Sampling and product demonstration · Marketing
Four hundred samples went out on Sunday and nobody wrote down a single name.
Brand activation campaigns cover the whole family of in-person work, from a launch event to a trade show stall. Sampling is the narrow one: the product, a promoter, a table, and a buyer who now has it in their hand.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Sampling and product demonstration puts the product into a buyer's hand at a supermarket aisle, an apartment gate or a dealer counter. It is sold as promoter days plus a location fee. GullySales gets the written permission, plans the stock and the script, then counts what came back.
Nothing here happens without permission. A supermarket aisle is allotted by the store manager or the chain's activity desk, an apartment needs the secretary's written approval, and a tech park goes through the facility manager. The rate and the rules come from them.
The waste is in the stock. Two hundred sachets go out and most are taken by the same families twice, by the promoter's friends, or by children sent back for a second one. What stops it is a count sheet and somebody watching it.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Food, beverage and dairy brands entering a new city or a new retail chain
- Water purifier, chimney and appliance companies whose product sells only after a demonstration
- Paint, adhesive and hardware brands demonstrating at the counter to the contractor who decides
- A new outlet that wants the two thousand flats around it to taste something before opening day
- Machine and tool makers whose buyer must see it cut, mix or lift before believing the claim
- Brands whose product is genuinely better in the hand than in the photograph
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Products bought on price alone, since a free sample changes nothing about the rate on the shelf
- A brand with no distribution in the area, because you create demand for something nobody stocks nearby
- Services with nothing to hand over, where a stall becomes a table with a pamphlet on it
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“The activity ran and nothing was written down”
No count sheet, no contacts, no sales figure for the day. What came back was a photograph of a promoter smiling at a table.
“Stock went out faster than people came”
Two hundred units disappeared in ninety minutes to about twenty families. Nobody had told the promoter she could refuse a second one.
“The demonstration was given to the wrong person”
In a hardware shop the contractor decides and the owner only bills. A demonstration aimed at the counter never reaches the man who actually buys.
“Nobody could buy it afterwards”
The sample was good, the shelf had two units left, and the nearest dealer was four kilometres away. Demand turned up with nowhere to go.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Location shortlist and the permission
Which stores, gates, parks or counters suit the product, and who has to sign: the store manager, the association secretary or the facility head. In writing before stock moves.
Day and hour chosen for the buyer
A supermarket on Saturday evening is full of families. A tech park at four in the afternoon is full of people who will not carry a bottle home.
Stock plan and a count sheet
How many units, how they are issued, who signs for them and what comes back. The count sheet is the only defence against stock walking.
Promoter briefing and script
The question that opens a conversation, the thirty-second demonstration, and what to say when somebody asks the price. Briefed in the language that location speaks.
Demonstration kit
The working unit, the consumables, the table, the power point you have to ask permission for, and a spare of whatever is most likely to fail.
Contact capture with consent
Name, number and what the person said, taken with their agreement, so an enquiry can be followed up instead of evaporating at the table.
A reason to buy today
A coupon code, a bundle at the nearest counter or a WhatsApp number, so the sample becomes a purchase while the taste is still in the mouth.
Day-by-day report with proof
Samples issued against stock drawn, contacts captured, coupons redeemed, and the counter's sales for that day against the previous week.
How the result is measured
- Samples issued against stock drawn
- Contacts captured with consent
- Coupon or code redemptions
- Counter sales on activity days against the week before
- Repeat orders from the dealers covered
- Cost per sample delivered, including the location fee
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Decide what the sample must prove
One claim. That it tastes different, that it lifts the stain, that it cuts in half the time. A demonstration proving three things proves nothing.
- 2
Get the location and the paper
We approach the store, association or facility team, agree the space and the day, and get permission and the fee in writing before promoters are booked.
- 3
Brief and rehearse the promoters
The team is trained on the product and the script. We watch the first hour of the first day instead of reading a report about it afterwards.
- 4
Run with the count sheet open
Stock, contacts and coupons are recorded as they happen. A sheet filled in at closing time is a sheet somebody invented.
- 5
Follow up the contacts
Names collected reach your sales team, or ours, within a day. The person still remembers the table at that point.
- 6
Read the result against the shelf
Coupon redemptions, the counter's sales across those days, and whether the dealer placed a repeat order. That last one settles the argument.
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 1, prospecting and lead generation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
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.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
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.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How do we stop the promoter giving stock to friends?
Is sampling allowed inside an apartment complex?
Is a demonstration worth it for a low-priced product?
Can you prove it increased sales?
What does an activity cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
By industry
Sampling and product demonstration, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Learn the method
The teaching pages behind this work. Read them to judge the work, or to do the parts you want to do yourself.
Read before you buy
- Sample sizes and trial kits for beauty brands: a worked example of cost and gainA worked example with illustrative figures showing when a beauty trial kit pays for itself through the second order, when it only adds cost, and the one number to find before you order minis.
- How to design BTL and activation material that works at the stallActivation material is held in a hand, in a noisy place, by somebody in a hurry, and handed over by a promoter who will be off script by three in the afternoon. Design it to do that promoter's job.
- Apartment advertising in Bengaluru: who you ask, and what they will allowNobody sells media inside a Bengaluru apartment community. You ask the association or the estate manager for permission, they put it to a committee, and about half say no. Here is how that actually works.
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.