Somebody already sells to your buyer, and is not competing with you.
Gully Sales finds the non-competing businesses that already serve your customers, agrees in writing what each side gives and gets, and runs joint campaigns so both audiences hear one useful offer.
- A ranked list of partners whose customers are the buyers you want.
- A written value exchange, so both sides know what they give and get.
- Joint campaigns with lead ownership agreed before the first enquiry.
Gully Sales Private Limited works with businesses across India, and sits in the room with both partners when the terms are agreed.
In one paragraph
What is Partnership and Co-Marketing?
Partnership and co-marketing means running joint campaigns with a business that already serves your buyers but does not compete with you. Gully Sales identifies which organisations are worth approaching, writes the proposition and the value exchange both sides accept, builds the shared assets, sets lead ownership rules, and reports what each partner produced.
The problem
Your warmest introductions arrive by accident, once or twice a year.
Most Indian businesses already earn something from partnerships. A friendly supplier mentions you to a customer. Somebody met at an association event forwards an enquiry. A consultant recommends you because their client asked. It is real revenue, and nobody planned it. Because it was never planned, it cannot be repeated. There is no list of who else could do the same, no agreement about what you would do in return, and no campaign that deliberately puts the two audiences in front of each other. So partnership stays a pleasant accident instead of a channel you can rely on.
You will recognise it as
- You can name two or three businesses that send you occasional enquiries, and none of them has ever been asked to do it regularly.
- A partnership was agreed warmly over lunch, both sides promised to send leads, and nothing has moved since.
- You share the same customers with a supplier or consultant, and the two of you have never run a single thing jointly.
- One joint webinar or stall was tried, every lead went into one company's inbox, and the other side quietly stopped replying.
- You are paying platforms for an audience that a friendly business already has and speaks to for free.
- Nobody owns partnerships in your team, so it is the first thing dropped when the month gets busy.
What it costs the business
- Customer acquisition depends entirely on media you rent, so your cost per lead moves whenever the platforms decide it should.
- Partners who like you drift towards a competitor who made the relationship simple to act on.
- The joint enquiries that do arrive are argued over instead of worked, and both sides lose the customer.
- Every new city or segment starts from zero, even though a partner already has standing there.
- Your brand keeps introducing itself cold to buyers who would have accepted a recommendation.
Why it persists. Partnership work does not look like work. There is no dashboard for it, no platform sending alerts, no invoice forcing attention. It needs somebody to build a list, ask, negotiate, write things down and follow up for weeks before anything appears. In a business where one person handles sales, marketing and customers, that is always the least urgent item on the desk. So partnerships are started in good faith and abandoned in silence, and both sides conclude that partnerships do not work.
If it stays unresolved. You keep renting attention that a neighbouring business already owns, and the organisations most able to introduce you slowly build the same relationship with somebody else. Partnerships are rarely exclusive on paper, but they are exclusive in practice. A partner has room for one company like yours, and that place goes to whoever asked first and made it easy to say yes.
What changes
What changes once partnerships are run like a channel.
In the first weeks
- A ranked list of partner organisations, each with the reason it is worth approaching.
- A one-page proposition a partner can take to their own management without editing it.
In how the work runs
- One agreement per partner covering audience, effort, cost share, lead ownership and review dates.
- A joint calendar both sides have accepted, so partner activity survives a busy month.
In sales and marketing
- Enquiries arriving from audiences you were not paying to reach.
- A cost per lead from partner activity you can compare honestly against your paid channels.
In what management can see
- Your name appearing beside a business your buyer already trusts.
- Joint content, sessions and mailers reaching lists that cannot be bought.
Over the longer term
- A partner base that keeps producing after a campaign ends, because it is documented and reviewed.
- New territory or segment entry that starts with somebody already respected there.
Gully Sales controls the partner research, the proposition, the outreach, the agreements, the joint assets and the reporting. Whether a particular partner agrees, and how their audience responds, depends on their business and yours. We report both outcomes plainly.
Who it is for
This is for you if your buyers already trust somebody else.
The businesses it suits
- B2B companies whose customers buy several related products or services around the one you sell.
- Consumer and retail brands with a customer base that a non-competing brand also wants to reach.
- Businesses entering a new city, state or segment where a local player already has standing.
- Companies with a small marketing team that cannot outspend larger competitors on media.
- Manufacturers, service firms and consultancies already recommended informally, who want it to be reliable.
- Businesses whose product needs a complementary product or service before it is fully useful.
What usually prompts the call
- Paid media cost per lead has climbed and the pipeline has not moved with it.
- A partnership was announced publicly and nothing followed it.
- A supplier, consultant or platform has asked to do something jointly and you do not know how to structure it.
- You are launching in a market where almost nobody knows your name.
- An association, event or community keeps producing good enquiries and you want more of that kind.
- A competitor has appeared in a partner's mailer or event and you were not invited.
What Gully Sales does
The work, component by component.
Partner proposition
We write what a partner actually gains from working with you: access to your customers, added revenue, a service their client keeps asking for, content they cannot produce alone, or standing with their own audience. It is written from their side of the table, in their language, and not as a description of your company.
- Why it matters:
- Most partnership approaches fail because they explain what the sender wants. A partner agrees to what their own business gains.
- You receive:
- A one-page partner proposition and a short deck the partner can circulate internally.
- Business value:
- Your approach gets read and forwarded, because the reader can see what it does for them.
Partner target profile
We define which organisations to approach by category, size, customer overlap, geography, credibility and motive. We map who already serves your buyer before, alongside and after you: suppliers, consultants, associations, platforms, software vendors, service firms and non-competing brands. Each is ranked by reach, fit and how easily it can be reached.
- Why it matters:
- Approaching everybody produces polite refusals. A defined profile makes the list short enough to work through properly.
- You receive:
- A ranked partner target list with contact routes and the overlap argument for each name.
- Business value:
- Your effort goes only to partners whose audience is genuinely your market.
Partner recruitment
We run the approach itself: warm introductions where they exist, direct outreach where they do not, an agenda for the first conversation, and the common objections answered in writing. A partner moves from first message to an agreed pilot without either side committing to anything permanent.
- Why it matters:
- A partnership that opens with a large commitment stalls. One that opens with a small dated activity gets tested quickly.
- You receive:
- Outreach sequences, conversation agendas, objection notes and a signed pilot scope per partner.
- Business value:
- Partnerships begin as a dated pilot with owners, rather than as a shared intention.
Partner onboarding
We turn the agreement into working arrangements: what each side supplies and by when, how the two brands appear together, how contact data is handled and consented, where enquiries land, who follows up, and what both teams tell a customer who asks how the two companies are connected.
- Why it matters:
- Joint campaigns usually break on the small operational questions nobody agreed in advance.
- You receive:
- A short partnership agreement, a brand-use note and a lead-routing map for each partner.
- Business value:
- Both teams can act on day one without checking back with the people who made the deal.
Joint campaign enablement
We build what the partnership will actually run with: co-branded landing pages, mailers to both lists, social and WhatsApp messages, a webinar or event deck, a bundled offer where it makes sense, and a talk track so both sales teams describe the offer the same way.
- Why it matters:
- Partners rarely have spare marketing capacity. The side that supplies ready assets sets the pace of the partnership.
- You receive:
- A co-branded asset kit: landing page, mailer, social set, deck and a talk track for both teams.
- Business value:
- The partner can launch without building anything, so the campaign happens instead of slipping.
Value exchange and incentives
We put the commercial side in writing: audience contributed by each partner, effort split, cost share on media, print or venue, any referral or revenue-share terms, bundled pricing where a joint offer exists, and what each side may claim publicly about the other.
- Why it matters:
- A partnership with an unequal or unspoken effort dies quietly, usually after the second campaign.
- You receive:
- A written value exchange covering effort, cost share and any commercial terms between the two firms.
- Business value:
- Neither side feels used, so the partnership survives the first disagreement.
Partnership governance
We set the rules of engagement: who owns an enquiry, what happens when both sides already know the customer, how a conflict is escalated, who signs off joint communication, how often the partnership is reviewed, and how either side may end it without damaging the relationship.
- Why it matters:
- Overlapping customers and unclear ownership are the two arguments that end otherwise healthy partnerships.
- You receive:
- Rules of engagement, a review calendar and one named owner on each side.
- Business value:
- Disagreements are settled by a rule agreed in calm weather, not in the middle of a deal.
Partnership performance
We tag every partner-sourced enquiry at the point it arrives, through campaign codes, dedicated landing pages, forms and phone or WhatsApp routing, and report each partner separately through to pipeline and closed business rather than counting all partner activity as one line.
- Why it matters:
- Without separate tracking you cannot tell a productive partner from a busy one, so effort keeps going to the friendliest.
- You receive:
- Per-partner source tagging, a campaign dashboard and a monthly review pack.
- Business value:
- You know which partnerships to deepen, which to fix and which to close.
What you will have at the end.
- A ranked partner target list with customer overlap, audience estimate and the route in for each organisation.
- A one-page partner proposition and a short deck, both written from the partner's point of view.
- Outreach sequences for email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, plus an agenda for the first conversation.
- A short partnership agreement template covering scope, effort, cost share, brand use, data handling and exit.
- A lead-routing map showing who owns each enquiry and what happens when both sides know the customer.
- A co-branded asset kit: landing page copy, mailer, social set and a webinar or event deck.
- A talk track and objection sheet for both sales teams, so partner leads are handled consistently.
- A joint campaign calendar with named owners and dates on both sides.
- Source tagging and campaign code conventions so every partner-sourced enquiry can be counted.
- A monthly review pack showing reach, response, leads, pipeline and cost per lead for each partner.
- An anonymised sample agreement and review pack, shared before you commit to the engagement.
How it runs
The engagement, step by step.
- 1
Overlap mapping
We work through your customer list and sales conversations to see which other businesses your buyers deal with before, during and after buying from you, and which of those have an audience worth reaching. We also record what informal referrals already produce, so the programme has a starting number.
- You provide:
- Customer list by segment, existing referral sources, and an hour each with sales and with you.
- We produce:
- An overlap map naming the categories of business that sit around your buyer, ranked by reach and fit.
- Done when:
- You agree which categories are worth pursuing and which are too close to competitors.
- 2
Proposition and target list
We turn the agreed categories into named organisations with contact routes, and write the proposition that will be put to them. Each name carries the specific argument for that partner, because a software vendor, an association and a supplier each want something different from you.
- You provide:
- Any existing relationships, past approaches and names you do not want approached.
- We produce:
- A ranked target list, a one-page proposition and a partner deck.
- Done when:
- You approve the list and the proposition before a single approach is made.
- 3
Recruitment
We run outreach and first conversations, using warm introductions where you have them. The aim of a first meeting is not a signed programme; it is agreement on one small joint activity with a date on it, which both sides can judge honestly.
- You provide:
- Introductions you can make, and a person available to join partner calls.
- We produce:
- Outreach sequences, meeting agendas, objection notes and a pilot scope for each interested partner.
- Done when:
- At least one partner has agreed a dated pilot activity in writing.
- 4
Agreement and onboarding
We settle the commercial and operational terms: effort, cost share, brand use, contact data handling and consent, lead ownership, review dates and exit. Both sides sign something short enough to be read and specific enough to be useful when a disagreement appears.
- You provide:
- Legal or management sign-off, and your position on cost share and any commercial terms.
- We produce:
- A partnership agreement, rules of engagement, a brand-use note and a lead-routing map.
- Done when:
- Both partners have signed and each side has named one owner.
- 5
Joint campaign build
We build the campaign both sides will run: the offer, the co-branded assets, the landing page, the mailers to each list, the social and messaging sequence, and the talk track for both sales teams. Approvals move through one workflow so a partner is never waiting on an unnamed approver.
- You provide:
- Brand assets, product information, offer approval and access to your website or landing page tool.
- We produce:
- The co-branded asset kit, tracked landing pages and a dated campaign calendar.
- Done when:
- Both partners have approved the assets and the calendar.
- 6
Launch and run
The campaign goes live across both audiences in the agreed sequence. We watch response by asset and by list in the first days, fix what is not landing, keep both teams supplied with answers, and make sure every enquiry reaches the owner named in the routing map on the same day.
- You provide:
- Sales availability to follow up partner enquiries, and quick answers to campaign questions.
- We produce:
- Live campaign management, response tracking and a shared status note for both partners.
- Done when:
- The campaign has run its agreed cycle and every enquiry has an owner and a status.
- 7
Review and scale
We review with you and with the partner: what reach was achieved, what responded, what became a qualified lead, what entered pipeline and what each side spent. Then we decide together whether to repeat, change the offer, change the audience or close the partnership and move the effort to the next name on the list.
- You provide:
- Sales outcomes on partner enquiries, and a decision on whether to continue.
- We produce:
- A per-partner review pack, a recommendation and the next campaign or partner plan.
- Done when:
- Each active partnership has a documented decision to repeat, adjust or end.
Ways to work with us
Ways to work with us on partnerships.
Partnership audit
A short diagnostic of what your informal referrals already produce, which categories of partner sit around your buyer, and whether co-marketing is the right route for you now. You keep the overlap map and target list whether or not we continue together.
Partner programme build
We build the programme: proposition, target list, outreach, agreements, rules of engagement, asset kit and reporting. Your team then runs it with the documents and templates in hand.
Co-marketing campaign with one partner
A single joint campaign with a partner you already have or one we help you recruit, from offer and assets through to launch, lead routing and a review with both sides.
Ongoing partnership management
We act as the partnership desk: recruiting new partners, running the joint calendar, building each campaign, chairing partner reviews and reporting performance partner by partner.
Why Gully Sales
What you are actually choosing when you choose us.
We sit on both sides of the table.
Partnership conversations stall when each company argues its own case. We prepare the argument for the partner as carefully as we prepare yours, so the meeting produces a decision instead of a polite delay.
We write the commercial terms, not only the creative.
Most agencies will design a co-branded mailer. Fewer will sit with you on cost share, lead ownership and what happens when both partners already know the customer. Those are the questions that decide whether a partnership lasts.
Sales and marketing sit in the same team here.
A partner enquiry is worth nothing if it lands in an inbox nobody watches. We build the routing and the talk track with your sales people, so a joint campaign ends in a conversation with a buyer.
Every partner is counted separately.
Partner activity is tagged at the point of enquiry and reported partner by partner through to pipeline. You can see which relationships earn more attention and which are costing more effort than they return.
We start small and dated.
The first activity with any partner is deliberately small, with a date and an owner on both sides. It is a cheap way to learn whether two businesses can actually work together before either commits further.
We work with Indian SMB realities.
Associations, dealer bodies, WhatsApp groups, local events and supplier relationships matter here as much as formal partner programmes. We use the routes your market actually uses.
Where it applies
The same service, in different businesses.
Industrial equipment manufacturing
- The situation:
- Your machines are specified by consultants and installed alongside equipment from three other suppliers, none of whom competes with you.
- How it applies:
- Joint technical sessions and co-branded specification guides with the complementary suppliers and the consultants who write the specification.
- Likely benefit:
- You are present when the specification is written, rather than quoting after the decision has narrowed.
Interior design and building materials
- The situation:
- Architects, contractors and furnishing brands all serve the same homeowner or developer at different stages of the same project.
- How it applies:
- A shared project showcase, joint site visits and co-branded material guides that each partner sends to its own client list.
- Likely benefit:
- Enquiries arrive already warmed by a partner the client is paying and trusts.
Healthcare and clinics
- The situation:
- Diagnostic centres, pharmacies, physiotherapy units and speciality clinics see the same patients but treat different problems.
- How it applies:
- Co-branded awareness camps, joint health talks and clearly consented cross-referral routes between non-competing providers.
- Likely benefit:
- Patients reach the right service faster, and each partner receives enquiries from a source that has already reassured the patient.
Software and IT services
- The situation:
- Your product is implemented alongside hardware, accounting software or a consultant your customer already pays.
- How it applies:
- Joint webinars, integration announcements, co-branded case material and a shared offer for each partner's installed base.
- Likely benefit:
- You reach a base of businesses already spending on the problem you solve.
Food, beverage and consumer brands
- The situation:
- Another non-competing brand sells to the same household through the same stores, apps or subscription boxes.
- How it applies:
- Bundled offers, sampling inside each other's shipments, joint festival campaigns and shared retail activity.
- Likely benefit:
- You gain trial from a household that has already chosen a brand of similar type and price.
Education and training
- The situation:
- Colleges, coaching centres, employers and skill platforms all speak to the same learners at different points.
- How it applies:
- Co-hosted sessions, joint placement or admission drives, and content shared through each partner's alumni and student channels.
- Likely benefit:
- Admission and enrolment enquiries come from lists that a partner has spent years building.
Questions buyers ask
Before you enquire, the answers you will want.
What makes a co-marketing programme worth it for the partner as well as us?
A partner joins for something their own business needs: revenue, a service their clients keep asking for, content they cannot produce alone, access to your customers, or standing with their audience. We write that argument before any approach is made, and put the effort and cost split in writing. If we cannot state clearly what the partner gains, we do not approach them, because an unequal partnership fails within two campaigns.
How is this different from referral marketing or affiliate marketing?
Referral marketing asks your existing customers to introduce you. Affiliate marketing pays publishers a commission for results they produce alone. Co-marketing is two businesses spending effort together on one campaign for two audiences, usually without commission changing hands. The three can run alongside each other, and we will say which fits your situation. Where a partner would rather be paid per result, that is affiliate work and belongs on a different page.
How is this different from appointing a channel partner or dealer?
A channel partner sells your product and earns margin on it. A co-marketing partner does not sell for you; they lend their audience and share the work of reaching it, while your own team closes the sale. Some relationships grow from one into the other. When a partner should start selling, the work moves into our channel and partner practice, and the agreement changes with it.
How long does a partnership engagement take?
Longer than a media campaign, because a second company has to agree. Mapping, proposition and target list come first, then recruitment, which depends entirely on how quickly partner organisations respond and decide internally. A first joint campaign usually follows the first signed pilot. We give you a dated plan after the mapping stage and update it as partners commit, rather than promising a fixed date at the start.
What inputs do you need from us?
A customer list by segment, your existing referral sources, an hour with you and an hour with sales at the start, any introductions you can personally make, brand assets and product information, and a decision-maker who can approve an offer and a cost share. During the campaign we need sales availability to follow up partner enquiries quickly, and a person who can attend the monthly partner review.
Who owns the leads from a joint campaign?
This is agreed in writing before launch, and it is the single most important term in the agreement. The usual rule is that each enquiry belongs to the partner whose product the buyer asked about, with a stated process for customers both sides already know. We also agree what happens if a partner's existing customer responds to your offer, so the situation is settled by a rule rather than by an argument.
How is success measured?
Against your existing numbers, not invented targets. We record what informal referrals produce and what your paid channels cost before we start, then report reach quality, response rate, qualified leads, cost per lead, pipeline created and conversion rate for every partner separately. Every enquiry is tagged at the point it arrives, so partner performance is not estimated from a summary at the end of the quarter.
What is excluded from the scope?
We do not act as your legal counsel; agreements we draft should be reviewed by your lawyer before signing. We do not commit a partner's budget or make promises on their behalf. We do not buy media for a partner without a separate scope, and we do not run the partner's own marketing. Selling to your customers, and closing, remain with your sales team unless outsourced sales is scoped separately.
4 more questions
What if a partner also works with one of our competitors?
That is common and not always a problem. What matters is whether the partner will give your offer real attention and whether your competitor is present in the same campaign. We ask the question directly during recruitment, and we agree in the terms what each side may say about the other and whether any exclusivity applies to a specific campaign, audience or period.
Does this work for a consumer or retail brand, not only B2B?
Yes. Consumer co-marketing usually looks like bundled offers, sampling inside another brand's shipment, joint festival campaigns, shared retail or mall activity, and cross-promotion to each other's customer lists and social followings. The discipline is the same: a non-competing partner with the same household, a written value exchange, tracked response and a review that says whether it earned its cost.
What happens if a partnership does not produce results?
We planned for it. Every partnership starts with a small, dated pilot precisely so that a poor fit is discovered cheaply. At the review we look at whether the audience, the offer or the effort was wrong, change one of them and try again, or close the partnership on good terms and move to the next name on the target list. A closed partnership is a result, not a failure.
Can you work with partners we already have?
Often that is the fastest place to start. Many businesses have two or three warm relationships that have never been given a campaign, an agreement or a calendar. We begin there, put structure around what already exists, run a first joint campaign, and use the results as evidence when approaching new partners who do not yet know you.
Talk to us
Let us audit the introductions you already receive.
The first conversation is a working one. We look at who already serves your buyers, what you could offer them in return, and whether partnership is the right route for you at all.
- No obligation and no sales script
- A reply from someone who does the work
- Your details are never sold or shared