A sales consultant helps you identify and overcome sales challenges to set your business up for long-term success. Use their fresh insights, practical strategies and market know-how to attract, engage and convert more customers.
In this article, you’ll learn what a sales consultant is and what one can do for your business. You’ll also discover how to hire the right sales consultant for your company and how your CRM can help them achieve their goals.
What is a sales consultant? Sales consultant description
Sales consultant definition: A sales consultant’s duties and responsibilities include helping businesses sharpen their sales and marketing approach to reach the right customers and increase sales. They also spot and fix potential bottlenecks in the sales cycle.
What does a sales consultant do?
Key responsibilities in a sales consultant job description may include:
Conducting sales training and offering coaching. Offering workshops and personalized coaching to build sales representatives’ knowledge and confidence. This training helps them better connect with potential customers and close more deals.
Developing a sales strategy. Learning about customer needs and company products to map out a clear plan for reaching and selling to the right prospects more effectively.
Optimizing the sales process. Reviewing the sales pipeline to uncover bottlenecks and bring in tools to streamline the sales process.
Setting sales KPIs. Establishing clear goals and simple performance metrics to help every salesperson understand how to hit sales targets. Consultants may also review these metrics regularly to track progress and identify areas for improvement.
Collaborating with the marketing team. Helping marketing and sales teams work together to break down silos and share insights. Collaborating helps marketing teams zero in on the right pain points when creating their marketing strategy.
Setting up compensation plans. Creating fair, transparent pay structures that reward reps for hitting their sales goals while keeping the business profitable. A well-balanced plan boosts staff morale and supports steady growth.
Recruiting sales staff. Helping you consistently attract and onboard reps with the right sales skills and mindset for your team.
Some sales consultants work as self-employed contractors, while others join as direct employees. Often, they begin by working full-time within a client’s business to deliver quick results, then shift to a part-time advisory role to support sales managers and representatives.
When you hire a full-time sales consultant as an employee, they can chase deals, help the manager and coach your team to improve performance and speed up sales momentum. Choose an arrangement that best suits your company’s needs and goals.
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What can a sales consultant do for your business? 3 examples
The right sales consultant can jumpstart business development and growth by building a team of sales professionals who consistently meet targets.
They bring consistency to your market approach, set clear goals for your sales team that align with your business goals and track progress over time to keep your business focused and on track.
Here are three real-life examples of how sales consultants have used their problem-solving skills to help B2B companies succeed.
1. A software analytics company
Upper Edge Tech struggled with poor hiring and minimal onboarding for new sales reps. The owner and founder recognized his limitations as a sales coach and sought help from sales consultants.
The consultants implemented an intelligent sales hiring system to identify candidates with the right skills and mindset. They also trained new and existing staff on a structured sales process to enhance their client-facing skills. In addition, the owner received training on building effective sales strategies, coaching and motivating his team.
It worked. Company revenues increased 30%, recruitment and onboarding results improved and the owner hired a new sales manager to continue developing and training the team.
2. Aerospace manufacturing
An aerospace manufacturing company struggled with a 10% annual decrease in sales for three years. It pinpointed its problems to include:
An unstructured sales process
Poor sales structure organization
A lack of sales training
The company hired a sales consultancy firm to address the declining revenue and disorganized sales efforts.
The firm worked with the team to develop a sales playbook, clarify and streamline the sales process and conduct sales training for leadership.
The results were immediate. After implementing the five-month plan, the organization was on track to increase its yearly sales by 14%.
3. An international tech firm
When the level of customer engagement shifted at a global tech firm, newer sales reps lost confidence in finding potential customers. This lack of confidence weakened the sales pipeline and derailed the onboarding process.
A sales consultant stepped in to design a structured training program focused on prospecting and productivity. Through virtual sessions, hands-on practice and coaching, new reps improved their outreach and prospecting by learning new time management and sales techniques.
The program was a success. Trainee win rates rose by 15%, closed deals in a third of the time and created new sales opportunities three times faster than by non-participants. The company is now rolling out the program worldwide.
How to find and hire a sales consultant
Hiring a sales consultant can give your business the outside perspective and expertise to overcome sales challenges, improve team performance and drive long-term growth.
Here’s the process for finding and hiring a sales consultant who’s a good fit for your business.
Pinpoint your sales issues
Determine your biggest needs as a sales team so you know the skill set and experience to look for in a sales consultant.
For instance, any of the following issues might indicate it’s time to bring in expert help:
Slow lead conversion disrupts business momentum, frustrates salespeople and may point to weak lead nurturing, unclear messaging or inefficient follow-ups
Falling sales numbers suggest you may be losing ground to competitors, delivering a poor customer experience and not keeping up with shifts in the market
Low morale or high staff turnover often indicates a lack of confidence in leadership, ineffective coaching and worries about a lack of career development opportunities
Poor lead quality and customer retention increase costs, create unstable revenue and reduce profitability, threatening your long-term growth
Low-impact marketing affects the quality of leads reps work on and can confuse customers about your company’s core products
A sales consultant can help you diagnose these challenges, put the right strategies in place and unlock your business’s potential.
Know what qualities to look for
Every candidate brings different skills and experience to the sales consultant role. There are also standard characteristics and abilities all successful sales consultants share.
Know what you’re looking for before you start your search. Here are some of the key qualities to consider in finding the right fit for your business:
Quality | Why it’s important |
Sector experience | Someone with direct industry experience or deep knowledge of a related field will understand your customers, competitors and sales trends better than a generalist. |
Past results | Choose someone whose work experience and references show a measurable impact on performance and the ability to turn plans into real outcomes. |
Good communication skills | Great interpersonal skills are vital for motivating teams. An in-person interview will give you a sense of a potential consultant’s soft skills and communication style. |
Sales tech expertise | Even reps with years of sales experience benefit from tech like customer relationship management (CRM) software, as they can track trends and act on them faster. Choose someone who’s up to date with sales technology. |
Data analytics acumen | Select a consultant adept at reading and interpreting raw sales metrics so they can spot pipeline and process issues and understand how to address them. |
Coaching and mentoring abilities | A consultant with the right skills can create change and encourage and enable your team to follow suit. Look for someone who can teach others to achieve their goals. |
Before inviting a sales consultant for an interview, check their track record, industry experience and approach to coaching. Choose someone who can inspire change, strengthen your team’s culture and drive immediate and lasting improvements.
Note: While the job doesn’t require a formal degree, a bachelor’s degree in marketing or business is common. However, years of experience can also indicate a strong candidate, showing more hands-on sales experience and in-person skills.
Find and interview candidates
A thorough search and screening process can connect you with top-tier candidates for your sales consultancy roles. Knowing where to look and asking the right questions helps you build a quality talent pool to choose from.
There are a few ways to find and attract top candidates:
Search for available candidates. Search for consultants on Google or Social media (like LinkedIn) and review work history and posts to get a sense of their experience. A consultant marketplace like Consultport and COMATCH can also help match you to the right consultant.
Look in your network. Often, the best way to find a good fit is to ask those who know you and your business for recommendations. Ask for employee referrals or contact other sales leaders and business owners in your network.
Post a job listing. Proactively attract candidates with a job listing. Outline of the role’s responsibilities and required skills and experience. Include incentives by listing job benefits and a salary range. Then, post to job boards, industry-specific websites and professional networks.
Once you’ve narrowed down your list, invite people in for interviews. Ask open-ended interview questions to learn more about each candidate’s approach. The right questions will help you discover how they spot and solve problems in sales and marketing teams and how they would handle your company’s challenges.
For instance, ask each candidate to walk you through a challenging sales project they managed, ideally in an organization similar to yours. Have them explain the strategies they used and the results they achieved.
Note: Keep your applicants and interview scheduling organized with an applicant tracking system (ATS). Use it to search, filter and sort candidates and keep the hiring process moving smoothly.
Onboard your new hire
Once you’ve extended your offer and it’s been accepted, it’s time to bring the candidate on board. Make sure you have a good onboarding process to help new hires hit the ground running.
Aside from standard paperwork and job training, onboarding a new sales consultant includes setting and measuring performance expectations.
Set clear KPIs and establish a three- to six-month review timeline to give the consultant enough time to show an impact. Schedule regular check-ins with your sales managers and reps to ensure the consultant is on track and providing the support your team needs.
How Pipedrive can help your sales consultant address 5 common problems
Your existing CRM system might already have the tools to tackle many of the challenges affecting your sales reps and teams. For example, a sales CRM like Pipedrive has powerful features that sales consultants can use to boost sales and improve team performance.
Here are five problems Pipedrive can help you address:
Problem 1: Not enough leads getting through the pipeline
If your sales pipeline isn’t full, you risk stalling revenue and missing valuable closing opportunities. Pipedrive can help pinpoint where prospects are dropping off so your sales consultant can focus on fixing issues.
To diagnose issues with the sales pipeline, use Pipeline View.
To use this feature:
Click the “Deals” tab in the left-hand menu
Select the pipeline you want to view using the drop-down box at the top right
The screen will show how many deals are at each stage
If a significant number of deals stall at a certain stage, it could be because prospects aren’t sure of the next step or reps aren’t handling objections effectively. Your sales consultant can help you refine this stage to improve results.
Slow follow-ups can often stall deals, too. You can track this using Pipedrive’s Rotting feature. Here’s how:
Go to the Pipeline View and click the “pencil” icon
Click the “Rotting in (days)” toggle to turn the feature on
Set the number of days a deal can stay inactive before it’s considered rotten
Click “Save changes” in the upper right
Back in the pipeline view, Pipedrive highlights rotten deals in red. A sales consultant can adjust the maximum follow-up time at each stage and set reminders for reps to contact decision-makers.
Problem 2: Not enough leads are turning into deals
If not enough leads are turning into details, your team might struggle to overcome key buyer objections at different stages of the sales process. A sales consultant can use Pipedrive to uncover where these issues occur so they can adjust your rep’s approach.
Pipedrive displays a pop-up box every time a rep records a lost deal. They record a reason for the loss.
Sales managers and consultants can run reports on lost deal reasons to identify common reasons for the loss, such as pricing concerns, lack of budget or choosing a competitor.
To generate this report in Pipedrive:
Go to the “Deals” tab in your Pipedrive account
Switch to “List View”
Use the filter button to find lost deals
Click the “gear icon” on the right side of the app
Select the “Lost Reason” column to display it in your list view, then click “Save”
You can also run Pipedrive Insights reports to track why deals are lost and monitor the number of deals started and won over different time periods.
Problem 3: Not enough quality leads to work on
Your sales associates will close deals faster when the companies they pitch to match your ideal customer profile.
Pipedrive Prospector makes finding closeable prospects and adding them to your contacts easier by giving consultants access to over 400 million decision-makers across 10 million companies.
Here’s how your reps can access Prospector:
Go to “Leads > Prospector”
Click “Edit” to refine your search
View a list of decision-makers and companies that match your ideal customer profile
Hover over a name and click “View more details” to see contact information
Click “+” to add a prospect to your CRM
Prospector is part of the LeadBooster add-on, which also includes a chatbot, a live chat feature and web forms to improve lead generation from your website.
Problem 4: Not enough data on prospects
Incomplete or outdated data on prospective customers wastes your sales team’s time and makes it harder for them to determine lead quality. Pipedrive’s Smart Contact Data feature allows sales consultants and managers to clean up rep data.
To enrich your prospect and customer data from the Pipedrive dashboard:
Go to “Tools and Apps > Smart Contact Data” to turn the feature on
When a rep opens the detail view of a contact or organization, they’ll see a “Smart Contact Data” section
Click “Smart Data Search” to pull in publicly available information linked to a customer’s email address
If the data seems outdated, click “Refresh Data” to get the latest details.
Problem 5: Not enough contracts are coming back signed
Manual contract processes can slow down closings and frustrate your customers. Switching to e-signature software speeds up the process and helps ensure contracts are returned quickly.
Pipedrive’s Smart Docs feature can help your team close deals faster and avoid delays by requesting signatures and tracking documents.
To request a signature, open a deal or contact detail page, then use the “Smart Docs” feature to create or upload the document that needs to be signed.
You can add up to 10 signers per document, plus yourself. Drag and drop signature fields into the document, then click “Send” to email it. You can check its live status on Pipedrive. Its signing status can be “Sent” (pending), “Completed” or “Declined”. To follow up, you can click “Send reminder”.
Final thoughts
A sales consultant gives you a big-picture view of what’s working and where you might need extra support. Their fresh perspective helps uncover hidden opportunities, tackle objections and improve the performance of your sales and marketing teams.
Pipedrive offers powerful tools to help you address key challenges. Its comprehensive toolset can support you and your sales consultant in refining your strategy, helping your team achieve better results.
Try Pipedrive free with our 14-day trial.
