Dealer onboarding is the process through which a new dealer joins your distribution network and begins representing your brand. The quality of onboarding sets the foundation for how that dealer performs and how aligned they remain with your brand standards over time.
Commercial onboarding covers the fundamentals: pricing, margins, minimum order quantities, payment terms, and the commercial obligations on both sides. This is typically handled by the sales or commercial team.
Brand standards onboarding is where most brands underinvest. This covers product knowledge training, display and presentation standards, call handling expectations, how to handle customer enquiries and complaints, and the brand’s guidelines for digital representation including the Google Business Profile listing.
Digital onboarding should be part of the standard process from the start. This means either transferring ownership of an existing GBP listing to the brand or creating a new one during onboarding, rather than leaving it to be done later or not at all. A dealer who starts without a properly set up Google listing begins their relationship with the brand already behind on digital visibility.
Setting up monitoring from day one means the brand begins tracking the new dealer’s performance signals immediately. Any dealer who enters the network already knowing that their performance is being measured and that there are accountability consequences for sustained underperformance is more likely to maintain standards than one who only encounters accountability after a problem has developed.
See how Locus Intelligence manages this across your dealer network in 30 days.