A rep is an agent: they never take title to the goods, carry no inventory, and get paid a commission only once an order actually ships — their value is technical knowledge, local relationships, and sales effort, not warehousing or credit. A distributor is a reseller: they buy product at wholesale, hold stock, extend credit terms to customers, and make their money on the spread between what they paid and what they charge — which means they carry real inventory and receivables risk the rep never does. In practice, many manufacturers use both in the same territory: a rep drives the technical sale and gets the product specified, while a distributor handles physical fulfillment once an order is placed. This distinction matters for how project intelligence gets used. A rep needs to know which live projects specify their lines early enough to call the contractor before the bid goes out — the sales-trigger moment their whole business model depends on. A distributor is more often reacting after an order is placed. Nonlinear is built around that earlier moment a rep relies on: reading specifications as they're published, not waiting for a purchase order to arrive.
Knowledge Base
What's the difference between a manufacturer's rep and a distributor?
A manufacturer's rep sells on commission without ever owning the product; a distributor buys the product outright, holds inventory, and resells it at a markup — two very different relationships to the same sale.
