Case Study: Full Funnel Visibility With HubSpot

The Bigger the Deal, the More Structure You Need

Fendahl builds enterprise-grade software for the global commodities market. An industry where deals are complex, consultative, and slow-moving. Their average sales cycle runs over 6 months, and each deal is worth well into 6 figures. It’s a process that rewards persistence, timing, and flawless coordination across teams.

But in long sales cycles, even small gaps can lead to major losses. Without the right structure, it’s easy for follow-ups to be missed, for priorities to shift, or for deals to quietly lose momentum.

Fendahl was using Pipedrive at the time, a tool that worked well for basic tracking but lacked the depth needed for enterprise sales. It couldn’t support the handoffs, automation, or visibility they needed to manage high-value opportunities across teams and regions.

So when a HubSpot AE introduced us, they were already clear on one thing: it was time to switch systems and rework the entire sales motion around it.

Why Deals Were Stalling (and No One Could Tell)

1. No Sales Visibility

When handling six-figure enterprise deals that span months, staying on top of every conversation, task, and follow-up is crucial.

Fendahl was using Pipedrive, a tool built for simple pipelines, not long-cycle, multi-stakeholder sales.

• No automated reminders or alerts
• No deal scoring or prioritization
• No central view of ownership or activity

Sales managers had no way to spot stuck deals. Reps weren’t nudged when things went cold. And leadership couldn’t see what was moving and what wasn’t.

As a result, 130 deals quietly fell off, with no system in place to bring them back.

2. Quote Approvals Delaying Deals

In an enterprise sale, quote turnaround can make or break momentum. But Fendahl’s approval process was fully manual.

• Quotes sent over email
• Approvals were scattered across threads and spreadsheets
• No visibility into who had approved what
  
  

Reps were stuck chasing internal responses instead of selling. Sales managers had no dashboard to track blockers. 

Deals sat idle for days or worse, fell through because internal systems moved slower than the buyer.

3. No Clear Ownership Across the Funnel

Deals at Fendahl involved multiple handoffs over several months. But without automation, ownership got murky.

• No task routing when a deal moves through stages
• No reassignment logic if a rep dropped off
• No process to re-engage when buyers went silent
  
  

This meant that even warm, high-value deals could stall simply because no one knew who was supposed to act next.

4. Event Leads With No Activation Strategy

Fendahl invested heavily in industry events like Commodity Trading Week and SiGMA, generating warm leads from target accounts. But post-event, there was no structured way to activate them.

• No pre- or post-event email workflows
• No segmentation based on lead type or interest
• No scoring or routing into sales sequences
  
  

Valuable contacts sat in static lists, never entering the pipeline. Sales didn’t know who they were. And marketing didn’t have the tools to engage them.

Rebuilt Pipeline For Long Sales Cycle

1. Rebuilt the Pipeline to Reflect Reality

Fendahl’s sales motion wasn’t short or simple. Each deal moved through multiple stakeholders, stretched over six months, and often crossed regional boundaries. 

But their existing CRM had just five generic stages and no defined lifecycle.

We rebuilt the pipeline to mirror how their sales team actually worked:

• Custom deal stages for capturing internal reviews, proposal approvals, and technical validation
• Lifecycle stages were set to give structure to handoffs between marketing, BDRs, and AEs
• Custom properties were added to tracked key buyer roles, event attribution, and commercial alignment
  
  

This gave reps clarity on what to do next, managers visibility into what was moving, and leadership a view of how the funnel was performing, without chasing down updates.

2. Automated the Follow-Up Engine

In long sales cycles, follow-ups aren’t just reminders; they’re lifelines. And without automation, they get missed.

We introduced a system that kept deals moving without relying on memory or spreadsheets:

• Task reminders were automatically triggered when deals sat idle
• If a rep hadn’t engaged with a deal, HubSpot nudged them with a follow-up task
• If a deal sat untouched for days, a notification was sent to senior leadership with a snapshot of deal value, last activity, and current owner
  
  

Just imagine a $400K opportunity, untouched for a month, quietly slipping out of the funnel. Now, leadership is alerted before that happens, and the team can re-engage while the window is still open.

No lead goes stale without someone knowing about it.

3. Streamlined the Quote Approval Process

Before we stepped in, quoting was a bottleneck. Reps would generate proposals, send them via email, and wait sometimes for days without knowing who had reviewed them or where it was stuck.

We built a defined quote workflow inside HubSpot:

• Proposals entered a dedicated approval pipeline
• Based on deal size, approvals were routed to the right finance or leadership contact
• HubSpot logged every approval, and reps were notified instantly once the quote cleared
  
  

Imagine closing momentum building over a week, only for a rep to lose it because they were chasing approvals internally. That frustration is now gone. Quotes move faster, reps stay in control, and every step is visible.

4. Activated Event Leads into the Funnel

Fendahl attends global events like Commodity Trading Week and SiGMA, collecting dozens of warm leads from prospects that fit their ICP. But before HubSpot, there was no structure to reach out to them.

We built a structured activation engine:

• Pre-event emails set expectations and introduced the brand
• Post-event workflows segmented leads by region, role, and interest
• High-intent leads were scored automatically and routed to the appropriate BDR or AE
  
  

Instead of manually uploading CSVs and hoping someone followed up, Fendahl’s team now had a system where event leads were in sequence. 

They could track exactly who was engaging and which accounts were warming up for sales.

From Cold Deals to Closed Loops

What used to sit in spreadsheets or go quiet mid-funnel is now fully systematized inside HubSpot.

• Sales is working deals worth hundreds of thousands per contract, without letting them slip
• Quote approvals are clear in hours, not days. No more chasing internal emails or stalling deals at the finish line
• Leads from events like Commodity Trading Week and SiGMA enter nurture immediately, segmented by region and role
• Leadership gets notified when high-value deals sit untouched, giving them the chance to act before momentum is lost
  
  

And with all activities now tracked from first touch to final signature. Fendahl has visibility at every layer of the funnel.

And that was just a start; we’re still working closely with Fendahl to make sure the system keeps pace with the business.

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