B2B Wholesale and Distribution Pipeline Template
From buyer meeting to the reorder that proves it is an account, with credit checks and MOQs treated as real stages.
The stages
Each stage states what is true about a deal sitting in it, and the one testable thing that has to happen before it moves. If the exit criterion is not met, the deal does not advance, whatever the rep believes.
Account Prospected
5% probability7 to 21 daysYou have identified a retailer or reseller whose assortment your product fits, and you have a route to a real buyer.
You have confirmed they stock adjacent categories, and you have the buyer or category manager by name with a direct contact method, not a generic trade inbox.
Buyer Meeting
20% probability7 to 21 daysThe range has been presented. Retail buying runs on a calendar, so timing matters as much as the pitch.
The buyer has seen the range, named which SKUs fit their assortment, and given you their next range review or buying window date.
Samples Sent
30% probability10 to 21 daysPhysical product is with the buyer for evaluation, merchandising review or quality checks.
Samples confirmed delivered, and a feedback call is booked within ten days of delivery with a date in the calendar.
Pricing and Terms
45% probability7 to 21 daysCommercials are on the table: wholesale price, minimum order quantity, payment terms, lead time and any territory arrangement.
The wholesale price list, MOQ, payment terms and delivery lead time have been issued in writing, and the buyer has confirmed receipt with no pricing, MOQ or lead time objection left unanswered.
Credit Check and Account Setup
60% probability5 to 15 daysThe commercial side is agreed and finance takes over. This stage is boring, unglamorous, and where a surprising number of deals silently expire.
The credit application is approved with a stated limit, the trading account exists in your ERP, and tax or reseller certificates are on file.
First Purchase Order
80% probability3 to 10 daysA PO has landed. This is a milestone, not the finish line: a first order is a test, and the retailer is treating it as one.
A purchase order is received that matches the agreed price list and meets the MOQ, with a requested delivery date you can actually hit.
Shipped and Invoiced
90% probability5 to 30 daysGoods have left. Your job now shifts to making sure the sell-through story reaches the buyer before the reorder decision.
Goods dispatched against the PO, invoice raised, and delivery confirmed by the customer with no shortages or damage claims outstanding.
Reorder Placed
100% probability4 to 16 weeksThe second order is in. Only now do you have an account rather than a trial, and only now is the customer acquisition cost justified.
A second purchase order is placed within the expected reorder window for the category, and the account is assigned an owner for ongoing coverage.
Fields worth tracking
Stages tell you where a deal is. These fields tell you whether it is any good. Add them as custom fields on the pipeline, and make the ones that gate a stage required.
The gap between what you quoted and what they actually ordered is your best signal of buyer confidence, and it stops the pipeline being valued at the full price list.
Net 30 versus Net 90 changes the cash impact of the same order enormously, and an order that exceeds an approved credit limit should never reach dispatch.
This is the field that turns a distribution CRM into a revenue engine. Once you know a customer reorders every eight weeks, week nine of silence is an alert rather than a surprise.
Tells you which products actually get listed versus which ones you keep pitching. Six months of this data reshapes what you take to the next buyer meeting.
Granting exclusivity without recording it is how you end up with two resellers in the same city and a conversation nobody wants to have.
Automations worth building
A pipeline that only stores data is a spreadsheet with a nicer view. These are the three workflows that make this pipeline maintain itself.
Seven days after samples are marked delivered with no feedback logged, trigger an email and a call task automatically. Samples that go silent are almost always a scheduling problem rather than a rejection.
Compare days since the last purchase order against the expected reorder cycle field. When it exceeds the cycle by 20%, create a task for the account owner and enrol the buyer in a short check-in sequence. This one workflow typically recovers more revenue than any new-business campaign.
Block any deal moving past First Purchase Order while the credit check field is unapproved or the order value exceeds the approved limit, and notify finance automatically instead of letting the rep negotiate it privately.
Common mistakes with this pipeline
Retail and reseller accounts are won on the reorder. A pipeline that closes at first PO gives you no visibility of the accounts that ordered once, sold through badly and quietly never came back. Keep Reorder Placed as the closing stage.
A rep under pressure at quarter end will push an order out ahead of the credit check, and the write-off lands two quarters later with nobody accountable. Make it a system gate, not a policy in a document.
Valuing the deal at the full range you presented rather than the realistic first order inflates the pipeline by three or four times. Track expected first order value and annual account value as separate fields.