Stop Overcomplicating Your Sales Process
If you’re running a business in Brisbane—whether you’re a commercial plumber in Coorparoo or a boutique law firm in the CBD—you’ve likely reached a point where your spreadsheets are a mess. You’re losing track of who called, who needs a quote, and who hasn't paid their invoice yet.
You know you need a system to manage your customers, but then you hit a wall. You start hearing names like HubSpot and Salesforce. One person tells you Salesforce is the gold standard used by the big banks. Another tells you HubSpot is easier for a small team.
Most of what you read online about this is rubbish written by tech geeks. They talk about "ecosystems" and "seamless integration." You don't care about that. You want to know: Which one will help me book more jobs and stop my staff from wasting time?
I’ve seen dozens of local businesses burn thousands of dollars on software they never use. I’m going to be blunt: for most small to medium businesses, one of these is a powerhouse tool, and the other is a bottomless money pit. Let’s look at the data and the reality of running a business in Queensland.
The Real Cost: It’s Not Just the Monthly Fee
When you look at the pricing pages for these companies, they lie to you. They show you a low monthly cost per user, but that’s just the entry fee.
Salesforce: The "Hidden Tax" Model
Salesforce is like buying a high-performance race car that arrives in a thousand pieces. It can go faster than anything else on the road, but you have to pay a specialist mechanic $200 an hour just to put the wheels on.For a small business owner, Salesforce often becomes a "software tax." You’ll need a consultant to set it up. You’ll need a specialist to change a simple button. Before you know it, you’ve spent $20,000 before you’ve even sent your first quote. If you aren't careful, you end up overpaying for software that is far too complex for what you actually need.
HubSpot: The "Pay as You Grow" Model
HubSpot is more like a modern Toyota. It’s reliable, everything is already in the dashboard, and you can drive it off the lot today. The catch? Once you start adding more contacts or want the "fancy" features, the price jumps up quickly.The Winner on Cost: For a team of 5-10 people, HubSpot usually wins on total cost because you don't need to hire a full-time nerd to manage it. You can spend that saved money on actual marketing to get the phone ringing.
Which One Helps You Close Deals Faster?
At the end of the day, your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system should be a tool that helps your sales team—or you—sell more.
The "Ease of Use" Test
I’ve sat in offices from North Lakes to Logan, and the story is always the same: if the software is hard to use, your staff won't use it. They’ll go back to writing notes on scraps of paper or keeping things in their head.HubSpot is designed like an iPhone. It’s intuitive. Your admin person can learn it in an afternoon. It tracks every email and phone call automatically. Salesforce looks like an Excel spreadsheet from 2005. It’s powerful, but it’s clunky. If your team finds it frustrating, they won't log their leads.
If you want to stop chasing leads and actually have a business that runs itself, you need a system that your team actually enjoys using. HubSpot wins here, hands down.
Data Analysis: Where Salesforce Actually Wins
I’m not here to just bash Salesforce. There is a reason it’s a multi-billion dollar company. Salesforce is the winner if your business has a very complex sales process.
For example, we worked with a manufacturing business in Rocklea that had 50 different price levels, complex shipping requirements, and needed to talk to three different inventory systems. For them, HubSpot couldn't handle the data. Salesforce could.
Ask yourself these three questions: 1. Do I have more than 20 people in my sales team? 2. Do I have a highly complex product that requires custom engineering for every sale? 3. Do I have a dedicated IT person on staff?
If the answer to all three is "No," then Salesforce is likely a waste of your money.
How Long Until You See Results?
Time is money. Every week you spend "setting up" software is a week you aren't focused on growth.
HubSpot Timeline: You can be up and running, importing your old customer list, and sending emails within 48 hours. You’ll see the benefit—like knowing exactly who opened your quote—almost immediately. Salesforce Timeline: Expect 3 to 6 months for a proper implementation. Most Brisbane small businesses don't have the patience or the cash flow to wait six months for a return on investment.
If you want to stop wasting time on admin and start booking more jobs this month, HubSpot is the faster horse.
The "All-in-One" Trap
Both companies will try to sell you everything. They have tools for marketing, tools for customer service, and tools for operations.
My advice? Don't buy the whole suite on day one. Start with the sales tool. Get your leads organised. Once you’re making more money because you aren't losing leads in your inbox, then you can look at the other features.
Most businesses we talk to are paying for features they don't even know exist. That’s just profit leaking out of your bank account.
Implementation: How to Not Mess This Up
Whether you choose HubSpot or Salesforce, 70% of businesses fail to see a result because they set it up poorly. They treat it like a digital filing cabinet instead of a sales engine.
Here is the 4-step plan I’d give a mate:
1. Clean your data: Don't put 10 years of junk contacts into a new system. Only move over people you’ve spoken to in the last 2 years. 2. Map your process: Write down exactly what happens from the moment the phone rings to the moment the invoice is paid. If you can't draw it on a napkin, software won't fix it. 3. Train the team: Spend two hours showing your staff how it makes their lives easier (e.g., "You'll never have to hunt for a client's phone number again"). 4. Connect your website: Make sure every enquiry from your website goes straight into the system. No more manual entry.
Final Verdict: The Brisbane Business Choice
For 95% of the small businesses we speak to in South East Queensland, HubSpot is the clear winner.
It’s faster to set up, easier for your staff to use, and it actually helps you turn visitors into customers without needing a degree in computer science. Salesforce is a powerful tool, but for a small business, it’s usually like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut—expensive, messy, and unnecessary.
Don't get distracted by the bells and whistles. Choose the tool that lets you get back to work. If you’re spending more time managing your software than managing your customers, you’ve made the wrong choice.
Need Help Getting More From Your Tech?
At Local Marketing Group, we don't care about the "coolest" tech. We care about what makes our clients money. If you’re tired of fighting with your systems and want a marketing setup that actually delivers phone calls and bookings, let's chat.
Contact Local Marketing Group today to see how we can help you simplify your business and scale your profits.