How Sleepwell Sells in Small-Town General Trade With an Outsourced Field Sales Team
Sleepwell, one of India's leading mattress and bedding brands, uses Channelplay to recruit, pay and run a field sales team that sells into small furniture shops and multi-brand outlets in tier 2, 3 and 4 towns across India. Sleepwell keeps every sales decision: beat plans, targets and orders. Channelplay owns everything to do with the people.
Plenty of outsourcing deals blur who's in charge of the field. This one doesn't. The line was drawn once, both sides keep to it, and our State Heads are where the two sides meet.
The challenge: demand in shops the distributors can't reach
Sleepwell sells through a strong distributor network. But a large share of its demand sits outside its exclusive stores, in small independent furniture shops and multi-brand outlets. Distributors alone can't cover those outlets consistently. That takes a dedicated field sales team calling on them.
Building that team in-house means hiring in small towns, running payroll, checking attendance and sorting out travel and claims. All of it pulls the brand's sales leadership away from selling. Sleepwell wanted a partner to take all of that on without handing over a single sales decision.
Who owns what
Here's the full split.
| Sleepwell owns, through its branch managers | Channelplay owns, through its State Heads and a central operations team |
|---|---|
| Sales direction and targets | Recruiting and onboarding field sales officers and State Heads |
| Beat plans: which outlets each officer covers | Payroll, statutory compliance, HR support and grievances |
| Sales management | Daily attendance, checked at random |
| The order system officers book into | Day-level tracking of field activity |
| Fulfilment, through Sleepwell's distributors | Travel, field expense claims and overnight stays in tier 2 to 4 towns |
In the market, a field sales officer visits general trade furniture shops and multi-brand outlets, onboards new dealers, pitches the Sleepwell range and books orders into Sleepwell's system. Sleepwell's distributors deliver them. Many brands call this role a territory sales representative (TSR).
The State Head: one line between the field and the brand
Every officer reports to a Channelplay State Head, and each State Head reports into Sleepwell's branch managers. That gives the brand one point of control for each state. A branch manager who wants a beat changed or a target pushed has one person to call. An officer with a salary question or an overnight stay to book doesn't take it to the brand. The State Head handles it, with our central operations team behind them.
How we run the people side
- Hiring that keeps up. The pipeline is always open, for new roles and for replacing anyone who leaves. Our hiring is built for field roles and reaches the small towns where the beats are.
- Nothing lands on a branch manager's desk. The whole field team is on Channelplay's payroll. Statutory compliance, grievances, travel, expense claims and overnight stays all come to us, and we process claims centrally.
- Attendance the brand can trust. Check-ins are geo-tagged in 1Channel, our field app, and we check attendance at random on top of that, so Sleepwell knows who is actually in market. Activity is tracked at day level to keep outlet coverage and calls steady.
- Pay that holds people. The team is paid above the market rate for the role, which helps us hire well and keep people in a category where good field talent is hard to find.
The same model works for other brands. Our managed sales teams practice runs field and in-store teams, and if you only need the hiring and pay, our recruitment and payroll outsourcing covers those on their own.
Results
- A dedicated general trade sales team across India, with no field headcount added to Sleepwell's own rolls.
- Steady coverage of small-format and multi-brand outlets that distributors alone couldn't reach.
- Low attrition across the whole team, in a category known for high field turnover.
- Roles filled fast. Over four reported quarters, the average fill rate was 97%, and the average time from job posting to an accepted offer was 6.8 days.
- A program that keeps growing. The team has grown steadily since launch, and we're still hiring for new positions.
Four questions to settle before you outsource a field sales team
- Who owns beat plans and targets? You do. An agency that wants to plan your beats is asking to run your sales. Keep both with your managers and judge the agency on whether the beats get covered.
- Who keeps the order record? You should. Whichever app the officers book orders into, get it in writing that the order history belongs to you, not the agency.
- Who stands between the field and your managers? Ask for one named person per state who reports into your managers. Without one, your managers end up answering salary questions from people they don't employ.
- How is attendance proved? A GPS check-in shows where a phone was, not who was holding it. Ask what the agency checks on top of it, and who books the overnight stays and settles the claims in towns your managers never visit.
For the wider picture, read our guide to outsourced field sales, or see how we run Harman's in-store demonstrator program.
