Unipart Boosts Global Pipeline Sixfold with HubSpot CRM

Digital transformation is key to unlocking new opportunities and driving growth. Unipart Group, a leading supply chain solutions provider, exemplifies how integrating advanced CRM systems can revolutionise a business. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Unipart took a bold step towards unifying its operations across five divisions and achieved extraordinary results. By partnering with HubSpot and its solutions provider BabelQuest, Unipart saw its sales pipeline grow from millions to billions within 12 months, marking a significant milestone in its ongoing digital transformation.

Covered in this article

The Challenge: A Fragmented Structure Across Five Divisions
The Solution: HubSpot’s Sales Hub and the Power of Integration
Unifying the Operations: A Strategic Transformation
The Results: Sixfold Growth in Pipeline and Improved Customer Experience
Lessons from Unipart’s Journey: Key Takeaways for Businesses
Conclusion: Unipart’s Road Ahead
FAQs

The Challenge: A Fragmented Structure Across Five Divisions

Unipart’s strength lies in its diverse capabilities, spanning seven core sectors, including automotive, rail, healthcare, and aerospace. However, this diversity also presented a significant challenge. Over time, the company's five divisions had developed independently, each using different software systems, spreadsheets, and even three separate CRM tools. This decentralised structure created barriers to efficient communication and collaboration between departments, regions, and teams.

Unipart's Director of Business Development, Adam Jones, highlighted the core issue: “The data I needed to fuel revenue and manage customer satisfaction was non-existent. Contracts, past sales, contact details, and reports were scattered across multiple systems.” Without a unified system, managing customer relationships, sales processes, and business development efforts became cumbersome, affecting their ability to meet client demands and seize cross-selling opportunities.

Moreover, the lack of visibility across the divisions made it challenging to define and manage the sales pipeline effectively. With growth ambitions set by Unipart's CEO, Darren Leigh, who aimed to double the company’s revenue, a comprehensive digital transformation was required.

The Solution: HubSpot’s Sales Hub and the Power of Integration

Recognising the need for an integrated approach, Unipart made the strategic decision to implement HubSpot’s Sales Hub as its centralised CRM system. The goal was simple yet ambitious: unify all divisions under one platform that could manage everything from new sales pipelines to existing client relationships and customer service.

Adam Jones, having used HubSpot in the past, was convinced it was the right choice: “Everyone hates admin – especially salespeople! I knew it had to be intuitive and painless to use, with minimal training. That’s the only way people will embrace and update it to build the accurate data you need to give customers a seamless service experience.”

The ease of use, customisation options, and scalability of HubSpot were critical factors in the decision. Moreover, BabelQuest, HubSpot’s top global solutions partner, played a crucial role in the smooth implementation of the system. What was initially estimated to take nine months was completed five months ahead of schedule, thanks to their expertise.

Unifying the Operations: A Strategic Transformation

With HubSpot in place, the first step was to collate all sales opportunities from disparate spreadsheets and CRM systems into one centralised platform. This centralisation provided Unipart with much-needed visibility across all divisions. Custom dashboards, created by BabelQuest, enabled real-time data analysis, allowing the leadership team to track monthly, quarterly, and annual sales targets with precision.

The unification process didn’t just stop at sales. Every division head, manager, and staff member was required to log all customer interactions on HubSpot, ensuring that no information was lost. As Jones puts it, “If it’s not on HubSpot, it doesn’t exist! It’s the only version of the truth.”

This commitment to using a single platform for all business operations brought new levels of collaboration, accountability, and data-driven decision-making. Unipart could now analyse data by account, region, or service to identify the most profitable customers, areas requiring investment, and regions with untapped potential.

The Results: Sixfold Growth in Pipeline and Improved Customer Experience

The results of this digital transformation were nothing short of remarkable. Within just 12 months, Unipart's pipeline grew sixfold, moving from millions to billions. This success was driven by the company’s newfound ability to manage its sales pipeline with confidence and make informed decisions based on real-time data insights.

Additionally, Unipart’s Net Promoter Score (NPS), a key measure of customer satisfaction, saw a 5-point increase in 2024, reflecting the improvement in customer experience and service delivery across the divisions. By having a 360-degree view of customer interactions, Unipart could address client needs more effectively and identify cross-selling opportunities, thereby fostering deeper, more profitable relationships.

Lessons from Unipart’s Journey: Key Takeaways for Businesses

Unipart’s journey offers valuable insights for any business looking to achieve sustainable growth through digital transformation:

1. Unified Systems are Essential: A fragmented structure can limit growth potential and obscure visibility into crucial business metrics. By centralising data and unifying systems, businesses can streamline operations and improve decision-making.

2. Commitment to Change: Digital transformation requires a top-down commitment. Unipart’s leadership ensured that every employee embraced the new system, creating a culture of accountability and collaboration.

3. The Right Tools Matter: The choice of platform is critical. HubSpot’s ease of use, scalability, and customisation options made it the ideal solution for Unipart. Additionally, having a reliable implementation partner like BabelQuest accelerated the transition process.

4. Data-Driven Decisions Drive Growth: With real-time insights at their fingertips, Unipart’s leadership could forecast with accuracy, allocate resources more effectively, and identify opportunities that were previously hidden in siloed systems.

Conclusion: Unipart’s Road Ahead

Unipart’s success story is a testament to the power of digital transformation in driving business growth. By unifying its operations with HubSpot’s Sales Hub, the company not only streamlined its processes but also unlocked new opportunities for global expansion. As Unipart continues to refine its CRM system and optimise conversion rates with the help of BabelQuest, its pipeline is expected to grow even further. Read the original case study.

For businesses looking to achieve similar results, partnering with experts like Velocity can help drive the transformation process and ensure that every aspect of your customer relationship management is geared for success. Contact Velocity today to learn how we can support your digital transformation journey.

FAQs

1. What prompted Unipart's digital transformation?

Unipart’s divisions operated independently, using multiple CRM systems and scattered data. The lack of unified operations hindered growth, prompting the need for a centralised CRM solution to improve visibility, collaboration, and efficiency across divisions.

2. Why did Unipart choose HubSpot as its CRM platform?

Unipart selected HubSpot due to its ease of use, scalability, and customisation options. HubSpot’s user-friendly interface, combined with the implementation expertise of BabelQuest, made it the ideal choice for unifying operations and supporting the company's growth ambitions.

3. What role did BabelQuest play in the transformation?

BabelQuest, a leading HubSpot solutions partner, played a crucial role in implementing HubSpot at Unipart. They helped centralise sales data, created custom dashboards, and ensured the process was completed five months ahead of schedule. They continue to support Unipart in optimising the system.

4. How did the digital transformation impact Unipart’s pipeline?

Within 12 months of implementing HubSpot, Unipart's pipeline grew sixfold, moving from millions to billions. The unified system allowed for better data analysis, more accurate forecasting, and the identification of new business opportunities.

5. What other benefits did Unipart experience from the digital transformation?

In addition to pipeline growth, Unipart improved customer satisfaction, as evidenced by a 5-point increase in their Net Promoter Score (NPS) in 2024. The company now has real-time visibility into sales data and can manage customer relationships more effectively.

6. How does this transformation help Unipart's customers?

By unifying its operations, Unipart can now offer more seamless, efficient service to customers. The integration allows them to better meet client needs, identify cross-selling opportunities, and support customers’ growth across multiple regions and divisions.

7. Can other businesses replicate Unipart’s success with HubSpot?

Yes, businesses of all sizes can benefit from a similar digital transformation using HubSpot. With the right CRM platform and expert implementation, companies can unify their operations, improve customer relationships, and drive significant growth, as Unipart did.