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GullySales

Appoint partners on evidence, not on whoever walked in first.

Gully Sales searches your territory for the dealers, distributors and resellers who can actually sell your line, tests them against a written standard, checks what their market says about them, and helps you sign the ones who pass.

  • A written scorecard for the partner each territory actually needs.
  • A mapped candidate list, not the three names already in your inbox.
  • Reference and credit checks before the agreement, not after it.
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Gully Sales Private Limited recruits dealers, distributors, resellers and referral partners for Indian SMBs growing through a channel.

In one paragraph

What is Channel Partner Recruitment Services in India?

Channel partner recruitment is the work of finding, assessing and appointing the dealers, distributors, resellers or referral partners a territory needs. Gully Sales runs it as a search and a selection: a scorecard for the partner you require, a mapped candidate field, structured screening, a selling simulation, site visits, reference checks and a signed appointment.

The problem

Most partners are appointed because they asked, not because they fit.

Ask an Indian SMB how its last three partners were appointed and the answers are familiar. One approached the stall at an exhibition. One was the relative of a dealer who already carries the line. One came from a competitor's former manager, who had reasons of his own. Nobody went looking. The territory was open, the candidate was willing, and a decision that commits stock, credit and a year of a market was made in a single good meeting.

You will recognise it as

  • The last few partners you appointed came to you; nobody went out and found them.
  • A territory has been open for a year because no suitable name has turned up in it.
  • Half of your new appointments stop ordering after the first two consignments.
  • You learn about a partner's payment habits or their competing line after signing.
  • The appointment is decided in one meeting, largely on how well the conversation went.
  • A candidate who impressed in your office turns out to have no field team and no working capital.

What it costs the business

  • Districts stay uncovered for quarters while a competitor appoints the strongest candidate in that market.
  • Working capital leaves the business as opening stock and credit to partners who were never able to move it.
  • Your team spends the year nursing weak appointments instead of growing the partners who can sell.
  • Every failed appointment costs a full year: the ramp-up, the wait, the collection, and then the search all over again.
  • The brand's name in a district is set by a partner who was chosen because they were available.

Why it persists. Appointing a partner feels like a relationship decision, so it is made the way relationships are made rather than the way a senior hire is made. No one owns the search; it sits on top of a territory manager's own targets and slips whenever the month gets tight. And when a district is empty and the plan already counts on it, saying no to a willing candidate feels like refusing revenue. Each of those is reasonable on the day. Together they mean the network gets whoever presented themselves.

If it stays unresolved. Coverage grows by accident. The network becomes a list of everyone who agreed, revenue concentrates in the two or three partners who happened to be good, and each weak appointment has to be carried, funded and eventually unwound. Meanwhile the districts you wanted are taken, and the partners you would have chosen are already committed to someone else.

What changes

You appoint fewer partners, and more of them sell.

In the first weeks

  • A written scorecard saying what a suitable partner in this market must have, before anyone is met.
  • A mapped candidate field in each target territory, including firms not already selling your category.
  • A comparable file on every shortlisted candidate: capability, capacity, finances and references.

In how the work runs

  • One recruitment process every territory follows, with the same questions and the same scoring.
  • Screening that closes unsuitable candidates in a fifteen-minute call, not after a day of travel.
  • A recruitment pipeline you can read: candidates mapped, screened, assessed, referenced, signed.
  • A reason a territory manager can give for saying no, so a weak candidate can be declined politely.

In sales and marketing

  • Appointments made on evidence of capacity, so stock and credit go to partners able to move them.
  • A shorter gap between deciding to cover a territory and having someone selling in it.
  • Fewer appointments reversed in the first year, and less working capital sitting with dormant partners.

In what management can see

  • Coverage read territory by territory: covered, searching, shortlisted, appointed or deliberately left open.
  • A candidate market map that stays useful after the search, for the day a partner exits.

Over the longer term

  • A recruitment method your channel team can run without us for the next territory.
  • A network built to a stated standard, so partner quality stops depending on who did the appointing.

Gully Sales controls the scorecard, the search, the screening, the assessment and the recommendation. Whether an appointed partner then performs also depends on your product, pricing, supply, credit terms and the support given after signing. We select on evidence; we do not promise sales.

Who it is for

This is for businesses that need the right partner in a named market.

The businesses it suits

  • Manufacturers appointing dealers or distributors in territories they do not yet cover.
  • B2B companies adding resellers, integrators or solution partners to reach a new segment.
  • Brands replacing a partner who has exited, gone dormant or is about to be let go.
  • Companies launching a product line their existing partners are not equipped to sell.
  • Businesses entering a new state or region where the brand carries no recognition yet.
  • Owners whose last few appointments failed and who want the next ones decided differently.

What usually prompts the call

  • A territory has been empty for two quarters and the sales plan still counts on it.
  • A key distributor has given notice and their region is about to go quiet.
  • Two of the last four partners you appointed stopped ordering within a year.
  • A competitor has just appointed in a district you had marked for yourself.
  • You have candidates in front of you and no consistent way to compare them.
  • Your channel manager has left, and the market knowledge left with them.

What Gully Sales does

The work, component by component.

Partner role scorecard

Before a candidate is met, we write what a suitable partner in this market must have: the customers they already reach, field strength and route coverage, godown, stock and credit capacity, the technical or service ability your product needs, systems, and the standing they hold in the trade. Each criterion is marked essential or preferred and given a weight.

Why it matters:
Without a written standard, every appointment is judged against the last conversation. A scorecard makes candidates comparable, and it lets a territory manager decline a willing candidate with a reason.
You receive:
A one-page scorecard per partner type, with essential criteria, preferred criteria, weights and knock-out rules.
Business value:
Everyone is judging the same things in every district, so an appointment decision survives a change of manager.

Market mapping and sourcing

We build the candidate field for each territory instead of working from the names already in your inbox. Trade associations and directories, wholesale markets and industrial estates, the sub-dealers of larger distributors, partners in adjacent categories, field scouting, your own lapsed enquiries and targeted outreach all feed one list, with a stated target number per territory.

Why it matters:
The strongest candidate in a district is usually busy and rarely applies. If sourcing stops at inbound enquiries, you choose from the partners who need you rather than the ones you need.
You receive:
A territory market map plus a sourcing plan naming each route, its owner and the candidates expected from it.
Business value:
You choose from a real field, and the map stays useful on the day a partner exits or a district reopens.

Screening and qualification

Every sourced candidate takes the same first call against the knock-out criteria: what they sell now and to whom, the size and shape of their field team, the credit they carry, the space they hold, what they want from a principal, and why your category interests them. Candidates who cannot clear the essentials are closed politely at this stage.

Why it matters:
Visits and long meetings are the expensive part of recruitment. Screening moves that cost onto the candidates who could actually pass, and keeps your team out of conversations that were never going anywhere.
You receive:
A screening script, the knock-out list, and a qualified longlist recording why each candidate was kept or closed.
Business value:
Your team spends its travel and attention only on candidates who could realistically be appointed.

Territory and selling simulation

Shortlisted candidates work through a short exercise on your actual line: the first customers they would approach in their district, the range they would stock, how they would answer the competitor already present, the price and credit questions they expect, and the support they would need in the first quarter. Answers are scored on one sheet.

Why it matters:
Interviews reward fluency. A simulation shows whether a candidate has genuinely thought about your category and understands the customers it has to be sold to, or is collecting agencies.
You receive:
A territory exercise brief per partner type, a scoring sheet, and each shortlisted candidate's completed response.
Business value:
You see how a candidate would sell your line before you commit stock and credit to finding out.

Structured interview and market visit

The same interview is conducted with every shortlisted candidate: history, current principals, team and incentives, systems, working capital, the plan for your line, and the terms they need. It is followed by a visit to their premises and a walk through their market: counter, godown, stock, records, vehicles, and the customers they say they serve.

Why it matters:
What a candidate describes in your office and what stands in their godown are often two different businesses. The visit is where that gap becomes visible, and where the field team either exists or does not.
You receive:
An interview guide, a visit checklist naming what to see and photograph, and a scored profile sheet per candidate.
Business value:
The appointment rests on what was seen and scored, not on how well the meeting happened to go.

References, finances and standing

We speak to the people who know how a candidate behaves over time: current and past principals, their sub-dealers, and a few end customers. Turnover, working capital, payment record and existing commitments are reviewed from the documents they provide, along with disputes, overlapping agencies and the reputation they carry in the trade.

Why it matters:
Payment behaviour, service after the sale, and how a partner treats a principal in a bad quarter show up only in references. Those are also the things that decide whether an appointment lasts.
You receive:
A reference protocol, written reference notes, and a financial and standing review for each shortlisted candidate.
Business value:
You learn about credit habits and competing commitments while it is still a choice, rather than in the second year.

Selection, appointment and handover

The shortlist is compared on a single sheet with scores, references and risks stated plainly. We give a recommendation and the reasoning behind it. Once you decide, we help set opening terms, territory, targets and the first ninety days, then hand the appointed partner to onboarding with everything the search learned about them.

Why it matters:
Recruitment usually fails at the join. The partner signs, the search notes are forgotten, and the weaknesses found during assessment are rediscovered a year later as performance problems.
You receive:
A selection note with the recommendation, an appointment pack, and a handover brief for the onboarding owner.
Business value:
The partner starts on written terms with a plan, and their known gaps already have support attached to them.

What you will have at the end.

  • Search brief per territory: boundaries, partner type sought, the offer, the timeline and who decides.
  • Partner role scorecard: the capability, coverage, capacity and financial standard a partner must meet.
  • Territory market map: the candidate field per territory, with category, size, coverage and current lines.
  • Sourcing plan naming each route, its owner and the number of candidates expected from it.
  • Screening call script and knock-out criteria that rule a candidate out inside fifteen minutes.
  • Candidate profile sheet: one comparable page per shortlisted candidate, scored against the scorecard.
  • Territory simulation brief, the scoring sheet, and each candidate's completed response.
  • Structured interview guide, plus an anonymised sample of a completed scored interview.
  • Site and market visit checklist: godown, counter, field team, systems, stock and what to photograph.
  • Reference protocol and written notes from principals, sub-dealers and end customers.
  • Financial and standing review: turnover, working capital, payment record and existing commitments.
  • Selection note and appointment pack: shortlist comparison, recommendation, opening terms and ninety-day plan.

How it runs

The engagement, step by step.

  1. 1

    Agree the territories and the standard

    We begin with the coverage decision you have already made: which districts, cities or segments need a partner, what each one has to deliver, and what you are able to offer. Where that is still loose, we settle the minimum before searching: territory boundaries, the terms a candidate will be shown, and what is not negotiable.

    You provide:
    Your coverage plan, product range, prices, margins, credit and supply terms, and any commitments already made in those markets.
    We produce:
    A search brief per territory: boundaries, the offer, the partner type sought, the timeline and the decision-makers.
    Done when:
    Both sides can state on one page, per territory, what is being searched for and on what terms.
  2. 2

    Write the partner scorecard

    The standard becomes scoreable criteria. We look at what your partners who work well have in common, what the failed appointments lacked, and what the product genuinely demands in service, storage or credit. Each criterion gets a weight, a question that tests it and evidence that would satisfy it.

    You provide:
    Access to your current partner records, and a frank account of which appointments worked, which did not and why.
    We produce:
    The scorecard: essential and preferred criteria, weights, knock-out rules and the question set that tests each one.
    Done when:
    Two people scoring the same candidate separately arrive at close to the same conclusion.
  3. 3

    Map the market and source candidates

    We build the candidate field territory by territory, working the trade associations, wholesale markets, industrial clusters, adjacent categories, sub-dealer networks and your own lapsed enquiries. Approaches are made in your name or discreetly, depending on whether the search can be public.

    You provide:
    Enquiry records, the lapsed partner list, your field team's local knowledge and introductions where you have them.
    We produce:
    A territory market map and a sourced longlist with contact, category, size, coverage and current lines carried.
    Done when:
    Each target territory has a longlist worth choosing from, or a written statement of why it does not.
  4. 4

    Screen and shortlist

    Every candidate takes the same screening call against the knock-out criteria, and the answers go on the same sheet. Candidates who clear it receive the offer in writing and are asked for the basic documents. Those who do not are closed politely, with the reason recorded so the name can be reconsidered later.

    You provide:
    A named person who can answer candidate questions about product, terms and supply within a day.
    We produce:
    Screening notes for every candidate, a shortlist per territory, and the reason each candidate was kept or closed.
    Done when:
    A shortlist of candidates who meet the essential criteria and want the conversation to continue.
  5. 5

    Assess in depth

    Shortlisted candidates complete the territory simulation, sit the structured interview, and are visited at their premises and in their market. We meet the person who would actually handle your line, not only the proprietor, and we look at stock, records and the field team rather than taking their description of them.

    You provide:
    Time from your sales or channel lead to join the visits, and product material a candidate can be assessed on.
    We produce:
    Scored profile sheets, completed simulations, visit notes and photographs for each shortlisted candidate.
    Done when:
    Every shortlisted candidate has a comparable file, scored on the same criteria by the same method.
  6. 6

    Check references, finances and standing

    We speak to their principals, sub-dealers and a few end customers, and ask about payment, service, staffing and how they behaved in a difficult quarter. Financial documents are reviewed for turnover, working capital and existing commitments, and we check for disputes and agencies that would compete for their attention.

    You provide:
    Any prior history you have with the candidate, and finance team support to read the documents submitted.
    We produce:
    Written reference notes, a financial and standing review, and a stated risk list for each candidate.
    Done when:
    Nothing material about a shortlisted candidate is left to be discovered after the agreement is signed.
  7. 7

    Select, appoint and hand over

    The shortlist is compared on one sheet and we give a recommendation with reasoning, including the case for appointing nobody yet. After your decision we help set opening terms, territory, targets and the first ninety days, and brief whoever will support the partner on what the search found.

    You provide:
    A decision-maker who can approve the appointment, and the agreement your lawyer has prepared.
    We produce:
    A selection note and recommendation, the appointment pack, and the handover brief for the onboarding owner.
    Done when:
    The partner is appointed on written terms, with a ninety-day plan and a named owner inside your business.

Ways to work with us

Search one territory, or run recruitment across a region.

Single territory search

One district, city or state searched end to end: scorecard, market map, sourcing, screening, assessment, references and a recommended appointment. Useful when one market matters more than the rest, or as a pilot before a wider programme.

Multi-territory recruitment programme

Several territories run in a planned sequence against one scorecard and one method, with a monthly review of sourcing, shortlists, appointments and coverage. Suited to a regional or state expansion needing the same partner type in many markets.

Confidential replacement search

A discreet search for a successor when a distributor is exiting, under-performing or about to be replaced, run without disturbing the market or alerting the outgoing partner before you are ready to act.

Method build for your team

We build the scorecard, sourcing plan, screening script, interview guide and simulation, run the first territory alongside your channel manager, then hand the method over and stay available for later reviews.

Why Gully Sales

What you are actually choosing when you choose us.

We go looking, rather than waiting for enquiries.

The partner you want is usually already trading, already busy and not sending applications. Our work starts with mapping who exists in a district and approaching them, so your shortlist is not limited to whoever happened to find you.

The standard is written before the first candidate is met.

Criteria agreed after meeting an impressive candidate tend to describe that candidate. We fix the scorecard first, from what your working partners have in common and what the failed appointments lacked, so judgement stays comparable.

We ask the market about a candidate, not only the candidate.

Principals, sub-dealers and end customers tell you about payment behaviour, service and staffing that no interview reaches. Those references are done before the appointment, because that is when they can still change a decision.

Selling is tested, not described.

Every shortlisted candidate works through the same exercise on your line, in their own district, and is scored on it. It separates a firm that has thought about your category from one adding another agency to the board outside.

We will tell you when a territory has nobody suitable yet.

An empty district is a smaller problem than the wrong partner holding it for two years. If the search does not find a candidate who meets the standard, we say so and set out the options instead of filling the line.

Your team keeps the method.

The scorecard, sourcing map, screening script, interview guide and reference protocol are handed over and written for a small team to use. Most clients run their later searches themselves and call us in only for a hard market.

Where it applies

The same service, in different businesses.

Building materials and hardware

The situation:
A fittings manufacturer sells well in two states and wants a third, where the trade knows the competing brands and its own name means nothing yet.
How it applies:
A scorecard built around counter footfall, plumber and contractor influence, credit capacity and the ability to carry range; the district's dealers mapped through markets, associations and sub-dealers of the incumbents.
Likely benefit:
Dealers are appointed for their reach into the people who actually specify the product, rather than for their willingness to take the first consignment.

Industrial equipment and engineering

The situation:
An equipment maker needs regional channel partners who can demonstrate the product, install it and respond to a breakdown, and its last appointment could do none of those.
How it applies:
Technical and service capability made an essential criterion, a simulation covering a customer trial and a breakdown call, site visits to inspect the service team and tools, and references taken from the partner's own customers.
Likely benefit:
Only partners able to support the equipment are appointed, so service complaints stop being attributed to your brand.

Packaged food and FMCG

The situation:
A snack brand expanding beyond its home city needs distributors with the right retail beat, refrigeration or storage where needed, and the working capital to run a fortnightly cycle.
How it applies:
Screening on outlets covered, salesmen and vehicles deployed, storage condition and payment record; a simulation on the first hundred outlets to be opened; reference checks with the brands already in their van.
Likely benefit:
Appointments are made on beat coverage and cash cycle, so the brand reaches shelves instead of sitting in a distributor's godown.

Agri inputs and equipment

The situation:
An agri input company wants dealers across taluks where credit runs on trust, seasons decide cash flow, and a dealer's word with farmers carries more weight than any campaign.
How it applies:
Sourcing through mandi networks, farmer producer organisations and existing dealers; scorecard weighted to standing with farmers, seasonal credit capacity and licence compliance; references taken locally.
Likely benefit:
You appoint dealers farmers already listen to, and you learn how a candidate handles a bad season before your stock is with them.

B2B technology and IT services

The situation:
A software firm wants resellers and implementation partners who can run a demonstration and a deployment, not merely pass on a lead and wait for a margin.
How it applies:
A scorecard covering consultants on staff, existing client base, delivery capability and sales motion; a simulation on qualifying and demonstrating to a mid-sized customer; references from vendors they already represent.
Likely benefit:
Partners are selected for their ability to sell and deliver a solution, so the pipeline they register turns into implementations.

Interiors, furniture and home products

The situation:
A brand selling through studios and dealers keeps appointing showrooms that display the range attractively but generate almost no orders from architects and interior designers.
How it applies:
Scorecard weighted to designer and architect relationships, project conversion and display investment; a simulation on winning one live project; visits to the studio and references from designers who work with them.
Likely benefit:
Display space is given to dealers who bring projects, and showroom investment follows demonstrated conversion rather than frontage.

Proof

Work we can point to.

HOPO Hardware

The problem:
A premium hardware and fittings business whose growth depended on the dealers it appointed, and which needed wider reach alongside closer working with that network.
What we did:
Gully Sales worked on the brand's reach into its markets and on how well the appointed dealer network carried and sold the hardware and fittings range.
The result:
The case study records improved brand reach, improved dealer coordination and improved sales performance across the appointed dealer network.
Read the case study

Questions buyers ask

Before you enquire, the answers you will want.

Which evidence actually predicts that a partner will sell?

Capacity and coverage, far more than enthusiasm. We look for a field team already calling on your kind of customer, working capital that can carry stock and credit without strain, a payment record their current principals will confirm, and a named person made accountable for your line. Candidates strong on those hold up. Candidates who interview well and promise to build a team after appointment usually do not.

How long does a recruitment engagement take?

It depends on how many territories you are covering, how dense the candidate market is in each, how far apart the site visits are, and how quickly your team can join visits and decide. A district with an active trade market moves faster than a state where your category barely exists. The schedule is agreed in the search brief, with a stated number of territories and a review point.

What inputs are required from us?

Your product range, prices, margins, credit and supply terms, the territories you want covered, and any districts or accounts already committed elsewhere. Then the offer a new partner can actually be shown. Then time: a sales or channel lead to join shortlist visits, someone who answers candidate questions within a day, and a decision-maker who can approve an appointment without waiting for a quarterly meeting.

How is this different from partner programme design?

Programme design writes what a partner joins: the offer, the tiers, the rewards and the rules. Recruitment finds and selects the firms who will join it. The two belong together, because a serious candidate asks in the first meeting what they earn and what protection they get. Where no written terms exist yet, we settle the minimum a candidate needs before the search begins, and the fuller programme can follow.

Should we appoint a partner who already carries a competing brand?

Often yes, and sometimes that is the attraction: they hold the customers, the field team and the credit lines already. The real questions are what share of their attention you can win and what you are asking them to give up. We test that directly, ask their existing principals how they behave, and write the expectation into the appointment rather than hoping for it.

What if no suitable candidate exists in a territory?

We will say so, with the map showing what was covered and why each candidate was ruled out. That is a useful answer, not a failed search. The options then become real ones: widen the profile, split the territory, appoint a smaller partner with a support plan, serve the market directly for a year, or wait. A wrong appointment costs more than an empty district.

How many candidates will we have to meet?

Fewer than most teams expect, when sourcing is done properly. A typical territory search maps a wide candidate field, screens most of it out on a call, assesses a handful in depth and takes two or three through reference checks. You meet the shortlist, not the longlist. The effort shifts from meeting many candidates to knowing far more about a few.

What is a territory simulation, and why do you use one?

It is a short exercise on your real line: which customers in their district they would call on first, what they would stock, how they would answer the competitor already present, the objections they expect, and what they would need from you in the first quarter. Every candidate is scored on the same points. A firm that has thought about your category answers very differently from one collecting agencies.

4 more questions

Can a search be run without our competitors or current partner knowing?

Yes. Replacement searches are usually run confidentially: approaches are made without naming you until a candidate has cleared screening and signed a confidentiality undertaking, references are taken carefully, and visits are arranged away from the market where useful. We agree at the start what may be said and to whom, because in most trades word travels within days.

How is success measured?

Against the baseline recorded before the search: territories covered against the plan, and days from search brief to signed appointment. Then how the appointment behaves. Time to first order, orders in the first two quarters, partner-sourced pipeline, sell-through where secondary data exists, and how many appointments are still active after a year. Coverage moves in a quarter; appointment quality is read across a year.

What is excluded from the scope?

We do not draft your dealership or distribution agreement; we specify what it must cover commercially and your lawyer writes it. Onboarding, training and certification, incentive modelling, national territory planning, franchise development and day-to-day channel management are separate services. We also do not audit a candidate's accounts. We review the documents they provide and test them against references.

Can our team run this after the first territory?

That is the intention. The scorecard, sourcing map, screening script, interview guide, simulation and reference protocol are yours, and the first territory is run with your channel manager alongside us. Most teams take the second or third search themselves and bring us back only for the assessment stage, or for a market where they have no local feel.

Talk to us

Plan your channel growth programme before the next territory opens.

The free audit is a working session, not a pitch. We look at the territories you need covered, the partners you have appointed before and how they fared, and whether the next step is a search, a scorecard, or a different route into that market.

  • No obligation and no sales script
  • A reply from someone who does the work
  • Your details are never sold or shared

Your coverage plans, partner records, terms and candidate information stay confidential, and a search in a live market is handled discreetly.

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