How to Fix a HighLevel Account Someone Else Built

You’ve got a HighLevel account. Somebody set it up for you, perhaps an agency, a freelancer, a consultant or even a former employee.

But there’s a problem.

You don’t really know how it works.

There are workflows running in the background, pipelines full of opportunities, tags and custom fields that nobody remembers creating, and perhaps a collection of funnels, forms and calendars.

Some of it works. Some of it doesn’t.

And whenever you want to make a change, you’re worried about breaking something else.

Sound familiar?

I’ve encountered this situation many times over the years, both with HighLevel and other CRM and marketing automation platforms.

The good news is that you probably don’t need to throw everything away and start again.

In fact, rebuilding your account from scratch could be an expensive mistake.

Here’s how I’d approach getting your HighLevel account back under control.

Too Many Cooks in the HighLevel Kitchen?

Here’s something else I’ve noticed over the years.

Often, the problem isn’t that somebody has set up HighLevel badly.

It’s that too many different people have worked on the account over time.

Perhaps an agency originally set everything up.

Then a freelancer came along to build some automations.

A member of staff created a few more workflows.

Another consultant reorganised the sales pipeline.

And somebody else added new forms, tags and custom fields.

Each person probably had perfectly good intentions. They may all have been competent at what they were doing.

But here’s the problem.

Everybody has their own way of doing things.

One person uses tags to trigger automations. Another prefers custom fields. Somebody names workflows one way, while somebody else uses a completely different naming convention.

Before long, you’ve got several different approaches operating inside the same HighLevel account.

It’s a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

And the result?

An account that becomes increasingly difficult to understand, maintain and improve.

Worse still, the next person brought in to make a change might not understand why something was built a particular way. So rather than modifying what’s already there, they create something new.

And the complexity grows.

This is one of the reasons I believe every business using HighLevel should have its own internal CRM Champion.

Not necessarily somebody who builds every workflow themselves, but somebody who understands the overall system, knows why things have been configured a particular way and makes sure that everyone working on the account follows a consistent approach.

We’ll come back to the CRM Champion later in this article, because I think it’s one of the most important ways to prevent these problems happening again.

1. Don’t Start by Rebuilding Everything

When you inherit a poorly configured HighLevel account, it’s tempting to think the easiest solution is to start again.

Delete the workflows. Clear out the pipelines. Build a new account.

But hold on.

There could be some valuable work already sitting in that system.

Perhaps an automation is successfully following up new enquiries. Maybe your appointment booking process works perfectly. Or your customer database contains years of useful information.

Starting again could mean losing those valuable assets, disrupting existing processes and spending money rebuilding things that were already working.

My advice is to investigate before you renovate.

Think of it like buying a house that somebody else has renovated.

You wouldn’t necessarily demolish the entire building because you didn’t like the kitchen.

You’d inspect what’s there, identify the problems and decide what actually needs changing.

HighLevel should be approached in much the same way.

2. Find Out What You’ve Actually Got

Before making changes, you need to understand what’s already been built.

And I don’t just mean counting the number of workflows.

You need to understand how the different parts of HighLevel connect to your business.

For example:

• Where do new enquiries enter the system?
• What happens when somebody completes a website form?
• Which workflows are triggered when a prospect books an appointment?
• How are sales opportunities created and updated?
• What happens when somebody becomes a customer?
• Which emails and SMS messages are being sent automatically?
• What happens when a prospect doesn’t respond?

You might be surprised by what you discover.

I’ve seen CRM systems where automations have been running for years without anybody remembering why they were originally created.

Sometimes they still serve a useful purpose.

Sometimes they’re doing absolutely nothing.

And occasionally, they’re actually getting in the way of the sales process.

The first job is to understand the existing setup, not immediately change it.

3. Identify What’s Working Before Looking at What’s Broken

This is an important distinction.

An account can be messy without being ineffective.

Equally, an account can look beautifully organised while delivering very little commercial value.

That’s why I like to start with business results.

For example:

Is HighLevel helping you respond to enquiries quickly?

Are your salespeople following up opportunities consistently?

Are appointments being booked?

Are quotations being followed up?

Are existing customers being encouraged to buy again?

If something is already producing good results, we should be very careful about changing it.

On the other hand, if a complicated workflow isn’t contributing anything useful, perhaps it doesn’t deserve to survive simply because somebody spent hours building it.

The objective isn’t to preserve everything. It’s to preserve what’s valuable.

If you’re unsure how to assess your existing account, I’ve put together a HighLevel Audit Checklist: 10 Things Every Business Owner Should Check.

There’s also a free printable checklist you can work through yourself.

4. Check for Automations That Could Be Causing Problems

This is one area where I’d be particularly cautious.

HighLevel workflows are powerful, but when several people have been building automations over time, things can become complicated.

For example, imagine somebody completes a form on your website.

That might trigger a welcome email.

But perhaps another workflow also sends a welcome email because the contact has been given a particular tag.

And a third workflow might send an SMS because an opportunity has been created in your sales pipeline.

Suddenly, your new prospect has received three messages when you only intended to send one.

Other problems might include:

• Customers continuing to receive prospect follow-up messages after purchasing.
• Old promotional emails being sent long after an offer has expired.
• Multiple workflows updating the same contact information.
• Salespeople receiving unnecessary or duplicate notifications.
• Automations stopping prematurely or failing to trigger.

Before switching anything off, though, you need to understand what else might depend on it.

One workflow might trigger another. A tag might be used in several different places.

Making changes without understanding those connections can create more problems than it solves.

And remember, fixing the technical configuration is only part of the job.

As I explained in Why Your HighLevel Automations Aren’t Generating More Sales, a workflow can function perfectly while the marketing behind it is ineffective.

5. Look at Your Sales Process, Not Just Your HighLevel Settings

This is where my approach can be a little different from somebody who concentrates entirely on the technical side of HighLevel.

I’ve worked in direct response marketing since 1996 and CRM and marketing automation since 2009.

So when I look at a HighLevel account, I’m not simply asking whether the workflows are configured correctly.

I’m asking whether the business has a sensible marketing and sales process in the first place.

For example, suppose your sales pipeline contains these stages:

New Lead → Contacted → Quotation Sent → Won

That might be perfectly adequate for one business.

But for another business, it might miss several important steps.

Perhaps prospects need an initial consultation, a site visit or a demonstration before receiving a quotation.

If the pipeline doesn’t reflect how your business actually sells, no amount of clever automation will solve the underlying problem.

Your HighLevel account should support your business processes. You shouldn’t have to change your business to fit somebody else’s HighLevel setup.

That’s why understanding the business comes before deciding what needs rebuilding.

6. Make Sure You Own and Control Your Important Assets

Here’s something that can be overlooked when an external agency or freelancer has set up your account.

Who actually controls everything?

You might have access to HighLevel, but what about the other systems connected to it?

For example:

• Your domain name and DNS settings.
• Your business email accounts and sending domain.
• Your telephone numbers.
• Your Facebook and Google advertising accounts.
• Your payment integrations.
• Your website and landing pages.
• Your customer data.

These are important business assets.

You should understand who owns them, who has access and what would happen if you stopped working with your current provider.

That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with using an agency-hosted HighLevel account.

At MarketerM8, we provide HighLevel accounts to our own clients.

But I believe businesses should understand how their important assets are managed and what their options are.

If you’re considering moving your HighLevel account to another agency, it’s particularly important to understand which assets, settings and services can be transferred, and whether any rebuilding or reconfiguration will be required.

Don’t assume that everything will automatically move across without disruption.

7. Create a Prioritised Improvement Plan

Once you understand the account, you can decide what needs to happen next.

And this is where I’d encourage you to resist another temptation.

Trying to fix everything at once.

You might have identified 25 different things that could be improved.

But which three are likely to make the biggest difference to your business?

For example:

Perhaps new enquiries aren’t being followed up quickly enough.

That’s potentially costing you sales right now.

Or maybe your quotation follow-up process is inconsistent.

Fixing that could produce a measurable improvement without spending another penny on advertising.

Perhaps your contact database contains hundreds of old prospects who could be reactivated.

That might represent an opportunity for additional business.

Compare those opportunities with something like reorganising your tags or renaming workflows.

Those housekeeping tasks may be useful, but they might not deserve to be your first priority.

I always prefer to focus on the improvements that are most likely to generate additional revenue, save time or reduce risk.

Get the quick wins working first.

Then tackle the more complicated changes.

8. Build an Internal HighLevel CRM Champion

Remember our earlier example of too many cooks in the HighLevel kitchen?

This is where having an internal CRM Champion can make an enormous difference.

You might still use external consultants, freelancers or agencies to help with particular projects. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But somebody within your business needs to understand the bigger picture and ensure everyone is working towards the same objectives.

Otherwise, you risk fixing today’s problems only to recreate the same confusion six months down the line.

And here’s another situation I want to help businesses avoid.

You pay somebody to fix your HighLevel account.

They do a great job.

Everything is working again.

But six months later, nobody in your business understands what they’ve built.

So you’re back to square one.

You’re dependent on somebody else every time you want to make a change.

That’s why I encourage clients to develop an internal HighLevel CRM Champion.

This is somebody within the business who understands both the marketing and sales processes and how HighLevel supports them.

They don’t need to become an expert in every HighLevel feature.

But they should be comfortable managing everyday tasks, making routine changes and understanding how the important automations work.

Crucially, they should also help establish some consistency.

For example, agreeing how workflows should be named, how tags and custom fields should be used, and making sure new automations don’t duplicate something that already exists.

That way, when an external consultant comes in to help with a particular project, there’s somebody who understands the wider system and can coordinate the work.

At MarketerM8, our approach is Done With You, rather than simply Done For You.

We work alongside clients and their nominated CRM Champions, helping them understand the system while we’re improving it.

My objective is to get clients as self-sufficient as quickly as practical.

Because a successful consulting project shouldn’t create permanent dependency on the consultant.

9. Don’t Repeat the Same Mistake with Your Next Consultant

If you’ve had a disappointing experience with somebody who previously built your HighLevel account, it’s understandable that you might be cautious about hiring another consultant.

But I wouldn’t necessarily judge the next person purely on how much technical HighLevel knowledge they have.

I’d want to know whether they understand marketing and sales.

Do they ask questions about your business?

Do they want to understand how you generate enquiries and convert customers?

Can they explain why they’re recommending particular changes?

Are they interested in training your team?

And importantly, do they have a sensible plan for improving what’s already there, rather than immediately suggesting you start again?

Technical expertise matters, of course.

But so does commercial understanding.

You don’t just want somebody who knows which buttons to click in HighLevel.

You want somebody who understands what those buttons are supposed to achieve for your business.

10. Remember, HighLevel Is a Tool, Not the Strategy

I think this is worth repeating.

HighLevel is an incredibly capable platform.

But it won’t automatically fix a poor sales process, an unconvincing marketing message or a lack of consistent follow-up.

And a beautifully configured HighLevel account doesn’t guarantee that your business will generate more sales.

That’s why I believe the best results come from combining good marketing strategy with effective implementation.

Sometimes the answer is a new automation.

Sometimes it’s improving the wording of your follow-up emails.

Sometimes it’s simplifying the sales pipeline.

And sometimes it’s simply making sure somebody actually calls the prospect!

The technology should make your marketing and sales processes more effective, not more complicated.

So, Should You Fix Your Existing HighLevel Account or Start Again?

In most cases, I’d investigate the existing account before making that decision.

There may be good reasons to rebuild parts of your setup.

Occasionally, a fresh start might be the most practical option.

But that should be a decision based on a proper assessment, not simply because the existing account looks confusing.

The approach I’d recommend is straightforward:

1. Understand what’s already been built.
2. Identify what’s working and what’s causing problems.
3. Review the underlying marketing and sales processes.
4. Prioritise improvements based on business impact.
5. Make changes carefully, without unnecessarily disrupting existing systems.
6. Train somebody internally to understand and manage the improved setup.

If you’re experiencing some of the issues described here, you might also recognise the warning signs in my article 7 Signs Your HighLevel Account Isn’t Set Up Properly.

Would You Like Me to Take a Look at Your HighLevel Account?

I’ve been working in direct response marketing since 1996, CRM and marketing automation since 2009, and HighLevel since 2023.

I’m also an Entrepreneurs Circle Certified Marketing Coach, and our MarketerM8 agency now hosts over 100 HighLevel sub-accounts.

I’m offering a Free 30-Minute HighLevel Audit for business owners who want an experienced second opinion on their existing setup.

During a one-to-one Zoom session, we’ll discuss what’s happening in your business, look at the relevant areas of your HighLevel account and identify practical opportunities for improvement.

You don’t need to be a MarketerM8 customer.

In fact, if your HighLevel account was built by another agency or freelancer, that’s absolutely fine.

There’s no obligation to move your account or engage us for consulting work.

The objective is to help you understand your options and identify a sensible way forward.

Book Your Free 30-Minute HighLevel Audit →

Frequently Asked Questions

Can somebody else fix my existing HighLevel account?

Yes. An experienced HighLevel consultant can review and improve an account originally configured by another agency, freelancer or employee, provided the appropriate access is available.

Do I need to rebuild my HighLevel account from scratch?

Not necessarily. Many problems can be addressed by improving existing workflows, pipelines, integrations and marketing processes. A review should establish whether targeted improvements or a more substantial rebuild would be appropriate.

Can I change HighLevel agencies without losing my data?

HighLevel supports transferring sub-accounts between agencies in certain circumstances. However, the exact process and what transfers can depend on the account configuration, ownership and connected services. It’s important to review these details before arranging a move.

What if nobody knows how our HighLevel automations work?

This is a common reason to arrange an account review. A consultant can help identify the purpose of existing workflows, document important processes and train somebody within your business to manage them.

Can you help if my HighLevel account is hosted by another agency?

Yes. You can book a free 30-minute HighLevel audit regardless of which agency currently hosts your account. There’s no requirement to transfer your account to MarketerM8.