A practical business guide by Arun Agrawal
Grow Through Dealers
What your website should do for your dealers, their customers and the dealers you have not met yet
Your salesman appoints the dealer. But the buyer who was given your brand name checks it on his phone, your dealer needs a sheet to forward, and an enquiry arrives at the company at night.
What does your website do when your salesman is not there?
- 78-page book
- Free PDF
- No registration
- Technology entrepreneur since 1986
- Founder & CEO, EbizIndia
- M.E., Jadavpur University (Gold Medal)
- TiE Charter Member
- Speaker at NASSCOM, TiE, ICAI and MCCI events
Written for manufacturers whose products reach the buyer through distributors, dealers and shops
Grow Through Dealers takes those moments one chapter at a time: the enquiry that went nowhere, where to buy and your dealers on Google, what a dealer forwards, proof that the product is genuine, warranty and complaints, the buyer who checks your name, architects and contractors, and the dealer or distributor who has not met you.
It does not advise on margins, credit or schemes. Nothing in it promises a ranking or a sale. Every check can be done on your own phone, and the brief at the back is written for your own web team.
Particularly useful for
- Plywood, laminate and panel makers
- Pipe, fitting and water tank makers
- TMT bar makers
- Tile, sanitaryware and paint makers
- Wire, cable, switch and hardware makers
- Pump, fan, solar and farm equipment makers
- Any manufacturer that sells through a dealer network
The idea at the heart of the guide
When Your Salesman Is Not in the Room
A shop owner offered a new brand phones another dealer first. Then he looks the brand up, and so does his son. A buyer whose carpenter named a board checks the name before paying. A contractor wants the nearest shop. A customer with a leaking tank wants someone to tell.
In each of those moments the website is what they read. The guide shows what it should say and do: pass an enquiry to the right person and tell the buyer what happens next, show where to buy, hold the sheet and the certificate a dealer forwards, state the licence number in words, take a complaint, and tell a distributor who has never met you how to apply and when he will hear back.
- 3 of 30
- websites let a buyer find at least one dealer or outlet by name, on the pages read
- 1 of 14
- websites inviting new dealers said what happens after applying, and by when
- 4 of 30
- had a route for warranty registration, a complaint or a service request
A check of 30 websites of Indian manufacturers who sell through dealers, in ten trades, run for this guide on 6 October 2026. Up to five pages per site were read, as text. A fact not found on those pages may be elsewhere on the site. Method and limits are at the back of the guide.
Don't just read it. Use it.
The guide is built to be worked through. It comes with the checks, plans and sheets a business owner can use without outside help.
Working sheets, free to download
- Enquiry log Chapters 4 and 13. Every enquiry by any route, who it was passed to and whether the reply went out in time, with a monthly summary Download Enquiry log
- Dealer fact sheet Chapters 5 to 7. One page of correct brand, product and licence facts for your dealers, with a list of who has it Download Dealer fact sheet
What's inside
- Before You Start
- 1Who Really Looks You Up
- 2What a Website Can and Cannot Do in a Dealer Business
- 3Ten Checks on Your Own Website
- 4The Enquiry That Went Nowhere
- 5Where to Buy, and Your Dealers on Google
- 6What a Dealer Forwards
- 7Proof That It Is Really You
- 8Warranty and Complaints
- 9When the Buyer Checks the Name She Was Given
- 10Architects, Engineers and Contractors
- 11The Dealer or Distributor Who Has Not Met You
- 12The Website Beside Your Other Tools
- 13Count What Comes In
At the back
- A Brief for Your Web Team
- About the 30-Site Check
- About the Author
- A Sample Comparison
- Work With EbizIndia
Inside the guide
- What a website can and cannot do in a dealer business
- Where an enquiry goes after it reaches the company, and what the buyer is told
- Three ways to show where to buy, and what each one costs you
- The product sheet, catalogue and certificate a dealer can forward from his counter
- Proof that the product and the seller are genuine
- A warranty and complaint route with a reply time
- What a distributor in a new state needs before he applies
- A monthly count that shows what reached the company and what became of it
About Arun Agrawal
In 2007 he founded EbizIndia Consulting Pvt. Ltd., which builds custom software and websites for companies in India, the UK and the USA, and runs its own SaaS products, WedPlan and CTRACKER. He holds a Master of Engineering from Jadavpur University, where he was awarded the Gold Medal, is a Charter Member of TiE, and has spoken at events hosted by NASSCOM, TiE, the ICAI and MCCI.
His work today covers custom business software, SaaS applications, workflow automation, AI-enabled business systems, and how businesses get found and chosen now that buyers ask Google and AI assistants before they ask anyone else.
His guides set out the frameworks he uses in that work, in plain language for business owners.
Kept up to date
The guide is revised as Google and the AI assistants change how they choose which businesses to name. The PDF always stays at the same address, so the copy you download, or a link you share, is always the latest edition.
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First edition
- The first edition. It replaces the earlier guide AI Search for Manufacturers. Facts and platform details checked in October 2026.
| Title | Grow Through Dealers: What your website should do for your dealers, their customers and the dealers you have not met yet |
|---|---|
| Author | Arun Agrawal |
| Publisher | EbizIndia Consulting Pvt. Ltd. |
| Edition | First edition, October 2026 |
| First published | 7 October 2026 |
| Pages | 78 |
| Format | Book (PDF, free) |
| Language | English |
Questions about the guide
Is the guide free?
Yes. The full guide is a free PDF on this page, with no form to fill in and no registration. The two working sheets are free as well.
Which manufacturers is it written for?
Indian manufacturers whose products reach the buyer through distributors, dealers and retail shops: plywood, pipes and tanks, TMT bars, tiles, paints, wires and switches, hardware, pumps, fans, solar and others.
My dealers are appointed by my sales team. What can a website add?
It does not appoint a dealer and it does not replace a salesman, and the guide says so. It matters when the salesman is not there: when a buyer checks the brand name he was given, when a dealer needs a fact or a sheet to forward, when an enquiry or a complaint reaches the company, and when a distributor in a state where nobody knows you looks you up.
Does it tell me what margins, credit or schemes to offer?
No. Those are your decisions and your trade. The guide covers what the website should do under whatever policy you have.
Do I need technical knowledge to use it?
No. It is written for owners and directors, and every check can be done on your own phone. A Brief for Your Web Team at the back turns the website work into a list your web team can work through.
Does it promise that Google or ChatGPT will recommend my brand?
No. Nobody can promise that. The guide does not promise a ranking, a sale or a dealer. It shows what a buyer, a dealer and a distributor look for, and how to put it where they, a search engine and an AI assistant can read it.
What is the 30-site check?
For this guide the websites of 30 regional or mid-sized Indian manufacturers who sell through dealers, three in each of ten trades, were read on 6 October 2026. Up to five pages per site were read, as text. The results and the limits of the method are at the back of the guide. The sites are not named.
Are the dealers and buyers in the guide real people?
No. The short scenes showing a dealer, a buyer or a distributor are imagined and are not reports of interviews. The guide says so on its copyright page.
What happened to AI Search for Manufacturers?
This guide replaces it. The earlier address, ebizindia.com/books/mfg/, now brings you here.
I supply industry and projects directly. Is this the right guide?
If your buyers are purchase managers, contractors and government bodies, Before the Buyer Calls at ebizindia.com/books/industrial-manufacturer-website/ is written for you.
Want to know where your own business stands?
You can run every check in the guide yourself, with the sheets above.
If you would rather have an outside view of your website and online presence, EbizIndia prepares an AI Search Visibility Blueprint: a detailed report on where your business stands with Google and the AI assistants, where it is being left out, and what to fix first.