The challenge: manual work and disconnected tools
For a well-known organic food manufacturer, growth came with a hidden cost: complexity. As the company expanded its wholesale business across North America, its internal systems lagged behind. What looked like small inefficiencies in the sales and marketing process were adding up to big operational hurdles.
The wholesale division was using multiple disconnected platforms, including Shopify, Klaviyo, and third-party form tools. Each system served a purpose, but together they created more friction than flow.
One of the biggest bottlenecks was wholesale application approvals. Every request required manual review and manual entry into spreadsheets. At the same time, the team had already imported 44,000 contacts from Shopify into HubSpot. But without clear segmentation, they couldn’t easily distinguish between B2B and B2C buyers.
The lack of integration made reporting difficult, slowed onboarding of new accounts, and left the team feeling reactive instead of strategic.
The approach: building a foundation in HubSpot
The first step was establishing a clear technical foundation. With support, the IT team connected domains and email systems correctly and integrated Shopify with HubSpot through tagging. This workaround allowed Shopify tags to trigger automated HubSpot workflows.
From there, training shifted to hands-on projects. Instead of abstract lessons, the team built workflows and campaigns in real time. One milestone was an automated workflow that converted Shopify orders into HubSpot deals, eliminating manual entry. Another was the creation of HubSpot forms and landing pages to replace external tools, giving the sales team a unified view of applications and leads.
Targeted training on email marketing, list segmentation, and reporting rounded out the foundation. By focusing only on the most relevant HubSpot features, the onboarding team avoided overwhelming the client’s internal staff and built confidence step by step.
The results: automation, clarity, and empowerment
- The wholesale division moved from scattered tools to a functioning marketing hub.
- The first campaign using HubSpot included a landing page and automated email follow-up for the company’s annual trend report.
- Data cleanup and structured imports gave the sales team a reliable contact database.
- Automated workflows reduced manual review and processing, saving hours of repetitive work each week.
- The team left with a clear roadmap for scaling HubSpot further, including plans to explore Content Remix and AI-driven tools.
Why it matters
For a company already distributing to 50+ countries and employing 501–1,000 people, the shift wasn’t just about efficiency. It was about preparing their wholesale operation to grow sustainably without adding unnecessary headcount. The project turned HubSpot from “just another tool” into the central hub for data-driven growth.
As the client’s president described in an interview, scaling globally requires more than great products — it requires operational clarity and systems that can flex with the business.
Key metrics at a glance
| Metric |
Value |
Source |
Confidence |
| Employees |
501–1,000 |
Company Profile |
4 |
| Countries distributed |
50+ |
Company Profile |
3 |
| Contacts imported |
44,000 |
Use case study |
4 |
Takeaway
Disconnected tools were holding back a global brand’s wholesale sales. HubSpot onboarding turned scattered processes into a streamlined, scalable hub. From 44,000 contacts to a clean, automated sales system, this story shows how operational clarity can fuel sustainable growth.
