Hire salespeople on evidence, not on how well they interview.
Gully Sales defines what the seat must produce, finds candidates who have sold in markets like yours, and puts every shortlisted person through the same selling exercise, panel and reference check before you make an offer.
- A written scorecard that says what a good hire must do, before anyone is met.
- Every candidate sells in front of you, so you buy evidence and not a good CV.
- One structured panel, one score sheet, and a decision you can explain later.
Gully Sales Private Limited helps small and medium businesses across India define, source, assess and settle sales hires.
In one paragraph
What is Sales Recruitment and Candidate Assessment?
Sales recruitment and candidate assessment is how you fill a selling seat on evidence instead of instinct. Gully Sales writes the scorecard the role is judged against, sources candidates who have sold in your kind of market, makes each one sell in a live exercise, runs a structured panel on the same questions, checks references with former managers, and helps you choose.
The problem
Your last sales hire interviewed well and then did not sell.
In most Indian SMBs a salesperson is hired the same way: a CV arrives through a portal or a friend, the owner meets the person for half an hour, likes the confidence and the contact list, and an offer follows. Three months later the person is still asking for leads, the territory is quiet, and everybody says it was not a fit. Nothing about the meeting could have told you otherwise. Confidence in a room is the one skill every salesperson has, including the ones who cannot close.
You will recognise it as
- You decide within the first ten minutes of meeting a candidate, and the rest of the conversation confirms it.
- Every interview is a different conversation, so two candidates are never compared on the same thing.
- The CV is read for company names and years, and the actual numbers behind them are never asked for.
- Candidates are hired for the customer list they claim to bring, and the list does not follow them.
- Two or three hires in a row have left or been let go inside a year, and nobody knows what went wrong.
- The seat stays open for months, then gets filled in a hurry because the target cannot wait any longer.
What it costs the business
- A wrong hire costs a full salary, months of a territory left uncovered, and the leads that were handed over and went cold.
- Your managers spend their coaching time on someone who was never going to reach the number, instead of on the people who could.
- Customers meet a representative who cannot answer them, and the impression sticks to your brand long after they leave.
- The team watches a weak hire carry the same title they do, and your strong salespeople quietly start listening to offers.
- Hiring becomes something the owner dreads, so the next seat is left open and the target is loaded onto whoever is already there.
Why it persists. Nobody teaches an owner how to hire a salesperson, and the owner is exactly the person a salesperson is trained to impress. Consultants send CVs against a job title, not against what the seat must produce, and they are paid when someone joins rather than when someone succeeds. Meanwhile the pressure rises every month the seat stays empty, so a candidate who is available now beats one who would have been right. The method repeats, and each failure is read as bad luck.
If it stays unresolved. Hiring stays a gamble. You keep paying for people who cannot sell your product to your market, your good salespeople carry more than their share, and the growth plan slips by a quarter every time a seat has to be filled twice. Over a few years the sales team becomes whoever survived, rather than the team the business chose.
What changes
You know what you are hiring before the offer goes out.
In the first weeks
- A written definition of what the seat must produce in its first year, agreed before any candidate is met.
- A shortlist of candidates who have sold something comparable, to comparable buyers, in comparable geography.
- Evidence of each finalist actually selling, watched by the people who will manage them.
In how the work runs
- One interview format the whole panel uses, so candidates are compared on the same questions and the same scale.
- A scoring sheet per candidate with evidence written against each requirement, kept for the next hire too.
- Reference conversations with former managers, held against the scorecard rather than as a formality.
In sales and marketing
- Fewer wasted salaries, because the people who cannot do the work are found before they are on your payroll.
- Territories and segments get covered by someone capable of holding them, rather than by whoever was available.
In what management can see
- A record of why each person was selected or dropped, so a hiring decision can be reviewed later, not just defended.
Over the longer term
- A hiring kit your managers can run themselves for the next seat, without a consultant in the room.
- A growing picture of which evidence actually predicts success in your particular selling motion.
We control the scorecard, the sourcing effort, the assessment method and the recommendation. We do not control whether a candidate accepts, how they are managed after joining, or what the market does to your salary band. Assessment reduces the chance of a wrong hire; it does not remove it.
Who it is for
This is for owners who cannot afford another wrong sales hire.
The businesses it suits
- Founders hiring their first dedicated salesperson, who have only ever sold the product themselves.
- Sales heads adding representatives for a new territory, product line or customer segment.
- Businesses that have replaced the same seat twice and want to know what they keep getting wrong.
- Owners hiring a sales manager or sales head for the first time, with nobody senior inside to assess the candidate.
- Companies with shortlisted candidates already in hand who want an independent assessment before deciding.
- Family businesses professionalising sales, where the hire must work alongside long-serving people.
What usually prompts the call
- A salesperson has resigned and the territory is going quiet week by week.
- The annual plan needs more selling capacity than the current team can carry.
- A recent hire failed, and the same shortlist is about to be worked through again.
- You are entering a new city, segment or product where nobody inside has sold before.
- A consultant or portal has sent thirty CVs and you have no way to tell them apart.
- The founder wants to step out of daily selling and needs someone capable of carrying it.
What Gully Sales does
The work, component by component.
Role scorecard
We convert the job into outcomes: what this person must have sold, closed, covered or built by month three, month six and month twelve, and the competencies each outcome demands. Each competency is written with the evidence that would prove it, so nobody on the panel is left judging on impression.
- Why it matters:
- A CV is matched against a title, and a title tells you nothing about what your seat has to do. The scorecard makes the requirement explicit before anybody's charm enters the room.
- You receive:
- A one-page scorecard: outcomes by quarter, competencies, and the evidence each one requires.
- Business value:
- Everyone involved in the hire agrees what success looks like before the first interview, so a decision cannot quietly drift towards the most likeable candidate.
Sourcing and market map
We work out where people who already do this work are sitting today: which companies, which dealer networks, which adjacent industries, which cities. Then we reach them through direct outreach, referrals, industry contacts and job platforms, with a message written for the seat rather than a template advertisement.
- Why it matters:
- Portals return people who are actively looking, which is a small and self-selected part of the market. The salesperson you want is usually employed and not searching.
- You receive:
- A market map of target companies and talent pools, plus the advertisement and outreach messages used.
- Business value:
- You see candidates who would never have applied on their own, and you learn what your seat looks like to the people you are trying to attract.
Screening and shortlisting
Every applicant is screened against the scorecard in a structured call: what they actually sold, to whom, at what deal size and cycle, how much of the number they carried, how much they achieved, and how they found their own opportunities. Claims are probed for specifics rather than accepted.
- Why it matters:
- Most of a hiring failure happens here, when a CV is read for company names and years instead of for evidence of selling.
- You receive:
- A written note on every screened candidate, the shortlist, and the reasons the others were dropped.
- Business value:
- Your time is spent only on people who have already shown, in specifics, that they have done work resembling the work you need done.
Selling simulation
Each shortlisted candidate is given your product, a realistic buyer, a live objection and time to prepare, then has to sell in front of the people who will manage them. We watch how they open, what they ask, whether they listen, how they handle price, and what they do when the buyer stalls.
- Why it matters:
- Talking about selling and selling are different skills. The exercise is the only part of the process where you see the second one.
- You receive:
- A simulation brief built on your own offer, and an observation note per candidate against fixed criteria.
- Business value:
- You watch the candidate do the job before you pay them to do it, and your managers see exactly what they would have to coach.
Structured interviews
A panel of two or three people asks every candidate the same questions in the same order, each drawn from a competency on the scorecard, and each asking for a specific past situation rather than an opinion. Every panel member scores independently before the panel discusses.
- Why it matters:
- Unstructured interviews measure rapport. Asking the same questions in the same order is what makes two candidates comparable at all.
- You receive:
- An interview guide with question set, follow-up probes, and a scoring sheet completed per candidate.
- Business value:
- Your shortlist can be ranked on evidence rather than on who was met last or who reminded someone of a past star performer.
Reference and background checks
We speak to former reporting managers, not to friends the candidate nominated as referees, and we ask against the scorecard: what the candidate actually carried, what they actually achieved, what they needed managing on, and whether the manager would take them back. Employment and credential details are verified with the candidate's consent.
- Why it matters:
- The reference call is usually skipped or reduced to a courtesy. Done properly it is the cheapest verification available.
- You receive:
- Reference notes per finalist against the scorecard, and a record of what could not be verified.
- Business value:
- Claims that survived the interview are tested against people who managed the work, before the offer rather than after it.
Selection and offer decision
We put the finalists side by side on the scorecard, name where each is strong and where each will need support, and recommend one with the reasoning written down. We advise on the shape of the offer, the fixed and variable split, the review points, and what the seat commands in your market and region.
- Why it matters:
- Good processes still end in a rushed decision when nobody has put the candidates on one page and said the risks out loud.
- You receive:
- A comparison sheet, a written recommendation with risks named, and a suggested offer shape.
- Business value:
- You make the call with the trade-offs visible, and whoever manages the person inherits a clear note on what to watch.
What you will have at the end.
- A one-page role scorecard: the outcomes, competencies and evidence a hire must show.
- A market map of where candidates like this currently sell, with target companies named.
- A job advertisement and outreach messages written for the seat, not copied from a template.
- A screened shortlist with a written note on every candidate, and the reasons for those dropped.
- A selling simulation built on your own product, a real priced deal and a common objection.
- A structured interview guide: the same questions, in the same order, with what a strong answer contains.
- A scoring sheet per candidate, completed by every panel member, with evidence against each line.
- Reference call notes from former reporting managers, taken against the same scorecard.
- A comparison sheet putting the final candidates side by side for your decision.
- A written recommendation naming the risks in the chosen candidate, not only the strengths.
- A suggested offer shape: fixed and variable split, review points, and what the seat commands locally.
- A first ninety days plan for the person selected, handed to whoever will manage them.
How it runs
The engagement, step by step.
- 1
Define the seat and build the scorecard
We sit with you and whoever will manage this person, and turn the vacancy into outcomes: the territory or segment to be covered, the deal size and cycle, the number to be carried, and what has to be true by month three, six and twelve. From those we derive the competencies and the evidence each one needs.
- You provide:
- The revenue plan for the seat, your product and pricing basics, and access to the future manager.
- We produce:
- The role scorecard, an interview competency set, and a written brief for candidates.
- Done when:
- You and the future manager sign off the scorecard as the standard everyone will be judged against.
- 2
Map the market and open the sourcing
We identify where people doing comparable selling currently work, including adjacent industries you may not have considered, and open several channels at once: direct outreach, referrals from your own network and ours, industry contacts, and paid platforms where they are worth using.
- You provide:
- Names of competitors and adjacent companies, any referrals you already have, and platform access if you hold it.
- We produce:
- The market map, the advertisement, the outreach message and the candidate pipeline tracker.
- Done when:
- Candidates are arriving from more than one channel and the pipeline is large enough to be selective.
- 3
Screen against the scorecard
Every candidate goes through a structured screening call, not a CV read. We ask for specifics behind every claim: the number carried, the number achieved, the deal size, the cycle, how opportunities were found, and why each move was made. Weak answers end the conversation politely.
- You provide:
- A quick response on borderline profiles, so good candidates are not lost to a slow process.
- We produce:
- A screening note per candidate, a ranked shortlist, and a written reason for each rejection.
- Done when:
- You have a shortlist you can meet in one week, with a note on each person already in hand.
- 4
Run the selling simulation
Each shortlisted candidate receives a brief on your product, a realistic buyer and a priced situation, and prepares before presenting. He sells to a panel that plays the buyer honestly, including the objection your customers actually raise. We observe against fixed criteria rather than general impression.
- You provide:
- One or two people to play the buyer, your usual objection, and an hour per candidate.
- We produce:
- The simulation brief, the observation criteria, and a written note on how each candidate performed.
- Done when:
- Every finalist has been seen selling, and the panel agrees on what each one showed.
- 5
Hold the structured panel
The panel interviews each finalist with the same question set in the same order, probing for past situations rather than intentions. Every member scores independently on the scorecard before any discussion, so the loudest voice in the room does not set the view for everyone else.
- You provide:
- Two or three panel members who will actually attend every interview, and a fixed slot for each.
- We produce:
- The interview guide, the completed scoring sheets, and a consolidated panel summary per candidate.
- Done when:
- Each finalist has a score with written evidence behind every line, from every panel member.
- 6
Check references and verify
With the candidate's consent we speak to former reporting managers, ask against the scorecard, and record what is confirmed, what is contradicted and what nobody would comment on. Employment history and stated credentials are verified. Anything that cannot be verified is reported as such.
- You provide:
- A decision on how far verification should go, and consent handling if your policy requires it.
- We produce:
- Reference notes per finalist, a verification summary, and any risks that surfaced in the calls.
- Done when:
- Every finalist's claims have been tested with someone who managed the work, or flagged as unverified.
- 7
Select, offer and hand over
We put the finalists on one comparison sheet, recommend one, and name the risks in that choice out loud. We advise on the offer shape and the negotiation, stay available while the candidate serves notice, and hand the manager a first ninety days plan built from the gaps the assessment found.
- You provide:
- The decision, the offer approval, and the manager who will run the first ninety days.
- We produce:
- The comparison sheet, the written recommendation, the offer guidance and the ninety days plan.
- Done when:
- An offer is accepted, a joining date is fixed, and the manager knows what to coach from day one.
Ways to work with us
Engage for one seat, for a hiring plan, or only for the assessment.
Single seat recruitment
One sales role from scorecard to accepted offer: sourcing, screening, simulation, panel, references and selection. Suited to a business filling a critical seat it cannot afford to fill twice.
Assessment only
You have already found candidates, through a consultant, a portal or a referral. We build the scorecard and run the simulation, structured panel and reference checks on the people in front of you.
Team build
Several seats hired in a planned sequence, usually alongside a territory or capacity plan. The scorecards, sourcing channels and assessment kit are built once and reused across the hires.
Sales manager or sales head search
For owners hiring their first sales leader, where nobody inside is senior enough to assess the person. The assessment tests management and forecasting evidence, not only individual selling.
Hiring system handover
We build the scorecards, interview guides, simulation and scoring sheets, then train your managers to run the process themselves. Suited to businesses that will hire regularly and want the method in house.
Why Gully Sales
What you are actually choosing when you choose us.
We define the seat before we fill it.
Gully Sales works on sales structure, targets and process for Indian SMBs, so the scorecard is written from what your revenue plan needs, not from a job title copied off a portal.
Every candidate has to sell before we recommend them.
The simulation is not optional. It is the part of the process that separates a person who can talk about selling from a person who can do it, and it is watched by the manager who will own the result.
We work inside your market's reality.
Indian SMB sales roles carry travel, dealer relationships, collections and a salary band the market sets. We assess and advise inside those constraints rather than against a template built for a larger company.
The method stays with you.
Scorecards, interview guides, simulations and scoring sheets are yours after the engagement. Your managers can run the next hire without a consultant in the room, and improve it with each round.
We say what is risky about the person we recommend.
Every recommendation names where the candidate is weak and what the manager will need to coach. You hire with the trade-offs visible instead of discovering them in month four.
We stay past the acceptance.
Notice periods are where offers fall apart in India. We stay in contact through the notice period and hand the manager a first ninety days plan built from what the assessment actually found.
Where it applies
The same service, in different businesses.
Industrial equipment manufacturing
- The situation:
- A capital equipment maker needs a regional sales engineer to cover plants across two states, with long cycles and technical buyers.
- How it applies:
- The scorecard requires evidence of long-cycle, multi-stakeholder selling; the simulation uses a real specification and a procurement-led price objection.
- Likely benefit:
- You see whether the candidate can hold a technical conversation and a commercial one, before they are sent to a plant alone.
Building materials and hardware
- The situation:
- A brand selling through dealers wants a territory representative, and every CV claims strong dealer relationships in the region.
- How it applies:
- Screening probes for named counters, order sizes and how the relationship was actually built; references go to the former area manager, not to a dealer friend.
- Likely benefit:
- Claimed dealer networks are tested before you hire, rather than discovered to be borrowed once the person is on your payroll.
Healthcare and diagnostics
- The situation:
- A diagnostics chain is hiring representatives to build referrals from clinics and consultants, where credibility with doctors decides everything.
- How it applies:
- The simulation is a consultant visit, not a product pitch, and the scorecard rewards listening and follow-up discipline over presentation polish.
- Likely benefit:
- You select for the behaviour that actually earns referrals, and avoid a hire who is only comfortable presenting.
IT and software services
- The situation:
- A services firm needs a business development hire to open new accounts rather than farm existing ones, and past hires only managed accounts handed to them.
- How it applies:
- Screening separates hunting evidence from farming evidence, and the simulation begins from a cold list rather than an existing relationship.
- Likely benefit:
- The distinction between opening and holding accounts is tested explicitly, which is where most of these hires fail.
Education and training institutions
- The situation:
- An institute hires counsellors who must convert enquiries from parents and students without turning the conversation into a hard sell.
- How it applies:
- The simulation uses a hesitant parent with a fee objection, and the scorecard weights empathy, honesty and structured follow-up.
- Likely benefit:
- You hire people who convert without damaging your reputation in a market where families talk to each other.
Logistics and warehousing
- The situation:
- A logistics operator is adding sales capacity for a new city where nobody in the business has sold before.
- How it applies:
- The market map finds people already selling freight or warehousing in that city, and references are taken with managers who know the local market.
- Likely benefit:
- The new city is opened by someone who knows its customers, rather than by transferring a person who knows only your existing one.
Family-run manufacturing
- The situation:
- A second-generation owner is hiring the first professional sales manager over a team of long-serving representatives.
- How it applies:
- The assessment tests evidence of managing older and more experienced people, and the panel includes a senior family member so authority is settled early.
- Likely benefit:
- The manager arrives with the team's respect already considered, instead of being rejected quietly in the first quarter.
Questions buyers ask
Before you enquire, the answers you will want.
Which evidence actually predicts success in our kind of selling?
It depends on the motion. For long-cycle technical sales, evidence of holding multi-stakeholder deals and surviving procurement matters more than personal charm. For dealer and distribution roles, it is named counters, order patterns and collections discipline. For counselling and walk-in sales, it is listening and follow-up. We decide which evidence counts while writing your scorecard, then design the simulation and interview questions to test exactly that.
Are you a recruitment agency?
No. A recruitment agency supplies CVs against a job title and is paid when someone joins. We are a sales consulting firm, so we define what the seat must produce, then source and assess against it, and we say plainly when a shortlist has nobody worth hiring. We can also work purely as assessors on candidates your own consultant or team has already found.
How long does a sales hire take end to end?
It depends on the seniority of the seat, the geography being searched and how quickly your panel can meet candidates. Defining the scorecard is quick. Sourcing takes longest for senior and specialised roles, and for cities where few people sell what you sell. Assessment moves fast once a shortlist exists. Most delay comes from slow interview slots and from notice periods, so we agree a schedule with you at the start and hold to it.
What do we have to provide?
Time and access, mainly. We need the revenue plan for the seat, your product and pricing basics, the manager this person will report to, and two or three people who will attend every interview and simulation. We also need quick decisions on borderline candidates, because good salespeople take other offers while a business is thinking. Referrals from your own network help more than most owners expect.
Can you find someone who will bring their own customers?
We can find someone who has sold to the customers you want, which is useful. We do not select on a promised customer list. Those lists usually belong to the previous employer, rarely transfer, and sometimes create legal and reputational trouble. A candidate who says they will bring accounts is telling you what they would do to you later. We assess whether they can open new accounts instead.
Should we hire experienced salespeople or train freshers?
Both work, for different seats. Experience is worth paying for where the buyer is senior, the cycle is long or the product is technical, because the learning curve is expensive. Freshers work where the motion is repeatable, supervision exists and you can afford a ramp. The wrong combination is a fresher in a complex seat with nobody to coach them. We help you decide before sourcing begins.
We are a small company in a smaller city. Will good salespeople join us?
Often yes, but not for the reasons larger companies use. Salespeople join smaller businesses for ownership of a territory, direct access to the decision maker, a shorter path to a bigger role and earnings tied to what they actually bring in. We help you say that clearly in the outreach, and we advise on the offer shape so the pitch to a candidate is honest and still competitive.
Can you assess candidates we have already shortlisted?
Yes, and it is a common way to start. We build the scorecard from your revenue plan, then run the selling simulation, the structured panel and the reference checks on the people you already have. You get a comparison sheet and a written recommendation. Sometimes the honest answer is that none of them fits the seat, and we say so rather than ranking a weak field.
4 more questions
Do you conduct the interviews, or do we?
Both, together. We run the screening calls and design the panel, but the manager who will own the result must be in the room for the simulation and the interview. Hiring someone a manager has not assessed personally makes the manager a spectator in their own team. We facilitate, score alongside you, and make sure the panel compares candidates on the same evidence.
What if the person leaves within a few months?
Assessment reduces that risk but cannot remove it, and no honest firm will tell you otherwise. Most early exits come from what happens after joining: no onboarding, no leads, a target set without a ramp, or a manager who never coached. That is why the engagement ends with a first ninety days plan for the manager. If a replacement search is needed, we agree those terms in writing before we start.
How is the success of the hire measured?
Against the scorecard, not against a feeling. We record a baseline before the search: what the seat should produce, what past hires achieved, and the team's win rate, cycle and quota attainment. Then we read ramp time, pipeline coverage, stage conversion, win rate and quota attainment for the new hire at ninety days and at two quarters, and retention at twelve months.
What is not included in this service?
We do not run payroll, issue employment contracts or handle statutory compliance, and we do not do bulk hiring of large junior field teams at speed. Onboarding programmes, sales training curricula and incentive plan design are separate services, though they often follow. We also do not hire for non-sales roles, and we will not assess a seat the business has not yet defined.
Talk to us
Define the seat properly before you advertise it again.
The free audit is a working session, not a pitch. We look at the seat you want to fill, what it has to produce, and whether hiring is really the constraint or whether the last person failed for a reason a new person will meet too.
- No obligation and no sales script
- A reply from someone who does the work
- Your details are never sold or shared