AI Front Office for Distributors. An AI receptionist for distributors, on every branch line
Zanus AI is an AI receptionist for distributors that answers the branch phone, the website chat, the orders inbox and your web forms, day and night. Contractors, dealers, plant buyers and restaurant accounts get stock, order and pickup answers from your approved information, and credit, special pricing and product-fit questions reach your people.
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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install
Easy setup
Answers & books
Sells
You talk. Lisa sets it up.
You“Before 7 and after 5 the AI answers; credit calls go to the credit desk.”
Lisa“Before 7 AM and after 5 PM the AI now answers every branch line, and credit calls go to the credit desk. Apply?”
Any setting, in any module · applied only on your yes
Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
The whole Front Office › · All industries ›
Who reaches you
Who the AI answers for Distributors
- Contractors calling from the truck before the counter opens
- Purchasing agents and plant maintenance techs with a PO number
- Dealers, hardware stores and sub-distributors re-ordering a line
- Restaurant and institutional kitchen buyers racing the delivery cutoff
- AP clerks asking about an invoice, a credit or the remittance address
- New businesses asking how to open a trade account
What it does
What an AI receptionist for distributors handles
One AI front office for distributors answers every door your buyers use, from the information you approve, and keeps the account record your inside sales works from.
Answers every branch line
Inbound calls are picked up on the first ring, 24/7, with no phone menu: a plumber asks in natural language for a will-call before seven, and the AI voice of your counter answers or puts him through.
Routes by reason and language
Inside sales, the counter, the warehouse, dispatch and AR each become a department with its own call handling, AI only, AI first or your people first, and Spanish-speaking callers go to the colleague you choose.
Quotes from your list
A buyer reading twelve lines off a takeoff gets a quote priced from your catalog by code, and it waits under Awaiting your yes before it reaches him.
Checks e-mailed purchase orders
A PDF or spreadsheet PO is read once, matched line by line to your catalog and checked for a duplicate or a price outside your rule before it becomes a quote.
Files claims and returns
A short ship becomes a ticket for the warehouse with the PO number, and a failed pump becomes a return that waits as pending until your counter manager approves it.
Writes the account story
Every phone call is saved with its transcript and summary on the account, beside its chats, e-mails, quotes and tickets; a branch manager can follow a live call in real time, and the rep who calls back starts from what was said.
The day
A virtual receptionist for distributors, from the first truck to the last
The use cases one branch meets between the first truck and the last, each answered from the information you approved and written onto the account.
5:50 AM, before the doors open
An electrician asks whether the branch carries a certain breaker. The AI searches your inventory by part number, says it is available and holds it under his name until the counter opens.
9:15 AM, the orders inbox
A plant purchasing agent mails a three-page PO. It is read and checked against your catalog, and the one line priced outside your rule waits with a plain question for inside sales.
1:40 PM, two cases missing
A restaurant group's buyer calls about a delivery short two cases of gloves. The ticket opens for dispatch with his invoice number, and he hears when your desk will answer.
4:55 PM, a new account
A remodeler fills in your open-an-account form and uploads his resale certificate. The contact is made on his company, and the application waits for your credit desk to approve.
7:30 PM, the website chat
A foreman asks whether Saturday will-call is open and books an 8 AM pickup in the chat; the confirmation reaches his phone before he closes the window.
Overnight, nothing lost
Messages, quotes and tickets wait in order and the morning briefing lists what came in, so inside sales opens on a worklist instead of a blinking voicemail light.
Real screens
The screens behind a distributor's front office
Real Zanus AI screens with demo data on them, framed for a distributor: the day's branch calls, e-mailed purchase orders checked, part numbers on back order, tickets from every channel, a return waiting for approval and the orders inbox.
Compared
An AI receptionist for wholesale distributors, side by side
Five moments of a branch's day where customer satisfaction is won or lost, and what happens to each one with the ways distributors cover the phone and the inbox today.
| What the branch needs | Voicemail and a phone menu | An answering service | The counter phone alone | Zanus AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A contractor calls at 6 AM about a pickup | Heard after the doors open | A message passed on later | Ringing while the counter serves the line | Answered on the first ring:: the pickup booked and confirmed by text |
| A buyer asks whether an item is in stock | A callback hours later | No view of your stock | Someone walks the aisle to check | Read from your inventory record:: available, on back order with its date, or held |
| A purchase order arrives by e-mail | Not a phone matter | Not a phone matter | Retyped between calls | Read and checked against your catalog:: a quote at your prices, or one question |
| A delivery arrives two cases short | A recording to return | A name and a number | A note on the counter | A ticket for dispatch:: with the invoice number and his own words |
| What the next rep knows | Whatever was on the tape | What the operator typed | What someone remembered | The transcript and summary:: on the account beside its quotes and tickets |
Guardrails
What stays with your inside sales, credit desk and operations
A distributor's mistakes cost freight, credits and the customer experience your counter built, so the AI answers inside the lines you approve and hands the rest to a person.
Special pricing and terms
Prices are read from your list by code. A better price, a longer term or an exception for a big job goes to inside sales as a revision for your yes, never a figure the AI invents.
Credit and collections
Credit limits, holds, past-due balances and payment plans are your credit desk's conversation; the AI transfers the call with the reason told first, or takes a message with the callback number read back.
Delivery promises
Cutoffs, routes and lead times are given only as you wrote them into the knowledge. A rush order, a special drop or a date outside those rules reaches dispatch with the buyer's words.
Product fit and safety
Ratings, code questions and which chemicals may be mixed are never answered from guesswork; they go to a product specialist, and an injury or spill report reaches the person you named.
Returns and credit memos
A return waits as pending until a person approves it, and a credit memo or a replacement is decided by your staff; the AI collects the facts and writes the e-mails.
Cancelled orders by mail
An e-mail asking to cancel an order is never acted on by the AI; the thread goes to Needs human, with a copy to your escalation inbox, for a person to decide.
Set-up
Set up an AI receptionist for distributors in 2 minutes
Forward a branch line
Forward the number painted on your trucks and printed on your invoices to your Front Office number. The AI answers the next call, with no porting and nothing to install.
Let Lisa read your site
Lisa reads your product pages, line cards and policies, then asks what the website leaves out: branches, counter hours, delivery cutoffs and the languages your buyers speak.
Name your desks
Tell Lisa your departments, inside sales, counter, warehouse, dispatch, credit and AR, and who answers each one. She shows each change before and after, applied on your yes.
Call your own branch
Ring your branch and ask for a pickup or an item by part number. The free trial runs 7 days with no credit card, so read back a full week of branch calls before you decide.
Questions & answers
Questions distributors ask about an AI receptionist
What is an AI receptionist for distributors?
It is software that uses artificial intelligence to answer a distributor's inbound calls, website chat, orders inbox and web forms the way a trained counter and inside-sales desk would. Zanus AI picks up on the first ring, 24/7, answers from your approved line cards, policies and catalog, takes the message or the request, routes the call to the right desk and writes every conversation onto the account's record.
How can distributors use AI in customer service?
Start with the questions your counter and inside sales repeat all day: branch hours, the next-day cutoff, whether an item is on your list and available, where a return goes, how to open an account. With your knowledge loaded, AI for distributors answers those by phone, chat and e-mail. That is AI customer service for distributors at its most useful: your people keep the morning rush for the orders that need judgment.
Can the AI tell a contractor whether an item is available?
Yes, from AI Inventory or the products of your connected store. The AI searches by part number, name, brand or model and says the status written on the record: available, on back order with the date it is due, or on promotion until its end date. It can hold the item for the caller for the time you allow, and without a record it offers a person instead of a guess.
Will the AI give special pricing or lift a credit hold?
No. Prices come from your list by code, and a reseller's discount only by the rule you set, as a revision waiting for your yes. A request for a better price, longer terms or a lifted hold goes to your people: the AI tells your colleague who is calling and why before the call connects, or takes a message for the territory rep.
Can the AI take a re-order or a purchase order?
Yes, as a quote. On the phone or in the chat the AI drafts it from your catalog while the buyer reads his lines, and an e-mailed purchase order is read once and checked for a duplicate, an unknown item or a price outside your rule. Every quote waits under Awaiting your yes, unless you set a ceiling for automatic approval.
What happens when a delivery arrives short, wrong or damaged?
The AI opens a ticket with the whole conversation, the account and the PO or invoice number the buyer gave, for the warehouse, dispatch or AR department, with the priority read from his words. He is told when to expect your answer, and his reply lands on the same ticket. Credits and replacements stay your staff's decision.
Does the AI answer product, safety or compatibility questions?
Only from the spec sheets, SDS and line cards you approve, and only as far as they go. Whether a fitting holds a given pressure, whether two cleaners can be mixed or which breaker suits a panel goes to your product specialist with the question written down, and a caller reporting a spill or an injury reaches the operations contact you named.
Does the AI answer after hours and on Saturdays?
Yes. Outside your business hours you choose full AI service, take-a-message only or voicemail, and on holidays callers hear the message you wrote for that day. A roofer ringing at 5:45 AM gets the cutoff and pickup answers, and the morning briefing tells you what every customer asked overnight, so missed calls stop piling up behind the counter.
Do our branches keep their phone numbers?
Yes. Each branch number is forwarded to your Front Office number and the AI picks up from the next call, with no porting and no new phone system. Counter staff keep taking calls on the computer, the phone app or their mobile, and the AI hands them only the callers you route to them.
Does it speak Spanish and other languages?
Yes. The phone answers in the caller's language and the website chat speaks 40 languages by text or voice, so a crew lead calling in Spanish or a restaurant owner writing in Vietnamese gets the same pickup, cutoff and return answers as your English pages. Each conversation lands on the account in writing.
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a distributor?
Zanus AI is priced per company, never per seat, so every branch, the counter, inside sales and AR share one subscription. You pick the modules your operation needs and add others later. The plans are on the pricing page; the Front Office runs free for 7 days with no credit card, and Auto-Call opens with your first paid plan.
How long does set-up take for a multi-branch distributor?
The first branch line answers in 2 minutes: forward it and the AI takes the next call. Then tell Lisa your branches, counter hours, delivery cutoffs and which desk handles credit, returns and quotes. She reads your website first and shows each change before and after you approve it.
Award-winning AI
Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.
REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button.
Awards & trade shows ›
Give Lisa your website.
She sets up your business in 2 minutes.
Other software makes you learn it. Zanus AI learns your business.
Try it free on your own business — no credit card, per company, never per seat.
Ready to buy? See plans & pricing ›
Or call +1 (954) 736-3939 — the AI answers.