version: "1.0.0" name: wholesale-distributor-leads description: Build a lead list of wholesalers, distributors, importers and trade suppliers, qualified by catalogue breadth, warehouse footprint and customer base. Use when the user wants to sell to wholesalers, distributors, trade suppliers, importers, cash and carry operators, B2B merchants or supply chain intermediaries.

Wholesale and Distribution Lead Generation

Distribution is a volume business on thin margins, which means operational efficiency is not a nice-to-have. Anything that reduces cost per order, per SKU or per delivery has a genuinely receptive audience.

The vertical is poorly served by generic B2B data because distributors are frequently mislabelled as manufacturers or retailers. The qualification work is establishing what a company actually does.

Who actually buys

Order volume and SKU count are the two size measures. Headcount correlates poorly — a highly automated distributor can move enormous volume with a small team.

Trade-only versus open-to-public matters. A trade counter operation has different systems needs from a pure B2B distributor with account customers.

Where these leads live

Brand stockist locators are the standout. If a manufacturer publishes its authorised distributors, that's a verified list of companies with a distribution agreement, a minimum order commitment and a territory.

Customs and import records are the closest thing to seeing a distributor's actual throughput.

Qualifying signals

A distributor with a trade portal, next-day delivery and 12,000 SKUs is running real systems and will buy more. One with a PDF price list and a phone number is a different conversation.

Disqualifiers

• Manufacturers selling direct, unless targeted — see manufacturing-industrial-leads
• Retailers presenting as wholesalers
• Dropship aggregators with no stock
• Buying groups themselves, unless targeted
• Freight forwarders and 3PLs — see logistics-freight-leads
• Marketplaces and B2B platforms

The ManyPI brief

{
  "description": "Regional trade distributors and wholesalers holding their own stock, with a trade account application and a published or requestable catalogue of at least 2,000 SKUs, serving business customers rather than the public. Prefer distributors with next-day delivery, multiple depots or a customer trade portal, and those listed as authorised stockists by named brands. I want the operations director, commercial director or managing director. Skip manufacturers selling direct, retailers, dropship aggregators, freight forwarders and marketplaces.",
  "count": 200,
  "locations": ["United Kingdom", "Ireland"],
  "industries": ["wholesale", "distribution", "trade supply"],
  "company_size": "20-150 staff, own stock holding",
  "titles": ["Operations Director", "Commercial Director", "Managing Director", "Head of Supply Chain", "Sales Director"],
  "keywords": ["trade accounts", "own stock", "next day delivery", "trade portal", "authorised distributor", "multiple depots"],
  "exclusions": ["manufacturers selling direct", "retailers", "dropship aggregators", "freight forwarders", "3PL providers", "marketplaces", "buying groups themselves"],
  "required_fields": ["email", "full_name", "title"],
  "extra_columns": [
    "Roughly how many SKUs are in their catalogue, and how is it published? Include the URL.",
    "Which brands do they distribute, and are they listed as an authorised stockist anywhere? Give a source URL.",
    "Do they offer a trade portal or online ordering for account customers?",
    "What delivery service levels do they advertise, and do they run their own fleet?",
    "How many depots or warehouses do they operate?"
  ],
  "sources": ["trade wholesale marketplaces", "brand stockist and distributor locators", "buying group member lists", "trade show exhibitor lists", "company filings"],
  "notes": "SKU count and delivery service level are the best available proxies for operational complexity, which is what predicts systems spend. Brand stockist locators verify a real distribution agreement rather than a self-description."
}

claude mcp add --transport http manypi https://mcp.manypi.com/mcp -s user

Finding the contact

1. Company registry filings for directors — reliable in this owner-managed sector
2. The company website team or contact page, at larger distributors
3. Trade show exhibitor listings, naming a commercial contact
4. Brand stockist listings, sometimes with an account contact
5. Trade association member entries
6. sales@ or accounts@, which are genuinely monitored — enquiries are the business

The angle that works

You're running 14,000 SKUs across two depots with next-day on stocked lines. At that point the cost isn't picking, it's the exceptions — short-shipped orders and the calls that follow.

Specific to their published operation, and it names a real distribution problem rather than a generic efficiency claim.

What falls flat here specifically: anything that sounds like it was written for retail or ecommerce. Distribution has its own vocabulary — allocation, backorder, drop-ship, min-max, dead stock — and using retail language marks you as an outsider.

Timing

• Early morning, before the picking day.
• Avoid month-end and quarter-end, when stock counts and invoicing run.
• January, after peak trading.
• Trade show season, when distributors are already evaluating.

Don't

• Don't confuse distributors with manufacturers or 3PLs. Directory data conflates all three.
• Don't use retail language.
• Don't use headcount as the size filter. SKU count and depot footprint are better.
• Don't ignore buying group membership, which can constrain system choices.
• Don't email during the picking and dispatch window.

Related playbooks

manufacturing-industrial-leads, logistics-freight-leads, food-drink-producer-leads, marketplace-seller-leads, import-export-trade-data-leads