For distributors with orders to keep moving

Virtual assistants for wholesale distributors

Give every open order a clear status and next action. An assistant can organize buyer requests, follow up with suppliers and surface exceptions for your account team. Knows The Drill recruits and prepares your assistant for your distribution workflow before handoff.

Find your assistant

Make the order exception easier to resolve.

A buyer sends a purchase order. The supplier confirms most of it, but one line is backordered. The account manager needs the quantity, promised date and available response in one place before calling the buyer.

Your assistant can maintain that thread from incoming order through supplier response and customer follow-up. Start with the repetitive coordination that sits between your sales, purchasing and warehouse teams.

The work to hand off

Keep the order desk current from request to follow-up.

Prepare buyer order records

Gather the purchase order, item references, quantities and delivery details. Compare incoming fields against your intake requirements and flag missing or conflicting information for the order owner.

What you get back: An order record with source documents and open questions

Track supplier acknowledgments

Follow up for acknowledgment and record the supplier's confirmed quantities, dates and exceptions. Keep the response linked to the relevant order lines.

What you get back: A supplier response log that makes partial confirmations visible

Organize backorder and shipment updates

Collect confirmed status from suppliers or your warehouse team. Prepare buyer updates and flag a changed date, split shipment or missing reference for the account manager.

What you get back: An exception queue with the buyer impact and next owner

Gather account and invoice inputs

Organize proof of delivery, order references and supporting records for account questions. Route price, credit or payment discrepancies to the person who can resolve them.

What you get back: A complete administrative packet for an account review

Illustrative workflow

From a partial acknowledgment to a buyer decision

Use one order to agree how exceptions reach the person who can resolve them.

Capture the order

Assistant preparesRecord the buyer's requested items, quantities and delivery details.

Your account team decidesWhether pricing, account terms and order acceptance are in place.

Record supplier reply

Assistant preparesMatch the acknowledgment to the requested order lines.

Your account team decidesWhether any difference needs purchasing or buyer review.

Present the exception

Assistant preparesSummarize the affected line, confirmed date and unresolved question.

Your account team decidesWhether to offer a substitute, split shipment or revised date.

Follow through

Assistant preparesRecord the agreed action and collect the next supplier or warehouse update.

Your account team decidesAny further change to the buyer's commitment.

Illustrative example — not a client record

A backorder follow-up record

This illustrative order shows how to preserve the exact exception an account manager needs to resolve.

Buyer order: Example entryBuyer PO 204: packing supplies for the next warehouse replenishment.; What to provide or checkTie the request to one buyer order.
Affected line: Example entryOne carton size is not included in the supplier's confirmed shipment.; What to provide or checkIdentify the exception at line level.
Supplier status: Example entrySupplier has confirmed the other lines; the remaining date is pending.; What to provide or checkSeparate confirmed supply from an unanswered question.
Decision needed: Example entryAccount manager decides whether to ask the buyer about a split delivery.; What to provide or checkName the commercial choice without making it.
Next action: Example entryAssistant requests the outstanding date and records the account manager's buyer update.; What to provide or checkKeep supplier follow-up and buyer communication connected.

Ready to hand over when: The affected line, confirmed response, unanswered question and decision owner are visible in the same record.

Download the blank template (CSV)

No email required. The file includes field names and guidance, with blank spaces for your own inputs. Use it to describe the work during matching; keep private client information out of an initial inquiry.

Shape the role around the workload

Is your order desk ready for dedicated follow-up?

A useful fit when

Account managers repeatedly chase supplier replies before they can answer buyers.
Partial orders and backorders are tracked across disconnected messages.

Discuss the setup first

You need someone to negotiate purchases or independently set account terms.
Your order records do not have a reliable source for availability and shipment status.

Managed support provides a dedicated, full-time assistant. Direct-hire responsibilities, hours and employment terms are agreed during matching.

Your team owns the commercial and fulfillment decisions.

An assistant can keep the order record useful while purchasing, sales and warehouse owners decide what the business can supply.

Pricing, credit terms, substitutions and purchase commitments require your designated commercial owner.
Availability and shipment status come from the responsible supplier or warehouse; record updates do not verify physical stock.
ERP actions, customer access and authority to send order confirmations are scoped before the role begins.

Bring us an order that took too much chasing.

01A typical buyer purchase order and supplier acknowledgment.
02Your order statuses, item references and system of record.
03The owners for pricing, purchasing, warehouse questions and buyer exceptions.
04Examples of buyer updates and the follow-up volume across a normal week.

Recruit. Prepare. Hand over.

Recruited for you. Trained for your industry.

First, we discuss your niche and the work you want your assistant to own. Then we recruit and prepare them in depth for the industry and responsibilities agreed with you before handoff. The matching conversation defines the skills, tools and preparation time your role needs.

We assess English fluency, practical problem-solving and independent judgment, so your assistant can work through the next step and recognize when to bring you in.

Choose the support behind your hire.

Managed assistant

A dedicated, full-time assistant through our service, with ongoing support from our team. One monthly fee.

Explore managed support

Direct hire

We recruit and train an assistant for you to hire directly into your team. You manage the day-to-day. One placement fee.

Explore direct hiring

The examples on these pages are a starting point. Bring the broader range of work you want covered to the matching call. We agree responsibilities, preparation time, working hours, fees and terms before you start.

Before you bring someone on

Can an assistant enter orders into our ERP?: Order entry can be part of the role when the fields, checks and permissions are clear. Show us the system and a typical order during matching. We discuss the skills and preparation needed before assigning those actions.
Can they handle backorder communication?: Yes. They can gather the confirmed supplier status, prepare the buyer update and track the next response. Your account owner decides how to handle a substitute, changed commitment or commercial exception.
How is this different from ecommerce support?: Wholesale work often centers on buyer purchase orders, supplier acknowledgments, account terms and line-level exceptions. An ecommerce role may focus more on individual consumer orders and returns. We scope the role around how your customers buy.
Can they work with both suppliers and our warehouse?: Yes, with an agreed contact map and source of truth for each status. The assistant coordinates the information; the supplier or warehouse confirms what is physically available, shipped or received.
Can one assistant support several account managers?: Yes, if the order volume and communication load fit the role. Agree how requests enter the queue and who resolves priority conflicts. Bring a sample week so we can discuss a realistic division of work.

Give your account team a clearer order picture.

Show us the acknowledgments, backorders and buyer questions that take the most follow-up. We will help build an assistant role around keeping those records and conversations moving.

Find your assistant

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