Managing Teams, Access, and Permissions in HubSpot

After setting up your HubSpot portal with the right objects, properties, and customized views, there’s one final step before inviting your team: managing team structure, access levels, and permissions.

This blog post, part of my HubSpot setup guide, covers how to define teams, assign seats, and configure permissions to ensure that each user has the necessary access—and nothing more.

Why Manage Teams, Access, and Permissions?

Organizing your users into teams and limiting access is essential for maintaining the security, clarity, and productivity of your HubSpot portal. Without structured permissions, there’s a risk of users making unintended changes or accessing data outside their responsibilities, which can quickly lead to an unorganized CRM. In HubSpot, the settings available for managing users and permissions vary depending on your subscription level, with more advanced options unlocked at higher tiers.

Overview of Key Tabs in User and Team Settings

HubSpot divides its user and team management settings into several tabs, which may differ based on your subscription level:

1. Users: Manage all users, set permissions, and assign teams.
2. Seats: Assign premium features like sales or service seats to specific users.
3. Teams: Group users into teams for streamlined communication and access control.
4. Presets: Available for Pro users, allowing default settings for specific user roles.
5. Permission Sets: Available only for Enterprise users, enabling customized permission templates.

Let’s break down each of these tabs in detail.

Users Tab

The Users tab displays a list of all users on your portal, including internal team members and external agency partners. For each user, you can:

• Edit Permissions: Define what each user can see and do in the portal. Permissions are essential to controlling access to sensitive information and are explained further in a dedicated video within this guide.
• Assign Teams and Presets: Group users based on their responsibilities and customize their default settings.

Seats Tab

The Seats tab manages the allocation of paid seats, which unlock premium features in HubSpot. Unlike other CRMs, HubSpot does not require every user to have a paid license; instead, these licenses only provide access to specific advanced features that may only be needed by select team members. There are two main types:

1. Sales Seats: Unlock features such as call tracking, pre-written email libraries, and advanced scheduling.
2. Service Seats: Enable customer service features, including call logging, ticketing, and customer service reporting.

Be cautious about assigning these seats, as they come with monthly costs. Before assigning a seat, check the HubSpot pricing page to ensure the user truly requires the premium features.

Teams Tab

The Teams tab lets you organize users into groups, making it easier to manage notifications, database access, and assignment workflows. Creating teams also simplifies report visibility and lead assignment.

• Organize by Department and Market:
  • Create team groups based on departments (e.g., Marketing, Sales, Customer Service).
  • Further segment teams by regions or markets, such as North America, Europe, B2B Sales, and B2C Sales.
• Enable Role-Based Data Access:
  • Restrict data visibility to ensure that users only access relevant records. For example, assign CRM access based on team, so sales reps only see leads assigned to their team or themselves.

Creating a Team:

1. Click Create Team, name it (e.g., “Marketing” or “North America Sales”), and assign members.
2. For larger structures, create child teams under parent teams. For example, create B2B Sales and B2C Sales teams under the Sales parent team.

Presets Tab (Pro and Higher Subscriptions)

For Pro and higher subscriptions, HubSpot offers Presets, which let you define default settings for certain roles. For example, you could set a default dashboard, language, and email signature for Ads Managers. However, it’s often best to let users customize their own settings to optimize productivity. This tab is optional and can be skipped if users prefer setting their own defaults.

Permission Sets Tab (Enterprise Only)

The Permission Sets tab, available only to Enterprise subscribers, allows you to create predefined permission templates for different roles. This feature saves time by enabling you to create templates for roles like Sales Rep, Marketing Manager, or Customer Service Lead, and then easily apply them to new users.

Creating a Permission Set:

1. Click Create Permission Set, name it according to the role (e.g., “Sales Rep”).
2. Go through each section, such as CRM Objects, and adjust access levels for each feature. For example, limit Sales Reps to view only their own contacts, while Sales Managers can view all team contacts.
3. Once the permission set is created, assign it to users by selecting Actions > Assign Permission Set. This ensures each user has the correct access based on their role.

Best Practices for Managing Permissions

To ensure a secure and organized HubSpot portal, follow these best practices:

• Grant Minimum Necessary Access: Only allow users access to the features and data they need to perform their role.
• Limit Deletion Permissions: Restrict delete permissions to avoid accidental data loss and maintain CRM history.
• Adjust Access by Role and Responsibility: For example, sales reps likely don’t need access to marketing tools or campaigns, so remove these options to keep their workspace focused.

Conclusion

Properly managing teams, access, and permissions in HubSpot helps keep your portal secure, organized, and efficient. By setting up teams, assigning seats thoughtfully, and configuring permissions based on role, you create a structured environment where each user has access to the tools they need—and nothing they don’t.

Stay tuned for more in our HubSpot setup guide, where we’ll cover additional ways to optimize your portal and streamline team collaboration.