Working session with [1] (Brian & Jacob Framson) to review and restructure the CAI sales rep portal ahead of onboarding a new 20–30 person California rep group. The session produced concrete action items for portal reorganization, user list cleanup, and contact info updates.
The immediate driver for this session was an upcoming Tuesday kickoff meeting with a new, large California rep group (~20–30 people) led by Gabriel Samano. Brian wanted the portal in presentable shape before that call — not a deep dive, but enough to show reps what's available and signal that CAI has its act together. The broader context is that California has been a difficult market for years, and this rep group (recommended by a key dealer) represents a meaningful opportunity.
Attendees:
- Brian Framson — Citrus America (bframson@citrusamerica.com)
- Jacob Framson — Citrus America (jframson@citrusamerica.com)
- Melissa Cusumano — Asymmetric (melissa.cusumano@asymmetric.pro)
- Ben San Fratello — Asymmetric (ben.sanfratello@asymmetric.pro)
The current portal structure is confusing and hinders rep adoption. The group agreed to reorganize the top section into two clear buckets:
The product section (individual machine pages with spec sheets, manuals, training videos) was deemed largely fine as-is.
The "Training Videos" link on individual product pages (confirmed broken on SSB-ATS) is not routing correctly. This needs to be repaired before the Tuesday kickoff.
The contact section will be updated with new headshots of Brian, Jacob, and Miriam. Brian will send photos. All portal communications will be updated to come from Brian, replacing Jay, for consistent messaging going forward.
Brian will ask Gabriel Samano for a full rep list (names, emails, titles) before Monday. Melissa will prepare an onboarding email template from Brian. The goal is to blast portal access to the new group on Monday or Tuesday so Brian can reference it live during the kickoff call.
The existing user list was reviewed and the following changes were agreed upon:
| Action | User | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Update email | Andrew (Premier Food Service) | Company became Alliance FSE; update to andrew@alliancefse.com. Melissa sent a test email to confirm deliverability. |
| Delete | "Rogelio" | Unknown user; suspected scammer. Deleted during session. |
| Delete | Bill Flannery | Former rep, no longer active. |
| Verify access | All reps | Melissa to confirm reps only see the public-facing portal, not the admin backend. |
Active rep groups confirmed on the list: Butkovich, Kauffman, Pace Reps, Succession Reps. Total Source and other fired groups have been removed.
andrew@alliancefse.com (pending confirmation of deliverability)Brian shared the core challenge with new rep groups: when reps carry high-revenue brands like Rationale or Middleby (which can outfit an entire commercial kitchen), a juicer line generating $10k in commission on $100k of sales simply doesn't compete for attention.
The pitch framework being developed for Tuesday:
- Year 1 target: $500k in juicer sales
- Year 2 target: $1M in juicer sales
- Engagement hook: CAI loans a $10k juicer unit for trade shows — reps who see the value use it to drive booth traffic; those who don't ("it's heavy") self-select out
The portal is positioned as a self-service resource reps can access on the road without needing to call CAI directly.