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Plumbing and sanitaryware distributors · Sales management

Your best route on sales may be your worst route on collection.

Sales management for a plumbing and sanitaryware distributor is the routine by which the owner or sales head looks at each route, quote and outstanding amount, and decides who to call. GullySales sets up the review sheet, the follow-up rules and the questions to ask each salesman, from the records you already keep.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

A distributor demonstrates a tap fitting to a contractor

What sales management means

Sales management is the ongoing work of reviewing a sales team's pipeline, calls and targets, and stepping in on deals that are stuck. GullySales sets the review rhythm and the reports a sales manager needs to run this without relying on gut feel.

Also for plumbing and sanitaryware distributors

Sales and marketing for plumbing and sanitaryware distributors, the overview.

Last updated 6 Oct 2026.

For plumbing and sanitaryware distributors

Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.

  • “Route targets reward volume and say nothing about collection”

    The salesman who lifted the most material may be the one whose shops owe the most. A target written in quantity alone makes the salesman push the next order on a shop that has not paid.

  • “The scheme date drives the push, not the retailer's need”

    Stock loaded on a shop in March to reach a slab can come back as a return in June. The review has to ask what the shop will sell, not only what it will take.

  • “Every lost order is put down to rate”

    Ask a salesman why an order went and the answer is the other distributor's price. The real reasons, stock, delivery, credit or a claim left open, never reach the owner.

  • “A new man inherits a route with no notes”

    The shops, their habits and their grievances were never written down. A replacement salesman rediscovers them one lost order at a time.

What we do

What we deliver for plumbing and sanitaryware distributors.

Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.

  1. A one-page review for each route

    Orders, quotations, lapsed shops and overdue amounts for one route and one salesman, drawn from the sales register and the ledger.

    Result: The owner reviews the same page for every route.

  2. A short list of reasons for a lost order

    Five or six fixed choices, such as no stock, late delivery, credit not given, rate, claim pending, bought elsewhere, picked by the salesman when logging a loss.

    Result: The reasons you lose orders become visible.

  3. Follow-up rules for quotations

    Who rings after a builder's quotation is sent, on which date, and what is recorded when the answer is no.

    Result: A quotation is followed until it has an outcome.

  4. A lapsed-retailer call list for each salesman

    Shops past their usual gap between orders, with the last item they took, handed to the salesman who covers them.

    Result: Each salesman starts the day with shops to win back.

  5. A scheme and need check before a push

    A sheet that sets the scheme target beside what each shop sold through, so the push goes to shops that can sell the stock.

    Result: Fewer shops take stock they cannot move.

  6. A route handover note

    For each shop, the owner's name, usual items, habits and any open issue, kept so a new salesman can pick up the route.

    Result: A change of salesman does not restart the route.

How the result is measured

  • Target achievement
  • Pipeline coverage
  • Stuck deals resolved

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

Read the full sales management page

What the sales manager reviews

What the owner or sales head reviews on each route, and where to find it.

Orders and enquiries by route and salesman
Count them from the order register and the enquiry sheet. If enquiries are healthy and orders are thin, the problem is stock or follow-up. If both are thin, it is the route.
Retailers who have not ordered in their usual gap
Compare each shop's last invoice date with its own usual gap from the sales register. Give the list to the salesman, and ask for a reason at the next review.
Quotations sent and what happened
List each builder quotation with its callback date and outcome. Quotes with no outcome are the ones to ring first, and the lost ones tell you where the rate or the delivery fell short.
Reasons for lost orders
Read the short list of reasons logged by salesmen. If one reason dominates, such as no stock, the cure is in purchasing and not in selling.
Scheme position against need
Set the brand's slab target and the days left beside what each shop has sold through. Push the shops that can sell, and do not load the ones that will return stock.
Overdue amount beside new orders
Read the ledger's overdue list next to the order register for the same shop. Agree further material on credit only after the salesman and the accountant have looked at the same page.

Who it is for

This is written for these plumbing and sanitaryware distributors.

  • CPVC, UPVC and SWR pipe and fittings distributors
  • Sanitaryware and CP fittings distributors
  • Water tank and storage distributors
  • Multi-brand plumbing wholesalers supplying sub-dealers
  • Distributors with a bathroom showroom and a trade counter
  • Project suppliers to builders and contractors
  • Valve, pump and water heater stockists
  • District sub-distributors and stockists

Not for

It is not the right fit if.

  • You have one salesman and the owner knows every shop, so targets and review sheets add paperwork and no clarity.
  • Your billing record does not link orders to collection, so a route review would show half the picture.
  • The brand's scheme dates drive all your targets and you cannot set your own, so a plan of your own would be ignored.

How it works

How the sales management work runs

The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.

  1. 1

    Look at what exists

    We ask for the last few weeks of calendars, pipeline records and review notes, and find where the routine breaks.

  2. 2

    Write the routine down

    Slots, agendas, attendees and the records each meeting uses are agreed in writing before the first one.

  3. 3

    Clean the pipeline first

    Stage definitions are fixed and stale deals removed, so the first review is about real deals.

  4. 4

    Run or coach

    We lead the meetings, or sit in while your manager leads and give feedback afterwards.

  5. 5

    Deal with problems as they appear

    A slipping number is discussed at the next one-on-one with notes, not stored up for an appraisal.

  6. 6

    Hand over

    Your manager or owner takes the routine, with the templates and records, and we step back.

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

This work sits inside sales management. A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3 · you are here

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
How often should I sit with each salesman?
Pick a fixed day and a fixed length and keep to it, before the day's route and not after. A short meeting held reliably beats a long one held when you remember. Bring the route page and ask about three shops, not thirty.
Who should be at the review: the salesman, the accountant, the godown?
The salesman and the owner or sales head every time. Bring the accountant for the overdue list and the godown keeper when stock-outs are the issue. Too many people turns the review into a meeting about everyone's difficulties.
A salesman will not write anything down. What can we do?
Reduce what the salesman has to write to three things: the shop, the reason if no order, and the date to return. Then let the salesman see their own route list built from it. Refusal after that is a management question, not a systems one.
How do we set a target without last year's figures?
Start from your sales register and set the number of active retailers and orders per route, not only quantity. Adjust after a full season. A target set without records is a guess, and the salesman knows it.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts, split into our time, your media spend and production.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
It depends on the trade, the channel and what is already in place. After we have read your brief and spoken to you, we say what we would expect to move first and how it will be measured against the baseline. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
Your brief, and a conversation. After that, access to whatever this work touches, such as your website, your accounts or your enquiry record, and time with the people who handle your enquiries.
What if we are not happy with the work?
Tell us and the plan changes. Everything is reported against the baseline, so a number that is not moving is visible to both sides. The term is in your written scope, and the refund and cancellation policy sets out the rest.

From the blog

Further reading for plumbing and sanitaryware distributors.

All articles

More for plumbing and sanitaryware distributors

Everything else we would do for you.

Or start from the overview: sales and marketing for plumbing and sanitaryware distributors.

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