Should I start my sales efforts at the distributor or operator level?
Both. The easy answer is to say “go get some operator orders, and the distributors will have to bring in your product.” But the fact is that unless you’ve got the best, most innovative product to come along in the last decade, there are probably reasonably good substitutes already available. And distributors would rather not invest in setting up and stocking small-volume new products with questionable sales potential.
