In today’s plumbing industry, manufacturers’ representatives are expected to do far more than sell products. They serve as technical experts, trainers, troubleshooters, relationship builders and business partners, helping manufacturers, distributors and contractors navigate an ever-increasingly complex marketplace.

For Synergy Sales NW, that evolving role has become the foundation of its success.

The Pacific Northwest-based manufacturers’ representative agency has built a reputation for combining their deep industry knowledge with a collaborative, solutions-driven mindset. Whether supporting contractors with hands-on training, helping distributors navigate product selection or leveraging technology to improve responsiveness, Synergy Sales has focused on creating long-term value throughout the supply chain.

“We don’t just represent products. We work to create complete plumbing solutions,” said co-founders Jay Hollabaugh and Brenda Cashdollar. “The philosophy has always been about working together to provide solutions, not simply selling products.”

That commitment to partnership is reflected throughout the company’s culture and operations. “We believe in creating synergy among our manufacturers, distribution partners, contractors, designers and our internal team,” Hollabaugh said.

For Hollabaugh and Cashdollar, success is measured not only by business growth, but also by the agency’s impact on the industry as a whole.

“When we started this 12 years ago, Jay and I always said that we wanted to leave the industry better than we found it,” Brenda says.

It’s that commitment to collaboration, professionalism and industry stewardship that earned Synergy Sales NW recognition as Plumbing & Mechanical’s 2026 Rep of the Year.

Where it Started

Synergy Sales NW was founded in 2014 by a group of industry professionals who believed there was an opportunity to approach the manufacturers’ representative business differently.

Rather than focusing solely on sales growth or expanding a line card as quickly as possible, the company was built around relationships, professionalism and long-term partnership.

Jay Hollabaugh and Brenda Cashdollar were among the founding members, along with five additional colleagues who took what Jay describes as “a leap of faith” to launch the agency.

Hollabaugh added, “We feel blessed, to have a team of hardworking dedicated employees that strive to be great. They are intentional in their approach to our customer base. Each employee brings a unique skillset that makes us better.”

“The company actually began with a vision before we had manufacturers to represent,” Hollabaugh explained. “Early on, the team focused on building a culture centered around professionalism, integrity and customer service.”

That foundation would ultimately shape every aspect of the business moving forward, from how employees were hired to how manufacturers were selected for the line card. “Our core values have stayed consistent throughout our history: integrity, respect, partnership and service,” Hollabaugh explained. “From day one, Synergy focused on treating customers and partners with honesty and professionalism while building long-term relationships.”

The company’s first manufacturers, Delta Faucet and MAAX, became instrumental in helping establish Synergy Sales NW in the company’s infancy. “Those two brands became the cornerstone of Synergy Sales Northwest, and helped establish the foundation of the company in its early years.”

More than a decade later, those partnerships remain intact. “Since launching in 2014 with those manufacturers, they’ve also remained our longest-running lines and continue to be a very important part of our business today,” Jay adds.

That patience required trust in both the business model and the marketplace. “We were fortunate that Delta and MAAX came on board early and helped carry us through those first few years,” Cashdollar said.

As the company grew, leadership remained very intentional about selecting manufacturers that aligned with both the company culture and existing product mix.

A major milestone came in 2019 when Synergy Sales NW acquired Western States Sales, a respected manufacturers’ rep agency with more than 60 years of history in the Pacific Northwest. “That acquisition significantly expanded the company and brought in nine experienced sales associates, positioning Synergy for the next phase of growth,” Jay says.

The acquisition marked a turning point for the agency, helping transform Synergy Sales from a startup operation into a well-established regional agency representing many leading plumbing manufacturers across the Pacific Northwest.

Despite the company’s growth, leadership says the original vision has remained unchanged.

“Even as the company has grown, we’ve stayed true to the values we started with: integrity, collaboration, professionalism and service,” Jay says.

The Power of Synergy

Throughout my conversation with Cashdollar and Hollabaugh, one thing was clear: the power of synergy is prevalent in every part of the company. From collaboration across manufacturers, contractors, distributors and designers to their solution-based selling model, it’s deeply embedded in the culture of the company.

For many companies, a name is simply branding. For Synergy Sales NW, it became the blueprint for how the business would operate.

From the beginning, company leadership envisioned an agency built around collaboration, not just transactions. The goal was never to simply assemble a collection of manufacturers and sell products into the marketplace. Instead, Synergy Sales wanted to create alignment between manufacturers, distributors, contractors, engineers and its own internal team, ensuring each relationship strengthened the next.

“We believe in creating synergy among our manufacturers, distribution partners, contractors, designers and our team,” says co-founder Jay. “The philosophy has always been about working together to provide solutions, not simply selling products.”

That philosophy has helped shape nearly every business decision the company has made over the past 12 years.

When evaluating new manufacturers, leadership focuses less on filling gaps in a catalog, and more on whether a line complements the agency’s existing partnerships and overall approach to the market.

“From the very beginning, we’ve been patient and selective with our line card,” said Cashdollar. “We know we can’t be everything to everyone.”

Instead of pursuing rapid expansion, Synergy Sales concentrated on building a line card where manufacturers could work cohesively together while supporting distributors and contractors with complete plumbing solutions.

“We want to make sure that it’s synergistic with what we have,” Cashdollar explained.

That intentional approach helped the company establish trust throughout the Pacific Northwest market. Contractors and distributors increasingly viewed the agency as more than a collection of individual brands; seeing them as a knowledgeable resource capable of helping solve larger project and specification challenges.

 “What truly sets Synergy apart is our combination of strong relationships, deep industry knowledge and a solution-based approach. We have been very fortunate to have a fantastic group of distribution partners that believed in our vision and supported us. Those life long friendships mean the world to Brenda and I.” Jay says. “We don’t just represent products. We work to create complete plumbing solutions.”

That solutions-based mentality has become increasingly important as the plumbing industry grows more complex. Today’s manufacturers’ representatives are expected to provide technical support, troubleshooting assistance, specification expertise and product training, often while helping customers navigate labor shortages, supply chain issues and evolving technology.

“The manufacturers’ rep role today is very different from what it was 20 years ago,” Cashdollar told me. “The most successful reps today are evolving from traditional sales organizations into business partners, technical specialists and problem-solving partners.”

For Synergy Sales, adapting to those changing expectations meant strengthening the relational sides of the business. Synergy Sales leadership places heavy emphasis on collaboration among employees, encouraging open communication and shared accountability across the company.

“We always say that we succeed together and struggle together,” Brenda says. “At the end of the day, helping one another succeed lifts the entire team.”

That culture has helped the company attract and retain employees who align with the agency’s long-term vision. “We strive to create a workplace where people feel valued and supported and able to grow professionally,” Brenda says.

For Hollabaugh and Cashdollar, the idea of synergy ultimately comes down to something simple: creating an environment where manufacturers, distributors, contractors and employees all succeed together.

“Our mission statement really sums it up well,” Jay says. “Caring people, working together, providing solutions.”

Training, Technology and the Future

For Hollabaugh and Cashdollar, education remains one of the agency’s most important responsibilities. But, rather than relying on traditional classroom presentations or product pitches, Synergy Sales prioritizes practical, hands-on learning experiences that directly connect to what contractors, distributors and field teams encounter every day.

“The most effective training has always been hands-on, in-person education focused on real-world applications and problem-solving,” Hollabaugh said.

Instead of lengthy presentations packed with technical specifications, the company focuses on short, highly interactive sessions designed to keep participants engaged while delivering practical takeaways they can immediately apply in the field.

“Short, focused sessions held at distributor counters, job sites and lunch-and-learns tend to drive much stronger engagement and retention than long classroom-style presentations,” Hollabaugh explained.

Those face-to-face opportunities have become even more valuable as the industry faces labor shortages and an increasingly younger workforce entering the trades. For many contractors and distributors, manufacturers’ representatives now play a larger role in product education, troubleshooting and technical support than ever before.

At the same time, the company recognizes that the modern rep agency must also embrace technology to remain competitive and responsive in a fast-moving market. “We’re focused on using technology to help us work smarter, respond faster and better support our customers and manufacturer partners,” Cashdollar told me.

Over the years, Synergy Sales has invested in tools designed to streamline communication, quoting and project tracking. The company implemented ISQuote from Day 1 to simplify the quoting process and later added RepFabric to support CRM tracking, project management and sales activity reporting.

Leadership also developed customized Power BI dashboards that provide the team with real-time visibility into sales activity, forecasting and market trends.

“That’s been a game changer, because it really gives our team some real-time data,” Cashdollar said. “Instead of saying, ‘This is how I feel something is,’ we can actually go and see the data there.”

The company has also begun cautiously exploring artificial intelligence and how it may fit into the future of the rep business.

“We’re still at the tip of the iceberg, but we’ve started testing AI tools,” Cashdollar said. While the technology continues to evolve rapidly, leadership views AI primarily as a way to improve efficiency and reduce administrative burdens rather than replace the human side of the business.

“Really what we’re trying to do is use the technology to free up our team to go build those relationships,” Cashdollar explained.

That distinction is important to the company. Despite advances in AI, automation and digital tools, Synergy Sales believes relationships will continue to drive long-term success in the plumbing industry.

“We never want technology to replace the rep, because relationships remain the most important part of this business,” Brenda says.

Looking Ahead

After more than a decade of growth, Synergy Sales NW’s leadership remains focused less on rapid expansion, and more on long-term impact.

For Hollabaugh and Cashdollar, success is measured not just by the strength of the company’s line card or market presence, but by the reputation the organization has built throughout the industry.

“We’re most proud of the reputation we’ve built over the past 12 years and the relationships we’ve earned throughout the industry,” Jay says.

That reputation, they said, was built through consistency. Even as the company expanded through new manufacturer partnerships, acquisitions and technological investments, Synergy Sales remained grounded in the same values it established at the beginning.

“Even as the company has grown, we’ve stayed true to the values we started with Jay says.

Maintaining that culture has become increasingly important as the agency prepares for the next generation of leadership within both the company and the industry itself. “When we started this 12 years ago, Jay and I always said that we wanted to leave the industry better than we found it,” Brenda says.

That mindset influences how the company approaches recruiting, employee development and long-term planning. Leadership places heavy emphasis on creating opportunities for younger team members to grow professionally while helping prepare them for future leadership roles.

“One day, both of us will move along and leave it to the next generation,” Brenda says.

For Cashdollar and Hollabaugh, one of the most rewarding parts of building the company has been watching employees evolve alongside the business itself. “It’s exciting to watch our team develop and be ready for that,” Cashdollar told me.

“We are excited to see what the future brings. It seems every day our employees come to us with a new customer that we can build a relationship with, or a new opportunity where we can provide a solution to.”

As the plumbing industry continues to navigate workforce shortages, shifting technology and evolving customer expectations, Synergy Sales leadership believes the core principles of the business will remain unchanged. “We love this business, we love our manufactures, we love the customers we get to work with, and we love improving as team everyday.”

The company’s mission statement continues to serve as both a reflection of its culture and a guide for its future.

“Caring people, working together, providing solutions,” Jay says.