Distributor Sales Reps who want to truly own and grow their business need a business partner. It’s impossible to do it all alone. This was at the center of my conversation with Jeff Sherman, a top DSR at Van Eerden Foodservice. Jeff is managing an absolutely enormous book of business that’s constantly growing. Additionally, he’s heading up the rollout and training of the new Van Eerden eCommerce experience. 

He doesn’t have time to grow his business without help. Meet Jeff.

“You Must, Under All Circumstances, Have a Partner Next to You…” 

That’s how Jeff describes his relationship with the AI Copilot embedded in the Van Eerden app. It’s an AI assistant built into the platform, not as a feature, but as a partner.

He uses it to dig up trends, identify lost cases, and guide menu conversations. When a customer says their menu is stale, Jeff doesn’t guess. He asks Copilot what items have spiked in usage over the last 90 days and starts there.

That’s the tactical piece too many sellers are missing: using data to start conversations, not end them.

‍The Essential Secret to Account Penetration.

Jeff doesn’t just want to get an item on the order. He wants the whole kitchen.

He uses a feature in the Van Eerden app called “essential items,” not as a reorder reminder, but as a silent penetration tool. While he’s in their kitchen with his customers, he marks items that they are obviously buying from a competitor and adds notes on the account. This quietly forces those items to pop up right when they go to place their order. 

That’s prospecting on autopilot, happening in the background while he’s running his day. It’s not flashy. 

It’s smart, repeatable, and scalable. That’s consultative selling in the trenches

You can’t put food cost percentages in the bank.

I learned this concept early on in my culinary career: You put money in the bank. As a chef or kitchen manager, you have to think about overall food cost as one of the inputs to your profitability. But at the item level, how much money do you put in the bank?

“Solve for profit, not percentages,” Jeff says. “You’ve got a 20% food cost pasta dish that makes $3. I’ll show you a 35% steak that makes $9. That’s the point.”

He’s not afraid of the numbers. He’ll cost out a dish live, right there in the app, and turn a product conversation into a margin win. That’s not price selling. That’s value creation…

Adopting Tech is a Choice. Make It An Easy One.

Jeff’s tech rollouts work because he meets reps where they are, emotionally and in their business. He knows change feels risky. So he slows it down. Helps them see what’s in it for them. Shows how tools like Pepper don’t replace the role of the rep, it allows Jeff to become their business partner.

“Not adopting technology would have been the worst decision of my career.”

I think that’s really all there is to say about that.

The Secret to Consultative Selling? Don’t Do it Alone.

Jeff Sherman is one more proof point of what the consultative selling is tactical, tech-enabled, and customer-profit focused. , and the secret is that he doesn’t do it alone.