Sales management · Sales expenses
Say how much a lunch costs at each deal stage, and who owns the air miles.
Hospitality and travel perks rules set how much a rep may spend on a customer at each stage of a deal and who keeps the loyalty points earned on company-paid trips. This page gives the band table, the gift limit and the booking rule, with a note on when to ask your CA.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Hospitality and travel perks rules set how much a rep may spend on a customer at each stage of a deal and who keeps the loyalty points earned on company-paid trips. This page gives the band table, the gift limit and the booking rule, with a note on when to ask your CA.
A machine-tool dealer in Pune lets reps spend as they judge on customers. One rep takes a shop-floor supervisor for tea after a demo. Another books a dinner for six at a hotel restaurant before the customer has even asked for a quote. The owner finds out from the credit card statement. Which of the two was wrong? Nobody can say, because no rule exists.
The rules are a one-page table. Rows are deal stages, from first meeting to order to after-sales visit. Columns are customer tiers. Each cell says what is allowed, up to what amount per occasion, for how many people, and whether the sales manager must say yes first. A second short section decides who owns the points when a rep books travel.
The owner agrees the tiers and the limits. The sales manager enforces them and keeps the occasion log. Your CA or lawyer should read the page, because treatment of entertainment spend in the books, of gifts to customers and of points as a benefit to the rep differs, and rules change.
It follows the written expense policy, which says hospitality is covered, and the claim workflow, which checks the bill against this table.
Where this sits
Topic 8 of 14 in sales management: sales expenses. Policies and controls for the cost of selling.
- The topic before
- Compensation
- The topic after
- Quotas and targets
If you want this done for you
Reps report to someone who is too busy selling to manage them.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Hospitality should rise with the deal”
Tea for the shop-floor staff at the first visit makes sense. Dinner before a quote is a cost with no signal behind it. Tie each level to a stage, so the spend follows the customer's commitment and a rep cannot buy a dinner for a prospect who has not yet replied to a message.
“The tiers need a plain test”
Split customers into A, B and C by the order value or the potential you have already recorded. If a rep can argue that every customer is an A, the table has no teeth. Let the sales manager assign the tier, not the rep.
“Gifts need their own yearly cap”
A diary at Diwali is one thing. Five gifts in a year to the same purchase manager is another. Set a value limit per customer per year, and say that gifts to government or public-sector staff are not allowed without the owner's written approval.
“Points are a quiet cost”
Reps who book on a personal card or a favoured airline earn miles on your money. Decide whether the points belong to the rep, the company or are shared, and set a booking rule on fare. Ask your CA how points are treated as a perquisite.
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 hospitality band table
Rows: first meeting, demo or site visit, quotation stage, order, after-sales. Columns: A, B, C customers. Each cell holds what is allowed, a rupee cap per occasion and a head count. The sales manager drafts, the owner approves.
Result: Finished when any rep can price a customer lunch from the table without asking.
The gift rule
One paragraph: the yearly value per customer, what counts as a gift, who needs to approve above it, and the rule on public-sector and government customers. The owner writes it.
Result: Finished when a gift over the limit cannot be bought without a signed approval.
The occasion log
A sheet kept by the sales manager: date, customer, tier, stage, amount, people present, and the order status a quarter later. It is the only way to learn whether hospitality ever changed an outcome.
Result: Finished when a quarter of entries is complete and the manager has marked the orders that followed.
The travel points clause
A line in the policy on who owns points, the booking rule (lowest fare, or a preferred airline within a stated premium) and the CA's note on tax. Reps are told in writing.
Result: Finished when a rep knows which card to book on and why.
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.
How much should we spend on entertaining customers?
Should reps be allowed to give gifts?
Who owns the air miles from company travel?
Is entertainment spend deductible?
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.
Services
The rest of sales expenses
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.