Form templates / Manufacturing & Industrial
Distributor Application Form
A distributor application form is a capability assessment. Territory, existing lines, warehousing, sales team and technical support - because a distributor who can't support your product will damage it.
For manufacturers, fabricators and industrial suppliers.
What else they carry tells you the most
The single most informative answer on a distributor application is the list of lines they already represent. It tells you their customer base, their price positioning, whether you'd be a conflict, and whether your product would get any attention at all.
So this template asks for it explicitly, alongside territory and whether they hold stock. A distributor who drop-ships and one who warehouses are entirely different propositions, and the difference decides your terms.
Screen before you spend time
Most of the work in an application process is on the ones that were never eligible. Asking the disqualifying questions first - dates, requirements, basic facts - means you spend your reading time on the real candidates.
Specifications, tolerances and quantities in writing
An RFQ described on the phone is an RFQ you'll re-quote. Material, quantity, tolerance and delivery date belong in fields, where they can't be misheard and can be forwarded to the shop floor exactly as received.
The same discipline suits internal forms - maintenance requests, visitor registration, incident reports - where consistency is what makes a month of records readable.
Long enough to decide, short enough to finish
Applications fail in two directions: too short to judge, or so long that good candidates give up. This template asks what a decision genuinely needs, split into steps so it never looks like a wall.
Make it yours in a minute
Change the wording, drop the questions you don't need, add the ones you do, put your own colour on it. Saving publishes it, and you get a link to paste into your website, your email signature or a message. Responses land in your dashboard and download as a spreadsheet whenever you want them.
What this template asks
- Company name
- Contact name and role
- Email address
- Phone number
- Website
- Head office address
- Years trading
- Annual turnover
- Number of employees
- How many are in sales?
- What kind of business?
- Which territory do you want to cover?
- Which sectors do you sell into?
- Which brands or product lines do you currently represent?
- Describe your typical customer
- What are you expecting on exclusivity?
- Would you hold stock?
- Warehouse space available
- Which of these can you provide?
- How would you take our product to market in the first year?
- First-year sales forecast
- The information above is accurate
More Manufacturing & Industrial forms
Questions
Should I ask about exclusivity expectations?
Yes - ask early, because it's the most common point of disagreement. A distributor expecting exclusivity for a whole country is a different conversation from one happy to compete.
What financial information should I ask for?
Turnover band and years trading at application stage; full accounts and references once you're seriously considering them. Asking for accounts up front loses good applicants.
Can applicants attach a CV or document?
Not yet - file uploads are on the roadmap. Most people ask for a link (to a portfolio, a CV in cloud storage, or a profile) which works today and keeps the form fast.
Can I close applications on a deadline?
Yes. Close the form and anyone with the link sees a short closed page instead of the questions, so nobody fills in an application that can't be considered.
Can more than one person review them?
Yes - invite your team into the same account and they'll see the same responses. You can also export to a spreadsheet and score them wherever you like.
Can we use this behind the scenes as well as with customers?
Yes, and many do: the same account can hold a public RFQ form and internal forms for maintenance or visitors. Only your team needs logins.
Publish your distributor application form today
Start from this template and change anything you like. Free to begin.