Photo representing Authority Brands franchise network across home service brands

18

K

Duplicate contacts resolved for CRM hygiene

3

K

Franchise locations enabled across 15 brands

5.9

K+

Deals audited for attribution accuracy

The Client

Authority Brands is one of the largest franchisors of home service brands in North America, supporting more than 3,000 franchise locations across a portfolio of 15+ brands. With a corporate team of 200+, the organization needed a CRM strategy that could scale, unify reporting, and drive smarter marketing ROI.

While HubSpot was widely used, data governance was inconsistent, attribution was unclear, and lead scoring lagged behind modern buying behaviors. Authority Brands engaged Aptitude 8 to rebuild its CRM foundation, aligning marketing and franchise development teams with cleaner data, actionable reporting, and smarter lead prioritization.

The Challenge

Inaccurate Lead Scoring: An outdated model failed to reflect high-intent behaviors, allowing cold leads to surface while warm leads went unnoticed.
Limited Attribution Reporting: Most leads defaulted to “offline sources,” obscuring ROI and leaving marketing unable to optimize campaigns effectively.
Poor CRM Hygiene & Duplicates: Roughly 9–10% of contacts (~18–20K) were duplicates, creating clutter and unreliable reporting.
Underutilized Native Properties: Instead of leveraging HubSpot’s robust native fields, tracking relied on inconsistent custom inputs.
Complex Franchise Structures: Solutions had to scale across 15+ distinct brands while allowing for brand-specific flexibility.

Limited Control
Limited Control
Limited Control

The Solution

Phase 1: Lead Scoring Implementation

Rebuilt framework with updated criteria for email clicks, form submissions, ad interactions, and deal stages
Applied score decay logic to avoid inflated scores from outdated activity
Defined tiers (Hot, Warm, MQL) and excluded closed-won contacts

Phase 2: Attribution Model Deployment

Evaluated native vs. custom tracking fields for Source & Source Detail
Implemented custom first-touch attribution using calculated properties
Audited 5,900+ TCA deals and fixed tracking inconsistencies
Rolled out custom UTM tracking strategy for accurate campaign performance

Phase 3: CRM Data Clean-Up

Audited ~197K contacts, tagged 18K+ duplicates
Used HubSpot’s dedupe tool + Insycle for automation
Turned off risky re-enrollment settings impacting 76 workflows
Prevented accidental deal duplication during merges

Phase 4: Compliance & Infrastructure

Enabled GDPR + double opt-in workflows
Standardized deal lost reasons
Automated franchise rep follow-up tasks
Deployed dashboards for team performance, momentum scores, and FDM scheduling metrics

Phase 5: Collaboration
Partnered across Marketing Ops, Franchise Dev Managers, and Franchise Dev Reps; integrated with FranConnect, Power BI, and LumenAI for a unified ecosystem.

The Outcome

Authority Brands’ HubSpot instance was transformed into a unified, high-performing CRM system that improved lead prioritization, data governance, and reporting.

18K+ duplicate contacts flagged and resolved
Custom lead scoring model aligned reps with higher-intent leads
Attribution visibility clarified lead origins and campaign ROI
Franchise reporting dashboards delivered real-time insights by brand
Shared CRM framework aligned marketing and sales teams

Strategic Impact

This engagement repositioned HubSpot as Authority Brands’ system of record for franchise marketing and development.

Smarter lead prioritization accelerated sales follow-ups
Reliable attribution data enabled better ROI optimization
Reduced manual effort through automation and deduplication
Scalable framework now supports 15+ brands under one CRM strategy

18K

Duplicates Resolved

Audit and cleanup improved CRM hygiene and reporting accuracy.

3K+

Franchise Locations

Unified scoring and attribution scaled across 15+ brands.

5.9K

Deals Audited

Attribution clarified across thousands of TCA deals.

197K

Records Reviewed

Comprehensive CRM audit established a clean foundation.