A Salesforce consultant is a valuable resource who assists organizations, agencies, and institutions in selecting, implementing, customizing, and administering Salesforce to meet their business requirements. Whether you require process automation, system integration, or better customer interaction, it is the Salesforce professionals who will make your CRM work for you.
This blog will cover all your questions about what a Salesforce consultant does, the different types of consultants, their hiring costs, and how to pick the right one for your business. Read on to find out.
Who is a Salesforce Consultant?
A Salesforce consultant is the first point of contact for all your Salesforce needs. In a broader sense, an SFDC consultant is the one who assists in the selection, planning, installation, customization, implementation, and management of Salesforce solutions. The end goal of a consultant is to guarantee that Salesforce is in sync with your business objectives and thus enhances performance and provides value.
Key Skills of a Salesforce Consultant:
- Extensive understanding of the Salesforce CRM and its products, which include Sales, Service, Marketing, etc.
- Business process analysis to identify the client’s business needs.
- Modification and programming of the various features of the Salesforce infrastructure.
- Integration skills for the interface between the ERP, eCommerce, or marketing platforms and Salesforce.
- Provides training and support to enable other users of the Salesforce platform.
What Does a Salesforce Consultant Do?
A Salesforce consultant is in charge of making Salesforce work for your business. The consultant you choose will be responsible for identifying and analyzing business challenges that hinder your business growth, implementing Salesforce solutions, and optimizing business processes to increase your ROI. Their duties include, but are not limited to:
- First, understanding your business requirements and then developing CRM plans. At this step, the consultants might conduct a health check of your org to pinpoint the issues that are hindering your growth.
- Then, depending on your industry and specific requirements, the consultant ensures sales, marketing, and customer service processes automation using Salesforce features.
- Thereafter, to remove data siloes and to create a unified database, business tools integration with Salesforce is done.
- Moreover, to prevent lower adoption rates, your SFDC consultant is responsible for training your employees for optimal use of the Salesforce application.
- Lastly, a consultant makes it a point to provide ongoing support to your team so as to solve issues and improve system efficiency.
These Salesforce experts ensure that businesses derive full value from their investment by making Salesforce more efficient and easy to use.
Difference Between Technical vs. Functional Consultants
Salesforce consultants fall into two categories, namely, technical and functional. The difference between these two has been outlined below:
Feature | Technical Consultant | Functional Consultant |
Focus | Development and coding | Business process optimization |
Key skills | Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Web Components | Business analysis, CRM strategy |
Tasks | Custom app development, API integrations | Process mapping, workflow automation |
Best for | Companies needing heavy customization | Businesses looking to improve CRM usability |
A technical consultant is ideal for businesses needing complex custom solutions, while a functional consultant is better for optimizing existing Salesforce features.
Get in touch today to discuss your Salesforce needs!
Types of Salesforce Consultants Based on Their Roles
Salesforce consultants can be categorized by their field of practice into the following types:
1. Salesforce Implementation Consultant
Role: To install Salesforce for the first time and make sure that it runs without a hitch.
Best For: New Salesforce users who require a complete configuration.
2. Salesforce Integration Consultant
Role: To link Salesforce with other applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning, accounting, or marketing systems.
Best For: Organizations that require the integration of all its systems to run effectively.
3. Salesforce Automation Consultant
Role: Specializes in the automation of business processes using Process Builder and Flows available in Salesforce.
Best For: Organizations that want to decrease human interference in their operations.
4. Salesforce Analytics Consultant
Role: Provides Salesforce Einstein AI and reporting features to enhance decision-making.
Best For: Organizations that require numerical assessments and reports for better decision making.
How to Choose a Salesforce Consultant for Your Needs?
It is advisable to select the consultant:
- By the business size: For instance, startups will need simpler implementations than enterprises, which will need complex integrations.
- By project complexity: This means that for process optimization, you need a functional consultant, while for custom development, you need a technical consultant.
- By industry experience: You should look for a consultant who is familiar with your industry.
Check their certifications and reviews of their past projects to confirm that they are capable of meeting your needs.
Read More: Why Businesses Need Salesforce CRM Consultants for Digital Transformation?
Salesforce Consultant Costs
Salesforce consultant cost depends on experience, location, and the project details.
Consultant Level | Hourly Rate | Project-Based Cost |
Entry-Level | $50 – $100 | $5,000 – $15,000 |
Mid-Level | $100 – $200 | $15,000 – $50,000 |
Senior-Level | $200 – $300 | $50,000+ |
From the aforementioned costs, you can get an idea of what a Salesforce consultant charges on average. However, large-scale implementations or enterprise-level consulting can go beyond $100,000, depending on your customization needs (advanced or basic). Therefore, it is important to first understand and take time to analyze a Salesforce consultant’s roles and benefits before spending a fortune.
What are the Steps of Working with a Salesforce Consultant?
A well-defined process is mandatory for achieving success in the implementation of the Salesforce system. This process includes some steps, which are listed as follows:
- Discovery & Assessment: Here, the consultant first identifies your business requirements and CRM objectives.
- Solution Design: A plan is developed that involves customization, integration, and automation.
- Implementation & Configuration: Salesforce is developed, customized, and tested to be ready for use.
- Training & Adoption: It guarantees that end users are properly equipped to help the organization get the most from the software.
- Ongoing Support & Optimization: Ongoing operations include fixing issues, making improvements, and adding new features.
Benefits of Hiring a Salesforce Consultant
A Salesforce consultant is knowledgeable and experienced in helping organizations get the most out of their CRM systems, as well as reduce costs and time consumption. From implementation to support, a Salesforce CRM consultant makes sure that your Salesforce system is up and running and functioning properly. Benefits include:
1. Increases Implementation Speed and Reduces Complexity
Salesforce implementation entails identification, customization, and integration. A consultant speeds up the process and also makes sure that all the settings are accurate. Without the help of a Salesforce expert, businesses may experience delays, mistakes, or less effective processes.
2. Salesforce Consultants Employ Advanced Business Practices
A Salesforce professional takes time to understand your business processes and then suggests ways of enhancing automation, productivity, and efficiency. They make sure that the sales, marketing, and customer service departments can work in harmony with the CRM tool.
3. Helps you in the Configuration of Custom Applications
The standard features of Salesforce are great, but they might not meet all your business needs. Therefore, Salesforce consultants make navigation, dashboard, report, and workflow adjustments to better meet your objectives, increasing the effectiveness of your teams.
4. Integration with Other Applications is Seamless
The consultant will assist you in the integration of the Salesforce system with your third-party applications, such as the ERP, accounting, eCommerce, and marketing applications, to ensure that all your data is in sync across all your systems. This minimizes data replication and facilitates information sharing between different departments.
5. Accelerates ROI with Data-Driven Decision-Making
A well-built Salesforce system increases sales and improves customer relations and decision-making with the help of analytics. Consultant-driven businesses are able to get more from their Salesforce investments and thus achieve better results.
Why Choose Plumlogix?
If you’re still contemplating, we are here to make things easier for you. Here’s why you should consider hiring Plumlogix for your consulting needs:
✔ Certified Salesforce Experts: We have accredited Salesforce consultants with years of experience.
✔ Industry-Specific Solutions: We are experienced in the following industries: manufacturing, nonprofit, education, public sector, retail, and more.
✔ Proven Track Record: Our clients gain, on average, 30% better productivity.
✔ Ongoing Support: We offer ongoing monitoring and updates to maintain your CRM at its best.
✔ Comprehensive Services: We do it all, from setup to advanced AI analytics.
Plumlogix ensures your Salesforce investment delivers real business value.
Final Thoughts
A Salesforce consultant is a critical asset for organizations wanting to achieve their CRM objectives. Whether it’s required for simple configuration, workflow automation, or sophisticated AI-enabled applications, the right consultant brings the expertise to deliver. If you need help with your Salesforce implementation, customization, and management, look no further than Plumlogix.
