Your new way of working in HubSpot
This guide covers how leads enter our system, how you qualify and work them, how your pipeline works, and how trials are tracked. Whether you're new or experienced — this is your single source of truth.
How Contacts Flow Into Your View
You won't see lifecycle stages in your daily work — they run in the background and are used for reporting. But understanding the flow helps you know why a lead shows up in your queue.
Lifecycle stages update automatically based on your actions. You never set them manually. They exist for reporting — focus on your Lead View and your Deal pipeline.
Where do contacts come from?
Contacts enter HubSpot from inbound (website forms, demo requests, lead magnets, webinars, events), outbound (Amplemarket sequences, cold outreach, ABM campaigns), referrals (partner introductions), and networking (events, dinners, manual input). Regardless of source, every contact goes through lead scoring.
Lead scoring: the two-step model
Fit score evaluates whether the contact matches our ICP. The strongest signals are employee headcount and ATS (applicant tracking system). It also looks at sector, job title, and country. If the fit score hits 70+, the contact becomes a Lead.
Engagement score (MQL scoring) only runs on contacts who are already ICP fit. It measures interactions like webinar attendance, website visits, email engagement, and content downloads. When the threshold is reached, the Lead becomes an MQL and lands in your Lead View.
The engagement thresholds are still being fine-tuned. Volume and quality of MQLs may evolve. If leads feel too cold, flag it — your feedback helps calibrate.
Lifecycle Stages Explained
These are completely irrelevant for your daily work — you work with the Lead Object and Deals. But they run in the background for reporting, so here's what they mean and how they sync.
MQL Marketing Qualified Lead
A contact that matches our ICP (fit score ≥ 70) and has shown engagement. This is the stage at which the contact appears in your Lead View. A contact remains an MQL until it reaches the Qualified stage in the Lead View.
SQL Sales Qualified Lead
A contact that has been qualified by you (BANT(I) confirmed). The moment you move a lead to the "Qualified" stage, the contact automatically becomes an SQL. We track SQLs at a company level.
Opportunity
A deal has been created. The contact, company, and all associated contacts of that company are synced to Opportunity lifecycle stage.
Customer
A deal has been closed won. The company and all associated contacts sync to Customer lifecycle stage.
How contact ↔ company syncing works
Since we work account-based, you'll often work at the company level rather than individual contacts. Here's how lifecycle stages sync between contacts and companies:
Contact → Company (one-way, upward): The highest lifecycle stage among a company's contacts determines the company's lifecycle stage. So if one contact becomes an SQL, the company becomes an SQL. But this does not work in reverse — just because a company becomes an MQL doesn't mean all its contacts become MQLs. This prevents your Lead View from being flooded with every contact at a company.
Deal creation and close (two-way sync): When a deal is created, the company and all associated contacts sync to Opportunity. Same for Customer — when a deal closes, everything syncs. This ensures account-level consistency for reporting.
The Lead View
This is where marketing hands off to sales. New MQLs appear here, and your job is to work them through to qualification and beyond. Navigate to Sales → Sales Workspace → Prospects → Leads.
A new MQL has been assigned to you — they match our ICP and have shown engagement. Review their contact record: company, role, recent activity, and source. Then reach out via email, call, or LinkedIn.
Auto-move: The system will automatically move the lead to "Attempting" once it detects you've sent an outreach email.
The system has detected that you've reached out (email sent). Continue your follow-up cadence. If you're also reaching out via phone or LinkedIn, keep going.
Auto-move: The lead automatically moves to "Connected" when a reply is detected via email or LinkedIn.
A reply has been detected — either an email response or LinkedIn engagement. Now the real work begins: ask discovery questions, understand their situation, and work through BANT(I). This might take one call or several.
Move to "Qualified" once all five BANT(I) criteria are confirmed. The checklist will prompt you — you can't skip it.
You've confirmed all BANT(I) criteria. Now you need a demo (if not already done). Some reps do discovery + demo in the same call — that's fine.
Move to "Demo" once the demo has been performed. You'll enter the demo date.
The demo has been done. Now the question is: does the prospect consider Hubert as a potential solution? In large orgs, you may need multiple demos to different stakeholders before they're ready. If not yet — keep the lead here. You can have more disco/demo meetings while it sits in this stage.
Move to "Create Deal" when the prospect considers Hubert a potential solution and you're ready to begin the sales process formally.
When you drag a lead into the "Create Deal" column, a popup appears where you fill in the deal's details — deal name, deal type, estimated amount, etc. This stage exists purely to help you create deals efficiently.
The deal is then automatically created in the pipeline's first stage ("In Discovery"). The lead's journey in the Lead View is now complete — your focus shifts to the Deal pipeline.
You can move a lead to Disqualified at any stage. When you do, you'll be prompted to select a disqualification reason from a standardized list (see below). If the reason is "Product Gaps," a comment field appears — please describe the gap.
What happens next: Depending on the disqualification reason, the contact may be placed in a marketing nurture loop — they haven't disappeared, they'll be re-engaged when the timing is better. For reasons like "Timing" or "No Budget," create a task to follow up at a later date. You can track your tasks in the Sales Workspace.
Disqualification reasons:
⚡ The Golden Rule of Deal Creation
BANT(I) qualified + Demo performed + Prospect considers Hubert a potential solution = Create a Deal.
All three conditions must be met. This prevents premature deal creation and pipeline inflation.
Round-robin: How leads get assigned
MQLs are auto-assigned based on the prospect's region — unless the company already has an account owner, in which case the lead goes to that owner.
| Region | Assigned To | Split |
|---|---|---|
| 🇩🇪 Germany, Austria, Switzerland | Kathrin Gülgel | 100% |
| 🇬🇧 UK, Ireland, US | Greg Dunbar, Ollie Stevenson | Equal |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark | Fredrik Östgren, Viktor Nordmark, Vincent Fallenius | Equal |
| 🌍 Rest of World | Fredrik Östgren, Greg Dunbar, Ollie Stevenson | Equal |
Skipping stages
Sometimes a single call covers everything. You can move a lead directly from Connected to Demo or even Create Deal, but the BANT(I) checklist will still appear. The system won't let you skip the qualification questions regardless of which stage you jump to.
BANT(I) — How We Qualify
This is not the traditional BANT. We've adapted it to how our prospects actually buy. Pay special attention to the "B."
The teams we sell to don't have a pre-allocated budget for AI interview solutions. What matters is whether they're willing to explore building a business case — which is often what a free trial enables. "Business Case" = openness to proving value, not money ready today.
The checklist in HubSpot
When you move a lead to "Qualified" (or skip directly to Demo/Create Deal), a checklist pops up. You must confirm each criterion. This ensures consistent qualification across the team.
☝️ Click the checkboxes to interact.
After qualification: the deal creation gate
Deal Stages & What They Mean
Each stage carries a probability weight for forecasting. Everyone must interpret stages the same way — follow the gate criteria below.
🔍 In Discovery
20%- Deal auto-created from Lead View
- Lead qualified (BANT(I) + Demo)
- Deeper discovery on pains and needs
- Understanding org structure
- Identifying all stakeholders
🧪 Validating Solution
40%- Discovery completed, needs confirmed
- Discussing potential solution
- Securing Hubert as the vendor of choice
- Demoing to additional stakeholders
- Technical validation & workshops
📄 Proposal Under Review
65%- Hubert shortlisted
- Proposal submitted
- Final DD, references, evaluation
- Timeline/scope being agreed
🤝 Negotiating Final Terms
85%- Proposal accepted in principle
- Agreeing heads of terms
- Commercial back-and-forth
- Agreeing final terms
📝 Contracting
95%- Heads of terms accepted
- Formal contract drafting
- Legal/procurement review
- Final contract negotiation
🏆 Closed Won
100%- Contract signed
- Closed Won reason recorded (free text)
- Pilot start/end dates (if trial)
- Contract start/end dates
- Deal amount / MRR
Each stage's probability feeds the weighted pipeline forecast. Moving a deal to "Proposal Under Review" before a proposal is submitted inflates the pipeline by 65% of that deal's value. Follow the gates — the board and leadership rely on this data.
Deal types
New Business: Full 12-month+ contract. Renewal: Renewing existing. Upsell: Expanding existing. Trial: Free or paid trial — the amount tells you which. When a trial converts, the new deal is New Business, not Upsell.
How Trials Work
Target: 153 trials this year. Three types — two require more than one deal. You may hear these called "pilots" — same thing.
What: Prospect uses Hubert free for ~3 months. No commitment. Trial agreement signed.
Amount: €0
Two deals. Create Deal 2 when long-term discussions begin.
What: Same structure, but prospect pays a trial fee. No ongoing commitment.
Amount: Trial fee (e.g., €1–5K)
Two deals. Trial deal = fee; second = full contract.
What: Standard 12-month+ contract with 3-month trial period + 30-day exit clause. After trial, committed 9+ months.
Amount: Full contract value
One deal. Trial is part of the contract.
📅 Fields When Closing a Trial
When closing a trial deal, please fill in where possible (joint responsibility with CS):
✦ Pilot start date & Pilot end date
✦ Contract start date & Contract end date
These feed the "Currently in Trial" property — tracking which customers are in an active trial. Without them, we can't measure conversion or trigger reminders when trials near their end.
When to create the second deal
For Free and Paid Trials, create Deal 2 (New Business) when active discussions about the long-term subscription begin.
We track trials as unique companies with deal type "Trial" in Closed Won. Use the "Trials" saved view in the deal board.
Target Accounts & Sequences
Your Lead View is only half the job. You've been allocated target accounts to actively pursue.
Your assigned accounts
Each rep has target accounts — ICP-matching companies, allocated by region. Find them at Sales → Target Accounts. These are companies with "Target Account" set to True.
You are expected to actively work through your assigned target accounts — review them, identify contacts, and initiate outreach. Waiting for MQLs alone is not sufficient. There won't be enough inbound volume.
Starting sequences
You can enroll contacts into sequences from within HubSpot. Go to the contact record — either individually or select multiple contacts for bulk enrollment. You'll see the Amplemarket extension in the top right corner of the contact record for quick access.
Marketing runs broader outbound via Amplemarket. When contacts engage, they flow into HubSpot and may appear as MQLs. In parallel, you work your own accounts. The key: all meaningful activity must be tracked in HubSpot.
You Own the Full Funnel
Both marketing and sales do outreach. Both contribute to pipeline. Simply working inbound MQLs is not enough.
● Sales
- Work MQLs in the Lead View daily
- Actively pursue assigned target accounts
- Start sequences on target account contacts
- Run discovery, demos, and qualification
- Manage deals through the pipeline
- Log all meetings and activities in HubSpot
- Own relationships through trial and close
- Network, attend events, prospect manually
● Marketing
- Generate inbound MQLs (content, events, paid)
- Run broad Amplemarket outbound campaigns
- Nurture subscribers and leads via email
- Manage lead scoring and MQL thresholds
- Provide sales enablement materials
- Scrape and enrich target account lists
- Hand off engaged contacts to sales
- Report on funnel metrics
🔥 The Bottom Line
If you're only working your Lead View, you're doing half the job. Your target accounts are where the big enterprise wins come from. MQLs are the quick wins; target accounts are the strategic ones. You need both.
SQLs that go quiet
If a qualified lead hasn't had a meeting booked within a few weeks, it will get flagged. This is a prompt, not a punishment — SQLs are your hottest early pipeline. If they're stuck, the question is: re-engage? Reject? Reassign?
Meeting Types & Closed Reasons
Log your meetings correctly and always record a reason when closing a deal. Your Sales Workspace will also prompt you to log meetings.
Meeting types
Disco/Demo is your primary type during lead and early deal stages — any discovery or demonstration meeting. Follow-up covers everything else: negotiations, check-ins, proposal reviews.
If a meeting isn't logged, it doesn't exist for reporting. Everything should be in the CRM — if someone goes on holiday, the team can pick up exactly where they left off without asking.
Closed Lost reasons
When moving a deal to Closed Lost, select a reason. These are standardized:
"Product Gaps" → a comment field appears, describe the gap. "Competition" → state the competitor. These insights are gold for product and marketing.
For reasons like "Timing" or "No budget," create a task to follow up later. Track your tasks in the Sales Workspace — circumstances change, and a "not now" could become a "yes" in six months.
Closed Won reason
When closing a deal as Won, a free text field will appear for the win reason. Write a brief explanation of why we won — was it ROI, product fit, a champion, the trial experience? This helps us understand our strengths as much as our losses tell us our weaknesses.
Quick Reference
Everything at a glance. Bookmark this section.
Lead stages
| Stage | How You Get Here | Your Action |
|---|---|---|
| New | MQL assigned to you | Review record, initiate outreach |
| Attempting | Auto: email sent detected | Continue cadence |
| Connected | Auto: reply via email/LinkedIn | Discovery, BANT(I) questions |
| Qualified | BANT(I) checklist completed | Schedule and perform demo |
| Demo | Demo performed | Continue if not yet accepted; or move on |
| Create Deal | Prospect considers Hubert | Fill deal details in popup → deal created |
Deal stages
| Stage | Probability | Key Gate |
|---|---|---|
| In Discovery | 20% | Deal created from Lead View |
| Validating Solution | 40% | Needs confirmed, discussing solution |
| Proposal Under Review | 65% | Proposal actually submitted |
| Negotiating Final Terms | 85% | Proposal accepted, agreeing terms |
| Contracting | 95% | Terms accepted, in legal |
| Closed Won | 100% | Contract signed, reason recorded |
| Closed Lost | 0% | Reason selected, task created if relevant |
Trials at a glance
| Type | Deals | Amount | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | 2 | €0 + contract value | Deal type: Trial |
| Paid Trial | 2 | Trial fee + contract value | Deal type: Trial |
| Trial Period (in contract) | 1 | Full contract value | "Trial Period Included" |
Key navigation
| To do this… | Go here |
|---|---|
| Work your leads | Sales → Sales Workspace → Prospects → Leads |
| Manage deals | Sales → Deals (Board view) |
| View target accounts | Sales → Target Accounts |
| Enroll in a sequence | Contact record → Amplemarket extension (top right) |
| Log a meeting | Contact record → Log activity → Meeting |
| View your tasks | Sales → Sales Workspace |