For prospecting purposes - it's only worth it to engage with manufacturers if you do X million of dollars on their product, so why not have a smaller vendor do

For prospecting purposes - it's only worth it to engage with manufacturers if you do X million of dollars on their product, so why not have a smaller vendor do all the legwork to grow the listing, prove the product, then cut them out. Source: mid-sized Amazon 1P/3P vendor, mid-millions rev.