CRM management
Outsource HubSpot management or hire an admin?
After the implementation, someone has to look after the CRM. Post a vacancy or outsource the work? We run the numbers on both, and say honestly when an in-house admin is the better call.
Short answer
An in-house HubSpot admin easily costs €60,000 to €80,000 a year once employer costs are included. Most B2B companies with 20 to 150 employees have two to four days of CRM work a month. Then outsourcing is cheaper and less fragile: with us, €1,800 a month for up to 16 hours. If there is genuinely a full week of work, an in-house admin is the better choice.
Why this question comes up
The implementation is done, HubSpot is running, and the first six months go well. Then the colleague who set it up leaves, or gets too busy with their actual job. Fields fill with junk, nobody updates the automations, and the sales manager goes back to pulling numbers from Excel.
That's when the question comes: do we post a vacancy for a CRM admin, or outsource it? Both can work. It mostly depends on how much work there really is.
What a CRM admin actually does
At a B2B company with 20 to 150 employees, it's usually this:
- Data quality. Merging duplicate companies, removing old contacts, fixing fields that get filled in wrong.
- Automation. Tasks and reminders for salespeople, handover from marketing to sales, quote follow-up.
- Reporting. Keeping dashboards up to date, and checking with the sales manager every month that the numbers match reality.
- Users. Onboarding new salespeople, managing permissions, answering questions.
- Changes. A new product line, an extra pipeline, an integration that needs adjusting.
At most companies this size that's two to four days of work a month. Sometimes more in busy periods, but rarely a full working week. That is the most important number in this decision.
What an in-house admin costs
In the Netherlands, CRM specialist salaries range roughly from €38,000 to €60,000 gross a year. Someone with real HubSpot experience, automation and some RevOps sits towards the top. On top of gross salary come employer costs: holiday pay, pension and social contributions. Count on around 30% extra.
| In-house admin (example) | Per year |
|---|---|
| Gross salary, experienced HubSpot specialist | €52,000 |
| Employer costs, around 30% | €15,600 |
| Laptop, training, certifications | €2,500 |
| Total per year | €70,100 |
That's before recruitment. Through an agency you'll quickly pay 15 to 25% of a year's salary. And it takes a few months before a new colleague really knows your company, your customers and the system. Meanwhile the work waits.
What outsourcing costs
When you outsource, you pay for the hours you need, not a full working week. With us, CRM management costs €1,800 a month for up to 16 hours, so €21,600 a year. Unused hours don't roll over. If a month needs more, each extra hour costs €110. The first three months are fixed, then you can cancel any month.
| In-house admin | Outsourced management | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per year | €60,000–80,000 | €21,600 (with us) |
| Getting started | Two to four months to recruit and onboard | Within a few weeks |
| Illness or departure | Work stops | Work continues |
| Knowledge of your business | Grows every day | Grows, but more slowly |
| Availability | In the office every day | Fixed hours per month, remote |
| Other tasks | Possible, e.g. marketing | CRM only |
When an in-house admin is better
To be fair: outsourcing isn't always the best choice. An in-house admin makes more sense if:
- there genuinely is a full week of work, for example because marketing, sales and service all work in HubSpot with lots of campaigns and automation
- the CRM needs changes every day, and questions can't wait until the next session
- you want someone who also picks up other work alongside the CRM, such as marketing or inside sales.
A hybrid works well too. An internal colleague is the first point of contact for salespeople, and an external party handles the technical management and keeps an eye on things. Then the knowledge doesn't sit with one person.
When outsourcing is better
- The work is two to four days a month. With an in-house admin you pay for a full job, or you give it to someone who does it on the side. The latter is exactly how it usually goes wrong.
- The vacancy has been open for months. Good HubSpot specialists are scarce. The longer the vacancy stays open, the further the system slides.
- You don't want to depend on one person. Outsourced work is documented and carries on through holidays, illness or departures.
- You want outside experience. An admin who sees several CRMs knows what works and what doesn't, and doesn't have to work it out from scratch.
Questions to ask a managed-service provider
If you outsource, ask these before you sign:
- How many hours are included, and what happens if it's more? You want a clear ceiling and a fixed rate for extra hours.
- Who does the work? One fixed point of contact, or someone different each time?
- How fast do you respond? Ask about response times, including for small questions from salespeople.
- What do you do every month without being asked? Good management is more than handling tickets. Ask whether they measure data quality and review reports with you.
- What do I get if we stop? Documentation of the setup, automations and integrations should be yours.
- How long am I tied in? A year is reasonable to get to know each other. Longer than that, without a good reason, isn't.
How we approach it
With our CRM management you get one fixed point of contact who doesn't change. Every month we clean data, build new automations where needed, review the reports with you and onboard new salespeople. Where it helps, we bring marketing, sales and customer success into line in the same system.
If HubSpot isn't set up properly yet, management won't help much. Then we'd rather start with a two-week audit, so it's clear what needs fixing first. For the cost of a new setup, read What does a HubSpot implementation cost?
All prices in this article exclude VAT. Salary figures are indications based on public 2026 salary data for the Netherlands.