Company: Slipps
Position Type: Contract
Location: Remote
Industry: Dancewear, Children’s Footwear, Fashion and Retail
About Slipps
Slipps is a kid-forward ballet brand reimagining traditional ballet shoes through playful design, easy-to-wear functionality, and a patented heart-sole aesthetic. Our mission is to make ballet feel more comfortable, joyful, and accessible for young dancers.
As Slipps expands its wholesale presence, we are looking for a highly organized and proactive Wholesale Sales & Sourcing Assistant to help identify, research, contact, and manage prospective retail and distribution partners across North America.
Position Overview
The Wholesale Sales & Sourcing Assistant will be responsible for building and managing a qualified pipeline of dance retailers, distributors, dance studios, children’s boutiques, specialty footwear stores, and other potential wholesale partners.
This role is ideal for someone who is skilled in online research, lead generation, sales outreach, relationship management, and follow-up. The primary objective is to help Slipps secure meaningful wholesale orders and establish long-term retail partnerships.
Key ResponsibilitiesWholesale Lead Sourcing
- Research and identify qualified wholesale buyers throughout the United States and Canada
- Build targeted prospect lists of dancewear retailers, ballet shoe distributors, children’s boutiques, dance studios, specialty footwear stores, online retailers, and regional retail chains
- Identify companies capable of placing larger opening orders
- Research each prospect’s store count, geographic reach, current brand assortment, children’s footwear offering, and estimated purchasing potential
- Find the appropriate buyer, merchandise manager, owner, purchasing director, or wholesale decision-maker
- Locate and verify buyer email addresses, phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles, and other relevant contact information
- Monitor industry directories, trade associations, retail publications, trade shows, and wholesale marketplaces for new opportunities
Lead Qualification
- Evaluate each prospect based on purchasing capacity, product fit, retail reach, existing brand assortment, and likelihood of carrying Slipps
- Assign priority levels and lead scores to each account
- Identify the best Slipps offer for each buyer, including standard wholesale, seasonal preorder, studio retail program, distributor agreement, regional exclusivity, or exclusive color opportunities
- Maintain a prioritized list of high-potential accounts for founder review
Wholesale Outreach
- Send personalized introductory emails to prospective wholesale partners
- Customize outreach based on each retailer’s business model and customer base
- Introduce Slipps’ product story, patented features, wholesale pricing, opening-order requirements, and retail opportunity
- Send wholesale catalogs, line sheets, pricing sheets, product images, samples, and supporting materials
- Conduct follow-up outreach by email, phone, LinkedIn, and social media
- Schedule buyer meetings and product presentations for the founder
- Follow up consistently without being overly aggressive
- Track all communication and next steps
Pipeline and CRM Management
- Maintain an accurate wholesale CRM or sales tracker
- Record contact information, communication history, buyer feedback, sample requests, proposed order quantities, follow-up dates, and account status
- Move prospects through clearly defined stages, including sourced, contacted, interested, meeting scheduled, sample sent, proposal sent, negotiating, order placed, and closed
- Provide weekly reports on outreach activity, buyer responses, opportunities, and projected wholesale revenue
- Ensure no qualified lead is lost due to missed follow-up
Wholesale Account Support
- Assist with preparing wholesale proposals, order forms, invoices, payment schedules, and onboarding materials
- Coordinate sample shipments and track delivery
- Follow up after samples are received
- Assist with gathering size runs, color selections, shipping details, and opening-order information
- Support the founder during wholesale negotiations
- Help onboard new retail partners once an order is confirmed
- Maintain strong relationships with current and prospective accounts
- Identify opportunities for reorders, seasonal purchases, new color launches, and expanded distribution
Initial Priorities
During the first 60 to 90 days, the assistant will be expected to:
- Build a database of at least 200 qualified wholesale prospects across North America
- Identify the correct buyer or decision-maker for each priority account
- Organize prospects by category, estimated purchasing capacity, and priority
- Begin personalized outreach to the highest-potential accounts
- Secure introductory meetings with qualified retailers and distributors
- Create a consistent follow-up process
- Help generate wholesale purchase orders and deposits
Ideal Qualifications
- Experience in wholesale sales, retail sourcing, business development, lead generation, account management, or sales support
- Experience in fashion, footwear, children’s products, dancewear, sporting goods, or specialty retail is strongly preferred
- Strong internet research and contact-finding skills
- Comfortable making outbound calls and sending professional sales emails
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Highly organized and detail-oriented
- Strong follow-through and persistence
- Comfortable working independently and managing multiple prospects at once
- Experience using CRM systems, spreadsheets, LinkedIn, email-verification tools, and lead-generation platforms
- Ability to communicate warmly and professionally with buyers
- Strong judgment regarding which prospects are worth pursuing
- Comfortable working directly with a founder in a fast-moving small-business environment
Preferred Tools and Experience
Experience with any of the following is helpful:
- HubSpot
- Airtable
- Google Sheets
- Shopify
- Faire
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Apollo
- Hunter
- RocketReach
- ZoomInfo
- Klaviyo
- Canva
- Wholesale line-sheet or order-management platforms
Success Metrics
Performance will be measured by:
- Number of qualified wholesale prospects sourced
- Accuracy and completeness of buyer contact information
- Number of personalized outreach messages sent
- Buyer response rate
- Number of meetings scheduled
- Number of sample requests
- Number and value of wholesale proposals
- Number of new wholesale accounts opened
- Total wholesale purchase-order value
- Deposits collected
- Reorder opportunities generated
- Consistency and quality of follow-up
Compensation
Compensation may include:
- Weekly Base pay
- Performance bonuses for qualified meetings
- Commission on wholesale orders
- Additional bonuses tied to large purchase orders, deposits, or new distributor relationships
A base-plus-commission structure is preferred so the assistant is rewarded for both consistent sourcing activity and completed wholesale sales.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is resourceful, persistent, polished, and genuinely excited about helping an emerging brand grow. They do not simply create lists. They know how to identify the right buyers, begin conversations, follow up consistently, and move opportunities toward an order.
They should be comfortable taking ownership of the wholesale pipeline while keeping the founder informed and involved in key buyer conversations, presentations, and negotiations.
How to Apply
Please submit:
- A brief introduction
- Relevant wholesale, lead-generation, retail, or sales experience
- Examples of industries or brands you have supported
- The research and outreach tools you have used
- An example of how you would identify and contact a qualified retail buyer
- Your availability
- Your hourly rate or monthly retainer
- Any commission expectations
Pay: $26.99 - $32.50 per hour
Work Location: Remote
