The Reason Your HubSpot Buying Roles Are Failing You (And How to Fix It)

Managing decision-makers in a spreadsheet is a recipe for lost revenue. Seriously. I’ve seen it too many times: marketing campaigns misfire, sales chase the wrong person, and leadership wonders why the forecast looks like a best guess instead of an actual number.

If you’re using HubSpot but still relying on static lists or loose assumptions about who’s responsible for what, your contact roles are probably failing you.

Here’s the good news: you can fix it!  I talked about it recently in my HubSpot Excellence YouTube video that you should definitely check out.  If you haven’t, here’s a quick breakdown of what I suggest to make some changes.

Understanding the Difference: Deal Roles vs. Company Roles

First, let’s clear up a common source of confusion.

Deal-level roles are specific to the opportunity at hand. On one deal, Logan might be your economic buyer; on another, he could be just an influencer. Large enterprise deals usually have a different set of decision-makers than other deals within the same company. Overlap is possible, but it’s rarely identical.

Company-level roles, on the other hand, represent the long-term structure of the account. Executive sponsors, product admins, end users, these roles define the relationships across the organization over time, not just for one opportunity.
Failing to separate these two layers is a quick path to miscommunication, duplicated effort, and a misaligned go-to-market strategy.

How to Set Contact Roles in HubSpot

Setting up roles in HubSpot isn't complicated, it just needs intention. Here's a quick step-by-step suggestion on how I do it:

1. Go to your data model: In HubSpot, navigate to your Data Management section, then click “Edit Data Model.” 

2. Set up labels for deals: Typical labels include economic buyer, champion, and blocker. These are some examples of who to define for each opportunity.

3. Set up labels for companies: Beyond billing contacts, create labels for executive sponsor, product admin, and end user, for example. 

4. Associate contacts: For each company, assign contacts to their appropriate role. 

5. Use paired labels if needed: This allows one role/association to appear differently at for example the company level versus the deal level.

Now, instead of guessing who to engage with, your CRM shows you exactly who matters in this case, and why.

Why This Actually Matters

Here’s the part that often gets overlooked:

When buying roles are structured properly, you can create high-value, targeted campaigns. For example:

• Segment executive sponsors whose renewals are coming up in the next 90 days and run a LinkedIn thought-leadership campaign aimed at strengthening your position before the renewal conversation even starts.

• Target end users at companies trialing upgraded software tiers, accelerating product-led growth without spamming everyone in the company.

Without clean buying roles, your campaigns are either too broad or miss the right people entirely. AI, automation, LinkedIn targeting, all of it depends on having the correct data in the first place. Good stuff in, not-so-good stuff out.

The Real Value: Smarter Outreach and Predictable Growth

I’ll be honest: I love this stuff because it’s measurable. When you structure your contacts and deals properly:

• Sales knows exactly who to engage.

• Marketing can deliver tailored campaigns.

• Leadership sees reliable forecasts.

And yes, it takes a little upfront setup, but it pays off in reduced friction, faster deals, and better alignment across the business.

As someone who’s cleaned up more messy CRMs than I care to count, I can promise you, the time you spend defining contact roles is nothing compared to the revenue you save (and earn) later.

Next Steps

If your HubSpot CRM is full of deals with ambiguous roles or contacts scattered across spreadsheets, it’s time for a clean-up. Book some time with me and we can create a really great plan to start optimizing the contacts and deals you have to set your team up for success.