Meter reading conducted by gutless salesman is a con, sadly (8)
I believe the answer is:
scansion
'meter' is the definition.
(scansion is a kind of meter)
'gutless salesman is a con sadly' is the wordplay.
'gutless' means to remove the middle letters.
'sadly' is an anagram indicator.
'salesman' with its middle taken out is 'sn'.
'sn'+'is'+'a'+'con'='snisacon'
'snisacon' anagrammed gives 'SCANSION'.
'reading conducted by' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scansion that I've seen before include "analysis of verse" , "Rhythm" , "analysis of poem" .)