A distributor sits above resellers: it does not sell to end customers, it recruits, finances, enables, and aggregates a whole reseller network on your behalf. It is a partner to you and vendor-like to its own resellers. This track sets up the two things that make two-tier work in Introw, multi-tier attribution on a single CRM deal and scoped access so a distributor can manage its sub-partners, then gives you the roll-up reporting to see sell-through.
Time to first value: distributor-and-reseller credit visible on shared deals within a few days. Owned by: Partner Operations and the Partnerships Lead, with Finance and RevOps on attribution and roll-up.
What a distributor actually needs
A distributor is dual-natured: an alliance manager owns the relationship up to you, while a channel-management function recruits, enables, and finances the downstream reseller network. On your side this is a strategic, CPO-level relationship run through ops and finance, not a single PAM. The distributor needs to manage sub-partners and their access, see credit and visibility on the same deals their resellers work, and get consolidated roll-up across many deals. The single most useful thing you configure is two-tier attribution on one deal.Set up the foundation
Connect your CRM
Why it matters. Two-tier credit has to resolve to one source of truth or the demand signal is lost. Connecting the CRM first means distributor and reseller attribution both write to the same deal record, which is the only way sell-through stays auditable.Connect HubSpot or Salesforce as the system of record.Time: 20 to 30 min · Who: CRM Administrator, Revenue Operations
Connect your CRM
Two-way sync with Salesforce or HubSpot.
Choose how partners are stored
Decide how distributor records map into the CRM.
Import partners and their contacts
Why it matters. A distributor brings several people: an alliance manager facing you and a channel manager facing its resellers. Importing the distributor with its contacts is what lets you scope the right people’s access in the next step.Detect distributors from the CRM and bring their contacts in.Time: 30 to 60 min · Who: Partner Operations
Auto-sync new partners
Detect distributors automatically from the CRM.
Manage partner contacts
Bring in the distributor’s people as contacts.
Attribute deals across two tiers
Why it matters. This is the defining setup for distribution. Crediting both the distributor and the reseller on one CRM deal, and sharing visibility across the tiers, is what lets you pierce the demand opacity that normally hides two-tier channels. Without it you only see the distributor, never the sell-through underneath.Add a distributor field to your deals, attribute a deal to both a distributor and a reseller, and share visibility across tiers.Time: Half a day · Who: Partner Operations, Revenue Operations
Attribute a deal to a distributor and reseller
Credit both tiers on one CRM deal.
Share deal visibility across tiers
Let distributor and reseller see the same deal.
Add a distributor field to a form
Capture the distributor on registration.
Build the two-tier motion
Scope access so the distributor manages its network
Why it matters. A distributor is vendor-like downstream, so it needs to manage sub-partners and their people without seeing the rest of your program. Partner team roles and per-user scoping give the distributor self-serve control over its own network while you keep governance, which is what makes managing a few distributors instead of a thousand resellers possible.Create partner team roles, assign them, and limit each user to the partners they manage.Time: Half a day · Who: Partner Operations, with the Partnerships Lead
Create a partner team role
Define what a distributor’s people can do.
Limit a user to their partners
Scope each user to their own network.
Register deals with the distributor captured and conflict screened
Why it matters. When a reseller registers a deal, the distributor above it has to be captured and the claim screened for conflict, so credit and governance hold across both tiers. The AI agent doing first-pass screening keeps this fast even across a large network.Capture the distributor on the registration form, detect conflict, and gate for approval.Time: Half a day · Who: Partner Operations
Detect channel conflict with AI
Screen registrations across the network.
Set up an approval gate
Review claims that need a human.
Stand up a minimal distributor experience with self-serve deals
Why it matters. A distributor needs one place to see its network’s pipeline, and its resellers need to work their own deals without a CRM seat: edit the fields you let them control and build quotes themselves. Letting the network self-serve on the shared pipeline is what keeps a two-tier channel moving without routing every update and quote through you. You choose which fields are editable, so governance stays intact down the chain.Publish a distributor experience with the network pipeline, let resellers edit the fields they own, and let them quote on their deals. Experience building can add far more later.Time: 2 to 4 hours · Who: Partner Operations
Build a portal experience
Assemble the distributor portal.
View partner pipeline
Show pipeline across the reseller network.
Choose editable properties
Let the network edit only the fields you choose.
Self-serve quoting
Let resellers build quotes on the deals they own.
Go deeper once you are live
Add these once two-tier attribution and access are working. Roll-up reporting is the highest-value next step, because sell-through visibility is the whole point of distribution.Roll-up and sell-through reporting
Why it matters. Distribution economics reward breadth and velocity across the network, not single deals. Partner analytics and dashboards built on the two-tier attribution give you the sell-through view that keeps pricing control and demand signal from disappearing into the channel.Time: Half a day · Who: Revenue Operations, Partnerships Lead
Read partner analytics
See sell-through across the network.
Show a partner dashboard in the portal
Give distributors their own roll-up view.
Account margin and rebates across the tier
Why it matters. Distributors earn thin aggregation margin on sell-through volume plus rebates, all of which must reconcile to the CRM. Commission plans calculated from the source-of-truth deals keep margin and rebate accounting auditable across the whole tier.Time: Half a day · Who: Finance, Partner Operations
Create a commission plan
Model aggregation margin and rebates.
Choose a data source
Calculate from the CRM or billing truth.
You are live
One CRM deal now carries both distributor and reseller credit, the distributor manages its own network through scoped access, and you can see sell-through across the tier with margin reconciled to the CRM. You reach a whole reseller network through a handful of managed relationships, without losing the demand signal underneath.Run a different motion?
Pick another partner-type track.
Multi-tier Attribution
Go deeper on two-tier credit and visibility.