Notes for owners · Channel and customer growth
Marketing for manufacturers who sell through dealers, not to the end user
How a manufacturer that sells through dealers should split its marketing between the dealer who stocks the product and the end user who asks for it, and what the dealer needs from you.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
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Your dealer stocks four brands beside yours. The buyer at the counter asks, "Which one is good?" A manufacturer that sells through dealers has two customers who must both say yes: the dealer who decides to stock you, and the end user who asks for it. Market to the dealer to get shelf space and a salesperson's attention. Market through the dealer to put your name in the buyer's mind. Do the first before the second, because an advertisement that sends people to a shop that does not stock you wastes the money.
Who exactly are you marketing to?
Three people matter, and each reads a different message.
The dealer owner decides what to stock, and thinks about margin, how fast it moves, whether you pay claims, and whether you will open a competing dealer down the road. The counter salesperson decides what to recommend when the buyer says "show me something good". The end user decides, often with the salesperson's nudge, between your product and the one next to it.
Some manufacturers write for the last of these and ignore the salesperson. That is a weak point. A salesperson who cannot tell a customer in one sentence why yours is better will recommend whichever is easiest to explain. Test it: ask the salesperson at three of your dealers why they would pick yours over the one next to it. If every answer is price, you have no message yet. Our piece on advertising to dealers covers what the dealer owner reads. This post is about the whole chain.
What does the dealer need from you?
Put these in front of every dealer in writing, and check each against your own record before promising it.
| The dealer's worry | What you give | How you would know it works |
|---|---|---|
| "Will it sell, or sit?" | A fast-moving core range, with slow lines kept optional | Reorders come without a reminder |
| "Is my margin safe?" | A printed price list and a rule against undercutting in the dealer's area | Fewer requests for rate cuts |
| "What do I say to the customer?" | Three-line product sheet and a sample they can hand over | The salesperson quotes it back to you correctly |
| "Who handles complaints?" | One named person and a phone number, with a stated way of settling claims | Claims close without a visit from you |
| "Will you bring a rival next door?" | A territory note, agreed once | Fewer mid-season arguments |
The last row ties to the dealer agreement. We have a separate note on what to settle in writing with dealers.
What goes into the shop
Material made for the dealer's counter has one test: would the dealer use it if you were not watching? A few that pass.
A price card in the dealer's own language, small enough to sit by the till. A sample or cut-piece the customer can touch. A short comparison sheet, honest about where a rival wins, so the salesperson is not caught out. A board or shelf strip sized to real shop fronts, not to your studio.
A feature poster in English, pinned where nobody reads, fails the test. So does anything that carries only your logo. If you cannot say what the dealer gets from displaying it, do not print it.
How the end user reaches you, and where the enquiry goes
Brand advertising makes the buyer ask by name, and it sets up the dealer's sale. If you also run online advertising that collects phone numbers, decide before the first rupee goes in where each enquiry will land.
The rule that keeps a network together: an enquiry from an area with a dealer goes to that dealer promptly, with a note on what the person asked for. An enquiry from an area with no dealer is yours, and it is also your best evidence for where to appoint one. Record the pin code on every enquiry so you can sort them.
Tell dealers this rule before you advertise. Dealers who hear about your advertising from a customer first may turn hostile, and may stop pushing you.
What goes wrong: a paintbrush maker in Ambala
This case is invented. An Ambala maker of paintbrushes and rollers sells through forty hardware and paint shops across Haryana and Himachal. The owner wants painters and householders to know the brand, so a social media campaign offers a direct-order price a little under the shop price. Orders arrive in a fortnight. So do three angry calls from dealers whose customers held up the offer on a phone at the counter.
The campaign competed with the people who carry the stock. The owner rebuilds it. The advertisement now shows the roller set and says where to find it, with a form asking only for the buyer's town. Each enquiry goes to the nearest dealer by pin code, naming the roller the buyer liked, and every dealer is told before the advertisement goes live. Towns with no dealer go onto a list for the next appointment.
Dealers now receive customers instead of losing them, though a few never call the buyers back, and the owner learns which towns ask for the product without a shop. That list outlasts the campaign.
When counter material will not save you
It does not help if the dealer's margin is thinner than the dealer next door and nothing else about your product sets it apart. Dealers tend to push what pays them, and counter material rarely overcomes that. It also fails if your deliveries are unreliable: fix supply first.
If you are still deciding whether dealers are the right route at all, read how to decide between dealers and direct sales. Incentive design is covered in dealer incentives without damaging margins.
Ask three dealers before you print anything
Call one strong dealer, one middling one and one who has stopped ordering. Ask what they say when a buyer asks for something good. Their answers are your brief. For the dealer side of the work, channel partner, franchise and retail growth is the service, and the marketing hub shows where the buyer-facing campaign belongs. When you want a hand, tell us what you need.
