Reps and distributors

Find the real inquiries and match each one to the right line.

Manufacturers’ reps and distributors sell other people’s products, so the core problem is matching a buyer to the right line out of a broad set, once you know the inquiry is real. It sits right next to our manufacturing work, because the RFQ a rep routes is the same RFQ a shop has to quote.

Start a conversationHow we work
A lead matched to the right lineAn inbox of three emails: one lead and two that are not a fit, drawn dashed. A highlighted path runs from the lead into a line card table of five lines, A through E, and marks a match on line C. It continues to a reply draft with a "reviewed by" line. The rep approves the reply, and it goes to the buyer.INBOXMATCHREPLYNOT A FITLEADNOT A FITLINE CARDLINE ALINE BLINE CLINE DLINE EMATCHREPLY DRAFTREVIEWED BYTHE REP APPROVESBUYERTITLELEAD TO THE RIGHT LINEDWG D-08RREV ASHEET 1/1A lead matched to the right lineAn inbox of three emails: one lead and two that are not a fit, drawn dashed. A highlighted path runs from the lead into a line card table of five lines, A through E, and marks a match on line C. It continues to a reply draft with a "reviewed by" line. The rep approves the reply, and it goes to the buyer.INBOXNOT A FITLEADNOT A FITLINE CARDLINE ALINE BLINE CLINE DLINE EMATCHREPLYREPLY DRAFTREVIEWED BYREPAPPROVESBUYERTITLELEAD TO THE RIGHT LINEDWG D-08RREV ASHEET 1/1
Illustrative exampleInquiries arrive, and the ones that aren’t a fit get set aside. The real lead is matched against the line card, a reply is drafted, and the rep reviews and approves it before it goes to the buyer.

The work

From inquiry to principal

The system reads, sorts and drafts. A person answers the buyer and talks to the principal.

01

Inbound triage

Directory and web-form inquiries arrive in volume, and a share of them are junk: scraped, templated or machine-written.

  • The systemReads each inquiry for real buying intent and ranks it, judging the whole message instead of matching keywords, which tends to throw out real buyers along with the spam.
  • People approveA person decides which inquiries get answered.
02

Line-card matching

Knowing which of your lines could fit a given inquiry is what a veteran rep carries in their head, and it’s the hardest thing to hand to a new hire.

  • The systemReads the inquiry against your line card and shows which lines could fit, with the reasoning attached.
  • People approveThe rep picks the line and owns the conversation with the buyer.
03

RFQ routing and follow-through

A qualified inquiry has to reach the right principal in the right format, with the details filled in, and it can’t sit.

  • The systemPackages the RFQ in the principal’s format, fills in what’s known, lists what’s missing, and tracks whether it got an answer.
  • People approveA person sends it to the principal and follows up with the buyer.
04

Relationship history

Reps need to know what was quoted, to whom, when, and what happened next.

  • The systemKeeps that history in a record you own, so it survives a vacation, a retirement or a bad quarter.
  • People approveEach rep confirms what gets recorded about their accounts.
05

The website as intake

For a rep network, the website is often where inquiries first arrive, and a vague contact form invites vague inquiries.

  • The systemA guided quote path asks the right questions up front, so the inquiry arrives complete and a good deal of the junk gets filtered on the way in.
  • People approveEvery inquiry still lands with a person before anyone replies.

How we work

How an engagement runs

Every engagement is scoped independently, so there’s no fixed package and no published price. The order of the steps stays the same. Conversations are always free.

Every step in detail

  1. OP 010

    A conversation

    You getWhether it’s worth doing

    It covers two things: where your inquiries come from, and how much of what arrives is worth anyone’s time.

  2. OP 020

    A working session on a real week of inbound

    You getA clear picture of your inbound

    When the first conversation shows a real path, this is usually the next step, and it’s typically free too. We go through an actual week of inquiries together with the people who sort them, which shows quickly how much is junk, how much is real, and what the sorting takes.

  3. OP 030

    Intake or matching first

    You getA scoped first project, in writing

    Sometimes intake should come first: a guided quote path on your website, scoped as its own website job, is both the lead source and the filter. Sometimes the internal side should come first, and we’ll say which.

  4. OP 050

    Foundation

    You getA foundation the company owns

    We set up your Operating Standard, including the line card, in your company’s accounts, with passwords in your password manager and your IT provider in the loop.

  5. OP 060

    Matching and routing

    You getOne working process

    Once intake is clean, the work moves to matching against the line card, routing to principals, and making sure nothing sits.

  6. OP 070

    Training

    You getPeople who can run it

    We train your reps and inside sales on real inquiries, and one or two Champions learn to change the system themselves.

  7. OP 080

    Handoff

    You getThe code, instructions, settings and accounts

    Your people run it, fix it and change it without us. Ongoing support, which we call Cadence, is optional and month to month, and you can cancel any month.

Our approach

The rep stays in the relationship

A rep’s value is the relationship with the buyer and the principal, so the system does the sorting, the matching and the paperwork, and a person has every conversation. It’s the same split we use in a shop: the model reads and drafts, code does the exact checks, and people approve.

Holden Richardson

Who you’ll work with

Holden Richardson

Founder and principal

He’s the person you work with, from the first conversation through handoff, and the working sessions happen on site with the people who do the work.

About HoldenHolden on LinkedIn

The honest list

What we’ll tell you not to build

We’d rather say it early, before you spend anything.

  • Automated outreach to your principals’ customers. That relationship is the business, so keep software away from it.
  • Auto-replying to inbound before a person has looked. Triage should route and rank, and a person answers.
  • Automating a line card nobody maintains. Fix the source first.
  • Anything that takes the rep out of the relationship with the buyer.

Further reading

Reading for reps and distributors

Longer pieces on the same problems, each written to be useful whether or not you ever call us.

All articles

ArticleJuly 31, 202612 min read

Gate What Your Agent Can't Undo

Where a person has to approve an agent’s work: always on anything that can’t be undone, and less elsewhere as the agent earns trust.

Conversations are always free.

Tell us where your inquiries come from and how much of it is junk, and we’ll tell you what’s worth building.

Start a conversationAll focus areas