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Migrating to HubSpot isn’t just a system switch.
It’s an opportunity to simplify your tech stack, clean up your data, and realign your operations around a CRM that prioritises usability, automation, and growth. Whether you’re leaving Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Business Central, Pipedrive, Zoho, or another platform, the playbook below applies.
Three principles we apply on every CRM migration to HubSpot.
At Kongo, we’ve supported countless organisations through this transition. This guide captures the strategic principles and actionable steps we use to help teams get the most out of their move to HubSpot.
Understand your current state before making a single change.
Move fast enough to maintain momentum, slow enough to get it right.
Protect data quality at every stage of the migration process.
Start by asking the questions that matter: Why are we leaving the current CRM? What business challenges should this migration solve? What visibility or automation do we want that the existing platform didn’t support?
Let these answers guide your migration priorities.
Not all your existing CRM data needs to come with you. Focus on active records like open deals and engaged contacts. Archive or clean legacy records like cold leads and stalled opportunities. Review custom fields and remove unused or unclear ones.
Use this audit to shape your HubSpot structure.
Unlike many legacy CRMs, HubSpot has standard objects (Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets, Leads) and optionally Custom Objects. Properties are simpler and more flexible. Relational associations are key to structuring your CRM.
Design your migration with this model in mind.
Create a secure, complete backup: export CSVs of all records, use your CRM’s native reports or admin tools to document workflows, picklist values, and field definitions. Keep copies of manually entered notes, attachments, and task histories.
These serve as a safety net and a reference.
A migration is only as good as the preparation behind it. Start with strategy. Not spreadsheets.
Every field in your existing CRM should be mapped to a HubSpot property, a field type (text, dropdown, multi-checkbox), and a migration method (manual, CSV, API). Flag any fields that require transformation or consolidation.
Your options include:
Kongo often uses a hybrid approach tailored to your data complexity.
Many clients are surprised to learn: you don’t need to match a pre-set template. HubSpot allows property mapping at import. You can create new properties on the fly. You can import multiple objects and associate them (e.g. Contacts + Deals).
This dramatically reduces pre-import prep work.
Migrate in manageable chunks. Start with a test batch of archived records. Move inactive records first. Leave active records (pipeline deals, open tickets) until just before cutover.
Review and adjust after each phase.
Key areas to check: field accuracy (do values look right?), record ownership and permissions, lifecycle stages and pipeline statuses, notes, tasks, and email history.
Document findings and address errors before go-live.
Import in phases. Validate at every step. Precision now saves months of cleanup later.
Help teams adopt the new system. Deliver role-specific training. Provide click-by-click user guides. Set up help channels for feedback.
Use early adopters to reinforce internal confidence.
Kongo produces As-Built Documentation covering property definitions, workflow logic, user access and team structures, and integration touchpoints.
This becomes your CRM playbook.
Protect data quality with monthly health checks and audits, regular deduplication runs, compliance monitoring (Privacy Act 1988, Spam Act 2003), and ownership reviews of records and properties.
Leverage HubSpot’s automation to make this easier.
Define goals, audit data, understand HubSpot’s model, and safeguard everything before you start.
Map properties, choose migration methods, phase imports, and validate data integrity at every step.
Train your team, document the system, and implement governance to protect your investment long term.
Migrating to HubSpot isn’t about starting over. It’s about building better.
Simplify your tech stack and eliminate the overhead that slowed your team down on the previous platform.
Your CRM should serve your go-to-market motion, not the other way around.
Clean data from day one. Governance built in. A foundation you can trust and scale.