Sales management · Legal and ethical issues
Write down what your sellers may offer, accept and say before a customer asks.
A sales code of conduct is a short signed page of rules on honesty, gifts, entertainment and customer confidentiality. A gifts policy adds rupee limits and a register. This page covers what to put on the page, how to sign it in, and what to log, with your lawyer checking the final wording.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A sales code of conduct is a short signed page of rules on honesty, gifts, entertainment and customer confidentiality. A gifts policy adds rupee limits and a register. This page covers what to put on the page, how to sign it in, and what to log, with your lawyer checking the final wording.
A purchase manager at a Chennai auto-parts maker forwards a hamper from a supplier's rep to the owner's desk. It arrived the week before the annual contract review. Nobody had told the rep whether it was fine. It could have been Diwali courtesy or it could have been influence.
A code is two pages that every seller reads and signs: how we speak to customers, what we do not promise, what we give and take, and how we treat what one customer tells us about another. A gifts policy sits inside it and gives rupee limits and a register.
The owner writes it, the sales manager rolls it out, and a lawyer reads it before it is final. It replaces the unwritten rule that everyone is supposed to understand, which means different things to a ten-year veteran and to a new graduate.
It sits beside the ethics workshop, where the team works through real cases, and the legal checklist, which tests your practices against the law.
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
New hires learn the job by listening in on other people's calls.
The work
What this is actually like.
“A rupee limit is easier to follow than a principle”
'Gifts must be modest' means nothing at a festival. A limit of a stated rupee value per gift, and a stated total per customer per year, can be followed and checked. Choose the numbers for your trade, then ask your lawyer to review them.
“Gifts you give and gifts you take need separate lines”
Giving to a purchase manager who can award you work is different from taking a sweet box from a supplier. Write a rule for each direction, and name who must approve anything above the limit.
“Confidentiality is the rule reps break by being friendly”
A rep who tells one dealer what another dealer pays, or what a rival ordered, thinks they are building rapport. Put it in writing in plain words: you never tell one customer about another's prices, volumes or plans.
“The code means nothing if the top seller is exempt”
If your best rep breaks the rule and is told to carry on, everyone else notices that week. State the consequence on the page and apply it equally. Otherwise the signed copy becomes a joke.
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 one-page code
Six to eight plain sentences under headings: honesty with customers, no false claims, how we compete, what we do not promise, gifts, confidentiality, and what to do if unsure. Written by the owner in the language the team speaks.
Result: Finished when a new rep can read it in five minutes and say what they may not do.
The gifts and entertainment limits
A table with the rupee limit per gift, the yearly total per customer, who may approve more, and what is never allowed. Reviewed by your lawyer.
Result: Finished when a rep can look at a hamper and know whether to log it, return it or ask.
The gifts register
Date, giver, receiver, what it was, value, and approver. Kept by the sales manager and opened by the owner on a date set in the policy.
Result: Finished when the register has been opened by someone who is not the person filling it.
The signed copy
A page with the name, the date and the line 'I have read and understood this'. Signed on joining and again each year.
Result: Finished when every seller has a signed copy on file, and the owner's copy is on top.
The wall version
The five rules in large print where the team sits and as a pinned message in the team's group.
Result: Finished when a visitor to the office can read the rules from the doorway.
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 limit should we set for Diwali gifts?
Is a code only for large companies?
What if a customer insists on a gift?
Do we need a lawyer?
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 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.