How to switch from HubSpot to a flat-rate CRM (Australian guide)

HubSpot is good software. It is also expensive. At $120 per user per month, a five-person team costs $600 a month. That is $7,200 a year. Over five years, that is $36,000.

For a small service business or trade crew, that money could be better spent. A flat-rate CRM costs one tenth as much and does the same job for your use case.

But leaving HubSpot means moving your data. You have customers, their phone numbers, email addresses, past conversations, quotes, and jobs. You do not want to lose that.

Here is how to migrate cleanly.

Why you might leave HubSpot

You might be leaving because the cost is too high. You might be leaving because the interface is overwhelming for your team. You might be leaving because you do not use half the features and you feel silly paying for them.

All of these are good reasons. HubSpot is designed for fast-growing software sales teams with dedicated CRM admins. If you are a trade business, local agency, or small service company, you are not the customer HubSpot is optimised for. You are overpaying.

Step 1: Export your contacts from HubSpot

Log into HubSpot and go to Contacts. Select all contacts (there is a checkbox at the top of the list). Click the dropdown menu and select "Export". Choose CSV format. HubSpot will email you a file within a few minutes.

Open that CSV in Excel or Google Sheets. Check the columns. You need at least: First name, Last name, Email, Phone, Company, and any custom fields that matter to you (notes, contact date, etc).

Clean up the data while you are here. Remove duplicate contacts. Fix any obvious misspellings. Delete contacts that are test records or spam. A clean import saves hours of headaches later.

Save this file somewhere you can find it. You will need it in step 4.

Step 2: Export your deals (or jobs) from HubSpot

Go to Deals in HubSpot. Filter for deals that are not Closed Won or Closed Lost. These are your active jobs or pipeline.

Select all open deals. Click the dropdown menu and select "Export". Choose CSV format. Again, HubSpot will email the file.

Open the CSV. Check that you have the columns you need: Deal name, amount, close date, stage, owner, associated contacts. Delete test deals.

This file is important. It tells your new CRM what jobs are in progress and how much they are worth.

Step 3: Document your process and custom fields

HubSpot lets you create custom fields. Fields like "Decision timeline", "Number of employees", or "Industry". Before you leave, write down what custom fields you have and why you use them.

Open a Google Doc and list:

• Field name (e.g. "Decision timeline")
• Field type (text, dropdown, date, number)
• Which contacts use it (optional but helpful)

Your new CRM might not have all the same fields. That is okay. But you want to know which data matters so you do not lose it.

Do the same for any deal stages. HubSpot probably has stages like "Negotiation", "Contract Review", "Closed Won". Write them down so you can recreate them in your new CRM if needed.

Step 4: Set up your new CRM and import contacts

Sign up for your new CRM (Tradify, Big Bear, or Pipedrive). Create your account. Do not worry about customisation yet.

Look for an "Import" or "Bulk upload" button. Most CRMs have this. Upload your contacts CSV from step 1. The new CRM will ask you to map columns. For example, "map the HubSpot 'Phone' column to the new CRM's 'Phone' field".

Go slowly here. Bad mapping creates a mess. If your new CRM has a "Notes" field and HubSpot calls the same column "Description", map them correctly.

After import, check a few random contacts. Make sure their names, emails, and phone numbers came through.

Step 5: Import your deals and recreate job stages

Now import your deals CSV. Your new CRM will have a process for this. Again, map the columns carefully. Make sure deal amounts, close dates, and associated contacts are mapped correctly.

If your new CRM uses different stage names than HubSpot, recreate your stages now. If HubSpot had "Lead", "Qualified", "Quote Sent", "Negotiation", "Won", create those stages in your new CRM (or adjust to what your new tool offers).

Move deals to the correct stage. If a job in HubSpot was "Contract Review" and your new CRM does not have that exact stage, move it to the closest equivalent (e.g. "Quote Sent" or "Pending Approval").

Step 6: Update integrations and forms

Your website or email has forms that send leads to HubSpot. Update those forms to send to your new CRM instead. This is critical. The day after you migrate is the worst time to miss a lead.

If you have a contact form on your website, check where it posts. It might be posting to HubSpot's API. You need to change it to your new CRM's API (or give your new CRM the webhook URL so it listens for new submissions).

Check your email. If you are using HubSpot's email integration, disconnect it and reconnect your email account in your new CRM (if it has that feature).

Test the form yourself. Fill it out. Does a new lead appear in your new CRM within a minute? If yes, you are good.

Step 7: Migrate scheduled tasks and reminders

In HubSpot, you probably have tasks. "Call John on Monday", "Send quote by Friday", "Follow up on estimate". These do not export automatically.

Open a spreadsheet. List all your active tasks: what needs to happen, when, and who should do it. This is tedious but necessary. You do not want to forget a promised callback because it was stuck in HubSpot.

Create these tasks in your new CRM. Assign them to your team. Set due dates.

Migration timeline: 1 week vs 1 month

If you want to migrate in one week: Do steps 1 to 6 hard and fast. You will be busy for two or three days but you will be live on the new CRM. You might miss a few tasks but you will have all your customer data.

If you want to migrate in one month (easier): Do step 1 to 5 in week one. Set up your team on the new CRM in week two. Run both HubSpot and the new CRM side by side for two weeks. New leads go to the new CRM. Old jobs stay in HubSpot. After two weeks, do a final data pass and cancel HubSpot. This is slower but safer if you have complex data.

Common gotchas and how to avoid them

Timezone issues: If you have team members in different countries, date and time fields can get confused during import. Check your new CRM's settings. Make sure it is set to Australian Eastern Time.

Custom field types: HubSpot has "dropdown" fields (like a select menu). Not every CRM supports dropdowns the same way. If your custom field is critical, check whether your new CRM can replicate it exactly. If not, you might need to store it as text instead.

Attachment migration: HubSpot stores attachments in the CRM (contracts, quotes, photos). When you export, attachments do not come with you. You will need to download them from HubSpot and re-upload them to your new CRM manually, or store them in OneDrive and link to them.

Contact history: The CSV export does not include the full history of every call, email, or conversation with a contact. If you need that detail, you will have to manually recreate notes in your new CRM for critical customers. This is painful but doable.

What you might have to do without

HubSpot has workflow automation. You can set up rules like "when a contact submits the form, send them an email and create a task". Most flat-rate CRMs do not have this yet.

If workflow automation is important to your business, stay with HubSpot. But for most small trades and service businesses, you can handle this with reminders and discipline. You do not need a robot to remember to follow up.

HubSpot also has a vast marketplace of integrations. Slack, Salesforce, Zapier, etc. Your new CRM might not have all of these. Before you migrate, check whether the integrations you actually use are supported.

The payoff

After you migrate, you save money. A lot of it. A five-person team saves $550 a month, $6,600 a year, $33,000 over five years.

You also get a simpler tool. No overwhelming features. No per-seat pricing decision stress. Just a clean database of your customers and jobs.

The migration is not magic but it is not complicated either. It is a week of steady work. Worth every hour.