Knight Frank HubSpot CRM Case Study

Knight Frank is one of the world's leading independent real estate consultancies, with more than 20,000 people in 487 offices across 53 territories, partnering in property with some of the world's largest organisations.

However, the Knight Frank Asia Pacific teams (KFAP) did not have an existing CRM system used across marketing and various business units, leading to siloed views of customer requirements and a lack of dynamically accessible data.

Additionally, due to disparate systems, KFAP struggled with a lack of digital and technological comprehension and continuity across the customer journey.

KFAP wanted to find out if HubSpot could help give them a unified view of their customer data and needed a partner they could trust with migrating an enterprise-scale organisation to HubSpot with a focus on the needs of key stakeholders, as well as data security, finding Huble to be the ideal partner.

The challenge

It's crucial to acknowledge that KFAP has been facing challenges with its disjointed technological setup, utilizing spreadsheets and email for managing communications, which has led to limited data visibility and difficulties in fostering consistent, meaningful client relationships.

The primary concern for KFAP is the absence of a comprehensive system to capture and manage client data and relationships end-to-end, an essential component for enhancing customer service. Our objective at Huble was to assess KFAP's existing business practices and boost their efficiency by incorporating a CRM solution that meets their specific requirements.

The initial stage of this endeavour involves migrating three core business units to HubSpot: Marketing, Occupier Strategy and Solutions (OSS), and Capital Markets teams. This migration will empower KFAP to consolidate its operations and improve collaboration across these units.

Technology used before HubSpot

Our solution

We took a three-pronged approach to this challenge.

First, we analyzed KFAP's marketing needs, including their marketing strategies, tools (such as DotDigital), and data storage methods. Our goal was to devise a more effective way for them to manage their marketing data.

Next, we conducted workshops with the Capital Markets and OSS sales teams to identify their CRM requirements. We transitioned them from relying on Excel spreadsheets to a systematic approach that captures not only deal and financial data but also sales activities. This change enables them to optimize their operations and strengthen client relationships more effectively.

Lastly, we addressed KFAP's system administration by examining their technology and data management practices. We determined the best way to segment their data, ensuring proper permission structures and integrations were in place, and providing access to the right information for the appropriate personnel.

Furthermore, we implemented measures to maintain the system without duplicates and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. For instance, we facilitated cross-team awareness between the two business units when working with the same company, but restricted access to email communications and specific discussion details.

With this comprehensive approach, KFAP will be better positioned to streamline its operations, enhance collaboration, and improve overall efficiency.

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The results

Here’s how our hard work played out:

The key stakeholders across Knight Frank's diverse business units had varying HubSpot requirements and use cases. Each lead stakeholder expressed satisfaction with the CRM system's rollout and the architecture designed by the Huble team.

Huble effectively migrated the different business units and marketing team from multiple systems and tools to a unified platform, streamlining data access and tool usage. The adoption rate was high, and the change management process was smooth.

A significant aspect of this project was ensuring data security and appropriate user permissions. With three business units utilizing the same CRM system, it was vital for Knight Frank to properly manage data access so that only authorized individuals could view specific deals, contacts, and companies. This required thorough user permission management and mapping before implementation.

In the first six months following the migration from DotDigital, over 1,000 new leads were generated, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new CRM system.

These results showcase the success of our efforts in transforming KFAP's operations, reinforcing data security, and improving overall efficiency.

38.5 %

Pageview to submission rate

19.27 %

Pageview to contact rate

300 %

Improvement in lead response time

Thanks to the team at Huble, the CRM implementation for our two key business units and marketing division went smoothly and resulted in more efficient processes, with encouraging results that will likely lead to more widespread adoption of HubSpot among Knight Frank’s various regional divisions.

Jasper Fee

Marketing Operations Manager at Knight Frank

Next steps

This project served as an excellent test case to demonstrate how a global company with multiple offices and divisions can successfully adopt a CRM system.

The successful implementation of HubSpot showcased its ability to meet the needs of various business units while also driving improvements in key performance metrics. This experience has laid the groundwork for future CRM migrations in other areas of Knight Frank's business, as we continue to support their growth and transformation.

Driving Success for Knight Frank with the power of HubSpot

Architecting and onboarding HubSpot for a unified view of customer data