Case: How ICEpower boosted their sales efforts in a niche market

The global audio equipment manufacturer, ICEpower, sought to build a new lead management solution with HubSpot to better engage with some of the biggest players in the audio industry.

To support their goals, ICEpower partnered with Helion B2B to implement the HubSpot Sales and Marketing Hub Pro and develop a comprehensive inbound strategy for boosting sales.

Who is ICEpower?

ICEpower manufactures premium audio solutions based on world-class technologies and competencies within amplifiers, switch mode power supplies, digital signal processing, and system design. 

Depending on each customer’s specific needs, requirements, and circumstances, ICEpower typically engages with customers in two ways: turnkey solutions and audio products. Turnkey represents a complete cradle-to-grave product service, while audio products are off-the-shelf offerings.

Challenge: Lead management with long sales cycles 

ICEpower needed a lead generation solution to help support their ambition to scale their sales internationally in a market with extremely long sales cycles. A typical sales cycle runs between 2-5 years, while an additional 2-5 years go by from the initial sale to the actual revenue starts to accrue.

First, the product has to be designed, then produced, then brought to market, then sold, and only then does it begin to generate revenue. ICEpower faced three critical challenges in pursuit of their goal:

1. How to build relations with the industry’s largest players?

And how do you increase the share of wallet, meaning the amount spent, of existing key accounts, knowing that the market for the products is very narrow? The market consists of 15 target accounts and 100-200 total potential clients globally, an extremely niche market with a low volume but high value.

2. How to generate mid-market leads?

The broader audio products market is still relatively niche but with medium volume and value. Is there something we can do to improve the numbers in this market? How can we boost the overall lead generation?

3. How to increase webshop sales?

ICEpower’s webshop is aimed directly at consumers and low-volume purchases. A market with massive potential and high volume but with relatively low value. Moreover, how can we integrate WooCommerce with HubSpot, and how can we use WooCommerce leads in ICEpower’s inbound marketing efforts? 

Solution: Activity logging and potential assessment 

Our approach involved developing an inbound strategy to address ICEpower's sales and marketing challenges. Rather than implementing a generic HubSpot setup, we thoroughly analyzed ICEpower's sales and marketing methods. With this understanding, we customized HubSpot to align with their specific needs.

Activity logging

To address the first challenge, we implemented activity logging across ICEpower’s stakeholders, client stakeholders, and multiple markets. The activity logging allows ICEpower to get a 360-degree interaction overview and manage international clients with multiple touch points.

During the solution process, we started hosting regular weekly stand-up meetings in ICEpower’s sales team to ensure they were on top of their most important deals. We also implemented in-depth sales reporting to track our progress in increasing the share of wallet of each target account.

Content universe

To address the second challenge, we started building a content universe around amplifiers called Audio Academy. The aim is to educate and inspire audio professionals about the specifics of working with Class D amplifiers, the niche that ICEpower’s products mainly aim for.

Even though the audience for this content is made up of audio professionals, they may not be familiar with the specifics of Class D amplifiers. The content universe is designed to fill that knowledge gap.

The goal is to create an expert audience better equipped to work with ICEpower's products. Overall, the content marketing strategy is to form a more educated and informed customer base, ultimately leading to better sales and growth opportunities for the company.

Converting webshop leads

To address challenge number three and enhance the conversion of webshop leads into audio product leads, we implemented an email flow that maximizes the value of these leads.

With a relatively high volume of leads from ICEpower's webshop, many of whom are likely audio professionals purchasing either for private use or on behalf of their company in smaller quantities, we recognized the potential to grow these leads into audio product leads.

The email flow helps assess the potential of webshop leads to purchase more than a single product and showcases ICEpower’s capacity to deliver full-scale audio projects. By providing a comprehensive understanding of ICEpower's capabilities beyond a single module, the email flow aims to boost the conversion rate of webshop leads into audio product leads.

Results: ICEpower is now better positioned to manage leads and increase the share of wallet

ICEpower’s new HubSpot Sales setup includes a deal management flow that ensures a much better flow of leads, provides a clear overview of existing deals, and gets ICEpower closer to its key accounts.

The setup also assists in qualifying leads which puts ICEpower in a better position to increase the share of wallet. Additionally, sales executives now have full accountability for which target accounts are underperforming and which are overperforming.