Proton.ai

We're excited to introduce Pronto – distribution's first conversational AI chatbot prototype. Our mission has always been to help distributors to sell more. Pronto is our latest leap towards that goal, acting as a digital assistant for sales teams, making information access quick and easy. Pronto quickly answers your questions with the kind of detail you'd expect from a data analyst, but without actually needing one. Whether you're a sales rep on the move or a leader gearing up for a strategic meeting, Pronto equips you with the insights you need to hit your goals. ✅ Need to evaluate a vendor's performance? ✅ Want a draft email for a prospect about a product?  ✅ Curious about which customers haven't purchased recently? ✅ Wondering which products to recommend to a specific customer? That’s a job for Pronto. Think Pronto could help your team work smarter? Check out the link in the comments for more details or to join the waitlist.

"Anyone who's looked at traditional CRMs in the past should broaden their perspective on what this tool can do." - Eric Wessinger, President and CEO at Richards Supply. We're thrilled to share our latest case study featuring Richards Supply. Their success with Proton.ai's CRM is a direct result of their dedication to improving their internal processes, communication, and customer experience. The results speak for themselves: 1. 72% daily usage among monthly users 2. 23.67% conversion rate on pitched items 3. $3.4k incremental revenue generated per active user/month Discover how Richard's Supply turned challenges into opportunities and drove growth with Proton's AI powered CRM. Check out the full case study linked in the comments.

Our team is growing and we're excited!! Please join us in welcoming Peter von Burchard as our Vice President of Sales! Pete will be responsible for all things sales. When he's not selling, you'll probably find him making pizza 🍕 !

🚨 Stop missing big sales opportunities. Chelsea Reddell, a Sales Consultant at Salon Services Pro, shares a powerful story of how Proton helped her turn a hidden opportunity into a major win. While driving by a salon, Chelsea decided to stop in after noticing they hadn't received a visit in a while. Thanks to Proton.ai, she knew exactly what products the stylist was using and the services offered. This knowledge allowed her to engage in a meaningful conversation right away. The results: - Immediate engagement with the stylist and her coworkers - The entire salon switched to Chelsea’s color line - A subsequent visit led to switching the salon to her retail line Without Proton.ai, this salon wouldn't have been on Chelsea’s radar. This story highlights how having the right information at your fingertips can transform customer interactions and drive significant sales growth. How has data-driven insight impacted your sales approach? Share your experiences below.

Excited to attend our first The International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) event this month in Charlotte. With our experience working with food & beverage distributors, we’re looking forward to connecting with sales and marketing leaders and joining the AI Showcase alongside Pepper and Cut+Dry. On July 15th, we'll be discussing how AI-powered CRM can help distributors increase sales, drive accountability, and transform their sales process from reactive to proactive. Will we see you there?

We're often asked, "What's the difference between an all-purpose CRM and an industry-specific CRM for #distributors?" All-purpose tools are generally optimized for the most common needs across different industries, not the specific needs of distributors. Here's why distribution-specific CRMs are more effective: 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: A distribution-specific CRM will natively integrate with key systems distributors use. For most distributors, their ERP is their core system. All-purpose CRMs typically struggle with #ERP integration because their customers span dozens of industries, and most of those industries don’t require an ERP integration. 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱: An industry-specific solution is designed with distributors in mind. General CRMs need significant customization to support distributors' needs. Want to load transaction data from your ERP into an all-purpose CRM?You'll probably need to hire an outside consultant. Industry-specific CRMs have this capability out of the box, saving distributors time and money. 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆-𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀: General CRMs lack features tailored to support distributors' workflows. Distributors are unique in that they serve thousands of customers, sell millions of products, and operate across multiple sales channels. At Proton, we built #AI-powered product recommendations into our CRM to help sales reps predict what customers might want to buy or reorder. Turning noisy data into relevant insights is helpful in distribution in a way that wouldn't be as beneficial in other industries. What's been your experience with #CRM in distribution? Whether you're using an industry-specific solution or a customized general CRM, we'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Your sales reps don't know their accounts as well as they think they do. If you're not tracking customer actions across all sales channels, your reps are likely missing crucial details and letting things slip on key opportunities. With so many touch-points, a 360° customer view is essential. What does this actually mean? Benjamin says, “A 360° view means pulling all the data from all those interactions into one system so we can see everything that’s going on with that customer, no matter where they're interacting with us.” This matters because it allows you to deliver a personalized experience regardless of how your customers interact with your company. Customers won’t have to "start over" every time their point of contact changes. We're curious – have you ever experienced a disjointed experience as a customer? Let us know in the comments.

Think big, start small. If you’re overwhelmed with implementing a CRM or AI in your business, start with a small test and measure the results. Recently, Benjamin Cohen shared a real-world example at the Modern Distribution Management (MDM) Shift event: "We had an industrial distributor start with 10 inside salespeople. Their goal was to help the team know who to call and what to sell. After three months, each rep saw $150,000 in incremental run rate. A huge win after just a few months of using the software." Proton.ai provides powerful recommendations to sales reps. In an A/B test at the same distributor, half of the reps saw recommendations, and half did not. The group with recommendations saw a 17% larger sales size. These small tests led to big results. How do you test the success of sales initiatives at your company? Let us know in the comments.

Don't leave money on the table. Guy Lacey, Vice President at Salon Services Pro, says, "People believe they know their customers so well that they're not necessarily thinking about sharing everything and allowing the customer the opportunity to decide." After Guy's reps started trusting recommendations from Proton.ai, they had a nearly 40% close rate on brands not previously purchased by those customers. This is what AI excels at—finding hidden opportunities you might have missed. How do you find hidden opportunities in your business? Let us know in the comments.

How many times have you found out the price of a product and justified buying something cheaper, not because you liked it more, but because the price of the other product scared you off? You're not alone. This is a cognitive bias we all struggle with. Confirmation bias can lead us to choose lower-priced options prematurely. Unlike products in a store, software prices are negotiable. You can't go up to a cashier at Costco and ask to pay $10 for chicken instead of $18.99. But you can ask your software vendor for a discount if you sign up for 3 years instead of 1. This post is the final one in our series about the 4 pitfalls distributors make when evaluating software with RFPs. The fourth pitfall? 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Distributors should evaluate software based on functionality, uptime, and other critical factors before considering price. Then, once you've determined the best solutions based on these criteria, consider the price. This approach ensures you're not swayed by price too early in the evaluation process. What other mistakes have you made or seen people make during software evaluations? Any you think we've missed?