Distribution Management
Distribution management lets you set up two-tier partner relationships, where a distributor oversees a network of resellers. Use it when you work with partners who do not sell directly, but instead manage other partners who do.
Where to find it: Once the feature is enabled for your account, distribution partners appear on the Partners page alongside your other partners, and reseller-to-distributor links are managed from each partner's page.
Turning on distribution partnerships
Distribution partnerships are a Journeybee-managed feature. On the Modules & AI settings page you'll see Distributor partnerships listed under Managed by Journeybee, where it shows as a status only. You cannot switch it on yourself.
To have it enabled, contact Journeybee support. Because distributors sit above your resellers, the Reseller partner type must be enabled on your account as well.
Creating a distribution partner
You create a distribution partner the same way as any other partner. Go to Partners, click Add partner, and choose Distribution Partner as the partnership type. See Creating a Partner for the full creation form, contacts and domains, and the difference between Send Invitation and Create as Offline Partnership.
One thing is different for distributors: tier, category and stage do not apply and are hidden, because distributors are managed differently from the resellers beneath them.
Linking resellers and distributors
Distributors and resellers are linked to each other after they exist. You can work from either side, and the links are many-to-many: a distributor can have many resellers, and a reseller can be linked to more than one distributor.
Assigning or removing links requires an Admin or Partnerships role. Each change is saved immediately.
From the distributor
Open the distribution partner's page.
Go to the Resellers tab in the sidebar.
Use the Assign reseller dropdown to pick from your existing reseller partners.
To remove a reseller, use the remove (X) button next to it.
From the reseller
Open the reseller partner's page.
Go to the Distributors tab in the sidebar.
Use the Assign distributor dropdown to pick from your existing distribution partners.
In bulk from the Partners list
To link many resellers to one distributor at once, go to the Partners page and switch to the reseller view. Select the resellers you want, then use the bulk actions bar to assign a distributor to all of them together.
Linking distributors via CSV import
You can also set reseller-to-distributor links in bulk when importing resellers. The distributor mapping appears in the import wizard when you import reseller partners and distribution partnerships are enabled. Include a distributor column in your CSV and map it during the import.
Journeybee matches each distributor value against your existing distribution partners by their name or email domain. If a value does not match an existing distributor, that link is simply skipped — the reseller is still imported, just without a distributor attached. Nothing is rejected, so check your spelling or domains if a link doesn't appear.
See Partner Import (CSV) for the full import process.
How distribution works in the partner portal
A distributor oversees a group of resellers but does not create new resellers itself. You (or your team) create resellers and link them to a distributor.
When a distributor submits a lead or deal in their portal, they must choose which of their linked resellers it belongs to — a distributor never owns a lead directly. If a distributor has no linked resellers yet, they cannot add leads or deals until you link at least one.
In their portal, a distributor sees a read-only roster of the resellers linked to them, and can open each reseller to view its details and contacts. A distributor also sees a combined view of all their linked resellers' leads and deals.
Each reseller only ever sees their own leads and deals — never those of the distributor's other resellers.
Deals and commissions
Because a distributor's leads are attributed to a reseller, any resulting deal belongs to that reseller. Commission is calculated for the reseller that owns the deal, so distribution partners do not have a Commissions tab of their own. See Commission for how commission rules are applied to deals.
Good to know
Both distributors and resellers are viewed and managed from the Partners page.
Links are many-to-many: a reseller can belong to several distributors, and a distributor can have many resellers.
Linking or unlinking requires an Admin or Partnerships role, and distribution partnerships must be enabled for your account.
See Partner Management for all the tabs available on a partner's page, and Partner Contacts for adding people to a partner.
Troubleshooting
The Distribution Partner option is missing
Distribution partnerships are managed by Journeybee and can't be switched on from your settings. Check the Modules & AI page — if Distributor partnerships shows as off under Managed by Journeybee, contact Journeybee support to enable it. The Reseller partner type also needs to be enabled.
A distributor cannot submit a lead or deal in the portal
Every distributor lead and deal must be attributed to one of the distributor's resellers. If the distributor has no resellers linked yet, submitting is locked. Link at least one reseller to the distributor and the option becomes available.
The Assign reseller or Assign distributor control is missing
Linking requires an Admin or Partnerships role, and distribution partnerships must be enabled for your account. If you have a different role, ask an admin to make the change.
A distributor value in my CSV didn't link
Distributor values are matched to existing distribution partners by their name or email domain. If a value doesn't match, the reseller is still imported but without a distributor link — no error is shown. Confirm the value matches an existing distributor's name or domain, then re-import or link it manually from the partner's page.
A distributor has no Commissions tab
This is expected. Deals belong to the reseller that owns the lead, so commission is calculated for that reseller rather than the distributor.