two hours per rep per week previously spent on manual follow-ups.

Quick wins (how to start)

• Build your top-performing outreach into a Sequence with 3–5 touches across email and tasks.
• Use snippets and templates to personalize fast.
• Add pause points so reps can jump in when a prospect shows interest.

Pitfalls to avoid

Don’t over-automate. Sequences should increase human touches, not replace them.

Learn more: HubSpot Sequences docs: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/sequences

Feature 5 - Conversations inbox + Tickets: make support a profit center, not a cost center

What it is

Conversations centralize emails, chat, and form submissions into a single inbox. Connected with Tickets and SLAs, it becomes a full customer service system inside HubSpot.

Why teams miss it

They treat support as separate (Zendesk, email threads, or spreadsheets) and lose visibility across sales and service.

Real-world example

A subscription company fielded support across email and Slack. Customers experienced repeated answers and handoffs. Consolidating into Conversations with automatic ticket creation and routing led to a 45% reduction in repeated replies, a 32% faster resolution time, and higher NPS scores because customers saw consistent, contextual responses.

Quick wins (how to start)

• Connect your support email and chat channel to HubSpot Conversations.
• Set up ticket pipelines and simple routing rules by product or language.
• Use canned responses and snippets to accelerate consistent answers.

Pitfalls to avoid

Don’t forget escalation rules and SLA monitoring. Conversation volume changes; routing needs maintenance.

Learn more: HubSpot Conversations docs: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/inbox

Putting it all together - a 30-day plan

Week 1: Pick one feature and map the problem it solves. Start with Playbooks or Sequences - quick wins.

Week 2: Build the object or playbook and pilot with 1–3 reps. Track time saved and conversion metrics.

Week 3: Add automation with a workflow. Reduce manual steps and notify owners on critical actions.

Week 4: Roll out Conversations routing or a Custom Object import. Measure churn, resolution time, and rep productivity.

Quick checklist before you start

• Agree on a business outcome (reduce response time, increase renewals, improve win rate).
• Start with one small pilot.
• Track 3 KPIs and measure after 30 and 90 days.
• Iterate; don’t expect perfection out of the gate.

Final takeaway

HubSpot is more than a contact list. It’s a platform for consistent playbooks, data that reflects real-world entities, automations that free reps to sell, cadences that scale human outreach, and a unified support inbox that keeps customers happy.

Use one of these five features this week. Your customers will notice. Your margin will too.

References

• HubSpot Playbooks: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/sales/use-playbooks
• HubSpot Custom Objects: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/crm-setup/create-custom-objects
• HubSpot Workflows: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/workflows
• HubSpot Sequences: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/sequences
• HubSpot Conversations: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/inbox