The SMART Spark
You Connected Claude to HubSpot. Now What?
So you connected Claude to your HubSpot. Now what? One of my clients saw it last week and brought it to our weekly call. His question was simple: "Is that safe?" Well, it's the right question to ask. Most people don't. They click Connect, approve whatever permissions...
Before You Connect AI to HubSpot, Decide Who Holds the Keys
Have you seen the little notification in HubSpot yet? Connect Claude. Connect ChatGPT. More connectors are on the way. One of my clients saw it last week and brought it to our weekly call. His question was simple: "Is that safe?" Well, it's the right question to ask....
Is AEO a Scam? Then & Now
Same question, new acronym In September 2012, I wrote a post called Is SEO a Scam? Apparently, a section of the population had decided it was. Fourteen years later, I'm hearing the exact same question. Only now it's about AEO. "Is AEO real, or is it just SEO with a...
Open Doesn’t Mean Active
A deal sits in the pipeline for four months. Close date came and went back in June. No calls logged, no notes, no tasks. Ask the rep about it and you get the same answer every time: “Oh, that one’s still open — just waiting to hear back.” That’s the problem. “Open” is...
Why Your Team Keeps Rebuilding HubSpot Fields That Already Exist
One Thing that Works A client asked me last week why two people on her sales team had built nearly identical custom properties three months apart — "Lead Source" and "Lead Source (New)." Neither of them knew the other one existed. I pulled up her portal. Fifty-some...
Deal Split vs. Deal Collaborator: You’re Probably Using the Wrong One
You're Probably Using the Wrong One A client called me last month convinced her CRM was broken. Two reps had worked a deal together, closed it together, and split the work right down the middle. But her forecast report showed one rep getting credit for the entire...
Not Everything Needs AI
Have you noticed? Every app you open now has an AI button. Your email has one. Your CRM has one. Your word processor, your calendar, your project management tool — they all want to "help." Some of them are actually decent. Others feel like they were bolted on so the...
Your Team Inbox Isn’t Supposed to Belong to Anyone
What Connect Your Inbox Really Means I had the same conversation twice in one week. Two different clients, two different industries, same exact confusion. Both were setting up a shared inbox in HubSpot — a general hello@ or info@ address that the whole team needs to...
Protecting Your HubSpot Sending Domain: Authentication, Deliverability & the Traps In Between
"Protect your sending domain" gets used like it means one thing. In practice, I watch clients — and a lot of the content marketed at them — collapse three or four separate settings into a single mental bucket, which means when something breaks, they fix the wrong one....
