Sales Consultant | Sales Consultants | Sales Consultant Agency

Sales Consultant | Sales Consultants | Sales Consultant Agency

The need for fractional services has never been greater for businesses looking to achieve their sales and marketing goals. An experienced and battle-tested sales consultant, hired on a fractional basis, is one of the best ways to hit the ground running and quickly get on track to achieving business success. At Chief Outsiders, we have more than 130 sales and marketing consultants on our team – this assures CEOs that there’s someone with the right blend of experience, insights, and strategic thought out there to fill this critical role. A sales consultant is the heart of your sales team, and should have outstanding communication skills and work experience as they create sales strategies and motivate your in-house sales team. You can expect that an experienced sales consultant should be able to help develop your sales processes, build and train your sales team, and help you tackle any and all growth challenges with professionalism and purpose.

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Sales Consultant Companies | Sales Consultant Company

Chief Outsiders is unlike the typical sales consultant company. A Chief Outsiders sales consultant is poised to quickly become an integral member of your executive team. Unlike other sales consultants, a Chief Outsider takes a comprehensive approach to your business, collaborating with your executive team to gather insights that inform sales strategy development, business transformation, and your direct sales approach. Additionally, a sales consultant can help you with your sales human resources such as sales training services, oversee performance management – including performance reviews, and evaluate salaries and compensation plans.

Sales Consultant Salary | Salary of a Sales Consultant

Today's business challenges are more complex than ever before. Companies must continually adapt your product or service to meet the needs of today's marketplace while delivering a solid return on investment (ROI). A sales consultant is an indispensable part of your approach to sales growth – and such responsibility can typically come with a substantial total pay package. By engaging a sales consultant on a fractional basis, you can better manage your resources while focusing on the competitive and market challenges that need your time and attention. The compensation for a fractional sales consultant is in line with executive sales salaries in the United States – but with the added benefits of scalability and flexibility that a W-2 option cannot provide. The average sales consultant salary of a fractional sales consultant varies based on the executive's level of experience, the specifics of the engagement, and whether the outsourced executive will work part-time or full-time.

Though varied, you can expect the responsibilities of a sales consultant to include a host of cultural, customer-centric, and performance-based considerations. At a minimum, a sales consultant job description should specify outstanding communication skills, the ability to build long term relationships, a keen ability to provide post-sales support, and the ability to manage, meet, and exceed quotas. An experienced sales consultant also knows how to leverage customer success stories and compelling product demonstrations in the pursuit of account and revenue growth.

When you are choosing a sales consultant to align with your C-suite, executive management, and sales leadership team, you’ll want to make sure you are choosing someone who has set the standard for sales excellence and delivered proven results. Each Chief Outsiders sales consultant is a highly-experienced industry sales leader who is prepared to function as a fundamental member of your sales leadership team. Going beyond the typical sales consultant, a Chief Outsiders sales consultant doesn’t just craft strategy or provide advice – they know how to engage in pre-sales activity, motivate sales representatives, provide sales training, optimize your sales enablement and channel strategy functions, and take a consultative approach to selling to your marketplace.

A sales consultant has significant responsibility for your entire sales process, which is why you need a battle-tested and deeply experienced sales leader to embed with your organization. They should be a quick study on your products and services, able to work with your telecalling team and review customer stories to improve sales effectiveness, have a role in lead management, and work in a cross-functional manner with marketing to achieve the best lead generation outcomes. The best sales consultants have well-honed interpersonal skills, know how to seek out new and more remunerative business opportunities, and inspire confidence in the sales team, prospective customers, and even existing clients.

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When interviewing a sales consultant, you want to get to the core of their insights, experiences, and preparedness for your business, product, or marketplace. It is helpful to understand some of the specific sales strategies they have executed, and what specific outcomes resulted from their work. You will want to understand how the sales consultant approaches relationships with team members, prospects, third-party vendors, executive leadership, and existing customers. It helps to take time to develop the top sales consultant interview questions to make sure you are focusing your efforts on the right fit for your enterprise. 

Good sales consultant interview questions include:

• Can you walk me through your previous sales leadership experience and how you were able to achieve or exceed stated goals?
• How do you approach relationships with your sales team, executive management, and customers?
• How do you stay up-to-date with industry trends and changes?
• Can you describe your approach to prospecting and how you generate leads?
• Can you give an example of a complex sales situation you faced and how you handled it?
• How do you prioritize and manage your sales pipeline?
• How do you build and maintain strong relationships with clients?
• Can you discuss a time when you had to adjust your sales strategy mid-cycle and what you did differently?
• How do you build high-performing teams and hold them accountable?
• How do you measure and track your performance as a sales consultant?

A fractional sales consultant from Chief Outsiders – unlike an independent sales consultant – is able to reach into a deep well of executive sales talent that is inaccessible to the independent contract sales executives. In order to be a member of the Chief Outsiders’ tribe, a fractional VP of sales must demonstrate deep levels of experience and be battle-tested – having earned their stripes as a member of sales leadership, formulating sales strategy, and interfacing with the C-level – across a long and varied career. 

Unlike independent sales consultants who oversell and overpromise their capabilities as a means of getting your business, a Chief Outsiders sales consultant has been vetted to have the experience, insights, and strategic mindset to move the needle for clients.  When you work with a company like Chief Outsiders, you are assured that your needs will be matched with a top-tier, C-level sales executive with at least 10 years of experience as VP of Sales reporting to the CEO.

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How much do sales consultants make?

The compensation for a fractional sales consultant is in line with executive sales salaries in the United States – but with the added benefits of scalability and flexibility that a W-2 option cannot provide. The average salary of a fractional sales consultant varies based on the executive's level of experience, the specifics of the engagement, and whether the outsourced executive will work part-time or full-time.

What should I expect from a sales consultant?

A sales consultant is the heart of your sales team, and should have outstanding communication skills and work experience as they create sales strategies and motivate your in-house sales team. You can expect that an experienced sales consultant should be able to help develop your sales processes, build and train your sales team, and help you tackle any and all growth challenges with professionalism and purpose.

How does a sales consultant work?

A sales consultant is a highly-experienced industry sales leader who is prepared to function as an integral member of your sales leadership team. A sales consultant knows how to engage in pre-sales activity, motivate sales representatives, provide sales training, optimize your sales enablement and channel strategy functions, and take a consultative approach to selling to your marketplace.

Why do I need a sales consultant?

You likely need a sales consultant if your growth has stalled, your business is experiencing  growing pains, or if you are dealing with competitive pressure. Also, if you experience a sudden loss of key executive sales talent, a sales consultant can quickly hit the ground running and ensure continuity of your sales efforts. 

How do you get a sales consultant?

Companies such as Chief Outsiders do much of the legwork for you – ensuring that the sales consultants on their team have been vetted and meet a certain standard of experience, insights, and success; further, a company such as Chief Outsiders handles all of the administrative and technology costs for that consultant, ensuring that their singular focus is to improve your business.

How many hours does a sales consultant work?

A sales consultant’s time is scalable based upon the nature of the engagement and the resources available for the role. Sales consultants can work a few hours, or up to full time, to help ensure your sales strategies and tactics are kept on track.

What is the average salary for a sales consultant?

The salary ranges you will see on the internet for sales consultants are deceiving.  Many independent sales people describe themselves as sales consultants, but what they really are is a part-time sales person, they don’t come in and audit your entire sales process, develop strategies, or implement changes to create a “sales engine “.  So while you will see ranges from $16K - $99K listed, for true sales consultants, the number is well into the six figure range.  And generally - they are well worth it, if they can get your company on a path to growth.

When should hire a sales consultant?

You likely need a sales consultant if your growth has stalled, your business is experiencing  growing pains, or if you are dealing with competitive pressure. Also, if you experience a sudden loss of key executive sales talent, a sales consultant can quickly hit the ground running and ensure continuity of your sales efforts. 

How long does it take to become a sales consultant?

A sales consultant ideally has worked in a variety of industries and held roles that have increased in the level of responsibility. Typically, an experienced and battle-tested senior sales consultant has a decade or more of experience at the executive leadership level.

What skills does a sales consultant need?

An experienced sales consultant has outstanding interpersonal skills, talent management experience including sales coaching and training to the sales team, and the chops to develop and execute a sales plan that aligns with the company's sales strategy and is focused on achieving key performance indicators. They also should be able to work cross-functionally with marketing executives in a co creative management approach that drives success.

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