This will make your reps close 2X faster (and you can ditch the endless juggling of ERPs & excel)

I’ve invested a lot of time getting my teeth into the many challenges that sales-driven orgs are facing right now—particularly in wholesale, distribution, and manufacturing. These are sectors where teams often operate on legacy systems, siloed data, and manual processes that make scalable growth feel out of reach.

My journey building Cogent Connective has given me a front-row seat to what actually moves the needle. And if there’s one truth I’ve learned, it’s this:

Modern sales success isn’t just about adopting a CRM. It’s about building a connected ecosystem that aligns people, processes, and technology.

From Side Hustle to Full-Scale HubSpot & Integration Consultancy

Cogent Connective started as a small idea—just me, helping OrderWise ERP customers modernize their processes. I’d used the system myself for nearly two decades, so I knew both the strengths and the blind spots that most teams struggled with.

What began as a side project has now grown into a team of six specialists across implementation, development, strategy, and marketing. And as we scaled, two things became clear:

1. Clients needed more than ERP support—they needed a true front-office system.
   Sales teams were desperate for a CRM that could act as the interface to the business.
2. HubSpot was the natural home for that shift.
   Its flexibility, usability, and ecosystem of apps allowed us to build solutions that made entire organisations more connected and efficient.

This led us to build the OrderWise Connector for HubSpot, opening the door for sales reps to see, use, and rely on live ERP data directly in HubSpot—without needing an ERP user license.

Why We Niche Down: Wholesale, Distribution, and Manufacturing

These industries share a common pain:
Documents are everywhere, but systems rarely talk to each other.

Quotes. Delivery notes. Invoices. Acknowledgements. Price lists.
Nearly every workflow hinges on documents, yet most CRMs and ERPs treat document output like an afterthought.

That gap created operational friction:

• Reps jumping between systems
• Manual downloads and uploads
• Version control issues
• Errors caused by rekeying data
• No consistency in branding or accuracy

If a sales team can’t generate the right documents, from the right data, at the right time, everything slows down.

Why Document Automation Became Non-Negotiable

Our goal is simple:
Empower sales reps to work exclusively inside HubSpot.

But that’s only possible when they can also create and send the documents they need without leaving the CRM.

This is where Portant became invaluable for us.

We treat Portant not as an optional add-on, but as a fundamental layer of a modern HubSpot implementation. If a business outputs documents—and almost all do—Portant is part of the architecture. Every quote, delivery note, or NDA can be generated automatically and consistently from HubSpot, using live data pulled from the right sources.

For us and our clients, this means:

• A single interface for reps
• Zero double-handling
• Data that stays in sync
• Faster deal cycles
• Real operational reliability

Portant filled the largest native gap in HubSpot’s sales workflow.

The Sales Conversation Becomes Easier When You Show the Full Picture

One of the biggest barriers in closing sales-tech projects is pricing. Not the price itself—but the surprise.

Too many companies learn mid-deal that they need additional tools:

• De-duplication
• Configurable quoting
• ERP connectors
• Document automation

So we changed our approach. Instead of positioning HubSpot alone, we present the full ecosystem up front:

“Here’s the complete solution your business will need, and here’s the investment month-by-month.”

The result?Prospects lean in. They feel guided. They see a plan. And deals accelerate dramatically.

A recent example: a 30-million-turnover distributor using Excel for everything outside their ERP. When we walked them through the end-to-end picture—including HubSpot, automation, and document output—the entire team shifted toward action. Their question quickly became:

“How soon can we start?”

That level of clarity builds trust. And trust wins deals.

Scaling a Modern Sales Practice Requires Process, Not Guesswork

A painful lesson from our early years was relying too heavily on referrals.
Referrals are brilliant… until they aren’t.

We reached a point where growth slowed because we weren’t doing enough outbound, enough structured marketing, or enough top-of-funnel activity.

So we rebuilt our approach:

1. Multi-channel outreach

• Personalised video
• Email nurturing
• Cold calls where appropriate
• Clean discovery processes
• Clear qualification

2. Marketing that actually supports sales

• Knowledge-based content
• Feature walkthroughs
• Automated LinkedIn posting
• Scheduled campaigns
• AI-supported content creation

3. A repeatable sales-to-implementation blueprint

We call it the Cogent Blueprint—a five-stage methodology that ensures every project moves from discovery to iteration with structure, clarity, and measurable impact. Too many businesses forget that systems must evolve; iteration keeps revenue teams sharp and aligned.

AI is Reshaping Everything

Inside Cogent Connective, we use AI constantly—hourly, even. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini make our workflows faster, clearer, and more scalable.

What’s fascinating is how few businesses truly understand the depth of AI’s potential. Most reps use it casually, but not strategically. There’s enormous untapped opportunity in:

• automating first-draft content
• supporting data interpretation
• accelerating documentation
• improving sales follow-ups
• enabling intelligent, cross-system insights

AI isn’t the future of sales—it’s the present. And companies who embrace it are already outpacing their competitors.

The Vision Going Forward

We’re building Cogent Connective to be the go-to partner for any company wanting to modernize its commercial operations. That means:

• Deep HubSpot expertise
• Seamless ERP integrations
• Best-in-class applications (Portant, Qualifier, QuoteHappily, and more)
• A focus on wholesale, distribution, and manufacturing
• A process-driven, ecosystem-first mindset
• A relentless commitment to clarity and simplicity for sales teams

We’re still young, but we’re scaling intentionally—and we’re here to lead from the front.

Want to modernize your sales stack?

You can learn more about Cogent Connective—and see how we support companies building connected, efficient, sales-driven systems—on the partner page:

👉 https://www.portant.co/partners

‍