A dealer network is a set of businesses you don't own executing promises you made. Managing it by relationship works until the network passes a few dozen dealers; after that it needs records: who owes what, who sells what, who services what — per dealer, current, queryable.
Onboarding to operating, on one master
Dealers are accounts on the same party master as customers and suppliers — hierarchies for multi-branch dealer groups, locations, contacts with roles, agreements and documents attached. Onboarding is a checklist with owners, not an email thread; territory and product-line assignments live on the record.
Credit that gates, schemes that price
Credit limits and terms are enforced at order time — a dealer over limit or past due is gated with an approval path, not discovered in the ageing report. Schemes price identically for every dealer in scope: slabs, early-bird windows, growth incentives — with budgets and a consumption ledger that make scheme settlement a reconciliation, not a fight.
Self-service that dealers actually want
The dealer portal — a surface onto the system of record, not a replacement for it (dealer portal vs DMS) — gives every dealer their own counter: ordering at their negotiated terms, live credit position, order and despatch status, claim status without a phone call. Row-level security scopes each dealer to exactly their records.
Visibility the network earns you
Because dealer orders, stock and service jobs run through the platform, secondary visibility is captured at source: sell-through per dealer and SKU, stock cover, service attach — feeding territory-manager beats that visit dealers with the numbers already in hand. Which dealer needs help before the customer escalates is a nudge, not an annual review surprise.
Warranty is only one of the claim types a dealer network raises. Scheme, rebate, damage and freight claims settle on the same ledger — see dealer claim management.
Common questions
How is dealer credit managed?
Limits and terms live on the dealer account and are enforced when orders are placed — on the portal and in field-captured orders alike — with overdue gates and an explicit approval path for exceptions. Exposure per dealer is a live view.
What does a dealer see on the portal?
Their own catalogue and negotiated pricing, live credit position and dues, order and despatch status, and claim status — scoped by row-level security to exactly their records. The monthly statement phone call becomes a login.
How do OEM schemes stay consistent across the network?
A scheme is one governed definition — conditions, benefits, periods, budgets — applied identically wherever it is in scope. Consumption accrues in a ledger tied to order lines, so settlement and budget burn are facts, not regional interpretations.
Can territory managers work dealers like a beat?
Yes — planned dealer visits with geo-verification, stock checks, order capture and issue logging on the offline field app, so network coverage is measured the same way a distribution beat is.