A buyer picks up one of your pieces at the market, turns it over to find the price, and says the thing you've been hoping to hear for months: these would do really well in my shop, send me your wholesale info. You say of course. You mean it, too.
Then the day gets away from you. Three more customers walk up, the card the buyer handed you goes in your apron pocket, and by the time you're back at the bench that night it's gone through the wash or buried under a stack of invoices. Two weeks later you remember, feel weird about reaching out that late, and talk yourself out of it.
Here's the thing worth sitting with: the interest was real. What killed the deal wasn't your work or your prices. It was the gap between "send me your info" and actually sending it, a gap you keep trying to close with willpower when you're already running a one-person shop. Willpower loses. A system that fires the second someone asks does not.
Have the line sheet ready before anyone asks
A line sheet is the one document a buyer needs to say yes. It's a single page, sometimes two, that lists your products, the wholesale price for each (usually about half your retail price), your minimums, and how ordering works. No line sheet, no order. Buyers deal with dozens of makers and they will not chase you for numbers.
Put these on it, plainly:
- Wholesale prices per item, with your retail prices next to them so the shop can see their margin at a glance.
- Minimum order, often called an MOQ (minimum order quantity), like "first order $200, reorders $150." This keeps tiny orders from eating your day.
- Lead time, meaning how long from order to delivery. If you throw pots or bake to order, say "three to four weeks" so nobody expects a Tuesday.
- Payment terms. Most small makers ask for payment up front or on delivery. "Net 30," where a shop pays within 30 days of getting the goods, is common with bigger stores, but it means you're floating the cost, so offer it only if you can afford to.
- Case packs if you have them, like "candles sold in sixes."
Keep it as a PDF you can attach or a link to a simple page. Update it when prices change and nowhere else, so there's one true version and you're never quoting from memory at a booth.
An auto-reply that answers the moment they ask
Once the line sheet exists, the fix is to send it without you lifting a finger. You set up a keyword or a form so that when a buyer reaches out, they get everything they need inside a minute, whether you're at the wheel or asleep.
A couple of ways this looks in real life:
- Put a line on your booth sign and your Instagram bio: text WHOLESALE to your number. The moment someone does, an auto-reply goes back with your line sheet link and a short form.
- Or hand out a little card with a QR code that opens a wholesale inquiry form. Same idea, better for the buyer who'd rather type than text.
The auto-reply should do three things and stop: thank them, send the line sheet, and ask for the few facts you need to quote them. Keep the form to five fields at most: shop name, contact name, email or phone, roughly what they're interested in, and when they'd want it. Every extra field loses a few people, and a buyer standing in your booth will bail on anything that feels like a job application.
What the reply might say: "Thanks so much for asking about wholesale. Here's our line sheet with prices and minimums (link). Fill out this quick form and I'll get back to you within two days with next steps." That's the whole thing. Warm, done, and it went out while you were mid-sentence with the next customer.
Two nudges, then you let it rest
Most wholesale conversations don't die from a no. They die from silence, because the buyer got busy too. A short follow-up sequence, two messages spaced out, does the polite chasing you never get around to.
- Nudge one, about three days later, if they opened the line sheet but didn't fill the form: "Just making sure this reached you. Happy to answer anything before you decide. Want me to hold a spot in my next production run?"
- Nudge two, about a week after that: "I'll close the loop so I'm not cluttering your inbox. The wholesale offer stands whenever you're ready, and reorders are easy once we start. Just reply here."
Two is the number. A third feels like pressure, and a fourth burns a bridge you'll want later, because the boutique that passes this spring might stock you by fall. After nudge two, let it sit. If they come back in three months, the same system picks right up.
Set the sequence to stop the instant they reply. Nothing sours a buyer faster than a chipper "just checking in" the day after they already said yes.
What to automate and what to keep in your own hands
Automation should carry the boring, repeatable parts: sending the line sheet, collecting the buyer's details, nudging when things go quiet. It's genuinely good at that, and it never forgets or gets shy.
Judgment is where it falls down, and you shouldn't pretend otherwise. Pricing a custom order, deciding whether to take on a big account that'll eat your whole summer, feeling out whether a shop is the right fit for your work, those stay with you. The auto-reply gets the conversation to the point where you two are actually talking. It does not have the conversation for you.
Read the form answers before you reply to a real inquiry. A one-line note from you ("saw you run the shop downtown, I'd love to be on that shelf") lands warmer than anything a template sends, and buyers can tell the difference. Let the system open the door. You walk through it.
Worth setting up this week
You don't need all of this at once. Start with the pieces that stop the leak:
- Write your line sheet, even a rough one, in a single afternoon. Wholesale prices, minimums, lead time, how to pay. Save it as a PDF you can send in two taps.
- Pick your keyword or build a five-field form, and write the auto-reply that sends the line sheet the moment someone asks.
- Draft your two nudges now, while you're thinking about it, so they're ready to fire without you writing them each time.
- Add "text WHOLESALE" or a QR code to your booth sign and your online bio before the next market.
- Test it on yourself. Send the keyword, fill the form, make sure the right thing lands in the right inbox.
If wiring up the texts and forms isn't how you want to spend a Sunday, that's the sort of thing we set up for Massachusetts makers so it just runs. Either way, the goal is the same: the next time a buyer says "I'd love to stock these," your answer is already on its way before you've set the piece back down.