HubSpot Implementation for Cicero

Forbidden implemented a tailored HubSpot CRM for Cicero, giving the consultancy clearer pipeline visibility, structured event follow-up and a centralised view of sales and marketing activity.

Designing a HubSpot CRM to Reflect How Cicero Actually Wins Work

Cicero, part of the H/Advisors network, is a strategic communications and public affairs consultancy helping organisations navigate complex political, regulatory and reputational environments.

As the business evolved, its sales and marketing activity, particularly event-led business development, was spread across multiple tools and manual processes. Leadership needed a centralised CRM that reflected how they actually win work: through relationships, events and ongoing engagement.

Their goal was clear: create a structured, scalable HubSpot environment to centralise relationship management, improve pipeline visibility and enable smarter follow-up.

Cicero

The Challenge

Fragmented Processes Limiting Visibility, Follow-Up and Growth

Cicero’s business development model is relationship-led and heavily event-driven. But the underlying systems didn’t provide the structure or visibility required to support that model at scale.

Key issues included:

Limited visibility of sales pipeline activity and forecasting
Inconsistent logging of meetings, email activity and stakeholder engagement
No structured automation for event follow-up
Difficulty segmenting contacts by sector, seniority and engagement level
Disconnected workflows between sales, marketing and monitoring services

The leadership team needed more than a generic CRM. They needed a system built around how their consultancy operates, with clear reporting, structured follow-up and room to scale.

Cicero

What we did

We built a CRM around real-world commercial behaviour, not a generic template.

1

Mapped the Commercial Model

We began with a structured discovery process to understand how Cicero generates and manages new business, including sales pipeline stages, Pulse renewals, event marketing workflows, segmentation requirements and reporting needs.

This ensured the CRM reflected how the consultancy actually operates, rather than forcing a standard template onto a relationship-led model.
2

Built a Tailored CRM Structure

We implemented a customised HubSpot environment with dedicated Leads, Deals and Renewals pipelines, including a separate pipeline for Pulse monitoring services.

Lifecycle stages, relationship classifications and sector-specific properties were configured to give clearer visibility of stakeholder engagement and opportunity ownership.
3

Automated Event-Driven Marketing

Given Cicero’s event-led business development model, we built automated workflows to manage registrations, attendance tracking and structured follow-up.

Contacts were segmented into registrants, attendees, absentees and cancellations, and combined demographic and behavioural lead scoring was introduced to prioritise high-value stakeholders.
4

Enabled Consistent Sales Follow-Up

We introduced event-based follow-up sequences supported by task reminders to improve personalised outreach and accountability. Lead reactivation workflows and email and calendar integrations ensured activity was logged consistently and opportunities were not left dormant.
5

Delivered Structured Onboarding and Adoption Support

We migrated and structured existing contact, company and deal data, applying clear classifications and lifecycle alignment to improve reporting accuracy. Sales and marketing teams were trained on pipelines, sequences, integrations and campaign segmentation, with HubSpot embedded into leadership reporting and KPI processes to drive adoption.

Bike Shed

The impact

Cicero now operates from a single, centralised CRM environment aligned to its relationship-led consulting model. Sales, marketing and monitoring activity are managed within one structured system, giving leadership clearer oversight of pipeline health and stakeholder engagement.

Key operational improvements include:

Centralised contact, company and deal records across teams
Structured pipeline visibility across new business and renewals
Automated segmentation of event registrants, attendees, absentees and cancellations
Standardised follow-up sequences after events and meetings

Pipeline management is now consistent, with defined stages and ownership improving accountability. Event-driven engagement no longer sits in isolation, instead, attendance and behavioural signals now directly inform lead prioritisation.

HubSpot has also been embedded into leadership reporting and internal KPIs, reinforcing adoption at a behavioural level rather than just a technical one. The system is now part of how the business runs.

Crucially, Cicero now has a scalable foundation for more advanced marketing automation, forecasting, reporting and campaign attribution. The result is not just a new CRM, but a more structured and commercially visible approach to business development.

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