CRM, lead flow and sales techniques · Inbound selling: advise
Start from the date the buyer needs the result and count back to the day they sign.
A backward timeline planner is a dated plan that starts at the buyer's goal date and works back through delivery, training and approvals to the week the contract must be signed. It also records what each month of delay costs the buyer. The page ends with a sheet you update after every call.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A backward timeline planner is a dated plan that starts at the buyer's goal date and works back through delivery, training and approvals to the week the contract must be signed. It also records what each month of delay costs the buyer. The page ends with a sheet you update after every call.
A school in Mysuru wants its new admissions system running before enquiries open in January. In October the principal says 'send us a proposal'. Nobody works back from January, and by the time the management committee meets in the second week of December, the date is already impossible.
Planning backward means asking for the date that matters first. Then you subtract the weeks the work needs: setup, staff training, a trial run, the buyer's internal review, the purchase order. What is left tells you when the buyer has to say yes. If that date is already past, you both learn it in the first meeting rather than the last.
The rep builds it with the buyer on the call, and the sales head checks it against delivery capacity. It replaces the vague 'we will revert next week' and gives every follow-up a reason that belongs to the buyer, not to you.
The sheet sits after the value sheet, which gives the cost of delay, and before the budget and purchase process confirmation, which fills in who signs. It feeds the follow-up rhythm used once the quotation is out.
Where this sits
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If you want this done for you
Deals move forward on gut feel, not because a stage was actually completed.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Indian calendars eat weeks”
A plan that ignores Diwali, the financial year end on 31 March, board meetings and the wedding season is fiction. Ask which weeks the buyer's team is unavailable. Put the festival closures on the sheet as blocked weeks and watch the signing date move earlier.
“The approval chain is the longest step”
Delivery takes a known number of weeks. The buyer's internal approval, with a partner abroad or a trust meeting once a month, is the step that slips. Ask who approves and when they next meet, and put that meeting on the timeline as a hard date.
“Cost of delay makes the date real”
A buyer who says 'by March' without a reason will let March pass. Ask what a month of delay costs them in orders, stock or rent and write the figure beside the date. Urgency in a sale comes from a number the buyer already knew.
“A timeline you cannot meet should be refused”
If the buyer's date needs delivery faster than you can do it well, say so on the sheet and offer a phased start. Accepting an impossible date to win the order produces a late project and a buyer who tells others.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The backward sheet
Rows run from the goal date back to today: goal date, go-live, training, setup, internal approvals, signature, and the call you are on now. Columns hold the date, the owner (buyer or you), the dependency and the status.
Result: Finished when every row has a date and a named person on it.
The blocked-weeks list
Festival closures, year end, audits, exams, season peaks and the approver's travel, taken from the buyer. Each is greyed out on the sheet.
Result: Finished when no task is scheduled in a week the buyer has said they are unavailable.
The cost of delay line
A rupee figure per month of slippage, with the source of the figure. It sits at the top of the sheet.
Result: Finished when the buyer has read the line and agreed it is roughly right.
The weekly update
A copy of the sheet sent after each contact with changes marked. Only dates that moved are highlighted.
Result: Finished when the buyer can open it and see in one glance whether they are still on track.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
What if the buyer has no goal date?
Who holds the sheet, us or the buyer?
How is this different from a project plan?
How do we use it with a buyer who buys on impulse?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of inbound selling: advise
Or read all of crm, lead flow and sales techniques.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.