Industries
Know what your customers are buying. And what they’re not.
Order history on every account in HubSpot or Pipedrive, so account managers see who is buying less, who is due to reorder and what else they could buy.
A wholesaler or distributor needs a CRM that shows what every account buys, not just who to call: which customers are ordering less than last year, which are due to reorder, and which product categories they have never bought from you. Flowbird connects HubSpot or Pipedrive to ERPs such as Sage and Xero and to order systems such as Linnworks, so that answer is on the account record.
This page is for wholesalers, importers and exporters, and building materials and other trade distributors.
Why do declining accounts go unnoticed?
Distributors carry hundreds or thousands of accounts and many more product lines. Most accounts order steadily without much attention, which is exactly why a slow decline goes unseen. By the time a customer stops ordering a range, the reason has usually been in the order data for months, while account managers call the customers they know best rather than the ones who are slipping.
How does connecting the ERP fix it?
How it works
Order history on every account, without the export.
Your ERP or order system
Sage, Xero, Linnworks or the system you run.
- Customer accounts and branches
- Order lines and invoices
- Product categories
- Stock and lead times
- Price lists and account terms
The connection
- Branches and duplicate accounts matched
- Order lines grouped by category
- Updates on a schedule or as orders land
HubSpot or Pipedrive
- Spend trend by account
- Reorder due dates
- Range gaps against similar accounts
- A task when an account slips
What changes
- Declining accounts caught early
- Fewer missed reorders
- Cross-sell lists reps will use
- Promotions aimed at the right buyers
What does it look like in practice?
| Use case | How the CRM finds it | What it is worth |
|---|---|---|
| Declining accounts | Spend this quarter against the same quarter last year, by account | A call while the customer can still be won back |
| Missed reorders | Each customer's usual order cycle, set against their last order | Reorders prompted before the customer buys elsewhere |
| Range gaps | Order lines by category, compared with similar accounts | A short cross-sell list for each account manager |
| One-order accounts | First and second order dates on the account | New customers followed up before they lapse |
| Branches and buying groups | Branch accounts rolled up to the parent, with duplicates matched | One view of what a customer is worth across every site |
| Promotions | Customers who buy the category, and similar customers who do not yet | Price lists and offers sent to the buyers they suit |
How do you find cross-sell gaps?
Compare each account with others like it. If most electrical contractors who buy cable from you also buy accessories, the ones who do not are a short, specific call list. The CRM builds that list from the order data and puts it in front of the rep who owns the account. The point is fewer, better calls, not more calls.
What about stock and lead times?
For importers, exporters and anyone holding long-lead lines, stock shapes every sales conversation. When stock levels and expected arrival dates sit beside the account, a rep can tell a customer when their range will be available instead of promising and hoping, and can line up the reorder before the stock lands.
Which systems does it connect to?
The CRM is HubSpot or Pipedrive. Flowbird has connected HubSpot and Pipedrive to Sage 200, Sage 50, Xero and the Linnworks order system. Odoo and other ERPs can be connected where they offer an API, and the audit confirms what yours exposes before anything is built. The tool is whichever suits the job: a native connector, Make, n8n, BPA Platform or custom code. Orders, invoices, product categories, stock and price lists reach the account record. See CRM and ERP integration.
The catch is that a link carries the ERP's data across unchanged. Accounts duplicated under different codes, or products with no category, distort every report that depends on them. That is what the audit checks first.
What does the business get?
- Declining accounts caught while they can still be saved
- More reorders, fewer missed
- More of each customer's spend, from range gaps you can now see
- Territories set against account value rather than habit
- Less time exporting order data into spreadsheets
What changes for you: you stop chasing reps for account updates before the sales meeting, because the spend, the trend and the calls are already on the screen.
What comes first?
The CRM & ERP Opportunity Audit: a fixed price, two weeks and a written report you own. It checks what your CRM data can carry, maps one revenue-critical process end to end (for most distributors, the route from a first order to a repeat account), names the automations worth building first, and ends in a plain go or no-go. It is written to take to your managing director or finance director.
If you already know what needs connecting, talk to an integration specialist instead.
When is Flowbird not the right fit?
- There is no ERP or order data to connect
- You are not on HubSpot or Pipedrive and do not plan to move
- You have so few accounts that everyone already knows what each one buys
For that stage, the free Data Health Calculator and the Customer Data Clarity Workbook cover most of what you need.
Questions wholesalers and distributors ask
Can the CRM handle thousands of accounts and product lines?
Yes. HubSpot and Pipedrive both hold thousands of company records. The work is in deciding what reaches the CRM: order lines summarised by category and month rather than every line of every invoice, so reps see trends rather than noise.
Can we see branch and head office accounts together?
Yes. Branches can sit under a parent company, so spend rolls up across sites while each branch keeps its own contacts and orders.
Will reps have to enter orders twice?
No. Orders stay in the ERP or order system and are copied to the CRM. Reps record calls and visits, and the order history arrives on its own.