CRM & Marketing Automation Systems
Turning fragmented customer data and manual follow-up into high-visibility revenue infrastructure. How structured CRM pipelines, BigQuery intent scoring, and multi-tool automations unlocked a $250K expedition launch and +300% MRR.
Booked in under 3 weeks for high-altitude Denali departures with $0 paid ad spend.
High-intent prospects identified by historical activity & routed directly to lead guides.
Expansion across Recal Training driven by the dedicated B2B partnership pipeline and automated lifecycle.
Full-funnel sequences orchestrating pre-webinar prep, live attendance, and post-purchase onboarding.
From Legacy SQL Database to Zoho CRM Architecture
Mountain Madness held over four decades of invaluable climber manifests, certifications, and expedition rosters trapped inside an aging, on-premise SQL database. Valuable customer relationship history existed, but sales had no pipeline visibility, marketing could not segment by expedition intent, and every single follow-up required manual lookups.
Siloed Records & Inactive Lead History
- ✕14,000+ climber records isolated in a legacy database without automated synchronization to marketing tools.
- ✕No unified pipeline: Sales had no real-time status view of high-ticket trip applications or pending deposits.
- ✕Fragmented finance handoff: Operational rosters lived separately from accounting in QuickBooks, causing administrative delays.
- ✕Blind outbound follow-up: Guides could not distinguish a casual browser from a repeat alpine climber ready for an Everest expedition.
Normalized CRM Schema & 50+ Custom Fields
Working with the IT Director, I designed an ETL pipeline migrating the historical database into a relational schema inside Zoho CRM, establishing five core entities:
Zoho CRM Operational Pipeline: Trip Applications & QuickBooks Sync
Direct visibility into application stages (Declined, Waitlist, Complete, Finance Sync) replacing disconnected spreadsheets.
Campaign-Specific Nurture & Deposit-Triggered Cross-Sells
When a prospect expresses interest on the high-altitude landing page, CRM tags trigger a 15-day cadence across Zoho Campaigns (delivering route preparation guides, medical clearance requirements, and acclimatization protocols every 3 days) without requiring manual agent enrollment.
tag == "everest_2027_inquiry" → 5-Step Cadence (Days 1, 4, 7, 10, 15) → Guide Call ScheduledUpon deposit verification in QuickBooks, an automated webhook immediately triggers an onboarding sequence granting the climber 60 days of complimentary access to Alpine Athletics (a sister company physical training programme). This turned an operational transaction into an immediate value-add.
application_status == "Deposit Paid" → Webhook → Alpine Athletics Account ProvisionedBigQuery Intent Engine: Engineering a $250,000 Expedition Launch
Denali (Mount McKinley) is one of Mountain Madness’s flagship high-altitude expeditions, with tickets exceeding $10,000 per climber. Roster capacity is strictly limited by National Park Service permit quotas. Instead of blasting 14,000 alumni with generic emails or having guides make cold phone calls, I built a behavioural intent scoring model in Google BigQuery to predict which climbers were primed for a high-altitude expedition.
Technical Baseline (Weight: 25.0)
Counts verified summits with Mountain Madness (Aconcagua, Ecuador Volcanoes, Cascades technical courses). Past expedition success is the single strongest indicator of readiness for Denali’s gruelling 20,310-ft environment.
past_high_alt_trips * 25.090-Day Email Recency
Measures email click-through events on expedition gear check-lists, training plans, and route blogs over the trailing 90 days, capturing immediate active trip planning.
email_clicks_90d * 15.0Denali Page In-Depth Views
Identifies alumni who repeatedly browsed the Denali itinerary, prerequisites, and equipment guide pages via Google Analytics / BigQuery event logs.
denali_page_views * 10.0BigQuery Studio Console: Intent Scoring Model & Automation Routing
SQL query aggregating multi-channel engagement events into a single composite score and automated queue route.
The 3-Tier Automated Routing Protocol
High-altitude veterans with recent email clicks and itinerary visits. Flagged directly in Zoho CRM for an immediate consultation call from the Lead Guide within 24 hours.
Climbers with moderate alpine experience showing early interest. Enrolled into an automated 3-part expedition logistics walkthrough featuring lead guide video briefings.
General alumni base. Received standard seasonal newsletter announcements and early-bird notifications before the public launch window opened.
Building the Full-Funnel Growth Infrastructure in GoHighLevel
Recal Training had no centralized sales pipeline or automated customer lifecycle. Prospect data sat idle in Mailchimp, webinar attendees received manual follow-ups, and corporate B2B leads were tracked inconsistently. I architected and implemented an end-to-end GoHighLevel workspace connecting assessment lead magnets, 14-touch webinar funnels, B2B deal pipelines, and an affiliate manager system.
B2B Opportunities Pipeline & Deal Stage Management
To turn corporate wellness inquiries into recurring corporate contracts, I constructed a structured multi-stage sales opportunity board in GoHighLevel with automated lead assignment, SLA tracking, and proposal reminders.
RBI Self-Assessment Nurture Workflow
Prospects completing the online diagnostic immediately enter an automated journey delivering tailored recovery insights, educational breakdown emails, and invitations to register for an interactive workshop.
14-Touch Live Webinar Funnel & SMS Reminders
A 14-day chronological sequence triggered upon webinar signup: delivery of preparation checklists, 24h/1h/15m SMS reminders, live room links, and post-event replay delivery segmented by attendance.
Affiliate Manager Portal & Commission Tracking
To scale referral-driven growth, I configured GoHighLevel’s native Affiliate Manager. Partners were provided with unique referral URLs, custom discount codes, and a self-serve dashboard tracking registrations, conversions, and accrued commission balances.
Multi-Platform Integration Layer: Make.com, Zapier & Stripe
No single SaaS platform solves acquisition, CRM, checkout, and post-purchase training alone. Rather than accumulating disconnected point solutions, I designed a resilient middleware layer that routed data between systems with clear role boundaries and zero data duplication.
Complex Scenario Orchestration
Handles multi-step logic, custom webhook parsing, dynamic error handling, and scheduled data synchronization across CRM, spreadsheets, and webinar platforms.
Transactional Event Routing
Dedicated to real-time, low-latency triggers such as payment processing, customer creation, and multi-path checkout fulfillment.
Financial Reconciliation
Provides immutable transaction records, invoicing, and subscription management linked directly to operational CRM pipelines.
Stripe Checkout to GoHighLevel Multi-Path Fulfilment
When a checkout succeeds on Stripe, Zapier catches the payload, evaluates line items, and dynamically routes the customer into distinct fulfillment workflows based on the purchased tier (e.g. Workshop Registration vs. VIP Coaching).
Cross-Platform Data Synchronization & Campaign Webhooks
Make.com managed high-volume, multi-app data routines across Mountain Madness and Recal Training, bridging registration forms, Google Sheets audit archives, and webinar platform attendee lists.
The 6-Step Revenue Operations Operating Model
Across both enterprise outdoor expeditions and subscription wellness businesses, I deploy the same foundational principle: marketing systems should capture intent, make it immediately visible to revenue teams, and trigger the next high-leverage action automatically.
Capture
Point of Entry ContextCollect the contact identity, acquisition source, campaign UTM, product interest, and initial behavioural signals before data touches the core database.
Structure
Relational CRM SchemaMap inbound records into distinct CRM objects—Contacts, Leads, Trip Applications, or Deals—preserving relational links to products and finance.
Score & Segment
Predictive Intent TiersCombine historical transaction history with real-time digital engagement (clicks, page dwell, route downloads) to calculate an algorithmic intent score.
Automate
Behaviour-Triggered Next StepsDeploy the exact next logical action—sales call task, personalized email cadence, SMS reminder, or course access—without requiring manual triage.
Measure
Downstream Commercial AttributionEvaluate marketing performance not on cosmetic metrics like email opens or page views, but on pipeline velocity, booked revenue, and closed-won MRR.
Improve
Continuous Workflow RefinementAudit pipeline stages for friction points: identify where deals stall, which email cadences drive drop-off, and where manual team effort remains.
Dual-Client Results Scorecard
A side-by-side summary of deliverables, architectural upgrades, and quantifiable business outcomes across Mountain Madness and Recal Training.
| Client | System Domain | Core Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain Madness | Data Migration & ETL | Legacy SQL to Zoho CRM |
| Mountain Madness | CRM Architecture | 50+ Custom Fields & Pipeline Sync |
| Mountain Madness | Intent Scoring | 300+ Qualified Leads Scored |
| Mountain Madness | Commercial Impact | $250,000 Expedition Target Booked |
| Mountain Madness | Automated Lifecycle | Everest & Cross-Sell Nurture |
| Recal Training | Full-Funnel Setup | GoHighLevel Workspace from Scratch |
| Recal Training | Webinar & Lead Magnets | 14-Touch Multichannel Workflows |
| Recal Training | Middleware Integrations | Make.com, Zapier & Stripe Routing |
| Recal Training | Commercial Impact | +300% Monthly Recurring Revenue |
Core Principles for Scalable RevOps Architecture
Structure Must Follow Real Revenue Flow
A CRM migration is valuable only when the new schema reflects how the business actually sells, delivers, and reconciles money. Importing contacts without modeling relationships creates an expensive address book.
Custom Fields Require an Explicit Purpose
Every custom field and tag should trigger a specific automation, enable precise segmentation, or inform a commercial decision. Data collected without an operational destiny degrades CRM hygiene.
Lead Scoring is Only Useful if Sales Acts On It
Predictive BigQuery models are meaningless if scores stay trapped in a data warehouse. Direct routing into the sales team’s daily CRM phone queue turned data intelligence into $250K in bookings.
Automation Must Extend Post-Purchase
The customer journey does not end at checkout. Automating fulfillment, training access, and milestone checkpoints reduces buyer remorse, prevents churn, and opens immediate cross-sell opportunities.
Separation of Concerns in Integration Layers
Don't force one tool to do everything. Using GoHighLevel for CRM/email, Zapier for transactional low-latency routing, and Make.com for multi-branch logic created an unbreakable architecture.
Reliability Beats Complexity
The most effective automation is never the most convoluted. It is the simple, reliable sequence that consistently moves the right person to the right next step without human friction.