Sales margin improvement · Sales
Your order book is full, yet the money left after each order keeps shrinking.
A busy month does not prove a profitable one. One customer gets a rate nobody remembers agreeing. Another orders small lots, asks for urgent delivery and pays late, and still counts as a good account because the invoice total is large.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Sales margin improvement finds where your orders give margin away and sets rules so your team stops doing it. GullySales reads your quotations, invoices and payment records by product, customer and salesperson, then writes the selling rules your team follows.
We work from your own records: quotations, sales invoices, credit notes, freight and payment dates. We compare what was quoted with what was billed and what was finally collected, by product, by customer and by salesperson. Then we write the rules your team will sell by.
This service finds the leaks and fixes how your team sells. If the price structure itself is wrong, pricing and packaging strategy is the better fit. If you only need a profit report, sales profitability analysis does that. If the single gap is discount approval, sales discount management covers it.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Manufacturers and dealers whose turnover has grown while the balance left after costs has not
- Distributors and wholesalers selling the same item to different customers at different rates
- Clinics, schools and shops that sell packages, plans or add-ons with uneven returns
- Owners who sign off special rates on the phone and cannot trace them later
- Sales heads who want a team rule for discounts, terms and small orders
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- A business with no invoices or quotations on file, because there is nothing to analyse yet
- Anyone who wants a customer dropped or a debt recovered on their behalf; those decisions and any legal notice stay with you and your own adviser
- Owners who expect a promise of higher margin or sales. GullySales prepares the analysis and the rules; the results depend on your team applying them
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“We sell a lot and still feel short of money”
Invoice totals look healthy while freight, rework and credit notes quietly take the difference. Nobody has put these costs against the order that caused them.
“Every salesperson quotes a different rate”
The same item goes out at three prices in one week. The reasons live in phone calls, not on the quotation.
“Our biggest customer may be our costliest”
A large account asks for split deliveries, special packing and long credit. Its invoices look strong, but the work behind them is not costed.
“We win orders by cutting price first”
The team offers a discount before the buyer asks. The buyer never learns what the company would have accepted at list.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Quotation and order review
A sheet that places each quotation beside the order and invoice it became. It shows the rate asked, the rate quoted and the rate billed.
Margin by product, customer and salesperson
Three views built from your invoice and purchase cost data. Each notes which costs were missing, so you do not read a gap as a loss.
Discount leakage list
A register of discounts, credit notes, free supplies and special rates, with the deal and the approver where the records name one.
Product mix note
A short reading of which lines carry the margin and which only carry volume. It tells your team what to lead with in a quotation.
Payment terms review
A comparison of agreed credit terms with actual payment dates, so the cost of waiting for money sits against each account.
Cheap-to-serve and costly-to-serve account map
Each major account is placed by the effort it asks for: order size, delivery changes, returns, service visits and chasing for payment.
Selling rules for the team
A written one-page rule set for floor rates, who approves exceptions, minimum order values and payment terms. It comes with a worked quotation example.
Quotation record template
A form that captures the reason for any concession at the moment of quoting, so the next review reads from the page rather than memory.
How the result is measured
- Gap between quoted and billed rate
- Margin by product line
- Margin by customer after agreed service costs
- Discount and credit note value against the approved floor
- Days between invoice and payment by account
- Quotations carrying a recorded reason for any concession
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Before you decide
Agree the work. Know how to judge it.
Sales margin improvement: use these checks to prepare, choose the scope, and review what changes.
Bring the right evidence
Review orders by buyer type, offer, and route to market. Include lost proposals and capacity limits so the plan reflects what the team can actually sell and deliver.
Make the scope clear
Choose the target buyer and offer before setting activity targets. Agree responsibilities for finding opportunities, qualification, proposals, and the final commercial decision.
Check the work in use
Check whether the plan explains where the next suitable opportunities will come from and why buyers would choose you. Each priority needs an owner and a way to review progress.
Know when to change course
If the target assumes more delivery capacity or selling time than exists, change the plan. Raising the target does not create either resource.
These are discussion points, not a fixed package. GullySales confirms the deliverables, responsibilities, fee, and term in writing after reading your brief and speaking with you.
How it works
How the sales margin improvement work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Scope and records
You send the requirements brief, we talk, and the written scope names the period, products and customers covered. You then share the records.
- 2
Cost agreement
Your accounts contact confirms which costs count against an order: purchase cost, freight, packing, commissions. Nothing is analysed until you approve this list.
- 3
Analysis
We trace quotation to invoice to payment and build the product, customer and salesperson views. Gaps in your records are marked, not guessed.
- 4
Findings with you and the sales head
We walk through each leak together. You decide which are policy choices to keep and which are habits to stop.
- 5
Rules and handover
We write the selling rules and the quotation record. Your sales head briefs the team and decides how existing customer rates are handled.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Pick ten recent orders and trace each one from quotation to payment before you change any rule.
- Export your sales invoices and credit notes for the last full quarter from your accounting software.
- Pull the matching quotations and put the rate quoted, the rate billed and the payment date on one line per order.
- Mark every order where the billed rate is lower than the quoted rate, and write down who agreed it.
- List the five customers who ask for the most from your team: split deliveries, urgent dispatch, returns, repeat visits.
- Ask your accounts contact which costs, such as freight and packing, are not charged to any order today.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Which of our records will you use, and what do you do when a cost is missing?
- How do you separate a discount that was a decision from one that was a habit?
- How will you treat our large accounts that cost more to serve?
- What will the selling rules look like, and who writes the exceptions?
- Who approves the cost list before any margin figure is shown to us?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 0, foundation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will you tell us to raise prices?
Will we lose our best customers?
What if our cost records are patchy?
How is this different from pricing and packaging strategy?
Do you collect overdue payments?
What will it cost and how long will it take?
How long is the contract?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Sales margin improvement, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.