The sales process · Sales qualification
The enquiry arrived at nine at night and somebody read it at eleven the next morning.
Lead response is what happens between an enquiry arriving and a human answering it. Handover is the rule that says which enquiries marketing passes to sales, who owns each one, and by when. Both of these are written down, or they run on whoever happens to be free that afternoon.
In one paragraph
Lead response is what happens between an enquiry arriving and a human answering it. Handover is the rule that says which enquiries marketing passes to sales, who owns each one, and by when. Both of these are written down, or they run on whoever happens to be free that afternoon.
A missed call at twenty past four. The phone was in somebody's bag on a site visit. Nobody rings it back that evening, and nobody rings it back the next day either. That number was a buyer who had two other firms in the same search result.
The website form is worse, because it looks handled. It lands in a shared inbox three people can see and nobody owns. Somebody opens it at seven in the evening, decides it is too late to ring, and means to do it in the morning. The WhatsApp enquiry at nine gets a blue tick and no reply.
The lead generation steps bought that enquiry with money or with months of work. What happens in the next hour decides whether the qualifying framework ever gets to run on it. And when marketing produced the lead and sales has to work it, somebody has to say out loud which enquiries get passed and who owns them after that.
Where this sits
Stage 6 of 10, sales qualification. How fast an enquiry is answered, and the test that decides whether it becomes a proposal or a polite no.
- The stage before
- Sales enablement
- The stage after
- Proposal and follow-up
If you want this done for you
More enquiries turned into orders, for teams that reply late and follow up once.
The work
What this step is actually like.
“A reply rule you can actually meet”
Pick the time yourself and write it down. It has to be a number your team can hit on a Wednesday when two people are on site. Then say what a first reply must contain: the person's name, proof you read what they asked for, and one question. A reply saying we will get back to you is not a reply. It is an acknowledgement.
“Lunch, Sunday and the wedding in the family”
Enquiries arrive when the buyer is free, which is the evening and the weekend. So the rule needs a cover list. Who answers between one and two. Who has the phone on Sunday. What happens in the fortnight when the person who always answers is at a wedding in Belgaum. Write the names, not the intention, and put the roster where the team can see it.
“What counts as a lead worth passing”
Marketing thinks a lead is anybody who filled the form. Sales thinks a lead is somebody who can buy this quarter. Until both write the definition on one page, that argument repeats every month with no way to settle it. Agree the fields an enquiry must carry before it crosses over, and agree what sales does with one it rejects. A rejected lead that disappears silently teaches marketing nothing.
“One name against every enquiry”
A shared inbox and a shared WhatsApp number are where ownership goes to die. Every enquiry gets one person's name on it inside the reply window, by rota or by territory. That person stays the owner until it is closed or handed on in writing. Two people ringing the same buyer on the same afternoon is not keenness. It is a firm that cannot see its own work.
What we do
What you end up with.
The artefacts this step produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The reply rule, on one page
Five columns: the channel, who answers it, by when, what the first reply must say, and who covers when that person cannot. An afternoon to write, and an argument or two to settle.
Result: A new person knows what to do with a missed call on day one.
One enquiry register
Every enquiry in one sheet or one CRM, whatever channel it came down. Date and time in, channel, name, phone, what they asked for, owner, time of first reply, and where it ended.
Result: You can count reply time instead of arguing about it.
The handover agreement, signed by both sides
One page saying what marketing passes over, the fields that must be filled, how fast sales makes contact, and what happens to an enquiry sales sends back. One meeting to draft, a fortnight of haggling over the definition.
Result: The monthly row about lead quality becomes a document you can point at.
A cover roster for evenings, Sundays and festival weeks
Names against dates, agreed a month ahead, including who holds the phone during Dasara and who takes the Saturday when the office shuts early.
Result: The nine o'clock enquiry gets an answer from a person.
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 monthly 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 lock-in, no guarantees we cannot keep
Three to six months at a time. 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.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak, within a few working days
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How fast should we reply to a new enquiry?
Our enquiries come to a shared WhatsApp number. Is that a problem?
Marketing says the leads are good. Sales says they are rubbish. Who is right?
Should a machine send the first reply?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this step further.
The rest of sales qualification
Or read the whole sales process in order.