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Emerging startups and high-growth organizations are typically in dire need of sales support. Often, and especially in startups, the founder is the one managing the sales process and reaching out to new leads. Not only is this process unsustainable, but it’s also a major waste of their time. With the right sales consulting firm, the founder could be focused on what matters most — the core business objectives. 

The right sales consulting firm provides clients with:

  • The ability to scale beyond the founder
  • Advice and guidance on sales best practices and techniques
  • Outsourced sales services

Sales consulting firms are home to industry-leading sales experts that can create a cost-effective, high-impact sales strategy for your growing organization. In this article, we’re diving into the top 4 criteria to look for to ensure the sales consulting firm you choose is a viable asset to your organization’s success. 

1. The Sales Consulting Firm You Choose Must Have Experience in Your Industry

Many sales consulting firms claim to be a master of selling to all types of markets. However, that’s likely false. The sales consulting firm you hire should have years of experience and a history of sales success working with organizations within your industry or with organizations that have a similar business model to yours. 

There are a few specifications that you should take into consideration when vetting sales consulting firms such as:

Industry Specialization:

Find a firm whose sales consultants have the most knowledge and insights on your industry, niche market, customer pain points, and buyer needs. Only then will this firm be experienced enough to help your team reach their goals.

Geographical Specialization: 

Depending on your buyer personas and buyer locations, you may need to identify sales consulting firms that have the ability to target your best-fit audience in their respective locations. For example, if you’re stepping out into a new market in other countries, it’s critical that you hire a sales team that understands buyers in this location.

Specialization in Particular Challenges:

If you’re in need of a sales consulting firm for sales training or sales operations help, you may have to find one firm for each of these specializations. Fortunately, if you’re conducting an effective search you’ll find that there are sales consulting firms like SFE Partners that can help you take care of all your sales training, operations, and process needs in one place.

2. Search for a Firm That Fully Integrates with Your Organization to Align on Goals, Values, and Vision

While hiring a sales consulting firm is key to reevaluating your sales processes and operations, it’s important to find a firm that allows you to stay true to your mission and goals. Hiring a sales consulting team that immerses themselves into your entire organization to create an interdepartmental sales force effectiveness strategy will increase sales performance.

Sales Consultant and Client shaking hands at a conference table.

Keep in mind, your business culture, personality, needs, goals, and objectives make your particular sales strategy unique. When hiring a sales consulting firm, it’s vital to ensure the firm’s consultants seamlessly integrate with your current team to create a personalized sales strategy to: 

  • Diagnose and correct misalignment between company goals and sales goals
  • Adhere to your timeline and budget
  • Test and accelerate the execution of the customized sales strategy
  • Optimize the spend on sales to maximize your revenue

3. Look for a Partner That Provides Sales Outsourcing to Gain the Sales Support You Need, When You Need it

Depending on the reason(s) you’re looking to hire a sales consulting firm, you may want to consider hiring a firm that offers outsourced sales. The benefit here is that the consultants at the firm can serve as an extension of your sales team to convert leads into customers and close more deals. 

The best consulting firms advise you on what steps you need to take to excel at sales but are also able to actively sell for you. From creating a go-to-market strategy to executing pipeline sales automation, the right sales consulting firm will give you the sales support you need, how and when you need it.

4. Only Get Involved with a Firm Stacked with Properly Skilled Consultants to Carry Out Your Mission

There are certain skills sales consultants (and firms) should have in order to build and carry out an effective sales strategy including:

Relationship Building:

These skills are defined by Indeed as, “a combination of soft skills that a person applies to connect with others and form positive relationships.” Essentially, being able to foster interpersonal relationships between stakeholders in your organization will enable the sales consultant to easily integrate with your team.

Sales experts, consultants, and clients gathered around a conference table discussing strategy.
Problem Solving:

Critical thinking and problem-solving skills are imperative for your sales consultant to have. It’s the job of the consultant to identify areas of improvement throughout your sales process and develop solutions to eradicate any friction or issues.

Technical Skills:

Additionally, it’s crucial that the sales consulting firm you hire has a team that is knowledgeable about various selling tools such as sales enablement platforms or CRMs. This way, the consultants can efficiently monitor and manage your customer database.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the best-fit sales consulting firm to maximize the value of your sales and drive revenue is often challenging. However, when you find a firm that aligns with your organization’s mission and goals, magic happens. 

Get in touch with us to get a headstart on assessing, building, and delivering high-impact sales solutions for your organization.

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SFE Partners is a Boston sales consultancy focused on driving sales efficiency for SaaS, technology, and private equity firms. Effective and efficient sales solutions are at the root of everything we do, from launch to scale. We assess, build, and deliver high-impact sales solutions for expanding organizations, designed to optimize teams and strengthen your vision. Your sales goals are waiting on the other side of thoughtful, data-driven solutions.