Story Snapshot
The Background
Design That Builds Communities, Relationships That Require Trust
DTJ DESIGN is an award-winning architecture, landscape architecture, and planning firm that partners with clients across the globe to shape vibrant communities and destinations. From civic parks and affordable housing to cultural landmarks and immersive entertainment venues, DTJ has delivered projects that strengthen connections and enrich lives for nearly 60 years.
Developers, builders, housing authorities, and municipalities rely on DTJ not just for design expertise but for a collaborative approach that turns ambitious visions into reality. At the heart of every project is a guiding belief: sparking authentic human connection and establishing a sense of place.
But in an era where growth depends on visibility as much as design excellence, DTJ recognized a critical challenge: to capture every opportunity and serve clients at the highest level, they needed a unified way to track relationships and projects across multi-year journeys.
The Challenge
When Community Progress Meets Fragmented Systems
For DTJ’s clients, success depends on timely decisions and forward momentum. When opportunities go unseen or data is hard to piece together, it affects the bottom line.
Whitney Summers, Associate and Senior Marketing Manager, saw the cracks forming. “Our CRM was fractured,” she recalls. “Key information lived in different places, with no way to see the full picture in one view.”
Behind the scenes, marketing-driven client engagement was scattered across disconnected systems and spreadsheets. Leads gathered at events went untracked. Project stories reached some stakeholders but not others. Internally, the marketing team was inefficient and reactionary. Externally, without a clear view of contacts and opportunities, DTJ was set up for potential clients to reach out instead of proactively nurturing them.
“It meant our team couldn’t always act in time,” Whitney says. “Pulling information from multiple systems took so much effort that potential opportunities went untracked and missed.”
The risk wasn’t just inefficiency, it was also missing potential opportunities. As Whitney put it, “We’re known for delivering award-winning, thoughtful design. But if we can’t see the full picture of our marketing efforts, opportunities could pass us by — and that limits both our impact and our growth.” She recognized the urgency: unless DTJ reimagined how it managed client data and opportunities, valuable business could be lost and momentum stalled.
The Decision
Choosing a Smarter Foundation for Growth
Whitney knew patching together disconnected systems wasn’t enough. They needed a single platform that could show them the entire client journey and make nurturing opportunities effortless.
HubSpot Smart CRM stood out as the clear choice. It offered:
- A single source of information across marketing and business development.
- Automation and AI-powered insights to replace manual reporting with enhanced clarity.
- Ease of use so every team member could adopt it quickly and work from the same foundation.
“We needed a system that would help us see opportunities sooner and nurture them consistently,” Whitney explains. “HubSpot gave us that — and more.”
The Solution
Smart CRM: Engaging Clients at the Right Time
With HubSpot Smart CRM as the foundation, DTJ brought client engagement into one place. Records, communications, and campaign activity now live in a unified system, with built-in deduplication and error detection ensuring the data is trustworthy from day one. Going forward, every team member could act with confidence, seeing the complete client picture without piecing it together manually.
Now, DTJ can identify and nurture contacts who previously may have gone unnoticed — whether through tailored content or direct outreach — turning them into clients.
That clarity was matched by speed. Automated follow-ups and AI-driven insights gave DTJ real-time context, eliminating the hours once lost to manual reporting. Whitney estimates her team is now significantly more effective, free to focus on strategic campaigns and business development instead of chasing down information.
“Instead of logging into five tools and merging spreadsheets, everything is now in one place,” Whitney says. “That shared visibility means we can show up prepared, nurture client relationships, and keep campaigns moving forward.”
Equally important was the simplicity of having everything in one intuitive system. Teams now share calendars, notes, and analytics in the same place, while leadership has visibility into how marketing helps drive pipeline and growth. What was once fragmented and inefficient has become seamless, collaborative, and consistent.
The Transformation
From Fragmentation to Growth and Clarity
Adopting HubSpot reshaped how DTJ connects with clients and communities. What had once been a patchwork of disconnected records is now a clearer, unified view.
Potential opportunities that once slipped by have been replaced with proactive engagement and follow-ups. Manual reporting that once consumed days is now a dashboard away, giving leadership real-time visibility into pipeline health. Where marketing once played a support role, it can now operate as a true strategic partner in building long-term relationships.
Key Results
- Significant increase in efficiency — freeing time for strategy and creativity.
- More opportunities captured — consistent outreach ensures fewer missed chances.
- Stronger pipeline visibility — better insight into contract timelines and revenue targets.
- Smarter engagement — highly targeted content reaches the right people at the right time, showing clients they are seen, understood, and supported.
“For us, this decision wasn’t just about adopting new software,” Whitney reflects. “It was about understanding our clients better. Smart CRM gives us clarity and confidence to communicate DTJ’s stories.”
With HubSpot Smart CRM, DTJ DESIGN is turning every client journey into an opportunity to build trust, strengthen partnerships, and create communities that thrive.
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