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Market Run
Sales Playbook

You are not selling software. You are selling a wholesaler his evening back, and the difference between those two sentences is the whole job.

Section 1

Start here, if you have never sold software

You have sold before, so the hard part is already behind you. What is new is the product. Read this section once and the rest of the document will make sense.

What "software" means in this job

A wholesaler runs his business on a set of habits. A customer rings at nine at night and reads out an order. Someone writes it on a pad. In the morning someone types that pad into a spreadsheet, works out what to buy at the market, drives and buys it, splits it between customers, loads the vans, decides who goes where, and that evening types the same order again into an invoice. Then on Friday someone goes through the bank statement working out who has not paid.

Software is a system that does those steps instead of the people. The order that comes in at nine at night becomes the buy list, the pick list, the van route and the invoice without anybody typing it a second time.

What "AI" means here, with no mystique

Ignore everything you have read about AI. In this product it means exactly one thing: the system can read a message a human wrote and understand what was ordered.

A customer sends a WhatsApp voice note saying "morning mate, usual please but double the toms and skip the spinach". A person has to listen to that, know what "the usual" is for that customer, know "toms" means tomatoes, and write it down. That is the bit AI does. It turns the message into order lines. That is all. It is not a robot and it does not make decisions on its own.

The one sentence to hold on to

Everything we sell is the same idea: the information a wholesaler already has, typed in once instead of five times, and moved from step to step automatically. If you understand that, you can sell this.

Why they will listen to you

These are not technology buyers. Most of the people you ring left school and went into the trade. They are not going to interrogate you about the architecture. They will ask you three things: does it actually work, who else uses it, and how much. Sections 4, 6 and 8 tell you exactly how to answer all three.

Section 2

What we are actually selling

Two things, and they are sold together. Do not lead with the second one.

1. Market Run, the system

An operations system built specifically for food wholesalers. It takes an order in at one end and carries it through to a paid invoice at the other, and each step feeds the next without anyone re-typing.

Step of their dayWhat Market Run does with it
Orders arrive by phone, WhatsApp, email or a repTurns the message into order lines, including voice notes and a photo of a handwritten list
Cut-off timeBuilds the buy list for the market from everything ordered
BuyingRaises purchase orders against the traders they actually buy from
PickingProduces the pick lists and records what was actually picked
Loading and deliveryPlans the round, assigns drivers and vans, tracks the run
DeliveryCaptures proof of delivery on the driver's phone
InvoicingInvoices on the weight actually delivered, not the weight ordered
Getting paidShows what is owed and what has gone past terms, every morning

2. Custom work on top

This is the real differentiator and it is the thing our competitors cannot match. Every wholesaler works differently. One prices by customer band, one does deals on the phone, one runs sale-or-return with three cafes and nobody else. The big systems tell them to change how they work. We change the system to match how they already work.

The line that lands

"It is yours to shape around your contracts, your warehouse and your process, rather than the other way round."

That includes building things that do not exist yet. If a customer says "the only thing I really need is X", the answer is not "we do not do that". The answer is "tell me exactly how you do it now, and I will get that in front of Pramit today". We build custom AI agents and automation for exactly this reason.

What they are buying, in their language

Section 3

Their day, so you can talk about it properly

Know this and you will sound like someone who has been in a warehouse. Get it wrong and they will know within ten seconds.

TimeWhat is happeningWhere it hurts
17:00-23:00Orders come in from restaurants closing up. Phone, WhatsApp, text, email, all at onceSomeone is on the phone all evening writing on a pad
21:00-24:00Cut-off. Orders totted up into a buy listDone by hand, late, tired. This is where the mistakes are made
01:00-05:00The market run itself. New Covent Garden, Smithfield, BillingsgateBuying against a list that may already be wrong
04:00-07:00Back to the yard. Split the load, pick each customer's orderPicking against paper. Substitutions not recorded
05:00-11:00Vans out. Deliveries across townRoutes decided by whoever has been there longest
10:00-16:00Invoicing. Typing the same orders in a second timeInvoiced on ordered weight, not delivered weight, so credit notes follow
FridaysChasing moneyNobody is quite sure who owes what
The single best question you can ask

"Who builds your buy list, and what time of night are they doing it?"

Every wholesaler has a person who does this. Usually the owner. Usually at eleven at night. The moment he tells you, he has told you his problem and you have not had to pitch anything.

Section 4

What is real today, and what you must not promise

Read this twice. Overpromising on a first call is the one mistake that cannot be recovered from, because they will find out on the demo.

True, and you can say it
  • Market Run is live and holds a real London wholesaler's entire trading book
  • That book is 476 customer accounts, over 15,000 orders and over 216,000 order lines
  • They moved onto us from one of the big named platforms in this space
  • The catalogue, the pricing rules, the buy list and the purchase orders run on that real book
  • The pricing rule engine has been run against more than 27,000 of their real order lines
Do not say these yet

These parts are built and tested but have not yet run a live day with a real van and a real driver. Say "built, and going live with our first customer now", never "in use every day".

  • Picking lists in daily live use
  • Delivery rounds actually driven, tracking, proof of delivery photos
  • Invoices generated and sent out of the system
  • The WhatsApp ordering pipe connected end to end

How to say it honestly and still sell

You It is running now on a London wholesaler's real book, their whole customer list and their whole order history. The ordering, pricing and market-buying side is live. The delivery and invoicing side is built and we are switching it on with them now. So if you came in, you would be early, and early means we build it around you rather than you fitting into something finished.

That last sentence is not a hedge. For this buyer it is the strongest thing you can say, because the reason they have not bought one of the big systems is that those systems will not bend for them.

If they push hard on a reference

Do not name the reference client on a first call. Say "a London fruit and veg wholesaler supplying over 250 restaurants". If they want to speak to them, that is a brilliant sign. Take it to Pramit, do not offer it yourself.

Section 5

Who you are calling, and how to read the sheet

You get a spreadsheet. Every row was researched before it reached you. Here is what each column is for.

ColumnWhat it isHow you use it
companyRegistered name at Companies HouseNever read this out. Use their trading name from the website
phoneThe number published on their own siteWhat you dial
suppliesWhat they actually sell, from their filed trade codesSay it back to them in the opener. "You are fruit and veg, is that right?"
sizeSize band from their filed accounts"Small, RKB band" is the sweet spot. That is a real business the owner still runs himself
years_tradingYears since incorporationLong-established means habits are deep. Use it as respect, not as a weapon
manual_signsEvidence from their own website that they work by handThe reason this row is on your sheet. Read it before you dial
has_systemWhether they already have online orderingIf this is filled in, they are a harder call. Lead on custom work, not on ordering
customersA customer count they publish themselvesGold. "You say you supply 300 restaurants, is that still about right?"
why_callThe one-line summary of all of the aboveRead this in the four seconds while it rings
statusWhether we have emailed them beforeIf emailed, see the script in section 6
Best rows on the sheet

A row that says takes orders on WhatsApp or orders by phone, with has_system: none found, and a size band of small, RKB band. That is a wholesaler doing exactly what our reference client was doing before we built this. Call those first.

When to call

Not early morning. They are at the market or on a van. Not late afternoon, they are taking orders. Best window is 10:00 to 14:00, when the vans are back and before the evening orders start.

Who you want

The owner, or whoever is called the general manager or operations manager. If a receptionist asks who is calling, the answer is not "sales". See section 6.

Section 6

The call, line by line

Do not read this out word for word. Learn the shape of it, then talk like yourself. The goal of call one is a twenty-minute screen share, nothing else.

Getting past the gate

You Hi, is the owner about? (pause) It is about how you are taking orders in the evening, he will know what it is.

Never say "I am calling from a software company", never say "sales", never say "marketing". You will be blocked on all three. You are calling about their orders, which is true.

The opener, once you have him

You Hi, it is [name] from TitanStudio in London. I will be quick, thirty seconds and you can tell me to get lost. (pause, let him say go on) We built an operations system for a fruit and veg wholesaler in London who supplies over 250 restaurants, and it does the whole of his day, the order coming in through to the invoice going out. I am ringing round wholesalers doing similar volumes to see if the same thing is worth a look for you. Can I ask you one question before I take up any more of your time?
You, the question Who builds your buy list for the market, and what time of night are they doing it?
Why this works

You have named the trade, named a real customer at a real scale, been honest that you are ringing round, given him an exit, and then asked about the one job in his week he hates. Nine times out of ten he will answer, and the answer is your entire pitch.

Discovery, four questions and no more

  1. "How do the orders actually come in?" Listen for phone, WhatsApp, text, "all sorts". That is the pain.
  2. "And then who types them up?" Listen for a name, or "me". If it is "me", he is the buyer and he is sold already.
  3. "Do you invoice on what was ordered or what actually went on the van?" If ordered, he is losing money on every weighed item and knows it.
  4. "How many drops are you doing a day?" Sizes the business and gets him talking about scale.

The pitch, only after he has answered

You So this is exactly what it was built for. Orders come in however your customers already send them, phone, WhatsApp, email, a voice note, and they turn into order lines without anyone typing them. At your cut-off it builds the buy list for the market. It routes the round and assigns the drivers. Then it invoices on the weight that actually went out rather than what was ordered, and every morning it shows you what has gone past terms.

Every part feeds the next while you are asleep. Nobody is compiling anything at nine at night, and that time goes back into selling.

The customisation line, which is what closes it

You And the part that matters most: every big system out there asks your customers to change how they order. They will not, and you end up paying for an expensive invoice printer. Ours meets them where they already are, and it is yours to shape around your contracts, your warehouse and your process rather than the other way round.

The close

You Twenty minutes on a screen share and you would know either way. I am not going to sell you anything on it, I will just show you the thing running. Are mornings or afternoons easier for you?

Give two options, never "when suits". Book it there and then. Send the calendar invite while you are still on the phone and say so out loud, so he knows it is real.

If they were emailed before and never replied

You I sent you a note a couple of weeks back and I would not expect you to remember it, you get fifty of those a week. That is why I am ringing instead. Thirty seconds?

Never say "you did not reply to my email". It puts them on the back foot and it makes the call about you rather than about them.

Section 7

Every objection, answered

The answer is never a defence. It is a question that gets him talking again.

"We already have a system"

You Most people we speak to do. Can I ask, when an order comes in on WhatsApp, does it go into that system on its own, or does someone type it in? (they always type it in) That is the bit we do.

"How much is it?"

You Honestly, I do not want to give you a number before I understand your setup, because it would be a made-up number. It depends on how many customers and how much we are shaping to your process. What I can tell you is it is a fraction of what the big platforms charge, and that is deliberate. Let me show you the thing first and we will talk about it properly after.
Hard rule

You never quote a price. Not a range, not a "from", not a "probably around". Pramit prices every deal after the demo. If you are pushed three times, say "I genuinely am not the person who prices it, and I would rather not guess at your money."

"We are too small for this"

You That is usually the opposite of the problem. The smaller you are, the more of the day is sitting on one or two people, and the worse it hurts when one of them is off. How many are in the office?

"I have not got time"

You I know, and that is sort of the point. Which day are you least buried? I will take twenty minutes and not a minute more.

"Send me some information"

This is a polite no. Do not accept it flat.

You I will do that now. Can I just ask so I send you the right thing rather than a brochure, is it the ordering side that is the headache or the invoicing side?

Then send it, and ring back in four working days. Half of these become demos.

"My customers will never use an app"

You Agreed, they will not, and we do not ask them to. That is the whole design. They carry on ringing you and sending voice notes exactly as they do now. The system reads them. Nothing changes for your customer at all.

"Is this that AI stuff?"

You Only in one specific place. When a customer sends a voice note saying "usual please, double the toms", something has to turn that into a proper order line. That is the AI bit. Everything else is just plumbing so you do not type the same order three times.

"I do not trust a computer to get the order right"

You Nor would I, and it does not work like that. Anything it is not sure about it flags and asks, and you can play the original voice note straight from the order line to check it yourself. It never quietly guesses.

"Who else uses it?"

Answer exactly as section 4 says. A London fruit and veg wholesaler supplying over 250 restaurants, who moved to us off one of the big named platforms. Do not name them.

"Call me back in six months"

You No problem. Can I ask what changes in six months? (listen) Fine, I will put it in the diary. One thing though, we are building it around our early customers, so being in early is worth more than being in later. Would twenty minutes now be worth it just to see it?

Section 8

The rules. Do not break these.

Everything else in this document is guidance. This section is not.

Never

  • Quote a price, a range or a "roughly"
  • Name our reference client on a first call
  • Name a competitor. Say "the big platforms"
  • Say a feature is live when section 4 says it is built but not live
  • Invent a number. If you do not know, say you will find out
  • Promise a delivery date for custom work
  • Say "AI" more than once in a call

Always

  • Read the why_call line before you dial
  • Ask the buy-list question before you pitch anything
  • Log the call outcome the same day
  • Send the calendar invite while still on the phone
  • Take anything you cannot answer to Pramit the same day
  • Write down their exact words about their process. That is what we build from
If they ask something you cannot answer

Say: "That is a good question and I would rather get you the right answer than a guess. Let me check with the person who built it and come back to you today." Then actually come back the same day. This wins more deals than knowing the answer would have.

Section 9

Follow-up, and what happens after the call

OutcomeWhat you doWhen
Demo bookedCalendar invite immediately. Confirm by text the morning ofSame minute
"Send information"Send the one-pager, then ring backRing back in 4 working days
Interested, no dateRing back. Do not email instead, it is weaker3 working days
Gatekeeper blocked youTry again at a different hour, then try the mobile if the sheet has oneNext day, different time
No answerTry twice more at different times of day, then park itDay 2 and day 5
Flat noAsk one question: "is it the timing or the idea?" Log the answerLog same day
Why we log the noes

The reason a wholesaler says no is the most valuable thing you collect all week. If ten people say the same thing, we change the product or the pitch. Write down their words, not your summary of them.

What happens at the demo

Pramit runs it. You stay on the call. Your job on the demo is to have briefed him beforehand on exactly what the wholesaler told you: how orders come in, who types them, how they invoice, how many drops. He builds the demo around those answers. That briefing is why your notes matter.

Your numbers

Commission structure and targets are set separately by Pramit and are not in this document. Ask him directly and get it in writing before you start.

Section 10

Glossary

Every word you might hear on a call or from us, in plain English.

WordWhat it actually means
Buy listThe shopping list for the market, worked out from everything customers ordered
Cut-offThe time after which tonight's order goes on tomorrow's van instead
Catch weightGoods sold by weight that varies. You order a box of beef, what arrives is 4.7kg not 5kg. Invoicing on the 4.7 is the honest way and most systems cannot do it
Pick listThe sheet telling the warehouse what to put in each customer's order
Round / routeThe sequence of drops one van does in one morning
PODProof of delivery. A signature or photo showing it arrived
TermsHow long a customer has to pay. "30 days" means the invoice is not late until day 31
Past termsMoney that is now genuinely late
Order padThe list of things a particular customer normally buys
Standing orderThe same order repeating every week without being asked for
Price bandDifferent customers paying different prices for the same product
Cost to serveWhat a customer actually costs you once you count the driving. Some customers lose money and nobody knows which
IntegrationTwo systems talking to each other, usually theirs and their accountant's
OnboardingGetting their customers, products and prices into the system so they can start
MigrationMoving off their old system onto ours without losing history
SaaSSoftware you pay for monthly instead of buying once. Do not use this word on a call
AutomationA step that used to need a person now happening on its own
AI agentA piece of the system that reads a human message and acts on it, like turning a voice note into an order