In this interview ACIQ program marketing manager Nichole Barker shares how contractor data improves targeting, lead quality, and programmatic advertising performance in HVAC.
ACIQ is a nationwide HVAC equipment brand building a contractor-first dealer program. In this interview, Nichole Barker explains how data enrichment and contractor insights help her team find higher-quality leads, target the right geos, and improve campaign performance.
Key Takeaways
- ACIQ is contractor-focused and launched its dealer program in August 2025, using data to identify ideal contractors, messaging, and lifetime value potential.
- ACIQ’s marketing stack includes HubSpot, Google Analytics, Looker Studio, Meta, and StackAdapt. Using contractor lists and address-level targeting improved conversion rates compared to campaigns without enriched contractor data.
- Sales reps can move faster when they have clean contact info plus context like brand affinity (example: a Lennox dealer) before outreach.
- Channel strategy can depend on contractor maturity: established businesses may respond better to direct outreach, while newer businesses may be easier to reach through social and digital channels.
- Overlays (geo + revenue potential + proximity to suppliers like WinSupply) help prioritize where to focus, and responsive support makes the data even more useful.
Kirill: Can you share a quick overview of ACIQ, your role, and how you use data in marketing and channel programs?
Nichole: ACIQ is a nationwide HVAC equipment brand focused on helping contractors grow with high-quality products at a more affordable price, plus strong dealer support. Our dealer program just started in August of this year, so it’s brand new for contractors. We’re really contractor-focused because we want to build our brand, that’s part of our go-to-market strategy.
We offer a full lineup of heat pumps, ducted and ductless systems, furnaces, accessories, and parts. Fun story: we’re adding toilets to our lineup this week, which is kind of crazy, but we’re doing it.
Our company is US-based. We’re based in Ohio, and our tech support and most of our employees are in Ohio, though we do have employees across the US.
My role is Program Marketing Manager. Everything that happens with any of our contractors and dealers, I manage, including: dealer acquisition, contractor engagement, and marketing across different sales channels, both B2B and B2C.
Data is a really important part of what I do. I need to know what kind of contractors are most likely to grow with us, what message is best for them, what will drive action, where our sales team should focus, and what kinds of contractors, geographies, and brand affinities matter. We also look at how effective our campaigns are in generating revenue and strong lifetime value.
Kirill: Are you primarily e-commerce, or do you have physical branch locations?
Nichole: ACIQ itself is not e-commerce. We have preferred online retailers that sell our products, including other dealers and contractors who have e-commerce businesses. HVACDirect is a large preferred online retailer for us and drives a lot of sales, which is great for the consumer.
Kirill: Historically, what has been the biggest challenge in finding and engaging the right types of HVAC contractors in residential markets?
Nichole: Historically, it has felt like everybody is somebody we want to do business with. Because we’re newer, we’re a lot smaller than most of the manufacturers or distributors that consumers and contractors typically work with, even though we’re growing really quickly.
The challenge has been figuring out who our ideal contractor is, which contractors will present the best lifetime value, and understanding that we want the whales and the big guys, but the smaller contractors are important too.
Understanding where each contractor is in their journey, how long they’ve been in business, how many permits they’ve pulled, what brand affinities they have, and what “tier” they’re in has been a problem. We haven’t been able to do it successfully, and over the last six months of trying, I can’t research every single contractor that comes to us as a lead. We do a lot of lead gen, and it’s been difficult to identify the right ones.
Kirill: What data tools and platforms do you rely on today, and how does contractor data from partners like ToolBeltData fit into your strategy?
Nichole: We use HubSpot for our CRM, and we’ve had a lot of success with it. It’s only been utilized for about a year, and I really enjoy how easy it is. It’s very simple for me to take information from ToolBeltData and upload it into our system.
We also use Google Analytics and Looker Studio. For ads and lead gen, we use Meta. And we use StackAdapt for programmatic advertising.
It’s easy for me to download a ToolBeltData list, look at all of the attributes, create the list I want, download it, and upload it to StackAdapt. It takes about five minutes.
With ToolBeltData inside StackAdapt (a DSP), we run display ads, native ads, and video ads. I was able to look at specific geographies, target specific addresses from ToolBeltData, and serve ads to people who go to those areas often. Between two campaigns, one where I didn’t use it and one where I did, our conversion rate almost doubled.
Kirill: Has anything surprised you since you started using enriched contractor data?
Nichole: We’re still at the very beginning of our process and haven’t used ToolBeltData nearly to its full capabilities yet.
One thing that stood out: I downloaded a list for one of our sales reps in Corpus Christi. He called the top 20 contractors in his area and got one of them as a customer. It wasn’t only because of the data, but it was someone he would have never reached out to. He had a name, phone number, email address, and brand affinity. They were an exclusive dealer for another manufacturer, so he could go in with some knowledge and say, “I can do better.”
Kirill: What advice would you give sales and marketing teams that struggle to identify high-quality leads and convert them?
Nichole: Start with the data. What do you have? What do you want to have? And how do you get there? ToolBeltData is a way you can get there. It’s not always 100%, but it’s a whole lot better than guessing or doing Google searches. It takes the guesswork out of a lot of it.
If I have a name, address, phone number, and email, I can market to that contractor wherever they are and tell the ACIQ story. It helps with speed, getting that information out to contractors, and making sure you’re not only on one platform, but hitting multiple platforms in multiple ways.
Also, it can be true that companies that have been in business longer than 20 years might respond better to a postcard or a sales rep visit. Putting that data directly in a sales rep’s hands can be monumental. And if a business has been in business less than five years, social might be the right way to attack it.
Kirill: Any other features you find interesting, useful?
Nichole: The overlays are one of my favorite things. I can look at a geographic area, like in the southern United States, and see any contractor over $5 million in potential revenue that’s close to a supplier like WinSupply. I asked Shane for that overlay and it was added in about two days.
The support matters too. I have gotten incredible customer success support from your team. There is a lot of flexibility available, and your team has made sure I am able to get data in a way that works best for me, which is huge. I really appreciate having that kind of support, because ACIQ gives that kind of support to our customers.
About The Guest
Nichole Barker is the Program Marketing Manager at ACIQ, where she focuses on dealer acquisition, contractor engagement, and marketing across B2B and B2C channels.