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You will know which partners are working your market, and which are only listed.

Gully Sales audits your dealers and distributors on the ground: stock and claims verified, coverage checked in the market, capability graded, and every partner scored against the same standard.

  • Stock, claims and secondary movement verified, not accepted on trust.
  • One scorecard that ranks every partner on the same measures.
  • A corrective plan per partner: keep, develop, restructure or replace.
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Gully Sales Private Limited works with businesses across India. Start with a free audit of one territory and see what it returns.

In one paragraph

What is Dealer and Distributor Audits for Indian Brands?

A dealer and distributor audit is an independent check of what each partner is really doing for you. Gully Sales verifies stock, claims, coverage and secondary movement in the market, interviews the people involved, scores every partner on the same measures, and hands you a ranked corrective plan for the network.

The problem

The partner reports look fine. Nobody has checked them in the market.

Most Indian SMBs run their channel on information the channel supplies about itself. Stock statements come from the distributor. Claims arrive with the distributor's own supporting papers. Secondary sales are whatever the partner chooses to report, and coverage is a number said on a call. Very little of it is dishonest. All of it is unverified. So a partner who quietly stopped working your line six months ago looks, on paper, exactly like the one building your brand every week.

You will recognise it as

  • Primary despatches look steady, but nobody can say what actually moved out of the godown last month.
  • Claims arrive complete and on time, and no one has checked whether the scheme reached the retailer.
  • The same distributor asks for a credit extension every quarter, and the reason changes each time.
  • Two partners in comparable markets report very different numbers, and nobody has asked why.
  • Your team's market visits happen with the partner's own salesman, and only to his three strongest outlets.
  • You suspect a partner is pushing a competing line, and you have nothing beyond the suspicion.

What it costs the business

  • Stock you have already billed sits ageing, damaged or near expiry in a godown, and returns to you later as a claim.
  • Scheme money is paid against paperwork rather than against sales that genuinely reached a retailer.
  • Territories look covered in the appointment letter and are being served by nobody in practice.
  • A partner with a worsening outstanding keeps getting supplied, because credit is read in a different file from performance.
  • Decisions to expand, restructure or terminate are taken on personal opinion, and the partner who argues loudest usually wins.

Why it persists. Auditing a partner feels like accusing him. Relationships in Indian distribution are long, personal, and frequently older than the manager who would have to raise the question, so the check is postponed until something breaks. There is also nobody free to do it. The sales team's month goes on despatch and collection, and a team whose own numbers depend on a partner is rarely the team that will report hard findings about him.

If it stays unresolved. The gap between the reported channel and the real one keeps widening. Working capital stays parked in stock nobody is selling, claims grow into a running argument with finance, and good territories are held by partners who no longer serve them. When a competitor appoints better in the same market, you learn about it from your own falling orders rather than from your own information.

What changes

You act on what the market shows, not on what partners report.

In the first weeks

  • A verified stock, ageing and damage position for every partner audited.
  • Claims and schemes checked against evidence, with disputed items listed and valued.
  • A market check of coverage and secondary movement, on a route you chose rather than the partner's.
  • One scorecard ranking every audited partner on the same measures.

In how the work runs

  • Stock, reporting and claim norms your partners are actually held to.
  • Godown, manpower and infrastructure standards written down and checked against.
  • Findings routed to named owners with dates, so an observation becomes a task.
  • A repeatable audit format and checklist your own team can run in the next cycle.

In sales and marketing

  • Credit and outstanding read alongside performance instead of in a separate file.
  • Scheme spend defended, because payouts are matched to sales that can be evidenced.
  • Weak territories reassigned on evidence rather than on the loudest argument.
  • Working capital released from stock that was never going to move at that partner.

In what management can see

  • A partner-by-partner scorecard covering compliance, capability, stock, claims and output.
  • A ranked corrective list, each item with an owner, the effort involved and the effect expected.
  • A view of which risks repeat across the network rather than sitting with one partner.

Over the longer term

  • Auditing becomes a cycle your team runs, not a reaction to one partner going wrong.
  • Continue, develop, restructure and replace decisions rest on the same evidence every time.
  • Partners learn that what is reported gets checked, and reporting quality improves on its own.

Gully Sales controls the audit, the evidence, the scorecard and the corrective plan. Whether sales then improve depends on your product, pricing, supply and how far your team works the plan. We report findings closed separately from partner sales, and do not claim one produced the other.

Who it is for

Who should have a partner network audited, and who should wait.

The businesses it suits

  • Manufacturers selling through appointed distributors, stockists or dealers across more than one state.
  • B2B companies whose resellers hold stock, claim support or serve a defined territory.
  • Consumer brands paying trade schemes who need to know the money reached the retailer.
  • Franchisors who need an operating, stock and compliance check across their outlets.
  • Businesses about to expand, restructure or end a partnership and wanting evidence first.
  • Companies whose channel has grown faster than the team meant to supervise it.

What usually prompts the call

  • Claims have grown faster than sales, and finance has started asking questions.
  • A distributor's outstanding keeps rising while his orders keep being approved.
  • You want to appoint in a market where the existing partner insists there is no demand.
  • A partner has been found selling outside his area, or stocking a competing line.
  • An owner, buyer or investor has asked what the channel is actually worth.
  • Agreements are up for renewal and you have no evidence to renew them on.

What Gully Sales does

The work, component by component.

Compliance against the agreement

We read what each partner actually signed — territory, product range, minimum stock, exclusivity, reporting, credit terms, display and manpower commitments — and check the position on the ground against it. Verbal understandings that never reached paper are recorded separately, because they are usually where the disagreement lives.

Why it matters:
Most companies cannot say which clauses are being honoured because nobody has compared the agreement with the market for years. Compliance is easier to fix once it is specific.
You receive:
A clause-by-clause compliance sheet per partner, with observed position, evidence and the gaps listed.
Business value:
You can raise a shortfall as a documented fact rather than as an accusation, which is the only way it gets fixed.

Stock, ageing and warehouse verification

A physical check at the godown: quantities against the stock statement, batch and expiry position, damage, non-moving lines, storage and handling conditions, and the share of your range actually carried. Where a partner stocks several companies, we note how your material is treated compared with the rest.

Why it matters:
Stock is where billed sales quietly turn into a future claim. A partner sitting on ageing stock stops ordering long before he tells you why.
You receive:
A verified stock and ageing statement per partner, with damage, expiry risk and non-moving lines valued.
Business value:
You see the difference between what you despatched and what the market can still absorb, before it comes back as a credit note.

Claims, schemes and settlement audit

We take a sample of claims already paid and claims pending, and trace each one to its supporting evidence: the scheme circular, the invoices, the retailer acknowledgement and the actual sale it rests on. Repeated patterns, duplicate submissions, expired schemes and out-of-territory claims are separated from honest administrative error.

Why it matters:
Scheme spend is often the second largest line after product cost, and it is the least examined. Partners follow the standard of proof you enforce, not the one you publish.
You receive:
A claims audit note covering the sample tested, exceptions found, amounts involved and a tightened claim standard.
Business value:
Trade spend goes where the sales actually happened, and both sides get a settlement process that stops breeding arguments.

Coverage and secondary movement check

Fieldwork in the partner's territory on a route we select, not the one his salesman prefers. We visit retailers and end customers, check whether they are billed, stocked, serviced and visited as claimed, and read whatever secondary data exists against what is on the shelf. Outlets that were never called on are the finding that matters most.

Why it matters:
Primary sales tell you what left your factory. Only secondary movement tells you whether the market is buying, and it is the number partners report most loosely.
You receive:
A coverage and secondary movement report with outlets visited, billing and stocking status, and service gaps by beat.
Business value:
You learn whether a soft territory has weak demand or simply an absent partner, which are two completely different decisions.

Capability, manpower and infrastructure review

An assessment of what the partner has to work with: the number and quality of salespeople, their coverage plan and working hours, delivery vehicles, godown space, IT and billing systems, working capital available for your line, and the family or management structure that decides things. Interviews with the partner, his staff and his retailers are part of this.

Why it matters:
Many partners underperform for reasons of capacity rather than intent. The corrective action for a partner short of manpower is nothing like the one for a partner who has lost interest.
You receive:
A capability profile per partner covering people, infrastructure, systems, working capital and management bandwidth.
Business value:
Investment and support go where they will convert, and a capable partner is not penalised for a gap you never told him about.

Credit, outstanding and financial health

A read of the commercial position: ageing of receivables, cheque and payment behaviour over the period, security cover held, credit limit against actual exposure, and the partner's own view of what your business earns him. Where a partner has slowed down, we look for whether the reason is demand, working capital or attention.

Why it matters:
Performance and exposure are usually reviewed by two different people who never meet. Read together, they change which partners you back and which you quietly reduce.
You receive:
A credit and exposure summary per partner, with ageing, payment behaviour, security cover and a risk grade.
Business value:
Supply decisions account for risk, and a partner whose money is stuck stops looking like a partner who has stopped trying.

Scorecard and prioritised corrective roadmap

Everything found is scored on one framework so partners can be compared honestly, then converted into a corrective plan: what each partner must fix, what you must fix at your end, what needs a commercial decision, and which territories need a different arrangement altogether. Each action carries an owner, a sequence and a review date.

Why it matters:
An audit that ends in observations changes nothing. The value is created in the weeks after the report, and only if the findings are turned into a small number of sequenced actions.
You receive:
A scored partner ranking and a prioritised corrective roadmap with owners, sequence and review dates.
Business value:
Your team leaves the audit with a work list rather than a document, and network decisions stop depending on who is in the room.

What you will have at the end.

  • An audit scope and standard defining what will be tested, on what evidence and to what threshold.
  • A clause-by-clause compliance sheet per partner, against the agreement actually signed.
  • A verified stock and ageing statement, with damage, expiry risk and non-moving lines valued.
  • A claims and scheme audit note covering the sample tested, exceptions found and amounts involved.
  • A coverage and secondary movement report by beat, with outlets visited and their status.
  • A capability profile covering manpower, infrastructure, systems and working capital.
  • A credit and exposure summary with ageing, payment behaviour and a risk grade per partner.
  • Interview notes from the partner, his staff, his retailers and your own field team.
  • A scored partner scorecard on one framework, with the network ranked.
  • A prioritised corrective roadmap with owner, sequence, effort and review date per action.
  • A network summary for leadership, naming the risks that repeat across partners.
  • A reusable audit checklist and format your own team can run in the next cycle.

How it runs

The engagement, step by step.

  1. 1

    Agree the standard before we look at anything

    We settle what an acceptable partner looks like in your business: stock cover, range carried, coverage, reporting, claim evidence, credit behaviour and infrastructure. Without this, an audit becomes a collection of opinions. We also agree which partners are in scope, what is confidential, and how findings will be shared with the partners themselves.

    You provide:
    Your agreements, norms, scheme circulars and a decision on which partners and territories are in scope.
    We produce:
    A written audit scope and standard, the test list, the evidence thresholds and the field plan.
    Done when:
    Your leadership has approved the standard partners will be measured against.
  2. 2

    Read the record before entering the market

    Desk work first: primary sales by partner over the period, stock statements, claims paid and pending, credit ageing, scheme circulars, complaint history and whatever secondary data exists. We build the questions the field visit has to answer, and mark the anomalies worth testing rather than testing everything equally.

    You provide:
    Sales, stock, claims and receivables data by partner, plus scheme records for the period under review.
    We produce:
    A desk analysis per partner with anomalies, trends and the specific questions the field work will test.
    Done when:
    You can see, before anyone travels, where the numbers do not agree with each other.
  3. 3

    Verify in the godown and in the market

    Field visits: physical stock and ageing at the godown, storage and handling, a retailer route we choose ourselves, billing and stocking checked at outlets, competitor presence noted, and infrastructure and manpower observed rather than described. Where a partner has multiple locations we sample across them instead of visiting only the head office.

    You provide:
    Introductions to partners, a field colleague where useful, and access to godowns and records.
    We produce:
    Verified stock and coverage findings, with photographs, counts, retailer observations and exceptions logged.
    Done when:
    The reported position and the observed position sit side by side for every partner audited.
  4. 4

    Interview the people who know

    Structured conversations with the partner and his family or management, his salespeople, a sample of his retailers or end customers, your own area and regional managers, and your finance and supply teams. Each group knows a different part of the truth, and the disagreements between them are usually more useful than the agreements.

    You provide:
    Time with your field and commercial team, and a fair introduction to partners so conversations are candid.
    We produce:
    Interview notes by group, with themes, contradictions and issues raised repeatedly across partners.
    Done when:
    The reasons behind the numbers are documented, not assumed.
  5. 5

    Test the claims and the money

    We sample claims and schemes across partners and periods and trace them to evidence, checking eligibility, arithmetic, duplication, territory and whether the benefit reached the intended level of the trade. We separate deliberate patterns from process weakness at your end, because the fixes are different and only one of them belongs to the partner.

    You provide:
    Claim files, scheme circulars, payment records and access to whoever approves claims today.
    We produce:
    A claims audit note with the sample, exceptions, values, root causes and a tightened claim standard.
    Done when:
    Disputed and unsupported items are listed with values, and the claim process weaknesses are named.
  6. 6

    Score the network on one framework

    Every partner is scored on the same weighted measures: compliance, stock health, coverage, secondary movement, capability, credit behaviour and growth. Scores are reviewed with your sales leadership, and where a score seems unfair we go back to the evidence rather than adjusting the number to suit the relationship.

    You provide:
    Sales leadership time to review the scoring and challenge it against their own market knowledge.
    We produce:
    A scored scorecard per partner and a ranked network view, with capability gaps grouped by type.
    Done when:
    Your team accepts the ranking as a fair reading of the network as it stands.
  7. 7

    Convert findings into a corrective plan

    Findings become a sequenced plan. Each partner gets what he must fix and by when. You get the actions that belong to your own company, which in most audits is a longer list than anyone expected. Commercial decisions — restructure, reduce, replace, reappoint — are set out with their consequences so leadership can take them deliberately.

    You provide:
    Decisions on the commercial recommendations, and named owners for the actions on your side.
    We produce:
    A prioritised corrective roadmap with owners, sequence and review dates, plus partner-facing summaries.
    Done when:
    Every finding has an owner and a date, and the partner conversations have been planned.
  8. 8

    Hand over the audit as a repeatable routine

    We brief your team on the checklist, the evidence standard and the scoring, run one review of the corrective plan with them, and set the cycle for the next audit round. The intent is that your area managers can run a lighter version of this every year without us, and call us only for the deeper cycle.

    You provide:
    The team who will own the routine, and a decision on the audit cycle and its calendar.
    We produce:
    The audit checklist and formats, a scoring guide, and a first review of corrective progress with your team.
    Done when:
    Your team has run a review using the format, and the next audit date is in the calendar.

Ways to work with us

Audit one territory first, or take the whole network in a cycle.

Single partner audit

One dealer or distributor examined in full: compliance, stock, claims, coverage, capability and credit, with a scorecard and a corrective plan. Usually chosen where a specific relationship has become hard to read.

Territory or cluster audit

A state, region or cluster of partners audited together, so findings can be compared across similar markets and the corrective plan is written for the cluster rather than one partner at a time.

Full network audit

The whole channel audited on one standard, with the network ranked, repeated risks named, and continue, develop, restructure or replace recommendations for every partner in scope.

Claims and scheme verification round

A focused audit of trade spend alone: claims paid and pending traced to evidence, exceptions valued, and a tightened claim and settlement standard written for both sides.

Annual audit cycle with your team

We build the format, run the first cycle alongside your area managers, then support a yearly round while your team runs the routine checks in between.

Why Gully Sales

What you are actually choosing when you choose us.

We audit in the market, not in a spreadsheet.

A stock statement and a claim file can both be tidy while the territory is unserved. Our findings rest on godown counts, retailer visits on a route we choose, and conversations your partner did not arrange for us.

We separate a partner who cannot from a partner who will not.

Underperformance from short manpower, stuck working capital or poor support from your own team needs a different answer from a partner who has moved on. The audit says which one you have.

We report your own failures too.

Most audits find that supply delays, unsettled claims and unclear schemes at your end caused part of the problem. We put those findings in the same report, because leaving them out would make the rest useless.

Coverage, claims and records are corrected together, not in turn.

Gully Sales works across marketing, sales, channels, customer success and revenue operations, so what an audit finds about coverage, claims and CRM records is fixed together rather than by three separate vendors.

Your team runs the next audit cycle without us.

The checklists, scoring framework, formats, scorecards and roadmap are yours in editable form. Your team can run the next cycle without us, which is the point of handing over a routine rather than a report.

An audit produces evidence and a plan, not sales.

An audit produces evidence and a plan. It does not produce sales. We report findings closed and corrective actions completed separately from partner sales, so you can judge the work on what it actually did.

Where it applies

The same service, in different businesses.

Packaged food and consumer goods

The situation:
Trade scheme spend has risen faster than sales, and finance cannot tell whether the benefit ever reached the retailer or stopped at the distributor.
How it applies:
A claims and scheme verification round across distributors, tracing a sample to invoices and retailer acknowledgements, with a tightened claim standard written for both sides.
Likely benefit:
Trade spend follows sales that can be evidenced, and distributors work to one clear standard of proof instead of the one they each assume.

Building materials and hardware

The situation:
Dealers in several districts report weak demand, while a competitor has appointed new dealers in the same towns and appears to be moving material.
How it applies:
Coverage and secondary movement checks on a retailer route selected by us, competitor presence noted at counter level, and dealer capability profiled against the territory's potential.
Likely benefit:
The company learns which districts have thin demand and which simply have an absent dealer, and reassigns on evidence rather than argument.

Pharmaceuticals and medical products

The situation:
Stockists hold ageing and near-expiry stock that returns as claims each quarter, and nobody can see the position until the credit note arrives.
How it applies:
Physical stock and expiry verification at each stockist, batch ageing valued, storage conditions checked, and reporting norms set with a monthly stock and expiry statement.
Likely benefit:
Expiry exposure is visible months earlier, liquidation is planned rather than absorbed, and working capital stops sitting in stock that cannot be sold.

Industrial equipment and components

The situation:
A long-standing distributor's outstanding keeps growing while orders continue to be approved, and his interest in the line is privately doubted by the area team.
How it applies:
A credit, exposure and capability read alongside a compliance and coverage check, with interviews across his staff, his customers and your own commercial team.
Likely benefit:
Leadership can see whether the money is stuck in the market or in the partner's own priorities, and supply terms are set on that instead of on history.

Consumer durables and appliances

The situation:
Agreements across the dealer network are due for renewal, and the company has no comparable record of how each dealer actually performed against the terms.
How it applies:
A network audit on one standard covering display commitments, stock, range carried, service compliance and secondary sales, ending in a ranked scorecard.
Likely benefit:
Renewal conversations happen on documented performance, and terms differ between dealers for reasons both sides can see.

Agri inputs and rural distribution

The situation:
Season-driven sales, generous credit and scattered retailer coverage make it hard to tell which distributors are building the territory and which are only funding it.
How it applies:
Season-wise stock and coverage verification, retailer interviews across beats, credit ageing read with sales, and a capability profile per distributor.
Likely benefit:
Support and credit go to distributors developing retailer demand, and the ones simply financing stock movement are restructured before the next season.

Proof

Work we can point to.

HOPO Hardware

The problem:
A premium hardware and fittings business growing through a dealer network, where dealer coordination and the brand's reach in the market both needed strengthening.
What we did:
Gully Sales worked on the brand's reach in its markets and on how consistently the dealer network carried and sold the range.
The result:
The published account reports enhanced brand reach, better dealer coordination and improved sales performance for the fittings range. No audit figures are published.
Read the case study

Questions buyers ask

Before you enquire, the answers you will want.

What exactly will the audit examine?

Six areas for every partner in scope. Compliance against the signed agreement. Physical stock, ageing, damage and storage at the godown. Claims and schemes traced to their supporting evidence. Coverage and secondary movement checked at retailer level. Capability, meaning manpower, infrastructure, systems and working capital. And the credit position, read alongside performance rather than separately. The exact tests and evidence thresholds are agreed with you in writing before anyone travels.

What will the final report contain?

A compliance sheet per partner, a verified stock and ageing statement, a claims audit note with exceptions and their values, a coverage report by beat, a capability profile, a credit and exposure summary, and interview notes. These roll into one scorecard that ranks the network on the same measures, and a prioritised corrective roadmap giving each action an owner, a sequence and a review date. Leadership also gets a short summary naming the risks that repeat across partners.

How long does the engagement take?

It depends on how many partners and locations are in scope, how far apart they are, and how much of the record already exists in usable form. A single partner is a short piece of work. A full network across several states is considerably longer, because the field verification cannot be rushed without weakening the evidence. We give you an indicative schedule with the written scope, after the free audit, and we do not commit to a date before seeing the network.

What inputs do you need from us?

Partner agreements and scheme circulars, sales by partner for the review period, stock statements, claim files, receivables ageing, and any secondary data you collect. Beyond documents we need access: introductions to partners, permission to visit godowns and retailers, and time with your area managers, finance team and supply team. Where records are incomplete we work with what exists and say plainly in the report which tests could not be run.

Will this damage our relationship with the partners?

It depends entirely on how the audit is introduced, which is why we plan that with you first. A good partner usually welcomes a structured review, because it is often the first time anyone has looked at his capability gaps or asked about your own service failures. We conduct it as a review of the working relationship in both directions, and the report carries the actions that belong to your company alongside his.

Is this the same as dealer or distributor development?

No. Development is the work of raising what a partner sells: a growth plan, capability building and a review rhythm. An audit is the independent examination that tells you whether the partner is complying, capable and worth developing at all. Many companies audit first and then develop the partners the audit says are worth it. The two services connect, but buying development for a partner who has quietly stopped working your line wastes the effort.

How is success measured?

First on the audit itself: tests completed, evidence obtained and findings raised against the agreed scope. Then on what happens next, which matters more. We track corrective actions closed against actions raised, claim exceptions as a share of claim value, stock ageing at partners, active partners against appointed partners, and coverage of the territories in scope. Sell-through, time to productivity and partner retention are read over a longer period against the verified baseline.

What is excluded from the scope?

We are not a statutory or forensic audit firm. We do not certify accounts, we do not conduct investigations intended for legal proceedings, and we do not give legal opinions on your agreements, though we will list the clauses your adviser should look at. We also do not terminate partners for you or negotiate settlements on your behalf. Those are commercial decisions, and they belong with your leadership.

4 more questions

What if the audit finds something serious?

We tell you as soon as it appears rather than saving it for the report, so you can decide how to handle it while the evidence is fresh. What we hand over is what was observed, the evidence behind it and the value involved. What you then do about it, including whether to involve a lawyer or an accountant, stays your decision, and we will support that conversation without leading it.

Can we audit only some of our partners?

Yes, and most companies start that way. A single partner, one territory or a cluster of comparable markets is a sensible first scope, because it proves the method and shows what the evidence is worth before you commit the whole network. The scoring framework is built to be reused, so a later round can extend across the rest of the channel without repeating the design work.

Do partners see the findings about them?

That is your call, and we recommend they do. A partner-facing summary of his own findings and corrective actions, shared in a proper conversation, is usually what makes the audit produce change. What we do not do is share one partner's results with another. Comparative rankings across the network stay with your leadership, because circulating them tends to create arguments rather than improvement.

How often should a channel be audited?

A full external cycle once a year suits most SMB networks, with a lighter internal check run by your area managers each quarter using the same checklist. Partners under watch, new appointments and territories with unusual claim or credit patterns are worth looking at sooner. Part of the handover is teaching your team to run the routine version, so the deeper audit becomes a periodic exercise rather than a permanent cost.

Talk to us

Plan your channel growth programme on evidence rather than opinion.

The free audit is a working session, not a pitch. We look at how your partners report today, where your numbers disagree with each other, and whether you need one partner examined or the whole network scored on a common standard.

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

Your partner list, agreements, sales, claim and credit data stay confidential, and are used only to prepare for and conduct the audit.

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