How we use HubSpot at Picker Sales Hub Users Picker | 2026
How we use HubSpot at Picker Sales guide — for deal and pipeline users Picker | 2026
This guide is for anyone at Picker who uses HubSpot to manage deals and pipeline activity. If you use HubSpot for email campaigns or forms, see the Marketing guide instead.
Who this guide is for This guide is for team members managing deals and pipeline — including those working on L&D course bookings, Licensing, and Programmes opportunities.
1. The basics What HubSpot is for at Picker HubSpot is Picker’s CRM — the single place where we track contacts, companies, and commercial opportunities. If it’s not in HubSpot, it doesn’t exist for reporting or pipeline purposes. To access the Deals pipeline you need a Sales or Core seat in HubSpot. If you cannot see the Deals menu or the pipeline, check with the HubSpot admin that you have the correct seat type assigned to your account.
The golden rules Rule 1: Every deal must have an associated company and contact. Rule 2: Fill in required fields at each stage before moving a deal forward. HubSpot will prompt you — do not skip them. Rule 3: One deal per product. If a client is buying multiple products across different pillars, create a separate deal for each. Associate all deals to the same company and contact. Rule 4: Do not edit Portfolio Pillar or Product / Service after the Proposal stage without admin approval. These fields drive reporting and must remain accurate. Rule 5: If in doubt, speak to the HubSpot admin before creating new properties or lists.
2. The pipeline How the pipeline works Picker uses a single pipeline — the Master Pipeline. Every deal goes into this pipeline regardless of team or product. The stage tells you and the team where the deal is in the process.
Stage
Probability
What it means
What to do
Expression of interest
10%
An opportunity has been identified and initial interest registered.
Create the deal. Fill in required fields. Assign an owner.
Scoping / Response prepared
25%
The opportunity has been qualified. Information sent or response being prepared.
Fill in Amount, Product/Service, Sales motion, Purchasing type.
Proposal sent
50%
A formal proposal, quote, or application Set Close date. Fill in has been sent. Revenue type and Renewal required.
Contract negotiation
80%
Proposal accepted in principle. Final terms being agreed.
Confirm deal value. Collect contact address via task prompt.
Closed won
100%
Deal complete. Contract signed, payment received, or enrolment confirmed.
Log project reference number when available.
Closed lost
0%
The deal did not proceed.
Select Loss reason before closing. Add notes.
3. Creating a deal When to create a deal Create a deal when you have an identifiable opportunity with a realistic chance of progressing. Good signals: A contact has made a specific enquiry about a product or course You have identified a tender or bid opportunity A contact attended an event and expressed clear interest A course booking has been received
How to create a deal
1
Go to Deals → Create deal.
2
Fill in required fields: – Deal name (format: Company name — Product — Year) – Pipeline (Master Pipeline) – Deal owner – Portfolio Pillar – Picker Deal Type (New Business / Renewal / Cross-Sell / Upsell) – Opportunity source
3
Associate the deal to a company. Every deal must have a company associated.
4
Associate the deal to the primary contact.
5
Click Save. The deal appears in the pipeline at Expression of interest stage.
4. Required fields — what to fill in and when Fields by stage Different fields are required at different stages. If you skip a stage, the required fields from all skipped stages will be enforced at the next stage the deal lands on.
Field
Required
When to fill in
Notes
Deal name
Required
At creation
Format: Company — Product — Year
Portfolio Pillar
Required
At creation
L&D / Benchmarking / Licensing / Standards / Forums / Measurement and Insight / Policy / Awards / Other
Picker Deal Type
Required
At creation
New Business / Renewal / Cross-Sell / Upsell
Opportunity source
Required
At creation
How did this opportunity come in? Choose from
dropdown — no free text.
Deal owner
Required
At creation
The person responsible for progressing this deal.
Amount
Required
At scoping stage
Your best estimate. Update as it becomes clearer.
Product / Service
Required
At scoping stage
The specific product this deal relates to. One product per deal.
Sales motion
Required
At scoping stage
Inbound / Outbound / Partner-Led.
Purchasing type
Required
At scoping stage
Tender / RFQ / Service Addition / Contract Extension.
Close date
Required
At proposal stage
For new business: the date the deal is expected to be agreed. For recurring deals: the date the current contract expires. See note below.
Revenue type
Required
At proposal stage
Recurring / One-Off / MultiYear Contract. Must be set for the renewal reminder to work.
Renewal required
Conditional
At proposal stage
Yes or No. Only if applicable.
Contract end date
Required for recurring
At Closed Won
For Recurring revenue deals only. The date the contract expires. Triggers the renewal reminder 90 days before.
Channel partner
Conditional
At scoping stage
Only fill in if Opportunity source = Channel Partner.
Loss reason
Required
At Closed lost
Must be selected before a deal can be marked Closed Lost: Ability to deliver / Budget not available / Issues with spec / Low strategic fit / No capacity to bid / Combination of factors / Other
Project reference number
Required
At Closed Won
Finance reference number assigned on project completion.
Close date vs Contract end date — these are two different fields. Close date is the date the deal is agreed or signed. For Recurring revenue deals, you must also fill in Contract end date — this is the date the current agreement expires and is what triggers the renewal reminder workflow. Without a Contract end date, no renewal reminder will be sent.
5. Multi-product deals If a client is purchasing multiple products across different portfolio pillars — for example Standards consultancy and L&D courses in the same engagement — create a separate deal for each product. Associate all deals to the same company and contact.
This keeps the pipeline clean and ensures reporting by portfolio pillar is accurate. All deals for the same client will be visible together on the company record.
6. Parent and child companies What parent-child company hierarchy is for Some organisations Picker works with are part of a larger group. For example, Daleel Hospital might be part of Eastern Health Cluster, or a specific NHS trust might be part of an NHS group. HubSpot’s parent-child company feature lets you reflect this relationship without merging the records together.
This is useful because: You can report on deals at either the individual organisation level or the group level Contacts and deals associated to the child company stay correctly attributed You can see all related organisations in one place on the parent company record
One structural rule to keep in mind: a parent company can have multiple children, but each child can only be linked to one parent. This is available on all HubSpot plans — no upgrade needed.
How to set up a parent-child relationship on an individual company 1
Go to CRM → Companies and open the record you want to edit.
2
In the right sidebar, find the Companies card and click Add.
3
Search for and select the company you want to associate.
4
Click Add association label and choose either: – Parent Company — makes the selected company the parent – Child company — makes the selected company the subordinate
5
Click Save.
To edit an existing association, find it in the same sidebar Companies card, click Add association label, pick the correct label, and click Update.
Do not merge parent and child companies into one record. Keep them separate and use the parentchild relationship to connect them. Note: if merging two companies would create a circular parentchild chain, HubSpot will not allow the merge.
8. Address collection Contact addresses are not collected upfront. When a deal moves to Contract Negotiation stage, HubSpot will automatically create a task prompting you to collect the contact’s address. This applies to all deal types including L&D course bookings where a physical address is required for course correspondence or invoicing.
Steps to follow: Check the contact record first — the address may already be there from a previous interaction If not, you can enter it manually on the contact record If you need to ask the contact directly, a form link is included in the task notes — share this
with the contact and the address will write directly to HubSpot when they submit
7. Renewal reminder For deals where Revenue type = Recurring, HubSpot will automatically create a task for the deal owner 90 days before the Contract end date, prompting you to begin the renewal conversation.
For the renewal reminder to work, two fields must be set: Revenue type = Recurring (required at Proposal stage) and Contract end date (required at Closed Won for recurring deals). If either is missing, no reminder will be sent.
8. Using tasks for follow-up What tasks are for Tasks are your to-do list in HubSpot. When a deal moves to a new stage, HubSpot automatically creates a task with a suggested next action and a due date. You can also create tasks manually at any time.
How to complete a task 1
Go to your HubSpot home screen or click Tasks in the navigation.
2
Find the task and click Mark as complete once done. Add a note if useful.
3
If you need to reschedule, click Edit and change the due date.
Do not ignore tasks. If a task is no longer relevant, complete it with a note explaining why rather than leaving it open.
9. Logging activity When you have a call, send an email, or meet someone in connection with a deal, log it in HubSpot. This keeps the deal record accurate and means anyone on the team can see the full history.
1
Open the deal or contact record.
2
Click Call, Email, Note, or Meeting at the top of the record.
3
Fill in the details and click Save.
10. Moving a deal through the pipeline To move a deal to the next stage, change the Deal stage field on the record or drag the card on the pipeline board. HubSpot will check the required fields for that stage and prompt you to complete any that are missing.
Do not skip stages. Moving a deal from Expression of interest directly to Contract negotiation means the required fields from Scoping and Proposal stages will all be enforced at once.
11. Closing a deal Closed won When a deal is agreed, move it to Closed won. Make sure the deal amount is correct and the close date reflects the actual close date. Add the project reference number when finance assigns it. For recurring deals, make sure Contract end date is populated.
Closed lost If a deal does not proceed, move it to Closed lost. You must select a Loss reason before the deal can be closed. Add a note explaining what happened.
12. Contacts and companies Checking if a contact already exists Before creating a new contact, always search first. If they exist, use the existing record — do not create a duplicate.
Creating a new contact 1
Go to Contacts → Create contact.
2
Fill in required fields: first name, last name, email, company name, job title.
3
Set the legal basis for processing — Legitimate Interest for most B2B contacts.
4
Associate the contact to the correct company.
5
Set the contact owner.
If the company does not exist yet, create the company first, then create the contact and associate them. Every contact should be linked to a company.
13. Getting help Day-to-day HubSpot questions — speak to the HubSpot admin Technical issues or system changes — the HubSpot admin HubSpot help resources — knowledge.hubspot.com
Picker | How we use HubSpot — Sales guide | 2026