Wholesale Inquiry Qualification

A brand with any kind of following gets trade inquiries in the same inbox as everything else. "Do you do wholesale?" arrives alongside "where is my order" and a complaint about a zip, and it gets handled in the same two-line way: a reply saying yes we do, here is our line sheet, let me know. Half of those inquiries are a boutique owner with three shops and a real budget. The other half are a person who wants six units at trade price for themselves, a dropshipper with no shop at all, or a competitor fishing for pricing. The retailer cannot tell which is which without a conversation, so either everyone gets the pricing or nobody gets a timely reply.

Both failures are expensive. Sending a trade price list to an unqualified inquiry leaks your margin structure to people who will undercut you on your own marketplace listings, and it creates an expectation that is awkward to withdraw. Treating every trade inquiry as noise, on the other hand, means the genuine buyer - who contacted four brands that morning - signs with whichever one came back the same day with a straight answer and a sensible process. Wholesale deals are won on responsiveness far more often than on terms, and a retail inbox is structurally incapable of being responsive to them, because retail volume drowns them.

The third problem is that even when a trade inquiry is taken seriously, the information needed to price it properly is never gathered up front. Nobody asks about the shop, the trading history, the territory, the quantity, the delivery expectation, or whether they already stock a competing brand - so the first call is spent collecting facts rather than closing. By the time a quote goes out, two weeks have passed and the buyer has filled the slot. This build puts a qualification gate in front of the whole process: a proper trade application, a scoring model, a routing rule, and separate pipelines so a trade lead never sits in a retail queue again.

Pipeline and stages

A dedicated Wholesale pipeline, entirely separate from any retail or customer service queue. The separation is the point - a trade lead in a retail inbox is a lost trade lead.

• Inquiry Received - identified as trade, application not yet complete.
• Application Submitted - full trade application in, awaiting verification.
• Verifying - business registration, tax number and trading presence being checked.
• Qualified - Tier A - established multi-site or high-volume account. Senior owner, fast lane.
• Qualified - Tier B - single-site independent, genuine but smaller. Standard process.
• Qualified - Tier C - Self Serve - small or new account, routed to a self-service trade portal with published minimums rather than a human.
• Line Sheet Sent - pricing released, which only happens after qualification.
• Sampling - samples out, decision pending.
• Quote Issued - formal quotation against a stated order.
• Negotiating Terms - payment terms, exclusivity, territory or MOQ under discussion.
• Won - Onboarding - account opened, first order processing.
• Declined - Not Trade - a retail buyer in disguise. Routed politely back to the retail path.
• Declined - Territory Conflict - a genuine trade buyer you cannot supply without damaging an existing stockist.
• Dormant - Nurture - real but not now. Kept warm on a slow cadence.

Calendars

• Trade Discovery Call - 30-minute slots with the wholesale lead, offered only to Tier A and B after qualification.
• Showroom and Sample Appointments - 60-minute in-person or video slots for buyers who want to see the range.
• Trade Show Diary - a calendar of show dates and stand appointment slots, so an inquiry arriving near a show is routed to a meeting rather than a call.
• Reorder Review - quarterly recurring slots for won accounts, which is where wholesale revenue actually compounds.

Custom fields

Everything a quote needs, gathered before the first human conversation.

• Business Name and Trading Name - frequently different, and the mismatch is itself a verification signal.
• Company Registration Number and Tax or tax ID (EIN) - the primary trade proof.
• Business Type - bricks and mortar retail, online retail, marketplace seller, distributor, hospitality, corporate gifting, or other.
• Number of Locations and Website or Shop URL - checked, not just collected.
• Years Trading.
• Territory - country and region, the field that drives conflict checks.
• Estimated First Order Units and Estimated Annual Volume - asked as bands, not as a figure, because buyers will not type a number but will pick a range.
• Categories of Interest - multi-select from your range.
• Currently Stocks Competing Brands - yes or no plus which. A strong buying signal and an essential conflict input.
• Requested Terms - prepayment, 30 days, or other.
• Delivery Expectation - immediate, next season, or ongoing program.
• Qualification Score - the calculated output.
• Trade Tier - A, B, C or declined.
• Verification Status - unverified, verified, failed, manual review.
• Assigned Rep.
• Decline Reason - not trade, territory conflict, category mismatch, verification failed, volume too low.
• Inquiry Source - trade page form, retail contact form, BO chat, phone, trade show, inbound referral.

Tags

• trade-inquiry - applied at identification, the flag that keeps the contact out of all retail marketing.
• trade-tier-a, trade-tier-b, trade-tier-c - mutually exclusive, set by scoring.
• trade-verified, trade-verification-failed.
• trade-not-trade - a retail buyer who used the trade route. Routed back to retail and excluded from all trade sending.
• trade-territory-conflict - do not send pricing, ever, without a human decision.
• trade-marketplace-seller - flagged separately because marketplace resellers need a different conversation about pricing control.
• trade-competitor-suspected - a hard block on line sheet release pending human review.
• trade-active-stockist, trade-lapsed-stockist - post-win states that drive the reorder program.
• trade-show-lead with the show name, so show ROI is measurable.

Forms

• Trade Application - the centrepiece. Two pages: page one is business identity and territory, page two is volume, categories and terms. Deliberately substantial. A form that takes four minutes filters out the people who were never going to place an order, and genuine buyers expect it.
• Quick Trade Triage - three questions embedded on the retail contact page and used by BO: are you buying for a business, how many units, do you have a registered business number. Enough to route, not enough to qualify.
• Territory Conflict Check - internal form the rep completes against the existing stockist list before any pricing is released.
• Sample Request - what, where to, who pays carriage, with a delivery address and a named recipient.
• Onboarding Pack - trading terms acceptance, delivery addresses, invoicing contact, purchase order process.

BO's role and guardrails

BO's job here is narrow and strict: identify, triage, collect, and get out of the way.

• In scope: recognizing a trade intent in any inbound channel; running the Quick Trade Triage questions conversationally; sending the Trade Application link; chasing an incomplete application; answering published, non-pricing questions such as lead times, minimum order quantity policy in general terms, and which categories are available to trade; and booking a Trade Discovery Call once a contact is qualified.
• Out of scope and escalated, always: any trade pricing, any discount or terms discussion, exclusivity, territory, custom or private label, large or unusual quantities, and any inquiry where trade-competitor-suspected or trade-territory-conflict is present.
• Guardrails: BO never states or hints at a trade price, a margin, a discount percentage or a minimum order value, and never sends a line sheet. If asked directly, BO says: "Trade pricing goes out once your application is approved - it takes a day or two and then you will have the full sheet." BO never tells an applicant they are likely to be approved, and never reveals which stockists hold a territory.

Numbers and channels

• A dedicated trade email address and a dedicated phone number, both separate from retail customer service. Mixing them is the original sin of wholesale handling.
• Voice AI call routing on the trade number so an out-of-hours trade call is captured with name, business, territory and callback preference rather than going to a voicemail nobody checks.
• SMS for application chasing and appointment reminders - buyers are usually on a shop floor and will not read a long email during trading hours.
• Email as the carrier for the application link, the line sheet, the quote and the onboarding pack.
• A trade page on the site with the application form, honest about the process and the fact that pricing follows approval.
• Internal Slack notification on every Tier A inquiry, because same-day response is the thing that wins these accounts.

1. A boutique owner messages the brand's chat widget at 9pm: "Hi, do you sell wholesale? I have two shops in the north west." BO recognizes the trade intent from the wording and the business reference, and does not answer with retail copy.
2. BO runs the Quick Trade Triage conversationally: buying for a business, roughly how many units, and do you have a registered company number. All three answers are positive. BO applies trade-inquiry, creates a contact, and creates an opportunity in the Wholesale pipeline at Inquiry Received with Inquiry Source set to BO chat.
3. BO sends the Trade Application link with an honest framing: "Great - here is our trade application. It takes about four minutes and once it is approved you will get the full line sheet and pricing. I cannot share pricing before that, sorry." No price is hinted at, and no promise of approval is made.
4. She completes the application that evening. The submission writes Business Name, Company Registration Number, Tax or tax ID (EIN), Business Type as bricks and mortar retail, Number of Locations as 2, Territory as north west England, Estimated First Order Units and Estimated Annual Volume as bands, Categories of Interest, and Currently Stocks Competing Brands as yes with two named brands. The opportunity moves to Application Submitted.
5. Verification runs. The registration number format validates, the shop URL resolves to a live site with a physical address, and the trading name matches. Verification Status is set to verified and trade-verified applied. A failed or ambiguous check would instead set manual review and create a task rather than declining automatically.
6. Scoring runs. Two physical locations, four years trading, a mid volume band, a verified registration and existing competing stock all score positively. Qualification Score lands above the Tier A threshold given the multi-site presence, so Trade Tier is set to A and trade-tier-a applied. The opportunity moves to Qualified - Tier A and an Assigned Rep is set.
7. The territory conflict check fires before any pricing moves. The rep opens the Territory Conflict Check form against the stockist list, confirms no exclusive stockist holds the north west, and clears it. Had there been a conflict, trade-territory-conflict would have blocked the line sheet entirely and routed the inquiry to a human decision.
8. Because she is Tier A and the conflict check is clear, the fast-lane workflow fires within minutes of qualification, even though it is now 10pm: an email with the line sheet, the trading terms summary, and a Trade Discovery Call booking link, from the named rep. A Slack alert also posts to the trade channel so whoever is on first thing knows a Tier A account came in overnight.
9. Next morning she books a discovery call for Thursday. The booking confirmation goes out with an agenda - categories, volume, delivery timing, terms - so the call is a decision rather than an information-gathering exercise. The opportunity moves to Line Sheet Sent.
10. On the call the rep walks the range, she asks for four samples, and the Sample Request form is completed live. The opportunity moves to Sampling, a fulfillment task is created, and a 7-day follow-up is scheduled automatically so nobody has to remember.
11. Samples arrive. On day 7 the follow-up sequence sends one short message: "How did the samples land with you? Happy to put a quote together whenever you are ready." She replies with an opening order, the rep issues a formal quote, and the opportunity moves to Quote Issued.
12. She asks for 30-day terms. Requested Terms is updated, the opportunity moves to Negotiating Terms, and because terms are involved BO stays entirely out of the thread. The rep agrees prepayment on the first order and a terms review after three orders, and logs the decision on the opportunity.
13. The order is placed and paid. The opportunity moves to Won - Onboarding, the Onboarding Pack goes out for trading terms acceptance and invoicing details, trade-active-stockist is applied, and a recurring Reorder Review is scheduled quarterly - the step that turns one wholesale win into an account.
14. Meanwhile a second inquiry that same week came through the retail contact form: "Can I get a trade price? I want 5 units for myself." The triage identifies no business number and a tiny quantity. The opportunity is created and immediately moved to Declined - Not Trade with Decline Reason set, trade-not-trade applied, and a courteous message routing them to the retail site with the current retail offer. No trade pricing is ever exposed, and the contact is excluded from all trade sending from that point on.
15. Each Monday the wholesale lead reviews the board: new inquiries by source, time to first response by tier, applications started versus completed, and the decline reason mix. The decline mix is the most informative number in the build - a lot of "not trade" means the retail-side triage needs tightening, and a lot of "territory conflict" means the stockist map needs a strategic conversation.

1. Trade identification and triage

Trigger: any inbound - retail contact form, chat message, SMS, trade number call, or social DM - containing a trade intent. Intent markers: wholesale, trade, bulk, stockist, reseller, distributor, "for my shop", "for my business", a quantity above your retail norm, or a message sent from a business domain email.

Conditions and branches:

• Apply trade-inquiry immediately and remove the contact from all retail marketing workflows. This single step prevents the most embarrassing failure in the build.
• Create an opportunity in Wholesale at Inquiry Received, writing Inquiry Source.
• Run Quick Trade Triage: buying for a business, approximate units, registered business number held. BO asks these conversationally in chat or SMS; the embedded form handles web.
• All three positive: send the Trade Application link and proceed to workflow 2.
• No business number and low quantity: move straight to Declined - Not Trade, set Decline Reason, apply trade-not-trade, and send the retail routing message: "We only supply trade accounts with a registered business, but everything is available on our shop here: {{retail link}}" Then exit.
• Ambiguous - business number but tiny quantity, or large quantity but no business: send the application anyway and flag for manual review. Let a human decide rather than declining a borderline case automatically.
• Out-of-hours call to the trade number: voice AI captures name, business name, territory, callback preference and the inquiry in one minute, creates the opportunity, and sends the application link by SMS before the caller hangs up.

Stop conditions: declined as not trade; contact already carries trade-not-trade, in which case route to retail silently and do not re-trigger the trade path.

2. Application chase

Trigger: Trade Application link sent and 24 hours elapsed with no submission.

Conditions: opportunity still at Inquiry Received. Branch on whether page one was started.

• Started but abandoned branch: send SMS after 24 hours - "{{Business name}}: you got halfway through the trade application. Pick up where you left off: {{resume link}}" A resume link rather than a restart link roughly doubles completion.
• Never started branch: send email after 24 hours restating what approval unlocks - the full line sheet, trade pricing, and a direct contact - and nothing about the price itself.
• Wait 3 days. Second chase, one message only, on the channel the inquiry arrived through.
• Wait 7 days. Final chase, deliberately low pressure: "Still happy to set you up whenever the timing is right - the application stays open: {{link}}"
• At 14 days with no submission, move to Dormant - Nurture and drop into a quarterly trade newsletter cadence. Do not keep chasing. Buyers reappear on their own buying cycle, not yours.

Stop conditions: application submitted; contact asks to stop; declined.

3. Verification

Trigger: Trade Application submitted. Opportunity moves to Application Submitted, then Verifying.

Checks, in order:

• Registration number format and, where an API is available, a live lookup against the national register. Mismatch between registered name and Trading Name is flagged, not failed - the mismatch is normal for many small retailers.
• Tax or tax ID (EIN) format validation.
• Website or Shop URL resolves, is a trading site rather than a parked domain or a single social page, and shows a physical address where Business Type is bricks and mortar.
• Email domain check: a free email provider with a claimed multi-site business is a flag for manual review, not an automatic decline.
• Competitor check: match the business name and domain against your own competitor list. Any match applies trade-competitor-suspected and hard-blocks the line sheet pending human review, with no message sent to the applicant.

• All clear: set Verification Status to verified, apply trade-verified, continue to workflow 4.
• Any flag: set manual review and create a task for the wholesale lead, due in 4 hours during business hours. Send the applicant one holding message: "Thanks - your application is with our team and you will hear back within one working day." Say nothing about what is being checked.
• Clear failure, such as an invalid registration number: set failed, apply trade-verification-failed, and send a single message inviting correction once: "We could not verify the registration number you gave us - reply with the correct one and we will pick this straight back up."

Stop conditions: verification failed twice, which moves to declined with the reason set; competitor suspected, which holds indefinitely until a human acts.

4. Qualification scoring and tier assignment

Trigger: Verification Status set to verified.

Scoring inputs - each contributes to Qualification Score:

• Number of Locations: multi-site scores highest, single site mid, online-only lower, no verifiable premises lowest.
• Estimated Annual Volume band: the heaviest single weighting.
• Years Trading: more than three years scores well, under one year scores low but does not disqualify.
• Business Type: bricks and mortar and established online retail score well; marketplace seller scores neutral and applies trade-marketplace-seller; distributor routes to manual review regardless of score, because a distributor deal is a strategic decision not a tier.
• Currently Stocks Competing Brands: yes scores positively - they already buy this category.
• Categories of Interest: alignment with your trade-available range. A mismatch sets Decline Reason to category mismatch.
• Delivery Expectation: an immediate or ongoing program scores above a vague next-season interest.

• Tier A: score above the upper threshold, or any multi-site verified retailer. Apply trade-tier-a, assign the senior rep, move to Qualified - Tier A, post to Slack within one minute.
• Tier B: mid band. Apply trade-tier-b, assign by round robin, move to Qualified - Tier B.
• Tier C: below threshold but genuine. Apply trade-tier-c, move to Qualified - Tier C - Self Serve, and route to the self-serve trade portal with no rep assigned.
• Below the floor or category mismatch: move to a declined stage with the reason set.

Stop conditions: no tier is assigned while trade-competitor-suspected or an uncleared territory flag is present.

5. Territory conflict gate

Trigger: tier assigned to A or B.

Conditions: this gate runs before any pricing is released. Nothing bypasses it.

• Match Territory against the stockist list. Where an exclusive or near-exclusive stockist holds the territory, apply trade-territory-conflict and create a decision task for the wholesale lead with both accounts named. Send the applicant a holding message only.
• Where no conflict exists, the rep completes the Territory Conflict Check form to clear it on record. The form submission is what releases the line sheet - a deliberate human gate on the one irreversible action in the build.
• Conflict confirmed and not supplyable: move to Declined - Territory Conflict and send a straight, non-specific message: "We are not able to take on another account in your area at the moment. If that changes we will come back to you - and if your situation changes, do tell us." Never name the existing stockist.
• Conflict resolvable - different channel, different categories, or the incumbent is lapsed: the lead overrides, notes the reasoning on the opportunity, and clears the gate.
• Wait 24 hours. If the decision task is untouched, escalate to the owner. A buyer waiting on an internal argument is a buyer signing with someone else.

Stop conditions: gate cleared, which releases workflow 6; declined; applicant withdraws.

6. Tier A fast lane

Trigger: territory gate cleared on a trade-tier-a opportunity.

Conditions: Assigned Rep populated. Email only outside trading hours; SMS steps hold until the window opens.

• Send email immediately, from the rep's own address: "{{first name}} - you are approved. Attached is the full line sheet and our trading terms in brief. I have kept Thursday and Friday open if you want to walk through the range: {{Trade Discovery Call link}}. Anything you need before then, reply straight to me." Move to Line Sheet Sent.
• Create a task for the rep, due within 2 business hours of the next working day: "Call {{Business Name}} - Tier A, {{Territory}}, interested in {{Categories of Interest}}."
• Wait 24 hours. If no call booked and no reply, send SMS inside trading hours: "{{rep name}} from {{Business name}} - sent your trade pack over yesterday. Worth a quick call this week?"
• Wait 3 days. If still nothing, the rep calls directly. Three touches across three channels inside four days, then stop.
• On booking, send the confirmation with the stated agenda - categories, volume, delivery timing, terms - plus a reminder 24 hours and 1 hour before.

Stop conditions: call booked, which moves the sequence to the pre-call workflow; applicant replies, which hands the thread to the rep and cancels all automated steps; no engagement after three touches, which moves to Dormant - Nurture.

7. Tier B standard lane and Tier C self-serve

Trigger: territory gate cleared on trade-tier-b, or tier assigned as trade-tier-c.

Tier B branch:

• Wait until the next trading-hours window, then send the line sheet, terms summary and booking link from the assigned rep. Move to Line Sheet Sent.
• Wait 2 days, then send email 2: a short case-free note on how other independents typically open an account - which categories, what opening order shape, what lead time.
• Wait 5 days. If no engagement, send one SMS. Then stop and move to Dormant - Nurture after 14 days.
• Create a rep task only if the line sheet is opened twice or any link is clicked - engagement-triggered, so rep time goes where there is interest.

Tier C branch:

• Send the self-serve portal credentials, the published trade terms and the minimum order policy. No rep, no call link. Move to Qualified - Tier C - Self Serve.
• Wait 7 days. If no order, send one nudge with the portal link and an offer to answer questions through BO.
• If a Tier C account places two orders above the Tier B volume threshold, re-score automatically and promote to Tier B with a rep assigned. The ladder matters - today's small account is often next year's Tier A.

Stop conditions: order placed; applicant asks to stop; promoted by re-scoring.

8. Sampling, quoting and terms

Trigger: Sample Request submitted, or the rep moves the opportunity to Sampling.

• Create the fulfillment task with the sample list, delivery address and named recipient. Move to Sampling.
• Send dispatch confirmation with tracking when the task closes.
• Wait 7 days from delivery, then send one follow-up: "How did the samples land with you? Happy to put a quote together whenever you are ready."
• Wait 7 more days. Second and final follow-up, then create a rep task rather than sending a third message. Samples are expensive and the follow-up should end with a human, not a sequence.
• On quote issued: move to Quote Issued, generate the pro forma through the accounting integration, and set a 7-day validity. Send a reminder 2 days before expiry: "Your quote holds until {{date}} - say the word and we will get it into production."
• On terms request: move to Negotiating Terms and suppress every automated message in the thread. BO is locked out entirely. Create a task for the rep and, where credit terms are requested, a second task for finance to run whatever credit check your policy requires.
• On acceptance: move to Won - Onboarding, send the Onboarding Pack, apply trade-active-stockist, and create the first-order fulfillment task.

Stop conditions: quote expires, which moves the opportunity to Dormant - Nurture with a note; declined; order placed.

9. Won account onboarding and reorder program

Trigger: opportunity moves to Won - Onboarding.

• Send the Onboarding Pack: trading terms for acceptance, delivery addresses, invoicing contact, purchase order process, and the rep's direct line.
• Wait until the first order ships, then send the merchandising support pack - product imagery, copy, care information, and anything that helps them sell it rather than just stock it.
• Wait 14 days from delivery, then send the first check-in from the rep: "How is it moving? Anything you need more of?" One question, no pitch.
• Schedule a recurring Reorder Review appointment quarterly, and create a rep task 7 days before each one with the account's order history attached.
• Lapse detection: if no order for a period exceeding one and a half times the account's own average reorder gap, apply trade-lapsed-stockist, alert the rep, and create a call task. No automated discount message - a lapsed trade account needs a conversation, not an offer.
• Annually, re-run the scoring with actual order data instead of estimates, and move the account between tiers on evidence rather than on what it said on its application.

Stop conditions: account closed; rep marks the relationship as ended with a reason; a terms dispute, which suspends all automated sending until finance clears it.

Before this build, trade inquiries arrive in a retail queue, are answered inconsistently, and either get your pricing without earning it or get no reply in time. After it, every trade inquiry is identified at the first touch, qualified on the facts that determine whether it is worth pricing, and routed by tier - with pricing released only after verification and a territory check. The margin structure stops leaking to people who should not have it, and the genuine multi-site buyer gets a same-day response, which is usually the whole competition.

Internally, the change is that the first conversation with a buyer starts from facts rather than from questions. The application has already captured the shop, the territory, the volume band, the categories and the terms expectation, so the discovery call is spent on the deal. And because won accounts drop into a quarterly reorder review, wholesale stops being a series of one-off wins and becomes a book of accounts.

Measure these monthly:

• Time to first response by tier - Tier A should be minutes, not days. This single metric predicts win rate better than anything else in wholesale.
• Application start-to-completion rate - if completion is low, the form is too long or the framing is wrong, not the demand absent.
• Qualification mix - the share of inquiries landing in Tier A, B, C and each decline reason. This tells you where your inbound is actually coming from.
• Decline reason distribution, especially "not trade" as a share of total. A high share means your retail-side triage is routing badly and staff time is being spent on retail buyers.
• Verification failure rate - a useful proxy for how much of your inbound is dropshippers and chancers.
• Line sheet to quote conversion and quote to won conversion, by tier. If Tier A does not convert better than Tier C, the scoring model is wrong.
• Sample-to-order conversion - samples are a real cost and this is the number that justifies them.
• Average days from inquiry to first order - the whole pipeline's cycle time.
• Reorder rate and value of second and third orders - where wholesale profit actually lives. A brand with a high first-order win rate and a low reorder rate has a product or service problem, not a sales problem.
• Trade show lead conversion by show, via the trade-show-lead tag, so next year's show budget is a decision rather than a habit.

Commercial decisions you must make first

• Tier definitions and thresholds, written down. What makes an account Tier A, and what exactly does each tier get? Without this, the scoring model is a guess and the routing is arbitrary.
• Your minimum order policy and whether it differs by tier. The build needs a rule, and BO needs to know it exists without being allowed to quote it.
• Territory and exclusivity policy. Do you grant exclusivity at all, and at what level - country, region, city? This is the decision that most often gets made badly under pressure during a negotiation, and it belongs on paper before the first inquiry.
• A current stockist list with territories, maintained by someone. The conflict check is only as good as this list, and a stale list produces a conflict you did not know about and a stockist relationship you just damaged.
• Marketplace policy. Decide in advance whether you supply resellers who will list on marketplaces, because it affects your own pricing control, and flag those applications separately with trade-marketplace-seller.
• What verification you actually require - registration number, tax number, a live trading website, a physical address, or a reference. Set the bar before launch and apply it consistently.

Integrations

• A business-registration lookup or validation service where available in your market, so verification is not entirely manual. A format check plus a resolving website is a reasonable minimum where no API exists.
• Accounting or invoicing - QuickBooks or Xero - for quotes, pro forma invoices and credit terms, with the trade account record linked so finance and sales see the same thing.
• Payments for prepayment orders, through Stripe or your merchant provider, so a first order is not delayed by a manual bank transfer chase.
• Google Calendar or similar two-way sync for the discovery call, showroom and reorder review calendars.
• Slack or an equivalent channel for Tier A alerts.
• Your commerce platform or a trade portal for Tier C self-serve ordering, so small accounts are served without consuming rep time.

Numbers and messaging compliance

• Provision a dedicated trade number and complete A2P 10DLC registration in the United States before sending. Confirm equivalent sender registration in other markets. Trade SMS is low volume but still subject to the same carrier rules.
• Business-to-business messaging is treated differently from consumer messaging in several regimes - sometimes more permissively, sometimes not, and the distinction often turns on whether the recipient is a sole trader or an incorporated company. Do not assume B2B means unregulated. Capture consent on the application form and keep it.
• Opt-out handling on every channel, including trade. A buyer who asks to stop receiving messages must be suppressed globally, and the suppression must not quietly break the operational messages on a live order - design that split deliberately.
• Quiet hours for the trade cadence, set to the buyer's trading hours rather than yours. The exception is the Tier A fast lane, where an automated email at 10pm is welcome and an SMS is not; keep the overnight fast lane to email only.
• Keep the trade list entirely separate from retail marketing. A trade buyer receiving a consumer discount email is a small thing that reads as carelessness and undermines the pricing conversation.

Data protection and commercial confidentiality

• You are collecting company identifiers, a named contact's details and commercial information about their business. Company data is generally not personal data; the named buyer's contact details are. Treat the two differently in your retention and access rules.
• Trade pricing and your stockist map are commercially sensitive. Restrict who can view trade-territory-conflict details and the line sheet, and never let an automation disclose which stockist holds a territory.
• The Currently Stocks Competing Brands field holds information about a third party's commercial relationships. Keep it for qualification use and out of anything shared externally.
• Set a retention period for declined applications. There is a legitimate reason to keep a record of a decline - you do not want to re-litigate it in six months - but it need not be indefinite.
• These are operational pointers, not legal advice. Trading terms, exclusivity clauses, credit terms and data handling should all be confirmed with the client's own counsel before launch.

People and sequencing

• A named wholesale owner with the authority to approve, decline and negotiate. This build routes decisions to a person; if that person does not exist, Tier A leads will sit in the fast lane going nowhere, which is worse than the inbox you replaced.
• Brief whoever answers the retail inbox and phone on one thing: trade inquiries go through the triage, never through a helpful ad-hoc reply with a price in it.
• Build in this order: the trade application and the pipeline, then identification and triage across channels, then scoring and routing, then the fast lane and nurture sequences, then reorder. Launching the scoring before the application exists is the common mistake.
• Tier thresholds, territory policy and verification standards are entirely business-specific and are where the scoping work belongs. Book a call at bookings.appbo.io to work through yours.