Vallen is one of North America's largest industrial distributors, with a legacy spanning over 150 years. Today it operates across 400 locations, serving thousands of customers in industries like manufacturing, transportation, and aerospace. What sets the team apart is technical know-how, a massive product catalog, and strong customer relationships.
At a glance
- Industry
- Industrial
- Employees
- 5,000+
- Locations
- 400
- Website
- vallen.com
- Proton products
- CRM
But as the business grew, leadership needed a smarter way to increase revenue — one that didn't rely on expanding the sales team. Instead, they set out to make the reps they already had more efficient and more effective.
The challenge: inside reps buried in non-selling work
Vallen's inside sales team had the potential to be a major growth lever. Instead, reps spent the majority of their time on reactive, non-selling tasks: expediting orders, looking up PODs, and mining customer information.
“The inside team was very reactive. They wanted to be proactive but needed the help of a system to support their proactive selling activities.”
Scott Bierwiler · VP of Industrial Sales, VallenThere was no shared playbook, either. “Everyone had their own way of doing things,” said Ryan Barnett, Inside Sales Manager. “None of it was scalable.”
The company had a legacy CRM, but it didn't help the team prioritize or plan the day. “It was more of an order processing tool than something that drove proactive sales activity,” Ryan shared.
Because the system never surfaced next steps or delivered actionable insights, adoption stayed low — follow-ups slipped through the cracks, inbound requests ran the day, and managers were left guessing about what was working and who needed support.
Leadership knew they had to get reps back to selling. The first step was a Center of Excellence to absorb the customer service tasks pulling reps away from revenue-driving work. It gave sellers time back in their day — but reps still needed a system that could guide them on how to use it.
Why Proton? A game plan waiting every morning
To turn that new time into revenue, Vallen wasn't looking to add more reps. It wanted a tool that would help the existing team focus on the right accounts, every day.
Proton's CRM gives Vallen's reps everything they need to know, including who to call and what to sell. Reps now start the day with a clear game plan, complete with:
Customer health scores to flag churn risks.
Reorder reminders for customers with regular buying patterns.
AI-driven product recommendations based on what similar customers are ordering.
The impact was immediate. Reps started recovering lost deals and running better customer conversations, because they had the data to back it up.
Purpose-built pipelines: preferred brands, stuck inventory, and quota
To keep reps pointed at revenue-driving activity, Vallen worked closely with Proton's team to build custom sales pipelines for its highest-value use cases.
Preferred brand conversions. This pipeline tracks how successfully reps are converting customers to Vallen's preferred brands, so a rep can find and pitch a preferred-brand alternative while they're still on the phone.
Non-moving inventory. Reps get alerts when their customers aren't following through on product commitments. The pipeline lets the sales team track millions of dollars of at-risk inventory, so those items get recovered or reallocated.
Sales goal tracking. Managers get a real-time view of rep performance against quota, which makes forecasting and coaching more effective and less time-consuming.
Vallen also runs large bids and market baskets through Proton — opportunities that require coordination across multiple teams. With shared visibility, reps collaborate across functions without endless email chains.
Before
With Proton
The rep's day
BeforeInbound set the agenda: expediting orders, looking up PODs, mining customer information.
With ProtonA morning game plan: who to call, what to sell, and which accounts are at risk.
The CRM
Before“More of an order processing tool” — it never surfaced next steps, so adoption stayed low.
With ProtonHealth scores, reorder reminders, and recommendations, opened weekly by 70% of users.
Out-of-stock items
BeforeMultiple calls or back-and-forth emails to track down an alternative.
With ProtonIn-stock substitutes surface in seconds, while the rep is still on the phone.
The results: 72% more sales per inside rep
Freed from non-selling work and pointed at the right accounts, Vallen's inside sales team became the growth lever leadership always believed it could be.
Sales per inside sales rep up 72%
Leadership set out to grow revenue without expanding the sales team — and got it. Sales per inside sales rep climbed 72% across the organization as the team traded reactive service work for a daily selling plan.
$27M in revenue traced to Proton
Vallen attributes $27 million in revenue to Proton — the return on turning reclaimed selling time into proactive calls, on accounts the system flags before a rep has to go looking.
A stockout caught before it happened
One rep used Proton to catch a reorder opportunity for PPE gloves that would have led to a major stockout across multiple of the customer's sites. That one conversation turned into a replenishment order across all of the customer's sites, and opened the door to new quoting opportunities.
“Being a proactive partner is our identity. What better way to do that than calling your customer daily with a way to make their jobs easier or save them money?”
Dane LeBel · Director of Inside Sales, VallenSubstitutes found without hanging up
When a product is out of stock or discontinued, Proton automatically surfaces in-stock alternatives. What used to take multiple calls or back-and-forth emails now takes just seconds, and reps can do it while they're still on the phone with the customer.
“Proton makes us look like experts,” said Ryan Barnett, Inside Sales Manager. “The customer thinks we know everything—because the tool does.”
Manager visibility: one-on-ones that start with the facts
Vallen's sales managers benefit too. Rep activity, deal pipelines, and call notes all sit in one place, which has made their one-on-ones far more strategic. “It helps me to be more effective as a leader,” Ryan said. “Now I can proactively see what's going on within my sales team.”
The shared system also pulled inside and outside sales closer together. “When an inside sales rep enters call notes or quotes for the day, the account rep can see that activity and is able to show up to that customer the next day ready to follow up,” explained Dane LeBel, Director of Inside Sales.
The bottom line: a smarter, faster sales engine
By giving reps a clear plan and offloading non-selling tasks, Vallen turned its inside sales team from a reactive service center into a proactive growth engine.
The team spends less time toggling between systems and more time in meaningful conversations with customers: new reps ramp faster, tenured reps close more, and leaders have the visibility they need to steer the business.
That shift is cultural as much as operational.
“I'm seeing reps be more proactive. They're coming to me with questions like, ‘Hey, I saw this metric in Proton. Can you help me dig into what's driving it?' They're taking ownership of their business and they're excited about it.”
Ryan Barnett · Inside Sales Manager, Vallen
