The problem
For a national organic food retailer, selling produce was never the issue. The challenge was behind the scenes: disorganized spreadsheets, scattered emails, and a sales process that left teams frustrated and data unreliable.
Like many growing organizations, they had reached a tipping point. Their passion-driven mission was strong, but their internal systems weren’t built to scale.
Before onboarding, the retailer’s sales process was almost entirely manual.
- Disconnected workflows: Vendor relationships were managed through Google Sheets and a shared Gmail inbox, making it impossible to track conversations or see a complete picture of vendor activity.
- No clear data structure: They worked with both new and existing vendors, but had no way to separate or analyze those relationships. Emails were often lost in the noise of a non-dedicated inbox.
- Change resistance: Internal buy-in was difficult. Some team members resisted the move to a structured system, creating bottlenecks during onboarding.
Without a centralized CRM, even basic reporting was a struggle. Leadership lacked the visibility they needed to make confident, data-backed decisions.
The solution
The onboarding wasn’t just about installing HubSpot—it was about rethinking how sales data was structured.
- Custom pipelines: Two tailored deal pipelines—one for new vendors and one for returning vendors—gave the team clarity on where each relationship stood.
- Data governance: Custom properties and data-import best practices ensured clean, usable information. Vendor contacts could now be associated with companies in a structured way.
- Automation: A simple but powerful automation was introduced: whenever a lead’s status changed to “Sent offer sheet,” a deal was automatically created.
- Sequences and training: Hands-on coaching helped the team set up their first sales sequences, transforming outreach from scattered emails into a repeatable, trackable process.
By making the shared inbox exclusive to sales and assigning ownership for each vendor during an order cycle, the team cut out confusion and reduced email bottlenecks.
The results
- A centralized CRM: For the first time, all vendor activity lived in one place, giving leadership a clear, unified view of sales.
- Cleaner data, better reporting: With structured imports and governance, the team could finally generate meaningful reports and spot trends.
- Empowered team: Instead of relying on consultants for every update, the staff learned to build and test automations themselves. This hands-on training left them with a roadmap for scaling.
Why this matters
For mission-driven organizations, the passion for impact often outpaces the systems that support it. This project proved that a clear data strategy, coupled with practical training, can turn a disconnected process into a growth engine.
By focusing on tailored onboarding—meeting the team where they were and building workflows that matched their reality—the consultant helped set the stage for long-term sustainability.
What started as a patchwork of spreadsheets is now a scalable, data-driven sales hub.