Data Freshness: OK
OK
As-of 2026-02-24T10:30 MST
Sales AE Week-Ahead Brief
Jon Vanderberg
Week of February 24 – March 2, 2026
11 open deals / $159K pipeline. Biggest risk is $71K going dark across Legrand, Z-Lite, and Gar Products. Biggest upside if you execute: $45.6K across Lane Venture, Woodbridge, Loomcraft, Luho, Lib & Co, and Baker McGuire. One thing to do well this week: getting a binary answer from Legrand.
01
Week at a Glance
1
Discovery / Demo Calls
Luho Design House follow-up today
11 / $159K
Open Pipeline
11 deals · $159,060 total
$71.2K
Revenue at Risk
Legrand $25.2K · Z-Lite $19.2K · Gar $26K
$45.6K
Upside if I Execute
Lane, Woodbridge, Loomcraft, Luho, Lib & Co, Baker McGuire
One Thing to Do Well
“Getting a binary answer from Legrand.”
02
Discovery Call Prep — Luho Design House
Luho Design House
Fit: High
Deal
eCat / $8,700 / Assist
Buyer
Jessica Allen, CEO/Founder (sole decision-maker)
History
Discovery 1/13 → Demo 1/21 → Follow-up 2/4 → Follow-up 2/17
SPICED Context
Trade-only home furnishings · ~100 SKUs · 15 reps · RepZio crashes at markets. Selling through showrooms and reps; needs a catalog that holds up under pressure at High Point and Las Vegas Market.
Questions to Ask
- DiscoveryWhen RepZio crashed at your last market, what did your reps actually do — and how many orders fell through the cracks?
- DiscoveryWalk me through how a new rep gets up to speed on your line today. What takes the longest?
- DiscoveryIf you could fix one thing about how reps present your catalog at market, what would it be?
- UrgencyHigh Point is coming up — what’s your drop-dead date for having a working digital catalog in reps’ hands?
- Qualify-OutIf the price came in right and the demo looked good, is there anyone else who would need to approve this, or is this your call?
03
Pipeline Reality
3A) Stalled Deals4 deals dark ≥14 days
| Deal | Stage | Amount | Days Dark | Issue | Next Action | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z-Lite | Demo | $19,200 | 20d | No response after demo; champion went silent | Send breakup email or direct-dial champion | HIGH |
| Toltec Lighting | Qualifying | $8,700 | 19d | Went dark during qualification | One more outreach, then deprioritize | HIGH |
| Baker McGuire | Propose | $4,700 | 19d | Proposal sent, no follow-up | Follow up on proposal; offer concession or call | MED |
| Gar Products | Propose | $26,000 | 14d | Proposal sent to committee; no update | Re-engage champion; ask for committee timeline | HIGH |
Priority Action
Z-Lite and Gar Products represent $45.2K at risk. Send breakup emails by Wednesday if no reply by EOD Tuesday.
3B) Moving Deals7 deals in motion
1
Legrand
Trey Wilson (Champion)
Contract sent. Needs binary answer — yes or no this week. Champion Trey Wilson is engaged but committee hasn’t signed off. Exec air cover is active.
2
Lane Venture
Budget approved. High Point pressure creates natural urgency. Push for signed contract before market prep begins.
3
Loomcraft
Row-view demo needed. Schedule and deliver demo to advance to proposal stage.
4
Woodbridge
Tech call with Brent is the blocker. Get Brent on the call this week to unblock integration questions and move to proposal.
5
Lib & Co
Business Central integration outline needed. Prepare a one-pager on BC integration path before next meeting.
6
Luho Design House
Meeting TODAY. Strong fit, sole decision-maker. Objective: confirm fit, handle objections, and send contract same-day if meeting goes well.
7
Gama Sonic
Need to get Spencer on a call. Reach out to schedule a qualifying conversation this week.
3C) Closed Won CustomersContext & reference
| Customer | Deal Value | Product | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surya | $26,000 | eCat | Live, reference-ready |
| Currey & Company | $18,000 | eCat + eol | Expanding usage |
| Capital Lighting | $13,200 | eCat | Active support |
| Fine Art Lamps | $11,000 | eCat | Recently onboarded |
| Braxton Culler | $8,700 | eCat | Feature requests active |
| Maxim / ET2 | $8,700 | eCat | Pricing config in progress |
| Progressive | $8,700 | eCat | SOW/go-live underway |
| Palecek | $8,700 | eCat | Freight calc configured |
3D) Deprioritize
Toltec Lighting — 19 days dark during qualifying. One more outreach attempt, then move to nurture.
Gama Sonic — Can’t get Spencer on a call. If no response by Friday, move to low-priority nurture and reallocate time to moving deals.
04
VoC Intelligence
Top 3 Pain Themes
1
Catalog crashes and unreliability at markets
“RepZio crashes every time we’re at High Point. My reps just pull out paper binders.” — Jessica Allen, Luho
2
Manual order entry and quoting errors
“We lose half a day re-keying orders after every market because the app drops data.” — prospect, lighting vertical
3
Rep onboarding takes too long without digital tools
“It takes a new rep three months to learn our line. If they had a real catalog app, it’d be three weeks.” — prospect, furniture vertical
Top 3 Objections & Reframes
| Objection | Reframe |
|---|---|
| “We already have RepZio.” | RepZio crashes at markets. How many orders did you lose at the last show? SuperCat works offline and syncs when you’re back online — zero lost orders. |
| “We built something custom internally.” | Custom apps are great until you need to update pricing across 500 SKUs. Who maintains that? SuperCat keeps pricing and inventory in sync automatically. |
| “Can we just wait and see?” | High Point is [X weeks] away. Every market you run on paper or a crashing app is lost revenue. The setup takes 2 weeks — what’s the cost of waiting one more season? |
Competitor Landscape
| Competitor | Strength | Weakness | How We Win |
|---|---|---|---|
| RepZio | Market presence, familiarity | Crashes at markets, poor offline mode, slow updates | Reliability story: “Works when RepZio doesn’t.” Ask for crash stories. |
| Custom App | Tailored to workflow | Expensive to maintain, no pricing sync, single point of failure | TCO argument: maintenance cost + update lag vs. managed platform. |
| “Do Nothing” | No change management | Paper catalogs, re-keying errors, slow rep onboarding | Quantify the cost of status quo: lost orders, rep ramp time, pricing errors. |
| Acumatica | ERP integration, enterprise credibility | Heavy, slow to deploy, not built for field reps | Speed to value: live in 2 weeks vs. 6-month ERP project. We complement, not compete. |
Talk Track Guidance
Lean Into
“How many orders did you lose at your last market?” — Lead with quantified pain. Anchor every conversation in revenue impact: lost orders, pricing errors, rep ramp time. Make the cost of inaction concrete.
Stop Saying
“We’re better than RepZio.” — Don’t lead with competitor bashing. Instead, ask questions that let the prospect describe their own pain. Let them sell themselves on switching.
05
Weekly Game Plan
5A) Top 5 Actions
| Priority | Action | Account | What | By When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | Get binary answer | Legrand | Call Trey Wilson. Confirm yes/no on contract. Escalate to exec sponsor if no answer by Wed. | Tue Feb 25 |
| P1 | Run discovery follow-up | Luho Design House | Meeting TODAY. Ask prepared questions. Send contract same day if fit confirmed. | Mon Feb 24 |
| P2 | Schedule tech call | Woodbridge | Get Brent on a call with Woodbridge to address integration questions. | Wed Feb 26 |
| P2 | Send breakup emails | Z-Lite, Toltec | Final outreach to Z-Lite (20d dark) and Toltec (19d dark). Move to nurture if no reply. | Wed Feb 26 |
| P3 | Prepare BC integration outline | Lib & Co | Draft Business Central integration one-pager for next meeting. | Fri Feb 28 |
5B) Deals to Advance or Disqualify
| Deal | Current Stage | Target This Week | Advance / Disqualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legrand | Commit | Closed Won | ADVANCE → get signature |
| Luho Design House | Assist | Propose | ADVANCE → send contract |
| Lane Venture | Assist | Propose | ADVANCE → push for signature |
| Z-Lite | Demo | Re-engage or nurture | DISQUALIFY if no reply by Wed |
| Toltec Lighting | Qualifying | Re-engage or nurture | DISQUALIFY if no reply by Fri |
5C) Personal Focus
Improvement This Week
Stop carrying stalled deals past 14 days without a forcing function. Every deal that’s dark >14d gets a breakup email or a direct-dial attempt this week. Free up headspace for the deals that are actually moving.