Trade promotion planning · Channel and partners
Plan trade schemes around what the channel needs now, not last year's calendar.
Trade schemes in many businesses repeat every year out of habit. The same festival discount, the same slab structure, run at the same time because that is when it was last run. Nobody revisits whether the scheme still fits current stock levels, competitive activity or what the business actually needs the channel to do.
A 90-minute audit call and a written, scored report. Turnaround, reporting and term are agreed in writing after the audit.
In one paragraph
Trade promotion planning is the design and scheduling of schemes, slab discounts and festival offers run through the dealer and distributor channel to drive sell-in and sell-through at specific times. GullySales builds the annual promotion calendar and checks that each scheme's cost is justified by what it produces.
This service builds the promotion calendar deliberately, timed to real business needs: clearing stock before a new launch, defending share during a competitor's push, or driving a festival season spike. It checks after each scheme whether the cost was worth the result.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“The same scheme runs every year regardless of what is actually needed”
A festival discount repeats on habit, whether the business needs to clear stock, defend share or simply maintain the calendar tradition.
“Schemes are announced too close to the date for partners to plan around”
Partners get two weeks' notice of a scheme meant to shift volume, leaving no time to prepare stock, staff or local promotion around it.
“Nobody checks the cost of a scheme against what it produced”
The scheme runs, the discount is paid, and the incremental sales it generated, if any beyond what would have happened anyway, are never measured.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Annual promotion calendar
Trade schemes planned across the year against known business needs, stock positions and the competitive calendar.
Scheme design per event
Slab structure, discount level and eligibility set for each planned promotion, matched to its specific objective.
Partner communication lead time
Schemes announced with enough notice for partners to plan stock and local activity around them.
Cost and return tracking
Each scheme's cost compared against the incremental sales it produced, closing the loop after every promotion.
Calendar coordination with marketing
Trade schemes aligned with any consumer-facing marketing activity running at the same time, so both reinforce each other.
How the result is measured
- Scheme cost against incremental sales
- Partner participation rate
- Lead time given before each scheme
- Stock movement against target during the promotion
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Businesses running the same trade schemes on the same calendar every year without review
- Companies planning a product launch or stock clearance that needs a specific trade push
- Manufacturers wanting to defend market share during a known period of competitor activity
- Networks where scheme planning happens close to the date with little lead time for partners
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You need the payout structure and mechanics designed, not the calendar and timing. That is partner compensation and incentive design
- You run no trade schemes and sell purely on standard pricing with no promotional activity
How it works
From your first message to the first report.
No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.
First
Free audit call
90 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
After the call
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come with it, in writing.
Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.
After the baseline
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
As agreed
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.
At renewal
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.
How the trade promotion planning work runs
- 1
Review past schemes
A free audit of the last year or two of trade promotions, their cost and whatever result data exists.
- 2
Build the calendar
Promotions planned deliberately against stock positions, launches and the competitive calendar.
- 3
Communicate and launch
Each scheme announced with proper lead time and clear terms for partners.
- 4
Measure and adjust
Cost against incremental sales reported after each scheme, feeding into the next year's calendar.
Proof
What happened when owners fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
Chord Road Hospital
- Situation
- Patients who knew the hospital trusted it. Patients who searched for a department or a treatment in the area did not find it.
- What we did
- Website rebuilt around patient needs
- Search visibility
- Social media on a schedule
- Review management
- Result
- Organic traffic increased 60% within six months
- Online appointment bookings increased 40%
- Social following grew 45%, and engagement on it rose 70%
Hotel Felicity Inn
- Situation
- A traveller compares three hotels on a phone and books one. The website was not built for that.
- What we did
- The site rebuilt around booking
- Photography and one look
- Search work for destination searches
- Content a traveller reads
- Result
- Online bookings increased 35%
- Organic traffic increased 50% within six months
- Positive reviews on Google and TripAdvisor increased 30%
SB Engineering
- Situation
- Buyers searching for laser cutting and sheet metal work in Bengaluru were finding other suppliers first, because the company did not rank for the terms its own customers type.
- What we did
- The site redesigned for mobile
- Search work on the buyer's terms
- Content that shows the work
- Social channels managed
- Result
- Website traffic rose 60% within six months, against a target of 50%.
- High-quality leads rose 45%, with a rise in conversion rates alongside them.
- Fifteen target keywords moved up the rankings, five of them into the top three positions.
Also worked with
Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with the free audit.
Option 1
The audit on its own
A 90-minute call and a written, scored report. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix the audit ranks first, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
An ongoing programme
We run the work, report against the baseline, and you renew on the numbers. The term and the reporting are agreed in writing first.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How far in advance should trade schemes be planned?
How do you measure incremental sales from a scheme?
Can this include schemes aimed at end consumers, not just the trade?
What if a scheme underperforms?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Trade promotion planning, written for your industry.
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Read before you buy
- How beverage brands check summer loading against sell-throughA distributor's invoice shows what you pushed into the godown, not what reached shops. Here is how a beverage brand compares summer loading with sell-through before the monsoon arrives.
- How to promote a new productThree jobs in order: awareness among people who already buy the category, a cheap way to try it once, and the shelf where they look actually having stock. Launch small enough to learn.
- How to create dealer incentives without damaging marginsMost dealer schemes buy volume the dealer would have bought anyway and become permanent discounts. Reward the behaviour you are short of, not the billing.
Your next practical step
Get a free audit of how you sell, and a scored report of where the work is.
90 minutes. A written, scored report. No invoice and no obligation.