Sales management · Legal and ethical issues
Every claim a rep makes should have a document behind it.
A claims substantiation register is a single sheet listing every factual statement your brochures, decks, scripts and catalogues make about your product, beside the paper that proves it. This page covers how to build it, what to do with claims you cannot prove, and how to brief reps on the approved wording.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A claims substantiation register is a single sheet listing every factual statement your brochures, decks, scripts and catalogues make about your product, beside the paper that proves it. This page covers how to build it, what to do with claims you cannot prove, and how to brief reps on the approved wording.
A dealer in Hubballi prints a new brochure that says the water heater cuts the power bill by half. A customer's electricity bill goes up, they send a photo of it on WhatsApp, and the owner goes looking for the test report. There is none. The claim came from a supplier's pamphlet two years ago.
The register is how you avoid that search. It is one spreadsheet with a row for every claim: the exact words, where they appear, and the certificate, test report or customer record that proves them. A claim with an empty evidence cell is either rewritten or taken out.
The owner signs it off, because the owner is the one a complaint lands on. Someone in marketing or the sales head keeps it, and whoever looks after quality or the product hands over the evidence. It replaces the habit of copying a line from the last brochure because it sounded good.
It sits next to the legal risk checklist for sellers and the ethics training loop. Those cover behaviour. This one covers the words printed and spoken. Rules on advertising claims differ by product and state and change, so show the finished register to your own lawyer.
Where this sits
Topic 13 of 14 in sales management: legal and ethical issues. Rules the team sells within.
- The topic before
- Performance evaluation
- The topic after
- The sales operations audit
If you want this done for you
Every rep builds their own version of the pitch because there is no approved one.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Reps invent claims faster than print does”
The brochure is only one source. A rep on a call says the machine is the best in the market, the batch is certified, the oil is pure. None of it is written down, so none of it is checked. The register has to cover scripts and WhatsApp replies, not just the printed pieces.
“A comparison claim needs its own proof”
Saying you are cheaper than a named rival, or the only dealer with a service van, is a claim about someone else's business as well as yours. Keep the date and source of the comparison on the row, and retire the line when the rival changes price.
“Old evidence goes stale”
A test report from three product versions ago proves nothing about today's product. Put the date of each document in the register and the version it covers. When a formula, supplier or model changes, every claim on that product goes back to unproven until it is re-checked.
“Endorsements carry your risk”
A doctor, a cricketer or a happy customer who repeats your line in a reel is making the claim for you, and you gave them the words. Their quote needs a row too, with proof that they actually used what they praise.
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 materials list
One sheet naming every place a claim can appear: brochure, deck, website page, price list, packaging, catalogue on WhatsApp, call script, signboard. Columns are item, owner, last edited, and a link to the file.
Result: Finished when the sales head can point to every piece a customer might have been shown in the last year.
The claims register
One row per claim. Columns: exact wording, where it appears, kind of claim (performance, saving, comparison, certification, health or safety), evidence, evidence date, status of proven, unproven or retired, and who checked it.
Result: Finished when no live material contains a claim whose status is unproven.
The evidence folder
Test reports, certificates, lab results and customer records, filed under the same row numbers as the register. The product or quality person fills it, because the sales team does not hold these papers.
Result: Finished when a row number opens its proof in under a minute.
The approved-claims sheet
A single page for reps: the exact sentences they may say about each product, and the sentences they must not. Reps get it printed and on their phones.
Result: Finished when a rep asked about energy saving or certification quotes from the sheet and not from memory.
The retired list
Every claim you took out, the date, and the reason. It stops the same line creeping back in the next print run.
Result: Finished when the designer checks it before approving a new brochure proof.
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.
We sell a simple product. Do we really need this?
What do we do with a claim we cannot prove?
Does this cover food, health and medicine products?
Who in our team should own the register?
How often should we update it?
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?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
Services
The rest of legal and ethical issues
Or read all of sales management.
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.