Should You Hire a Sales Rep or Broker? (Sales Rep vs Broker)

At some point every growing brand hits the same fork: keep selling wholesale yourself, or bring in someone whose whole job is selling. And if you outsource, do you want a sales rep or a broker? The sales rep vs broker question sounds like semantics, but the two work differently, get paid differently, and fit different stages. This guide lays out what each actually does, and — just as important — when outsourcing your selling is the right call versus when it is a mistake.

What a sales rep does

A wholesale sales rep (often an independent rep or a rep group) carries your line to buyers, usually alongside complementary but non-competing brands. They have existing relationships in a category or region, they pitch your product to their buyers, and they earn a commission on the sales they bring — commonly in the 10 to 20 percent range.

The appeal: instant access to relationships you would take years to build. A good rep already knows the buyers at the boutiques, chains, or distributors you are trying to reach. The catch: they only make money when you sell, so they prioritize the lines that move fastest. A new, unproven brand can sit at the bottom of a rep bag getting little attention.

What a broker does

A broker plays a similar role but is more common in specific channels — food, grocery, and larger retail — where landing a chain involves category reviews, distributor relationships, and retail compliance. Brokers often manage the ongoing relationship with a retailer or distributor, not just the initial sell-in, and they too work on commission.

The line between rep and broker blurs by industry, but the practical distinction is scope: a rep typically opens accounts, while a broker often opens and then manages larger, more complex retail relationships. If your path runs through grocery or big-box, a broker is frequently the expected route. We touch on that channel in how to find distributors for your product.

When outsourcing makes sense

Bringing in a rep or broker is the right move when:

• You have proof and margin. A product that already sells, with enough margin to pay a commission and still profit. Reps and brokers amplify traction; they do not create it.
• Relationships are the bottleneck. Your product is ready and your problem is access — you cannot get in the door at the buyers who matter. That is exactly what a rep's relationships solve.
• The channel demands it. Grocery, big-box, and certain regional retail effectively require broker representation to navigate.

In those cases, paying a commission for doors you could not open yourself is good math.

When to keep it in-house

Outsourcing is the wrong move when:

1. You have not proven the product sells wholesale. A rep will not do the unglamorous early work of testing your pitch and pricing. Do that yourself first.
2. Your margin cannot absorb a commission. If paying 15 percent turns a profitable deal into a break-even one, you are subsidizing someone else's income.
3. You need to own the relationships. Reps and brokers own the buyer relationship, not you. If they leave, the accounts can leave with them. For a durable channel you control, you want at least some of the pipeline built directly.

The honest reality for most early-stage brands: you should run your own wholesale outreach first, prove it converts, and only then hand the proven motion to a rep to scale. Building that motion is what building a wholesale program covers.

The third option most brands miss

The rep-vs-broker framing assumes your only choices are do-it-all-yourself or pay a human a commission. There is a middle path. Modern automation can do the front of the sales job — finding buyers, reaching the right contact, sending personalized outreach, and booking the calls — without a commission on every deal or handing over your relationships. We compare the economics directly in AI vs hiring a sales rep.

That is what ASINBuyer does: you paste an Amazon ASIN, and five AI agents find matching B2B buyers, write outreach in your voice, send it, and book the calls. You still own every relationship, and you close the deals yourself — the part a founder is actually best at.

A rep or broker is worth it when relationships are your bottleneck and you have margin to pay for them. Before that, prove the motion yourself — with a human team or with automation — so you keep your margin and own your accounts.

Want to build your own pipeline before you pay a commission? Start with your ASIN and let the agents book the calls.