Skip to content
GullySales
Tell us what you need

Personal branding · Finance and legal

The mandate came out of a conversation at a wedding, not out of a pitch deck.

Personal branding for an investment banker is the visibility of the individual a promoter will trust with the sale of a company they built, at a time when almost everything you know is confidential.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

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

A professional shares her expertise in a recorded interview

In one paragraph

Personal branding for an investment banker is the visibility of the individual a promoter will trust with the sale of a company they built, at a time when almost everything you know is confidential. GullySales writes and runs it from a regular conversation, cleared by compliance first.

Also written for

Investment banker, M&A adviser, Corporate finance professional.

Where this sits

For investment bankers

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

  • “A promoter decides to sell years before they ring anybody”

    The thought starts when a competitor exits, or when a son says he does not want the factory. For the next two years they read quietly and ask one friend who has been through it.

  • “Everything worth saying is price sensitive or under an NDA”

    A live mandate rules out the sector you know best, and the processes you lost you may never mention. What is left is the part promoters never understand: how a deal actually runs.

  • “Funds send deal flow to people whose view they have read”

    A mid-market fund meets the same intermediaries every quarter. The banker who has published a real opinion on a sector gets the call when that fund goes hunting in it.

  • “A tombstone proves nothing about what you did”

    Announced transactions are the only public proof you have, and they say the deal closed. They do not say you held it together in week nine when the buyer tried to reprice.

What we do

What we deliver for investment bankers.

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

  1. A profile built on announced transactions and sector coverage

    Registration, the sectors you cover, deal sizes and the transactions already in the public domain. Nothing live, nothing withdrawn, nothing the client has not agreed to.

    Result: A promoter and a fund partner both see the same verifiable record.

  2. The interview about how a process really runs

    An hour with you on the mechanics: what diligence uncovers, why valuations move between term sheet and closing, what a promoter should settle with their family first.

    Result: Writing a first-time seller cannot find anywhere else.

  3. Sector notes with nothing live inside them

    Your reading of where consolidation is heading in a category, drawn from public filings and published transactions only.

    Result: Funds and family offices start the conversation by referring to your note.

  4. A compliance read before every publication

    Each draft checked against live mandates and restricted lists, with a record kept of who cleared what and when.

    Result: An audit trail if anybody ever asks why a piece appeared that week.

  5. Conference panels and closed promoter forums

    A speaker biography and two subjects offered to business family forums and industry bodies, where the audience owns companies rather than advises on them.

    Result: Conversations with owners who are years away from a process and will remember you.

  6. Your directors given sectors of their own

    Profiles and sector notes for the directors and vice presidents, so coverage does not sit with one person.

    Result: Two processes can run at once without the same name on both.

How the result is measured

  • Enquiries that name you or came through your profile
  • Searches for your name, from Search Console
  • Profile views and connection requests from your industry
  • Speaking invitations, press enquiries and podcast requests
  • Posts published against posts planned, and what held up the rest

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

Read the full personal branding page

How it works

How the work runs for investment bankers

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

    Work out whether this is even your bottleneck

    The first conversation covers how enquiries reach you today. If the company's own site is the weaker link, that comes first, and we say so.

  2. 2

    Search your own name with you

    We look at what a buyer sees today: every profile, old listing and photograph. Some of it you will want taken down, and some of it only you can take down.

  3. 3

    Agree what you will and will not say

    The subjects you know cold, the ones that belong to your clients, and the lines your regulator or association draws. Written down before anything is published.

  4. 4

    Rebuild the profiles

    The bio page, LinkedIn and the directories that matter in your field, done once and done properly.

  5. 5

    The routine

    Interview, drafts, your approval, publication. The interview is the only part that needs you, and it is the part that cannot be skipped.

  6. 6

    Hand it over

    The subject list, the drafting notes and the calendar are yours. If you would rather keep it running yourself, that is a fair outcome.

Before you hire anyone

The first thing to do yourself.

It costs nothing, and it shows what a buyer sees before they ever call you.

  1. Search your own name and your practice or business name in a private browser window, and list the first ten results.
  2. Open your profile on each major platform and check that the name, photo, description and contact details agree.
  3. Ask two people who recently chose you what they looked up first, and write down their answers.

Judge any provider

What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.

Useful whoever you choose, including us.

  • Who writes my words, and do I approve everything before it goes out?
  • Which of my own details and claims will you need to check with me before publishing?
  • What will you not write because of the rules my profession follows?
  • Whose account do the profiles and the content sit in, and what happens to them if we stop?
  • What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.

  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

    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
Our compliance team will never allow this.
Then they set the scope, and that conversation happens before any writing is commissioned. Restrictions on unpublished price sensitive information, on live mandates and on personal dealing are not negotiable, and a sensible programme is built around them. Your registration and the firm's are what is at risk, so the compliance officer's word is final. If the answer comes back as a flat no, there is nothing here for you to buy and we will say so in the first conversation rather than after the invoice.
Can I write about a deal after it closes?
Only what has been publicly announced, and only what the client agrees to in writing. Even then, keep the commentary on structure and process rather than on what the business was worth to them. Promoters talk to each other, and discretion is the referral.
Is this not a business done entirely on relationships?
It is, and this is how a relationship stays warm between the two conversations a year you actually get. A promoter who has been reading your sector note for eighteen months rings you first when the board finally moves. Our first conversation starts by looking at where your last five mandates began.
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 what is being changed and how many of the people who matter see it. 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 the work touches, such as your profiles, your website or your accounts, and time with the people who can answer our questions.
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.

Finance and legal

Personal branding for the rest of the finance and legal.

Or start from personal branding.

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.

Tell us what you need