<-- Resources

Job title: Wholesale account opener (paid per result)

Summary

Top Shelf Brands LLC is looking to buy from wholesalers that ship products from inside the continental USA. We are the customer.

You will perform market research, contact wholesalers, and open accounts.

The goal is to establish a buyer account and secure a supplier product sheet in a specified format.

Responsibilities

1. Identify USA-based wholesale distributors that meet provided criteria through strategic searches using public internet search engines and other directories.
2. Engage in phone, email, SMS, instant-message or other communications with each wholesale distributor to facilitate account openings.
3. Obtain a spreadsheet which includes the wholesaler’s inventory, UPC codes, and pricing details.

Payment

Top Shelf Brands LLC pays $25 USD per verified result. A verified result consists of the following three parts:

1. Opened an account with a supplier that meets the wholesaler requirements;
2. Obtained a UPC spreadsheet that adheres to the required format; and
3. Management agreed the account and spreadsheet meet the requirements.

Wholesaler requirements

1. Top Shelf Brands LLC does not already have an account.
2. The wholesalers must allow their products to be sold online. For example : Amazon.com, Walmart.com, eBay.com, custom websites, &c.
3. The wholesaler’s products must ship from inside the continental USA.
4. The wholesaler must have at least 1000 active stock keeping units (SKUs). These will likely be large wholesalers.
5. The product list must be a spreadsheet in either Excel format or comma-separated values (CSV) format. This is also called an “ftp download” or “database.”
6. The minimum order amount should be less than $2500 USD.

Finding wholesalers

Wholesalers are also known as distributors.

Where to find distributors:

• Trade associations
• Member directories
• Trade show exhibitor directories
• Manufacturers
• Specific websites

Example search for “baby products”

Start a Google search for “baby product trade associations.”

There will be quite a few, but you can tell which are the actual association websites and which are just content sites.

Once you click on an association website, look for its member directory :

We found 334 members.

Remember : there are dozens or even hundreds of baby product trade associations. 334 is actually a smaller number. You can also find members through a Google search for trade shows. Simply type “baby product trade shows” or variations, such as “largest baby product trade show.” All self-respecting trade shows will have a website and Google presence, so you don’t have to worry about finding poor or inauthentic trade show listings.

Once you click on a trade show website, then look for exhibitors. The participating companies are there because they want to sell their products.

Looking for trade associations

You can also find trade shows by looking for trade associations and viewing their events. Many associations host trade shows. Clicking the exhibitor list brings up lists. In this case, it is just a plain list. A list with hyperlinks would be better, as you would simply click to find their info. However, for a list like the one below, we can simply search each of the companies :

Now, you certainly don’t have to go to these trade shows. You simply just need to find their contact info. Trade shows can be massive, with thousands of exhibitors. For instance, for this toy trade show below, it is 4 levels of a convention center :

Clicking the Exhibitor List brings up all the exhibitors :

Now, we need to find the actual distributors. How do we find them? Simply go to the search box and type in “distributor.”

There is a good size list of distributors here. We click the first one :

These guys offer over 15,000 unique products from over 350 manufacturers. Boom, there you go! And this was just the first one we found. Even better, you can Open an Account with them! No visiting them, no phone call, no nothing. You simply need to fill out an application :

When applying, click on “Retail Customer Application” rather than “International.” The term “International” refers to exporting products to another country, not residing in a different country. The process is straightforward; these companies are eager for your business. You can even be assigned a “personal ACD sales rep” who will happily process your order.

When filling out the application, keep it simple. The best strategy for acceptance is to offer to pay upfront with a credit card. You don’t need trade references unless you are requesting “terms,” which means paying after a set period like 15 days or a month. In such cases, references are necessary because distributors will not provide products without them. If you choose to pay upfront, distributors will readily accept your payment and ship your products.

From our experience, after a few transactions, many distributors will automatically offer you terms, indicating a level of trust that allows you to defer payment for up to two weeks or more.

How to talk to distributors and “own the conversation”

This is how to talk to distributors to sound professional and that you are serious and know what you are talking about. It doesn’t matter if you have been in business for one day or ten years. Remember, they are not doing you a favor. You are doing them a favor by giving them more business. Your mindset needs to be that you are doing them a favor. Make sure you direct the conversation. You are the customer, and you are a good customer.

When they ask questions, respond with, “I will get to that in a minute.”

Distributor: “Well, how long have you been in business?” (They never actually ask this.)
You: “I’ll get to that in a minute. Let me ask you this…”

The only reason they may ask you questions is that they are simply qualifying you. They are wondering if you are legit (you are), or if you are wasting their time (you aren’t.)

By the time you finish talking, they would have forgotten their questions to you. This is because, by asking professional questions, you would have already qualified yourself in their mind.

Make it sound like you have done this a thousand times. You are an experienced buyer for a large company just making the rounds “as usual.” That’s the impression you want to make.

Here are some questions (and counters) to ask them

“I want to place an order - who do I talk to about opening up an account?”

“We’ll get to that in a second, but, let me ask you this…”

“If I give you a PO today, when will my order ship?” (A PO is a Purchase Order, and it is simply a fancy term for a list of stuff you want to buy.)

“Where is your distribution warehouse located?”

“Can I pay upfront with a credit card?”

“Do you have any sort of ‘file’, ‘spreadsheet’, etc., of everything you sell, with the cost, your SKUs, UPCs, and quantity available so I can import into my purchase order system?”

“How many SKUs do you guys carry?”

Important: Be aware of the difference between qualifying questions and actual questions they need to know to help you. If they ask where you are located, especially after you ask about where their warehouse is located, answer their question. They are simply trying to find out where their best warehouse is located, or if they have certain regional sales reps who can be assigned to you. We use a warehouse in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Here’s a sample conversation:

You: “If I give you a PO today, when will my order ship?”
Them: “Well, tell me a bit about your business.”
You: “We’ll get to that in a second, but again, if I give you a PO today, when will my order ship?”
Them: “Well, generally 24 hours, sometimes 48 hours. But can you tell me a bit about your business?”
You: “Yeah, we’ll get to that in a minute. But, I’m not done deciding if I want to do business with you yet. So let me ask, where is your distribution warehouse located?”
Them: “Oh, well, Ohio. But what kind of business are you guys?”
You: “I’ll say that in a second, but let me ask you this, can I pay you up front with a credit card? I don’t need terms, I can pay you up front.”

Soon, they will stop asking questions and give you all the information you need. Remember, you are just talking to a low-level employee who is simply trying to make sure you are a real business. There’s nothing shady about controlling the conversation.

The final question you want to get to is asking them is “Do you guys have any sort of ‘file’, ‘spreadsheet’, or ‘ftp download’ of everything you sell, with my costs, your SKUs, UPCs, and quantity available so I can import into my purchase order system?”

For a majority of cases, they will do everything they can to do business with you. Don’t be afraid of them. The format that the distributor may give you is an “ftp download.” This is usually nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet. For some reason, they don’t always say “Excel spreadsheet.” The industry term is “ftp download.” They may have it set so we could download it once per day. A “database” may be the other term used.