Value-First AI Daily - Mar 16, 2026

[00:04] **Introduction** Chris Carolan: Good morning, Hubspot Nation. It is time to wake up customer platform with your unofficial Hubspot updates morning show where we help you discover the platform value you already own. Chris Carolan: I'm Chris Carolan, joined by my co-host Casey Hawkins. We're here every weekday morning to make sure you're not sleeping on Hubspot's true capabilities. Chris Carolan: If you're joining live, drop a hello in the comments and let us know what you're building in Hubspot. Today, Happy Monday, March 16th.

[01:00] **Weekend Recap** Casey Hawkins: Happy Monday. Um, how was your weekend, Chris? Chris Carolan: Uh, it was wonderful. Um, uh, yeah, reconfigured my office for maybe the third time in the last month since moving. So trying out some new layouts to support what's happening behind me. Chris Carolan: Um, but yeah, uh, we've got George on vacation as well all week. So we wish him well and we'll miss him. Um, but yeah, I think we'll we'll survive. Casey Hawkins: As we always do. Chris Carolan: As we always do.

[01:56] **Manual Subscription Retries** Chris Carolan: As Hubspot does, uh, because they never stop dropping updates ever. Chris Carolan: Um, got nine today, uh, on my side, starting with manually retry failed card payments. That's right, folks, you could do payments in Hubspot now. Chris Carolan: Uh, what is it? Chris Carolan: You can now manually retry failed subscription card payments, giving you greater control over revenue recovery. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? You can take immediate action when a subscription payment fails instead of waiting for automated retries or chasing buyers to update their deals, their details. Casey Hawkins: This means faster revenue recovery and more control over critical revenue collection moments. Casey Hawkins: Um, I had someone recently ask me what I use for my business to collect payments and I said Hubspot. Um, and that person actually knew that Hubspot took payments, but was saying like it's expensive or something. Casey Hawkins: I don't know. I'm not, I haven't done an exhaustive research on this, but it's been when I have looked into it, it's been competitive with any other payment processing platform. Casey Hawkins: So. Chris Carolan: Yeah. Definitely depends on what you're comparing to. But, uh, that's where like any extra when when payments are happening inside your CRM. Chris Carolan: Like, you know, well worth it. Um, uh, we don't want to be, you know, sending checks back and forth. You could send checks. Like that would be pretty cheap to to do. But, um, yeah. Casey Hawkins: Yeah. Chris Carolan: No, we don't, we don't want to do that.

[04:02] **Prospecting Agent Enrollment** Chris Carolan: A couple of major updates here. Starting April 14th, every adaptive enrollment in prospecting agent will automatically complete after 30 days. Chris Carolan: Uh. Casey Hawkins: Now it's me. Casey Hawkins: Why this matters. Outreach signals lose value over time. A 30-day window keeps the agent focused on fresh contacts, gives you clear visibility into where every contact stands and makes in re-enrollment a deliberate choice instead of an open-ended default. Chris Carolan: So what's changing. When you enroll a contact, the agent researches, personalizes and runs outreach for 30 days. Chris Carolan: If the prospect hasn't replied or booked a meeting by day 30, the enrollment completes automatically. Chris Carolan: Contacts already enrolled for more than 30 days on April 14th will move to finish status. Chris Carolan: You can re-enroll any contact at any time, manually or through a workflow. Chris Carolan: Before April 14th, consider auditing your active enrollments. Chris Carolan: Filter by enrollment date on or before March 14th to find contacts that will hit the 30-day window when this takes effect. Chris Carolan: Setting up re-enrollment workflows for contacts you want to keep working because maybe like 60 days will work this time. Uh, create a re-enrollment workflow before April 14th so that there's no gap. Check out the knowledge base article link below for details. Chris Carolan: And reviewing your enrollment targeting, check your list exclusions or and qualification criteria to make sure only the right contacts are entering entering enrollments. Chris Carolan: I think this gets us one step closer to the day that prospect agents be like, no, no, no, they're good. I'm not, they're not any more emails to that person. Like see this history. Yeah, not opening. Okay. So. Casey Hawkins: I think some people are going to be upset about this whether that's I don't know how many people are using prospecting agent now. I don't think it's a huge volume, but especially like I can, I can see myself in the future um turning this on for clients and hearing pushback that, you know, oh, well we want to, you know, our sales cycle is 60 days. Our sales cycle or our sales cycle is two years, so we need to be prospecting for longer. Um, but I do think this is a I think this is a good change. Um, I just can foresee people being upset about it. One thing that I tell people, especially, I hear a lot when I do lead scoring, um, we talk about decays and I'm a big fan of a 30-day window on activity. Anything that happened in the last 30 days sure we'll measure, but anything outside of that I don't really care that much about. And um, I commonly hear people say, well, our sales sales cycle is a year, three years, five years. That's not what I'm talking about. Chris Carolan: Yeah. Casey Hawkins: Your sales cycle. Chris Carolan: might be that long. Casey Hawkins: But until they're in it. Casey Hawkins: Yes. Chris Carolan: Right? They're not, yeah, they're not on that clock. It's like not all these bunch of buyers sitting with like clocks over their head like, oh, hit me sometime in the two-year window. Chris Carolan: Right? Like, uh, no. And this is one of those things where I think trust is probably the biggest milestone when it comes to AI and using it effectively. Like if we trust it to do all of this other stuff autonomously, and then it's like, yeah, no, we shouldn't like there's no behavior here that warrants sending this person more emails. Like, no, no, it's fine. It's fine. Let's just keep them in there. Right? Like, yeah, like let's have some consistency. Listen to some of our AI friends.

[09:51] **Sales Workspace Update** Chris Carolan: Number three today, Sales Workspace Update. Smart CRM integration starting April 27th. This one's technically in development. Uh, what is it? On April 27th, 2026, the Sales Workspace is being updated to work directly with your Smart CRM. Chris Carolan: The workspace custom built interfaces, the Prospects tab, deals tab, and task playlists will be replaced with native CRM index pages. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? The Sales Workspace and your Smart CRM have become two separate systems. That meant configuring views twice, training reps on two interfaces and missing out on new Smart CRM features until they were custom rebuilt for the workspace. Casey Hawkins: This update brings them together. One setup, one interface, one experience that stays current automatically. Casey Hawkins: Um, can you bring that screenshot up? Chris Carolan: I can. Disco meeting with Judy. Casey Hawkins: And disco meeting with Damian. Lots of discos. Chris Carolan: Guess what? Like this like, you know, I'm not in sales. Discovery, not the first word I thought of when I read the word disco. Casey Hawkins: I not until you said that, did I realize that was You know, they put like Easter eggs in a lot of these, so I just was like, yeah, you know. Chris Carolan: I'm having fun with Judy and Damon. Nope, just doing a discovery call. It's fossilized. Casey Hawkins: Um, I think the screenshot under Task Qs is the one that's resonating with me the most. I'm sorry to make you. I'm trying to figure. Chris Carolan: Oh, good. Casey Hawkins: So this is the sales, this is the sales workspace, but they just put the CRM view like. Chris Carolan: Yes. Casey Hawkins: This is what, this is I think what the update is referring to most. Chris Carolan: Well, that plus like this. Casey Hawkins: This, yeah. Chris Carolan: Right. They they've been building it in up here. Right? Like, but now, yeah, this is what I've been talking about for a long time when you see updates in various workspaces and and via the index page, like they're trying to make one surface for that particular user. Chris Carolan: Uh, some might call it Unified Customer View or something like that. Um, but like CRM Index as they've been building that out, it's like, okay, this is the surface for for admins. But it was very hard, like it was getting so good. It was very hard to say like, okay, if you do this, this and this, you should go over to one of the workspaces. Chris Carolan: But then you don't have like calendar views and and cool stuff that's happening in CRM Index. So, um, bringing these together, uh, is going to help a ton of people out. Just note. Chris Carolan: Uh, Hubspot saying, sorry, not sorry, admins, um, all accounts on the current workspace are automatically switched to the updated experience on April 27th. Casey Hawkins: Has the date of Spring Spotlight been announced yet? Chris Carolan: Uh, no. I think that's very possible this might coincide with that. Um, I mean, the the one we just talked about was April 14th. This is April 27th, but yeah, I am kind of like That's around spring spotlight time typically. Chris Carolan: Uh, we'll just do a quick check here. Um, yeah, and then we'll continue as we look for. Casey Hawkins: Geez. Chris Carolan: Uh. Yeah, it's Spring Spotlight season. And if you go to the Spotlight site, it's still got 2025 up sometime in April. Uh, sometime in the next six weeks, Spring Spotlight will happen. Uh, last year they started doing in-person event as well, so I'm sure it's already on the calendar somewhere. If you know when it is, feel free to drop it in the chat.

[15:09] **Customer Agent Knowledge Recrawls** Chris Carolan: Uh, number four, you can now exclude imported URLs from customer agent knowledge recrawls. Chris Carolan: What is it? You can now exclude specific imported sub URLs from being recrawled and refreshed during periodic sync cycles. Chris Carolan: Excluded URLs are removed to a dedicated excluded tab and are no longer used as knowledge sources in customer agent conversations. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? When you use domain crawling to import URLs as knowledge sources, sub pages are automatically recrawled on a recurring schedule. Casey Hawkins: This called caused problems in case of outdated, irrelevant or problematic sub pages that you didn't want the agent to use, but couldn't prevent without deleting the entire domain. You now have granular control over which sub URLs contribute to the agent's knowledge. Chris Carolan: And we like that granular control. Keeps getting better.

[16:16] **At-Mention Notification Redirect** Chris Carolan: Number five, notifications that take you to the right record. You know, just a small win. Chris Carolan: Across all CRM objects in development, not ready yet, folks. Um, but, you know, it's good to have goals. Um, what is it? They're in the process of improving at-mentioned notifications to link directly to the exact CRM record where the mentioned happened. Chris Carolan: We're also expanding notification to support two additional CRM object types, including appointments, cards, contracts, courses, listings, marketing events, orders, services and subscriptions, which now support at mentions, follows and assigned notifications. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? When someone at mentions you, you expect the notification to take you straight to that conversation. Previously, notifications could route you to a different, um, associated record, creating confusion and adding extra clicks. Now, notifications take you directly to the record where the mention occurred, whether it's a deal, ticket, appointment, course, service or any other CRM object. You can jump in faster and stay in flow. Chris Carolan: No redirects, no unexpected routing. Chris Carolan: Yep, that's how this is supposed to work. So very cool that, uh, it's going to work like that for every object very soon.

[17:50] **Data Agent Activity Source** Chris Carolan: Number six, Data Agent activities and transcripts data source. Uh, what's changed since we last talked about it? Chris Carolan: Updated instructions clarify that to include emails and notes, you must select the additional engagement types in the data source dropdown when updating your prompt. Chris Carolan: What is it? Uh, data agent now analyzes emails, notes, and call transcripts to answer questions about your customer engagements. Uh, all of the unstructured data at your fingertip. Casey Hawkins: Yeah. Casey Hawkins: Uh, why does this matter? Summarize feedback across multiple communication channels including emails, notes and calls, prepare for calls using wider range of customer touch points and compare email feedback with record notes to determine next steps. Um, very happy to see emails and notes included here personally. Chris Carolan: Yes. Uh, existing prompts that using the transcripts data source will continue to work without any changes. To include emails and notes, update your prompt and select the additional engagement types in the data source dropdown. Chris Carolan: Uh, available at starter and above. Just get your data into Hubspot, folks. We'll do some work for you.

[19:05] **Invoice Details Edit** Chris Carolan: Number seven, edit non-balance changing properties on one-time invoices after payment. Chris Carolan: What is it? You can now edit invoice details on partially paid or paid one-time invoices as long as the change doesn't affect the amount due. Chris Carolan: This makes it easy to fix common fields like PO numbers, notes and recipient emails without recreating invoices. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? Without this ability, a small typo on an invoice that's already paid or partially paid forces teams into work arounds, recreating invoices, duplicating records or breaking reports. Casey Hawkins: This update helps you keep accounts receivable, AR records accurate, even after payments start, reduce duplicate invoices and reporting drift in Hubspot and confidently support real-world AR workflows without choosing between correctness and operational overhead. Chris Carolan: Oh man, that last bullet without choosing between correctness and operational overhead. Casey Hawkins: I mean, I've had this happened to me before where I sent on invoice, it gets paid and then I'm like doing record keeping afterwards and I realized something small that is really insignificant in the grand scheme of things and then yeah, I basically I'm like, whatever, I can't edit this, so I'm just gonna ignore that small thing. It got paid, so who cares. But I'm a single person in a business versus a larger team where correctness probably matters more. Chris Carolan: Well, what happens in reality is like you accept the fact that it's not uh 100% accurate, you download it as a PDF, you open up your PDF PDF editing software and then edits are happening outside of the CRM and then yeah, we we all know what happens after that. Um, so yeah, correctness turns out important inside of the CRM. Uh, so glad that they are making space for that. Chris Carolan: Uh, and as sarcastic as I just sounded, um, on the other side of that, like maybe your process doesn't have to be uh, edit everything all the time anywhere. Uh.

[21:46] **Report Builder Formula Options** Chris Carolan: Anyways, number eight, new formula options in the CRB, uh, and that's some internal lingo for custom report builder. Uh, conditional logic and summary measure. What is it? In the CRB or custom report builder, when you create formulas, in addition to the existing way of writing formulas, which results in a syntax, you also have two other more basic ways to create a formula now. Number one, conditional logic. This is great for if else cases, providing a guided interface to creating formulas. Or number two, a summary measure. You can create an aggregation on a measure simply through guided through the guided interface. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? If there is trouble creating, if there's trouble creating a formula using the syntax or AI approach, you can use this more basic and guided approach for creating some of the formulas you need in reporting. Casey Hawkins: Um, that was a fine sentence for me to read. I was fine. Uh, so this isn't necessarily new formula options, but this is a new way to create formulas that might work better for certain people's brains. Chris Carolan: Yeah, new uh new options for creating formulas. Yeah, uh to get you to conditional logic and summary measure. Very cool, making it easier.

[23:06] **Workflow Meetings** Chris Carolan: Uh, number nine, meetings in workflows. Uh, this has been a big deal for many. What is it? Meetings properties and automations are now available in workflows to help save time and automate tedious work. Casey Hawkins: Why does it matter? Workflow automations can be created based on meetings booked and meeting properties to save reps time and help progress deals forward. Casey Hawkins: Um, this has been a gap I've seen with a few clients um who have just wanted, you know, actions to be taken after a meeting, crazy. Chris Carolan: Indeed. yeah, apparently that's the thing you're supposed to do. Um, so we're definitely joining that beta. And the previous work around was like associate using associations to meetings, but it just wasn't super clean and some of the re-enrollment and like who gets updated like it just it gets messy really quickly. So. Chris Carolan: Yeah, that's why I've been using the kind of the appointment uh object recently. Um, it's going to be interesting to see how they continue to get better with this object as well. Um, also very confusing for AI when you're talking about appointments versus meetings.

[24:48] **Lead Scoring Monday** Chris Carolan: Uh, Are we doing uh are we doing lead scoring Monday later today? Casey Hawkins: I love when we publicly make choices like this. Chris Carolan: Hey. I I think we are but I think we are. Yeah, that's just teeing you up. Uh feel like of course we are Chris. We're definitely talking about this for hours. Casey Hawkins: We're always We're always doing that. we never We never skip because we get overwhelmed or anything. Yeah, I mean we're going back to building this week or we should go back to building this week. Um, we started with the company fit score. Um, I think for our I'd like to start taking a look at some more of those intent fields. I feel like we just kind of touched on those at the end, but I honestly feel like we could probably do a whole session on some of those intent fields and finishing building out how that looks. Um, something I've internally struggled with is whether those in specifically company intent fields, which include things like have they gotten recent funding? Um, are there is there new leadership hired, things like that? Like does should that be engagement or should that be fit? Um, and I have internally struggled with this. Chris Carolan: Oh, I'm excited to talk about that then. I definitely have some thoughts. Um, yeah, we have data to dig into. So we're going to do that. Uh, so join us in about four hours for uh value for scoring Mondays. Um, and remember, folks, you probably already own the solution you're looking for in Hubspot. Sometimes you just need to wake up to it. Join us tomorrow morning live at 7:30 a.m. Central or catch us anytime on Spotify, Apple Music or the profoundly Hubspot updates blog. Drop your biggest takeaway in the comments and let us know what capabilities you want to wake up to next. Until then, I'm Chris Carolan. Casey Hawkins: I'm Casey Hawkins. Chris Carolan: And this has been Wake Up Customer Platform. Now go build something amazing. Have a great day everybody.