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A paper edit organizes the strongest moments from raw recordings using transcripts, before any cutting begins. These selections were pulled from audio transcripts of eleven customer interviews at VIP road shows in Tampa and Houston. We have not yet reviewed camera footage.
What reads well on paper does not always play the same way on screen. Cadence, energy, eye contact, and composure all factor in. Some of these pulls may shift once we review the footage.
Pulls are organized by company, then collected by AI topic below. Each card is tagged with the messaging angle it serves. Check the ones you want to move forward with and submit your selections at the bottom. Your picks will determine the scope and cost of post-production.
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager
"The people at VIP, I truly can call several of them my friends. You, in a time of need, you can reach out and they find solutions."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
Personal warmth plus problem-solving. "In a time of need" suggests real stakes.
"We have Retailer Portal, we have EasyOps. Wismer likes to be on the front end of implementation and staying ahead of what they're offering, being on the cutting edge."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
Early adopter identity. "Cutting edge" frames VIP as an innovation leader through the customer's own words.
"It's like you're going to have these agents as new employees immediately that will allow us to free us up from these tasks, to continue to propel our business in greater leaps."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
Takes the abstract "agentic AI" concept and makes it concrete: agents equal new employees who free up your team.
"It's so exciting. We are a part of an exciting time that you can't even, it's hard to fathom where we'll be a year from now, 2 years from now."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
"Without VIP, it would be chaotic, messy, and sloppy. So I'm quite grateful."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
Cleanest line in the batch. Three words do all the work. Bumper, transition, or cold open.
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director
"The number one thing that I use VIP there, it's not a solution that they advertise as an app or a software or anything like that, but it's the team at VIP."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
The pivot from product to people is unexpected and genuine. Reframes the entire value proposition.
"Working with the VIP team is an absolute pleasure. I don't think that there's any time that I've had an issue or a problem that wasn't rectified in a timely manner."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
"When you call VIP, you're not limited to one guy. You don't have the single same help desk person answering the call. You're routed to a specific person for a specific purpose."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
"VIP is the lifeblood of our company. We wouldn't be able to do it without VIP."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
"Lifeblood." Strongest single-word dependency statement in the batch.
"There's a lot of AI out there that's kind of not fully fleshed out. I think VIP is really taking it to a point where AI can be a fully fledged thing that we use to drive all kinds of different operations."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
"What would my role look like without VIP? It would look a lot less VIP-y. I would probably just be limited to computers."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
Matt Utes 路 Director of Commercial Systems
"I've been a VIP user for going on 26 years now as part of Silver Eagle. They're the back end of our beverage system and driving a lot of our business. It's a tool that we depend on daily to get the job done."
Matt Utes 路 Director of Commercial Systems, Redwood Beverages
He initially says "3 years" then corrects to 26. Start the clip at the correction.
"I'm very excited about the buildup from the ground up on a rewrite of VIP. The AI integrations, keeping trend with the market, I think is going to be valuable for the long-term future."
Matt Utes 路 Director of Commercial Systems, Redwood Beverages
"Every distributor has unique challenges that they need solutions for, and the team has always risen to the challenge for us and helped develop those applications."
Matt Utes 路 Director of Commercial Systems, Redwood Beverages
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT
"We give them feedback on options and features that maybe other distributors would use and they wholeheartedly listen. And a lot of those get baked into the product and improve the product."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
Shows the mechanism, not just the claim. Feedback goes in, product improvements come out.
"VIP is great. They listen. I can't say that about a lot of software vendors. In fact, I can't say that about hardly any software vendors."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"VIP is integrated in our business processes. It's our go-to platform."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"At first when I heard that there was a complete rewrite, being in the IT department, I was very nervous that it would be years before something was going to be ready."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
The honest fear. An IT director admitting nervousness is credible and relatable.
"It put my mind a little bit more at ease that maybe this is going to be more than vaporware, that this is actually going to come to fruition. So I've turned from skeptical to a bit excited."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"Vaporware" from a real skeptic. "Skeptical to excited" is the narrative arc VIP wants every prospect to follow.
"I really envision AI not being just applications on its own always, but just features that are integrated in the workflow of the actual apps so that it's not really an add-on product. It should be through and through."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"Without VIP, we would be constantly integrating a lot of different platforms together, and some tasks would be manual, and we probably wouldn't know how bad it was without VIP."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops
"VIP is kind of like a second family to me. I've been knowing them for my whole career, for 18 years."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
"We receive about roughly 100 trucks a day from our different supplier friends, and we load out over 160 trucks each and every day."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
"Without VIP, I would just say we're lost because that is our route accounting system. VIP is actually truly in our blood. We kind of live and breathe VIP because it's integrated into all of our systems."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
"We use EasyPick. We have found it to be very beneficial for us that we can take somebody off the street and have them up and running in about 15 minutes."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
Most specific, measurable claim in the batch. "Off the street, up and running, 15 minutes."
"We have the EZ suite to have the build board, the pick lead board. So that builds this internal competition with our team members. They can see exactly how they are performing in real time."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
"His mind is just really pushing forward, and we love that about him, taking VIP on to better and greater things. I just like where his mindset is to go into AI. I think he is doing it right."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
"Without VIP, I would just say we're lost."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
Kyle Payet 路 Enterprise App & Business Relationship Manager
"Always love working with VIP folks. They are tremendous, down to earth, always willing to help. You feel like a partner in business."
Kyle Payet 路 Enterprise App & Business Relationship Mgr, Glazer's
"Karma has been instrumental out in the field. The insights that we get from iDig as far as reporting has been great. We always go back to iDig as the source of truth."
Kyle Payet 路 Enterprise App & Business Relationship Mgr, Glazer's
Two product endorsements in one breath. "Source of truth" is a powerful phrase for a data product.
"Glazers is actually a Trailblazer customer, so we have been involved with Project Genesis from the start, and we are extremely excited about the potential of that product."
Kyle Payet 路 Enterprise App & Business Relationship Mgr, Glazer's
Insider endorsement. The Trailblazer program name-drop validates real customers are involved in the build.
Jeff Noble 路 Sales Director
"Everyone's been friendly, really easy to talk to, always setting up time. I always get quick responses. I can't say enough good things about VIP."
Jeff Noble 路 Sales Director, L&E Bottling
"The VIPKARMA, that's been a big help doing a lot of site surveys. I use it for incentives, especially around the holiday times. I'll run display contests with the supermarket team."
Jeff Noble 路 Sales Director, L&E Bottling
"It helps with distribution because I can go back and look at some of these surveys they've taken, and I can actually really drill down in accounts where I'm seeing gaps."
Jeff Noble 路 Sales Director, L&E Bottling
"My role without VIP would look like a bunch of paper, a lot of Excel, just probably a desk full of printed out pictures of accounts and very, very time-consuming."
Jeff Noble 路 Sales Director, L&E Bottling
Most vivid "without" in the batch. "A desk full of printed out pictures" is a real image you can see.
Matt 路 IT Manager
"We're glad to be here and be able to give our feedback that they'll actually take to heart and build these tools directly into the VIP system for us, utilizing our data."
Matt 路 IT Manager, Daytona Beverages
"A lot of times people fail at one or the other. They either leave their tools behind while we're waiting for new stuff, or they're not building into the future. To see that on both ends with VIP, it's fantastic."
Matt 路 IT Manager, Daytona Beverages
Dual investment insight. Praises VIP for not abandoning current tools while building the future.
"I want tools that will benefit all of my employees, make their jobs and lives easier. And the more we get of that, the better."
Matt 路 IT Manager, Daytona Beverages
"If I can get my guys out there focused on selling new products rather than doing ordering, that's great."
Matt 路 IT Manager, Daytona Beverages
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner
"We work with VIP because it feels like a true partnership. We ask for things and sometimes it all gets delivered, sometimes it doesn't. But VIP is always here to listen and work with us."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
The honesty ("sometimes it doesn't") is what makes this credible. An owner acknowledging imperfection and still calling it a true partnership.
"We're most excited about the fact that VIP is going to be flipping the entire stack to enable new technology to be built on top of it. Being nimble and being able to adapt and change is absolutely critical for us distributors."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
"One thing that you can't do is sit around and wait for it to happen. You need to be on the forward edge of it, looking, trying, and testing new things to stay competitive in this dynamic world that we call DSD delivery."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
"Simplicity is the most critical thing when it comes to technology. If things don't get adopted by the lowest common denominator, the technology can be the most fantastic, but usage is absolutely critical."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
Honest feedback, not praise. An owner saying "make it simple or it won't get used" makes every other endorsement more credible.
Mike 路 Business Development Manager
"We've been on VIP for a good number of years, and any time we've had any service constraints or service questions, VIP has always been there."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
"The first one is the pricing agent, because I want to take one file, upload it, go to lunch, come back, and all my pricing is done."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
Most vivid AI vision across both events. "Upload it, go to lunch, come back" paints what AI should feel like.
"The second one would be the routing AI agent, because routing takes a long time to develop, and anything that will shorten that gap means more frequent routing, which is good."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
"I was astonished at the amount of investment just in hardware. That's quite a considerable investment."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
"It's like you're going to have these agents as new employees immediately that will allow us to free us up from these tasks, to continue to propel our business in greater leaps."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
"It's so exciting. We are a part of an exciting time that you can't even, it's hard to fathom where we'll be a year from now, 2 years from now."
Tonya Ferris 路 General Manager, Wismer Distributing
"There's a lot of AI out there that's kind of not fully fleshed out. I think VIP is really taking it to a point where AI can be a fully fledged thing that we use to drive all kinds of different operations."
Marshall Dolanski 路 IT Director, Faust Distributing
"I'm very excited about the buildup from the ground up on a rewrite of VIP. The AI integrations, keeping trend with the market, I think is going to be valuable for the long-term future."
Matt Utes 路 Director of Commercial Systems, Redwood Beverages
"At first when I heard that there was a complete rewrite, being in the IT department, I was very nervous that it would be years before something was going to be ready."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"It put my mind a little bit more at ease that maybe this is going to be more than vaporware, that this is actually going to come to fruition. So I've turned from skeptical to a bit excited."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"I really envision AI not being just applications on its own always, but just features that are integrated in the workflow of the actual apps so that it's not really an add-on product. It should be through and through."
Rob Ellis 路 Director of IT, Silver Eagle / Redwood Beverages
"His mind is just really pushing forward, and we love that about him, taking VIP on to better and greater things. I just like where his mindset is to go into AI. I think he is doing it right."
Matthew Lewis 路 Director of Warehouse Ops, Silver Eagle Houston
"Glazers is actually a Trailblazer customer, so we have been involved with Project Genesis from the start, and we are extremely excited about the potential of that product."
Kyle Payet 路 Enterprise App & Business Relationship Mgr, Glazer's
"A lot of times people fail at one or the other. They either leave their tools behind while we're waiting for new stuff, or they're not building into the future. To see that on both ends with VIP, it's fantastic."
Matt 路 IT Manager, Daytona Beverages
"I want tools that will benefit all of my employees, make their jobs and lives easier. And the more we get of that, the better."
Matt 路 IT Manager, Daytona Beverages
"We're most excited about the fact that VIP is going to be flipping the entire stack to enable new technology to be built on top of it. Being nimble and being able to adapt and change is absolutely critical for us distributors."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
"One thing that you can't do is sit around and wait for it to happen. You need to be on the forward edge of it, looking, trying, and testing new things to stay competitive in this dynamic world that we call DSD delivery."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
"Simplicity is the most critical thing when it comes to technology. If things don't get adopted by the lowest common denominator, the technology can be the most fantastic, but usage is absolutely critical."
Christopher Bowler 路 President & Owner, Daytona Beverages LLC
"The first one is the pricing agent, because I want to take one file, upload it, go to lunch, come back, and all my pricing is done."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
"The second one would be the routing AI agent, because routing takes a long time to develop, and anything that will shorten that gap means more frequent routing, which is good."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
"I was astonished at the amount of investment just in hardware. That's quite a considerable investment."
Mike 路 Business Development Mgr, Bernie Little Distributors
"It's going to make us more efficient, make us be able to really drive sales and make clearer decisions without having to dig into the data daily."
Jen 路 Sales Strategy Manager, Pepin Distributing