Imagine two vendors receive the same three-line brief: “We’re moving from our current CRM to HubSpot. About 200,000 contacts. Needs to be done in Q1.”
One vendor assumes a clean import of contacts, companies, and deals. The other assumes custom objects, five years of email and call history, and a two-way sync with the billing system. Their quotes can differ by a wide margin, and neither vendor is wrong. They priced different projects.
A specific RFP prevents that. It does three things:
An RFP does not need to be forty pages. For many projects, four to eight pages plus a data appendix is enough. Specificity matters more than length.
Open with context: the business reason for migrating now, any hard deadline (an expiring contract on the old CRM is the most common one), who makes decisions, and a budget range if you can share one. Sharing a budget saves both sides time because vendors can propose something that fits.
Then cover the seven areas below.
|
Section |
What to provide |
Why vendors need it |
|---|---|---|
|
Current CRM & data |
Source system and version, record counts by object, user count, known data issues |
Drives mapping and cleanup effort |
|
Architecture |
Target HubSpot hubs and tiers, objects, pipelines, custom objects |
Decides lift-and-shift vs redesign |
|
Automation |
Inventory of active workflows, assignment rules, scoring, sequences |
Sets rebuild scope |
|
Integrations |
Each connected system, sync direction, source of truth |
Often the biggest hidden cost |
|
Reporting & history |
Reports that must carry over, years of activity history, attribution needs |
Defines historical data and reconciliation work |
|
Security & compliance |
Access rules, regulatory needs, vendor security expectations |
Determines how data can be handled |
|
Testing & acceptance |
Test rounds, UAT roles, sign-off criteria, cutover window |
Defines “done” |
This is the section vendors use most. Provide:
One practical step: run a field-usage report in your old CRM before writing the RFP. Teams are often surprised by how many custom fields are empty or unused, which turns “migrate 400 fields” into a much smaller job.
Say which HubSpot hubs and subscription tiers you have or plan to buy. The tier matters because features such as custom objects and sandboxes depend on edition (custom objects and sandboxes sit on Enterprise tiers). If you have not decided, say so and ask vendors to advise.
Then describe how your data is structured today: parent and child accounts, deals with multiple contacts, subscriptions, assets, projects, or anything else that does not fit a standard contact-company-deal model. For each, state whether you expect it to map to a standard HubSpot object, become a custom object, or be retired.
Also state your intent. A lift-and-shift copies your current structure. A redesign uses the migration to simplify pipelines, lifecycle stages, ownership rules, and permissions. The two are priced very differently, and vendors should not have to guess which one you want. If you want the vendor to propose the architecture, say that the discovery phase should include it.
List the automation in your current CRM: how many workflows or rules exist, which are active, and which are business-critical. Typical examples are lead assignment, deal-stage notifications, renewal reminders, approval processes, lead scoring, and sequences.
Decide whether you want automation rebuilt as-is or reviewed for simplification. Rebuilding everything is rarely the right answer. Many teams find that a share of old workflows no longer serves a purpose.
If some automation is undocumented, say so. Someone has to find it, and you want to know how each vendor plans to do that.
Integrations are where migrations most often go over scope. For each connected system, document:
Common candidates include website forms, marketing tools, billing or ERP, support platforms, telephony, enrichment tools, and a data warehouse. Ask vendors whether they rebuild integrations themselves or hand them to your developers, and whether that work is in the base quote.
Specify which dashboards and reports must work in HubSpot on day one, and who owns each. Then be explicit about history:
Preserving original timestamps and stage history takes deliberate planning in any CRM migration. Ask vendors how they approach it.
Describe the sensitive data involved (personal, financial, health) and the frameworks that apply, such as GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA. State any data residency requirements.
Then say what you require from the vendor in writing: security attestations such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, an NDA and data processing agreement, how access is granted and limited, how exports and temporary files are stored and deleted, and whether subcontractors or offshore teams will touch your data.
This section defines “done,” and it is the one most often left vague. Include:
Write acceptance criteria as testable statements. “Every active deal has an associated company and an owner” can be tested. “The data looks right” cannot.
Before selecting a migration vendor, ask every shortlisted provider the same set of questions. This makes proposals easier to compare and helps you identify differences in expertise, scope, pricing, and post-migration support.
Be cautious if a vendor provides a quote without assessing your data, skips test migrations, cannot identify the team responsible for delivery, or uses vague language around scope and deliverables. Promises of a quick, seamless migration without discussing data quality, integrations, or historical records should also prompt further questions.
Once you receive proposals, evaluate them beyond the headline price. Compare the assessment process, testing methodology, deliverables, exclusions, and support commitments to understand the true cost of each engagement.