4 Ways to Track Time and Bill More Accurately with HubSpot

Updated February 22, 2023

No matter how big or small your business is, effective and easy time tracking is the key to efficiency, to working smarter not harder. 

It's a real shame, but up until recently, native time tracking in HubSpot was not an option. Luckily there's now a tool that enables you to track time through a native integration with HubSpot. Team members who are able to track their time more easily are more apt to track it accurately.

Project managers who implement smart time tracking solutions can have a better grip on how long projects are taking, what they’re costing, and where the major time-sucks are (and with whom).

Establishing and integrating comprehensive time tracking makes life easier on employees & contractors and business owners & team leaders alike. The benefits of effective time tracking solutions include:

• Improve forecasting - You’ll have a more accurate picture of just how long projects really take, what that costs, and what you can expect/shoot for in the future. Accurate forecasting isn’t always easy, but having solid time tracking data is a great way to get closer.
• Increase productivity/efficiency - Two things here: One, when people have to track their time accurately, they’re more accountable for their work hours. Two, not using manual timesheets or a variety of systems in favor of one superb time tracking tool will make your team way more efficient. Mobile and desktop apps included in these tools mean that people can account for their time in just a couple clicks.
• Promote transparency - A time tracking tool can help you promote transparency within your organization and even with clients. For example, you can use your time tracking data to generate more accurate quotes and budgets, something every client greatly appreciates.
• Save money - Don’t let billable hours slip through the cracks! If your team is accurately tracking their time, you can ensure you’re getting paid for the totality of the work. Not to mention, you can help prevent overservicing, something that’s historically problematic for professional service firms. 

Benefits of tracking time within HubSpot

Companies that work within the HubSpot ecosystem need an intelligent HubSpot time tracking solution, especially those who work with multiple clients, bill by the hour, track team efficiency, and/or work with freelancers or remote teams.

So, who is HubSpot time tracking for?

"For (professional) service organizations —like marketing agencies, IT & management consultants, architects, accountants, etc. — tracking time is a particularly important indicator to billing and increasing profitability."

And for those using HubSpot to track marketing and sales activities, it makes sense to want visibility into your billable hours, all within your CRM.

If you want to start tracking time and reap all the benefits for your organization, you’ll first need to integrate a time-tracking app with your HubSpot CRM.

To find out if the solution you’re considering makes the cut, we share 3 ways to track time and bill more accurately with HubSpot. We’ll explore both native HubSpot features and a unique integration that can help your team increase productivity and streamline the time tracking process.

1.    Understand time going toward client activity.

It’s mission critical for small businesses that use HubSpot to get a realistic grip on how much time is really going toward each client. And that includes time spent on wrangling clients before the deal is Closed Won. On your sales team, members might not want to wait until the deal is Closed Won to begin tracking time toward a client or project. Plus, by effectively tracking time on the sales side, project managers can get valuable insights into how a particular client communicates to prep them for what’s to come.

"At the end of the day, if you want to track time and bill more accurately, you’ll need to SEE all client activity from one feed within HubSpot."

This view helps managers see team efficiency or check in on those high-touch projects. It’s an extremely powerful visual tool that’s a no-brainer to boost efficiency.

2.    Automate your invoicing.

Time tracking toward a specific client or project deal in HubSpot will allow you to leverage HubSpot’s automation tools to set sales task reminders when it’s time to reach out for billing or renewal. You can also use HubSpot’s invoice integration tools to trigger marketing email reminders to clients.

By automating your invoices in HubSpot, you can make sure you never miss a billing again and decrease your deal-to-cash time . Get paid faster!

3.    Improve reporting.

Reporting in HubSpot without a clear connection to your team’s time tracking or billing software may only provide you with data about the first payment or milestone. This is not a truly accurate representation of your business’s cash flow.

Also, for those needing to track expenses, the fixed deal amount may not accommodate these costs during the project.

What you need is a time tracking solution that integrates with HubSpot and can provide you with real-time information as to how long each deal is taking along with which team members may be more efficient with their time than others. 

It would be great if your solution can follow you after the deal as well. These solutions will go beyond time tracking. If you want a time tracking tool that goes with you into the project side, you’ll need to find it included in a project management or PSA software suite that integrates with HubSpot.

4. Track time directly in the HubSpot Service Hub.

If you use the HubSpot Service Hub for your services business, spoiler alert– your team can track time directly in the HubSpot Service Hub! This can, again, prevent overservicing and make sure you get paid for every minute that counts. Since this feature automatically connects to your contract management, you can correctly bill customers for service hours that go outside of the parameters of your service contract. And it all starts with just a couple clicks. No need to stress, or even to leave HubSpot! 

Do all 4 with PSOhub.

If you want to optimize your time tracking in HubSpot by seeing client activity, automating your invoicing, and viewing up-to-the-minute reports, PSOhub is currently the only solution to provide these features within the HubSpot ecosystem. Having this kind of all-in-one visibility in the platform is only possible with PSOhub’s smart, self-driving solutions for:

• Tracking time & expense
• Smart invoicing (automated invoices)
• Financial report dashboards
• And more!

You can power your business and get intuitive time tracking that will work wonders for your team’s productivity levels, all while staying in the same environment you work in anyway. 

And while PSOhub is great for any services business, it was specifically designed with HubSpot users in mind. In fact, the UX is so smooth, many users comment on how with PSOhub, they don’t even realize that they’ve left HubSpot. Which in theory, they haven’t, since there’s a 2-way integration between the two powerhouse platforms. If you’re a HubSpot team, it’s worth taking PSOhub for a spin because it just may change the way you work, for the better.