Sales Consultants: The Costs vs The Benefit

In this article, we’ll break down the benefits and the costs associated with hiring a Sales Consultant. With this, you’ll be able to determine the value that this service can add to your business, bearing in mind the fact that this is an investment almost guaranteed to generate increased sales for your business when done right. 

What Does a Sales Consultant Do?

Sales Consultants help your business increase its customer conversions to increase your revenue. There are various skills and techniques applied, depending on your business needs, with the ultimate goal of driving sales and improving the customer experience with your brand. This includes the strategy and processes related to sales. Together with the business, targets will be set, recommendations made and plans implemented. Often, they assist in optimizing the pipeline and sales funnel processes.

The Benefits of Sales Consultants

Sales consultants often have credentials to their name or practice. This includes a history of work for other businesses that demonstrate the kind of expertise they have applied to other companies and what that resulted in. Equally as important as experience within a particular industry is the reputation that precedes them. This goes hand in hand with networking and the advantage of leveraging connections when working with a consultant. 

When your business works with a sales consultant, you will determine specific goals and objectives for the venture, based on your needs. This will outline all of the necessary work to be done and targets to be reached. This means the budget will fit your needs accordingly, without needing a bundled rate that includes unnecessary services. 

The costs can vary considerably for the work that sales consultants do. For example, your business may require a strategy to be developed. With that comes the potential need for training. In other instances, more resources are needed, for example, when your business upgrades its systems and adopts new processes. 

Other noteworthy mentions of benefits for businesses include:

• Expertise: There are many layers and levels of expertise that sales consultants can provide to your business. This can inform your business operations in the long-term, with ongoing partnerships formed and results achieved.  
• Objectivity: Bringing in 3rd party consultants that can look at your business objectively has many benefits.  They can look at your business with a 'helicopter view' and help ensure that processes, communication strategies and documentation are as they should be and if not, to get these in place.
• Management: If what you need is someone to step in and manage the salesforce or inspire them, a consultant can be a great fit. They can objectively step in and impart knowledge that will improve the sales techniques of your team. This kind of training can cover the costs. 
• Insights and analysis: Analysis includes internal and external examination about the sales processes within your business. Examples of this can consist of opportunities to expand or improve your product and service selection, detailing a competitive analysis and creating precise forecasting. 

Working Out the Costs

Sales consultants often base their fee structures according to the following:

• A flat fee:  A project-based fee that is all-inclusive.
• A daily or hourly rate:  A flat fee charged per day or hour, best suited to short-term projects. 
• A performance-based rate:  This is an incentive-based model favourable among businesses, where the consultant works for a percentage of the increase in sales achieved. 

To get a better idea of the actual costs involved when working with a sales consultant, expect to pay around $250 per hour for pre-MBA level. Consultants rates increase the more managerial experience and academic accomplishments they achieve. Working with a top-level partner, rates can be as high as $800 per hour - notably, these consultants usually work with multinational clients.

There are specific criteria that the consultant will use to measure the costs associated with each payment plan. This includes any expenses incurred when completing the work, including the availability that they have (this will influence the demand and capacity they have), the value that place on their time, and the amount of work and academic experience they have.

If your business has the option of hiring a consultant or f a full-time employee, it may be worth considering the scope of the work needed, as well as the costs of either option to determine which option is best. 

There are many instances where working with a consultant can transform your business. Other cost indicators include the type of industry you’re in, as well as the location of your business and the consultant. Naturally, having to be present and on-site will incur certain costs. 

With the above in mind, there is one final figure you need to consider when weighing up the costs and benefits of working with a sales consultant, namely: what is the potential return on investment for your business? Whether they’re suitable for your business or not, they can be highly beneficial for companies at this current state or another. 

Speak to us at Nexa about your sales needs.