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GullySales

Your goods reach the godown; a salesperson decides whether they reach the shelf.

Gully Sales works on the people your distributors employ to sell: how many there are, which outlets they call on, what they can sell, how they are paid, and who checks that the beat actually happened.

  • Beat plans a salesperson can finish in a working day, not on paper.
  • A call routine at the counter instead of a rate list read from the doorway.
  • Person-level targets, earnings and a scorecard your team reads every week.
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Gully Sales Private Limited works with businesses across India. Start with a free audit of one distributor's field force.

In one paragraph

What is Distributor Sales-Force Effectiveness?

Distributor sales-force effectiveness is the work of making the salespeople your distributors employ productive on your lines. Gully Sales sizes that field force, redraws beats against the real outlet universe, teaches a call routine, sets targets and earnings at person level, and installs the weekly supervision that keeps a beat honest. The distributor still runs the payroll; you get coverage you can see.

The problem

Your line is billed to the distributor and then left to chance.

Most manufacturers we meet review primary billing carefully and stop there. What happens after the invoice depends on four or five salespeople on a distributor's payroll, whom nobody at your end has hired, briefed or watched work. They are honest and hard-working. They also carry six other brands, walk a route drawn years ago, and sell whatever the retailer asks for, because nothing in their day rewards anything harder. That is not a discipline problem. It is a design problem, and it sits in a place your review meetings do not reach.

You will recognise it as

  • Primary despatch looks steady, but nobody can say how many outlets bought from you last month.
  • The same fast lines repeat every week while new products sit in the distributor's godown.
  • Beat lists exist on paper, and the actual route changes with whoever is on leave that day.
  • A salesperson resigns and the territory goes quiet for two months until someone is found.
  • Your area manager spends market days settling claims instead of working with the field force.
  • Order books show many calls and very few new outlets or fresh lines added to a bill.

What it costs the business

  • Growth comes from loading more stock on the same distributors rather than from more outlets buying more often.
  • New product launches lose their window, because the people who must place them are never briefed or measured on them.
  • Distributors carry stock they cannot move, then push back on the next order and blame the market.
  • Your competitor's line, sold by a better-run field force in the same shop, quietly takes the shelf space.

Why it persists. The salespeople are not on your payroll, so no one at your company feels entitled to plan their week. The distributor sees them as a cost to keep low, not a route to sell more, and hires on availability rather than a profile. Training, when it happens, is a product session in a hotel hall, far from a counter. And the numbers everyone reviews, primary billing and stock, are the only numbers that do not tell you whether a single beat was worked properly.

If it stays unresolved. Coverage keeps shrinking towards the easy outlets while the bill value stays flat, so it looks stable until a competitor arrives with a paid, trained and supervised field force. At that point the distributor is not disloyal; he simply has someone who makes his salespeople productive, and you do not.

What changes

You get a field force that can be planned, measured and improved.

In the first weeks

  • A written picture of every beat: outlets mapped, calls made, and how much of the territory is genuinely worked.
  • A sanctioned headcount per distributor with the sales value each role is expected to carry.

In how the work runs

  • Beat plans and a monthly journey cycle each salesperson can complete without shortcuts.
  • A morning meeting, a market-working routine and a joint-call standard your managers actually run.
  • A selling kit in the local language: order card, price and scheme sheet, must-sell list, objection notes.

In sales and marketing

  • More outlets billed each month and more lines on the average bill, from the same distributor and the same route.
  • Earnings that move with productive calls, new outlets and focus lines rather than with total order value alone.

In what management can see

  • One scorecard per salesperson, per beat and per distributor, reviewed on the same day every week.
  • A monthly secondary sales view that shows what left the godown and which outlets it reached.

Over the longer term

  • A repeatable way to induct, train and replace field staff so a resignation costs weeks, not quarters.
  • Distributors who fund more headcount because the last addition paid for itself.

Gully Sales controls the design, the training, the tools and the review rhythm, and we work in the market alongside your team. Sales results also depend on your product, price, supply, credit and competition, so we commit to the deliverables and the discipline, not to a number.

Who it is for

This is for companies whose sales actually happen on someone else's payroll.

The businesses it suits

  • Manufacturers and brands selling through distributors, super-stockists or wholesalers into retail counters.
  • Companies whose distributors employ order bookers, van salespeople, in-shop promoters or beat salespeople.
  • Businesses adding new territories where a distributor is appointed but nobody sells your line on the ground.
  • Firms launching products that need a specific push at the counter rather than a general availability drive.
  • Sales heads whose area managers collect orders themselves because the distributor's staff cannot.
  • Companies with wide appointments, flat secondary sales and no reliable view of outlet coverage.

What usually prompts the call

  • A new product has been despatched to distributors and is not reaching outlets in any number.
  • Attrition in the distributor's sales team has left beats unworked for weeks at a stretch.
  • You are moving from wholesale-led selling to direct retail coverage and need a working routine.
  • A distributor is asking you to fund more salespeople and you have no basis to say yes or no.
  • Your team has begun using a sales app, and the data shows calls without orders.

What Gully Sales does

The work, component by component.

The case for the headcount

We build the economics of a salesperson at your distributor's level: cost to employ, outlets to be covered, bill value needed to pay for the role, and the margin it earns him. The same sheet shows what your company contributes and what the distributor funds.

Why it matters:
A distributor agrees to more or better salespeople only when the arithmetic works in his books, not in your presentation.
You receive:
A salesperson payback sheet per distributor, with a shared funding position.
Business value:
The headcount conversation stops being a negotiation and becomes a calculation both sides can check.

Outlet universe and beat design

We map the outlets that exist in the territory, classify them by what they can buy from you, and rebuild beats around travel time, call frequency and the working day. Each beat gets a named day, a listed set of outlets and a target call count.

Why it matters:
Most routes were drawn when the territory was smaller and have never been redrawn against the shops that exist now.
You receive:
A mapped outlet universe and a monthly journey cycle for every salesperson.
Business value:
You know which outlets should be called on, how often, and by whom, before you judge anyone's performance.

Role profile and hiring brief

We write what the role is, what a good candidate looks like in that market, where such people are found, what to ask them and what the first offer should contain. Your distributor hires; you get a standard he can hire against.

Why it matters:
Field vacancies are usually filled by whoever is available that week, which is why productivity varies so much between beats.
You receive:
A role profile, interview guide and sourcing note the distributor can use himself.
Business value:
The next person appointed on your line is chosen against a standard instead of an emergency.

Induction and the first sixty days

We build a joining routine: your range, prices, schemes and competition; a shadow week on the beat with a senior person; a graded target for the first two months; and a check on what the new joiner can do before being left alone.

Why it matters:
Time to productivity is the quietest cost in the channel, and it is entirely fixable with a written induction.
You receive:
A sixty-day induction plan with a checklist and a simple sign-off at each stage.
Business value:
New field staff start billing sooner, and you can see who is ready and who needs another week.

The call routine and selling kit

We define what happens inside a call: how to open, what stock to check, which must-sell lines to offer, how to answer a price objection, how to close and what to record. It is taught in the market with real retailers, in the language they sell in.

Why it matters:
The gap between a productive and an unproductive salesperson is rarely effort. It is the absence of a routine anyone has taught them.
You receive:
A call routine card, must-sell list, objection notes and order card in the local language.
Business value:
More calls end in an order, and more orders carry the lines you want moving.

Targets, earnings and incentives

We set target logic at person and beat level, then design the variable part so it pays for productive calls, new outlets billed, focus lines and range width, with a fixed portion that keeps good people from leaving. The distributor stays the employer throughout.

Why it matters:
Pay linked only to total order value teaches a salesperson to service the four largest shops and stop.
You receive:
A target and incentive structure per role, with worked examples on real earnings.
Business value:
Effort moves towards the outlets and lines your growth depends on, without raising the cost per case.

Supervision that runs weekly

We install the rhythm that holds it together: a morning meeting with an agenda, market working days for your area manager, joint calls with a feedback format, and a weekly review of beat-level numbers with agreed corrections.

Why it matters:
Field discipline decays within weeks unless somebody looks at the same numbers on the same day and acts on them.
You receive:
A supervision calendar, meeting agenda, joint-call format and review pack.
Business value:
Problems surface in the week they occur rather than in the quarterly sales meeting.

Measurement and the scorecard

We agree the handful of numbers that describe a field force honestly, take a baseline from your records and the distributor's, and set up a scorecard that can be maintained by hand or by the sales app you already use.

Why it matters:
Primary billing hides everything that matters at the counter, so a separate secondary view is not optional.
You receive:
A weekly scorecard by salesperson, beat and distributor, with a baseline dated at the start.
Business value:
You can tell whether coverage improved, and where, instead of arguing from despatch figures.

What you will have at the end.

  • An outlet universe map and coverage gap list for every territory in scope.
  • Beat plans and a monthly journey cycle for each salesperson, with day-wise outlet lists.
  • A headcount norm and payback sheet per distributor, showing who funds what.
  • A role profile, interview guide and sourcing note for field sales hiring.
  • A sixty-day induction plan with checkpoints and a readiness sign-off.
  • A call routine card, must-sell list and objection handling notes in the local language.
  • Order card and daily reporting format, or the equivalent set up in your sales app.
  • A target and incentive structure per role, with worked earnings examples.
  • A supervision calendar covering morning meetings, market working and joint calls.
  • A weekly scorecard template by salesperson, beat and distributor, with the baseline filled in.
  • A trained-and-observed record for every field salesperson covered by the programme.
  • A written handover note so your area managers can run the rhythm without us.

How it runs

The engagement, step by step.

  1. 1

    Baseline the field force as it works today

    We spend market days with your distributors' salespeople, walk their actual routes, watch calls at the counter and read whatever records exist: order books, beat lists, attendance, app data and secondary sales. We also sit with the distributor to understand what he pays, what he expects and what he thinks of the arrangement.

    You provide:
    Distributor list, despatch history, any secondary data, and access to two or three territories.
    We produce:
    A baseline note on coverage, productivity, headcount and capability, with the gaps named.
    Done when:
    You and the distributor agree the baseline is a fair picture of the market today.
  2. 2

    Rebuild coverage and size the force

    We map the outlet universe, classify outlets by potential, set call frequencies and redraw beats around a working day. From that we derive how many salespeople each territory needs, what each should carry in value, and where the current headcount is short or misused.

    You provide:
    Territory boundaries, retailer lists you hold, and your view on outlet classes worth serving.
    We produce:
    Beat plans, a journey cycle and a sanctioned headcount with the payback sheet behind it.
    Done when:
    Each distributor has beats that can be completed and a headcount both sides accept.
  3. 3

    Fix the role, the pay and the hiring standard

    We write the role profile, the interview guide and the earning structure: fixed portion, variable heads, and the behaviours each head is meant to buy. We test the structure on last year's actual sales so nobody is surprised by what people take home.

    You provide:
    Current pay and incentive practice at distributor level, and any policy limits you work within.
    We produce:
    Role profile, hiring brief and an incentive design with worked earnings examples.
    Done when:
    The distributor can hire against a standard and pay against a structure, both written down.
  4. 4

    Build the selling kit and the induction

    We prepare the call routine, must-sell list, objection notes, order card and reporting format, then convert them into an induction that a new joiner can be taken through in their first sixty days. Everything is drafted in the language the beat is worked in.

    You provide:
    Product, price and scheme details, competitor information, and language preferences by region.
    We produce:
    The selling kit, the induction plan and the readiness checklist.
    Done when:
    A new salesperson can be inducted without anyone inventing the process again.
  5. 5

    Train in the market, not in a hall

    We run the training on the beat: a classroom half-day for the range and the routine, then joint calls at real counters where each salesperson practises the routine and gets feedback the same hour. Supervisors are trained separately on how to observe and correct.

    You provide:
    Field time from your area managers, and the distributor's agreement on training days.
    We produce:
    Trained field staff with an observation record for each person, and trained supervisors.
    Done when:
    Each salesperson has been observed at the counter and can run the routine unaided.
  6. 6

    Run a pilot territory end to end

    One territory runs the full design for a defined period: new beats, the routine, the incentive structure, the weekly scorecard and the supervision calendar. We work the market with the team, correct what does not survive contact with reality, and record the changes.

    You provide:
    A pilot territory, a distributor willing to participate, and an internal owner for the pilot.
    We produce:
    A corrected design, the first scorecards and a written note on what changed and why.
    Done when:
    The pilot has run its full cycle and the numbers have been reviewed against the baseline.
  7. 7

    Extend to the rest of the network

    We roll the corrected design out distributor by distributor, in a sequence agreed with you, training each field team and briefing each distributor on the economics before their beats change. Your managers lead the later waves with us in support.

    You provide:
    The rollout sequence, manager availability and distributor introductions.
    We produce:
    Territory-wise rollout packs, training completion records and updated scorecards.
    Done when:
    Every distributor in scope is working the new beats with a scorecard in place.
  8. 8

    Review, correct and hand over

    We review performance against the baseline, tighten targets and incentive heads where the market has answered differently from the plan, and hand the whole rhythm to your sales management with a written operating note and a session for the managers who will run it.

    You provide:
    Review participation from your sales head and area managers.
    We produce:
    A performance review against baseline, revised norms and a handover operating note.
    Done when:
    Your team runs the weekly rhythm for a full month without us in the room.

Ways to work with us

You can start with one territory or take on the whole network.

Field force audit

Market days with two or three distributors, a coverage and productivity baseline, and a written view of headcount, capability and beat quality with the corrections we would make first.

Design and pilot

The full design built and proved in one territory: beats, headcount, role profile, incentives, selling kit, training and the weekly scorecard, corrected in the market before it goes wider.

Network rollout

The proved design extended distributor by distributor, with field training, distributor briefings and scorecards installed across every territory in scope.

Retained field support

A continuing arrangement where we work market days with your managers, run the monthly review, train new joiners and keep the norms current as the network grows.

Why Gully Sales

What you are actually choosing when you choose us.

We work the beat with your team.

This is not a slide deck about coverage. Our consultants walk routes, stand in shops and watch calls, because a beat plan written from a desk falls apart on the first market day.

We respect who signs the salary cheque.

The distributor is the employer, and we design around that. Nothing we install asks you to instruct another firm's staff, and the distributor sees the economics before he sees the ask.

We connect the field to the whole revenue system.

Gully Sales works across marketing, sales, channel, customer success and revenue operations, so beat data, targets and reporting fit the way your business already runs.

We write it down so it survives us.

Routines, formats and norms are documented in plain language your managers and distributors can use, which is what allows the rhythm to continue after the engagement ends.

We work in the language of the market.

Order cards, must-sell lists and training happen in the language the salesperson uses at the counter, because a routine nobody can read is a routine nobody follows.

We tell you when this is not your problem.

If the audit shows that supply, pricing or distributor earnings are holding you back, we say so and point you to that work instead of selling you a field programme.

Where it applies

The same service, in different businesses.

Packaged foods and beverages

The situation:
Wide distributor appointments in a state, but repeat billing concentrated in a few hundred outlets and new SKUs stuck in godowns.
How it applies:
Outlet universe mapping, redrawn beats with call frequencies by outlet class, a must-sell list per beat and incentives on new outlets billed.
Likely benefit:
More outlets buy in a month and launches reach the counter within their window rather than after it.

Building materials and hardware

The situation:
Distributors serve large counters well and ignore smaller ones, while contractors are influenced by whoever calls on the shop most often.
How it applies:
Beat redesign that reaches the smaller counters, a call routine built around range and application, and joint calls with your area manager.
Likely benefit:
Coverage widens beyond the top counters and your range gets asked for by name at the smaller ones.

Agri-inputs and rural distribution

The situation:
Season-driven demand, long travel between dealers and field staff who are hired at the start of a season and lost at the end.
How it applies:
Journey cycles built for travel time, a short induction that works within a season, and an earning structure that holds people across seasons.
Likely benefit:
The season starts with trained people on the ground instead of the first fortnight lost to hiring.

Electricals and consumer durables

The situation:
Distributor salespeople take orders on running models and never open a conversation about the newer, higher-value range.
How it applies:
A call routine with a focus-line step, product training at the counter and an incentive head weighted towards the newer range.
Likely benefit:
The average bill carries more lines and the higher-value range gets a genuine hearing at the shop.

Industrial consumables and spares

The situation:
A technical range sold by distributor staff who can quote a price but cannot answer a specification question from a buyer.
How it applies:
Application-led training, an objection sheet built from real questions, and joint calls with your technical people until the routine holds.
Likely benefit:
Buyers get an answer during the call instead of a promise to check, and orders stop stalling on basic queries.

Pharma and medical supplies distribution

The situation:
Wide chemist coverage on paper, with the actual route decided by convenience and the same outlets serviced repeatedly.
How it applies:
A mapped outlet universe with frequency norms, a daily reporting format and a weekly scorecard reviewed by your area manager.
Likely benefit:
Coverage becomes visible and unworked outlets can be corrected within the week they are missed.

Auto parts and aftermarket

The situation:
Van sales and counter sales run side by side with no clarity on who calls where, so mechanics and retailers get conflicting attention.
How it applies:
Role definition between van and beat salespeople, separate journey cycles, and targets that stop the two roles competing for the same bill.
Likely benefit:
Both routes work their own outlets, and the distributor's cost per call stops rising against flat sales.

Paints, chemicals and coatings

The situation:
Dealer counters are visited regularly but the applicators and contractors who decide the brand are never met by anyone.
How it applies:
A beat that includes influencer calls, a routine for that conversation, and reporting that counts those calls separately.
Likely benefit:
Pull at the counter is built by the same field force, without adding a second team to fund.

Proof

Work we can point to.

Kambar Group

The problem:
The business needed stronger sales processes, from planning through to how opportunities were worked and closed.
What we did:
Gully Sales worked on Kambar Group's sales processes with strategic planning, lead generation, sales enablement and closure techniques, driving efficiency.
The result:
The published account reports streamlined processes and greater sales-team efficiency, higher-quality leads from better qualification, and stronger closure after training. It covers the company's own sales team; no distributor field-force figures are published.
Read the case study

Questions buyers ask

Before you enquire, the answers you will want.

What makes this attractive to the distributor as well as to us?

The distributor pays the salary, so the arithmetic has to work in his books. We build a payback sheet showing what the salesperson costs him, how many outlets that person can cover, and what bill value makes the role profitable at his margin. Where a role needs support in the early months, we set out clearly what your company contributes and for how long. He agrees to the headcount because he has checked the numbers, not because you asked.

How is this different from distributor development?

Distributor development works on the distributor's own business: his return on investment, stock norms, claims and credit. This service works one level down, on the people he employs to sell. The two fit together and often run in sequence. If his business is unprofitable, we fix that first, because a better-run field force cannot rescue a distributor who is losing money on your line.

How long does an engagement take?

The audit is a few market days. A design and pilot in one territory runs across a full journey cycle so the beats, incentives and scorecard are tested in real market conditions before anything is fixed. Network rollout depends on how many distributors and territories are in scope, and how many field days your managers can give. We agree the sequence with you and put it in the written scope rather than promising a fixed calendar.

What inputs do you need from us?

A distributor list with despatch history, whatever secondary or outlet data exists, territory boundaries, your price and scheme structure, and access to two or three markets. Beyond that, we need field days from your area managers, because they will run the rhythm after we leave. If your records are thin, we build the baseline from market days and the distributor's order books instead.

Do you employ or manage the distributor's salespeople?

No. They stay on the distributor's payroll and under his supervision throughout. We design the roles, beats, routines, targets and reviews, train the people in the market, and equip your area managers to run the rhythm. Any change to headcount, pay or hiring is decided by the distributor with the economics in front of him.

How is success measured?

Against the dated baseline we take before anything changes. The main measures are outlets billed against outlets mapped, productive calls and lines per call, secondary sales by beat, time to productivity for new joiners, range width on the average bill, and field staff retention. These are reviewed weekly at beat level and monthly with your sales head, so a slipping territory is visible early.

What if our distributor refuses to change anything?

Some will resist, particularly where beats have run the same way for years. We start with the ones who are open, prove the numbers in a pilot, and let the result do the arguing. Where a distributor refuses even after the economics are shown and his salespeople remain unproductive, that is useful information for your channel decisions, and we say so plainly in the review.

Do we need a sales force automation app for this to work?

No. The routines work on paper order cards and a weekly sheet, and many of our clients start that way. If you already run an app, we configure the beats, outlet masters and reports inside it so the field team has one place to work. If you are considering one, we would rather the routine settle first, because software copies whatever discipline already exists.

4 more questions

Can the training be done in regional languages?

Yes, and it should be. Order cards, must-sell lists, objection notes and counter training are prepared in the language the salesperson actually uses in the shop. A routine written in English and taught in English rarely survives the second week of a beat in a district town, whatever the classroom feedback said on the day.

What is excluded from the scope?

We do not run your distributor's payroll, hire staff on his behalf, or take responsibility for stock, credit or collections. We do not supply a software licence, though we will configure what you own. Product pricing, trade margins and scheme budgets remain your decisions. If the audit points to those as the real constraint, we say so rather than working around it.

Will the discipline survive after you leave?

That is what the handover stage is for. The routines, formats and norms are written down, your area managers run the weekly rhythm with us watching before we step back, and the scorecard continues in the same shape. We hand over only after your team has run a full month without us in the room, and we stay available for periodic reviews if you want them.

Can you start with one distributor before we commit further?

Yes, and we usually recommend it. One territory, one distributor and one field team is enough to test the beat design, the incentive structure and the review rhythm against real market conditions. You see the corrected design and the first scorecards before deciding whether to extend it, and the learning from that pilot makes every later rollout faster.

Talk to us

Start with one territory, and see what its field force actually covers.

The first conversation is a free audit, not a pitch. We look at one or two territories, your despatch pattern and how your distributors' field teams actually work, then tell you whether this is the right next step or whether something else should come first.

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

Your distributor lists, despatch records, margins and field pay details stay confidential. They are used only to prepare for and conduct the audit, and are never sold or shared.

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