A CRM ERP integration lets the software where deals are born work together with the software where documents, customers and orders are born, without copying data by hand. That is what we did for Pulltex: custom sales management software connected to HubSpot through a two-way API integration, which cut the time needed to create and send a pro forma invoice by 70%.
Below I describe the starting situation, what we built and what a company with a sales network can take from it.
Who Pulltex are
Pulltex is a wine accessories brand, known for its patented double-lever corkscrew. It has more than twenty years of experience and works with a high-profile B2B clientele: wineries, consortia, distributors and big names in Italian wine. Relationships in the field are handled by a network of sales reps.
The problem: deals in HubSpot, pro formas and reps elsewhere
Pulltex's sales process is complex and highly tailored. Customer records, the assignment of customers to reps, pro forma invoices for custom orders and deal tracking all lived on different systems that did not talk to each other.
HubSpot CRM was used to follow deals, but it was not designed to manage reps and their customer portfolios. Pro forma invoices were prepared on a separate system or in spreadsheets: slow work, easy to get wrong and disconnected from the CRM data. Which rep looked after which customer was not recorded in one place either, and management struggled to get an overall view of the sales network.
The sales cycle was therefore slower than it needed to be, and the data in one system did not match the data in the other. It happens to many SMEs that adopt a CRM without connecting it to everything else.
Why changing software was not enough
In cases like this, the temptation is to look for a single program that does everything. HubSpot, though, worked well for what it was used for. What was missing was a tool built around the way the Pulltex sales network works and, above all, the link between the two systems. That is why we chose to put custom business software alongside the CRM and make them talk, instead of replacing everything.
The solution: custom business software with a HubSpot API integration
We built a web application that has become the daily working tool for sales reps and the admin team. It is organised into modules built around Pulltex's real needs.
Customer and rep management
A single section holds complete records for customers and reps. The most important feature is the one-to-one link between each customer and their assigned rep, which gives everyone a clear map of territories and responsibilities.
Pro forma invoice generator
Reps create a pro forma invoice in a few clicks: they duplicate an existing quote, pick customers and products from records already loaded and apply custom payment terms. The quoting process now follows a standard and no longer depends on spreadsheets.
Two-way integration with HubSpot
This is the part of the project everything else depends on. The business software does not replace HubSpot, it complements it, and the two systems exchange data through APIs in both directions. Customer data is synced, so the customer record is the same in both. From the CRM, the software imports deal owners, to align the sales work with what HubSpot shows. In the other direction, every pro forma invoice generated is sent to HubSpot: the history of each deal contains the real sales documents and the sales cycle is tracked from start to finish.
If you want to understand better how these connections work, we have written a guide to business APIs and how they get your software talking.
Security of sales data
Sales network data is sensitive. That is why the system uses role-based access (each rep sees only their own customers and pro forma invoices, the admin team sees everything), encrypted communication over HTTPS, a connection to HubSpot through secure authentication tokens and regular automatic backups.
The results
The main figure reported in the Pulltex case study is a 70% cut in the time needed to create and send a pro forma invoice. Today all customer records and all customer-rep assignments sit in a single system, and data entry errors and mismatches between quotes and CRM data have disappeared.
How to sync your ERP and CRM: lessons from the Pulltex case
This project yields a few rules that apply to any CRM ERP integration.
If the CRM does its job well, connect it instead of replacing it. Changing platform forces the whole sales network to start over, whereas an integration leaves reps with the tools they already know.
Before writing a line of code, decide where each piece of data originates. Customers, deals and documents need a clear system of origin, and the other systems receive them. When two programs can edit the same customer record without a rule, the data drifts apart again within a few weeks.
The features of the business software should be built on how the people who will use it actually work. In the Pulltex case they came out of the reps' daily work, not from a generic feature list.
Finally, plan permissions at the start. In a sales network not everyone should see everything, and adding roles to a system already in use is harder than designing them in from the first sprint.
The same reasoning applies to a distributor that needs to connect its CRM to the warehouse, or to anyone selling online who needs to align their online shop and ERP. For the bigger picture, read our guide to systems integration, and if your sales process has special rules, it is worth considering a custom CRM.
Your software doesn't talk to each other? Let's talk
If your reps work in one CRM and your admin team in another system, and someone spends their days acting as the bridge between the two, we can help. We start by analysing your data flows, develop in two-week sprints with a staging environment for testing, and the code remains yours. Find out about our integrations and APIs service or book a call to tell us how your sales network works.