Sales teams are operating in a market where expectations are constantly rising. In our latest State of Sales Report, 57% of sales leaders said competition has become more challenging, and 59% of business buyers felt reps don’t take the time to understand their goals.
That gap between what buyers expect and what reps can realistically deliver is shaping the work of sales consultants more than ever.
Technology is also changing the skills required for the role. Currently, four out of five sales teams are investing in AI, using it to speed up their outreach and improve the accuracy of their pipeline forecasting.
In this article, we look at what the modern sales consultant does day to day, the skills the role requires, how this is changing, and their indispensable role in a high-performing sales department.
What you’ll learn:
- What is a sales consultant?
- What does a sales consultant do?
- Sales consultant vs. salesperson: What are the differences?
- Why should you hire a sales consultant?
- What types of sales consultants can businesses work with?
- 6 signs that show you need a sales consultant
- How AI supports sales consultants
- The evolving (vital) role of sales consultants
- FAQs
Discover insights from 5,500 sales pros on driving growth and standing out in a crowd.
What is a sales consultant?
A sales consultant’s job is to understand the customer’s circumstances, explain relevant solutions clearly and support them through the buying journey. Sales consultants can work internally at a company or be hired as external contract workers.
Entry-level consultants may focus on handling inbound leads or cold calls, while more senior sales consultants will manage customer relationships and oversee high-value portfolios.
To do this well, consultants need excellent communication skills, deep product knowledge, and a genuine desire to support customers in getting the best outcomes, not just making a sale. In this role, success is typically measured by hitting sales targets, but long-term retention requires that the customer is genuinely happy with their product or service.
It’s also an important skill to be able to use CRMs to correctly store customer data and use AI for routine sales tasks. This data can then be used by marketing to personalise content for the customer and by support to provide informed help when the customer needs it.
What does a sales consultant do?
Sales consultants move prospects through the buying process by understanding their needs and presenting the right solution. The work blends communication, organisation and consistency.
Some common responsibilities include:
- Researching potential clients to understand their industry and pain points
- Cold outreach via calls or email to generate new leads
- Responding to enquiries to provide clear answers to customer questions
- Qualifying or disqualifying leads based on their budget, fit, timing and anything else the company deems not worth following up
- Following up on inbound leads to move them down the sales funnel
- Keeping the pipeline updated so each prospect sits in the correct stage
- Coordinating with support or product specialists to answer detailed questions
- Negotiating pricing or terms as prospects move toward a decision
- Completing customer forms or compliance requirements where needed
- Closing deals and managing contracts to final signature
- Reviewing sales data to understand which actions are generating results
- Improving through coaching and practice, especially deepening your responses to objections and competitor comparisons
If you’re entering the profession or want to sharpen your skills, Trailhead offers free sales courses that cover everything from prospecting to closing.
Sales consultant vs. salesperson: What are the differences?
Sales consultants take a more diagnostic, customer-led approach than traditional salespeople. Instead of focusing purely on selling, they work to understand the customer’s situation and then offer a recommendation that genuinely fits.
Sales Consultants Compared to Salespersons
| Salesperson | Sales consultant |
|---|---|
| Prioritises closing deals and meeting short-term targets | Prioritises understanding the customer’s needs and context (often used for long sales cycles to build an ongoing relationship) |
| Follows a defined sales script or process | Adapts the conversation to the customer’s goals and challenges |
| Presents products and pricing | Recommends the most suitable solution based on what they learn from the customer |
| Focuses on volume selling | Focuses on fit, educating the client in the product and long-term retention |
| Works independently on individual opportunities | Works alongside marketing and support to build a smooth customer journey |
Why should you hire a sales consultant?
A sales consultant brings value to your business through their communication skills and market knowledge. They use these abilities to help your company close sales more effectively.
Helping customers make informed decisions
Sales consultants use their strong communication skills and market awareness to guide buyers through their decision-making. This keeps customers engaged with your business at a time when 86% of buyers are more likely to purchase when their goals are understood.
Salesforce State of Sales Report
Spotting issues in your sales process
A new sales consultant will be able to bring an outside view, highlight gaps you may not see internally and introduce best practices that make it easier for your salespeople to close more deals. This kind of support matters right now, with 67% of salespeople expecting to miss quota and many facing longer, more complex sales cycles than ever.
Reducing low-value work
Experienced sales consultants will help your team focus on the work that moves deals forward, rather than busy work. We found that salespeople currently spend 70% of their week on non-selling tasks, which doesn’t leave much time for the conversations that drive revenue.
Salesforce State of Sales Report
A sales consultant can work on automating parts of the pipeline (particularly through using AI agents) to reduce the admin load on your team.
Improving lead quality with data and AI
One of the most practical benefits a consultant brings is stronger lead qualification. They look at your pipeline with a critical eye and help the team focus on prospects who are genuinely ready to progress. Using Agentforce, you can take this even further by using the data in your CRM to score and prioritise leads automatically based on behaviour and fit. This gives your sales team a good sense of where their time is most likely to pay off.
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What types of sales consultants can businesses work with?
Sales consultants usually sit in two broad categories:
- Those who sell directly to customers
- Those who focus on improving the systems and strategy around it
Outside of these two main categories, there are sales consultants who specialise in the following areas.
- Sales operations consultants: They streamline CRM workflows, improve forecasting and set up tools like CRM Analytics or Agentforce Sales.
- Sales management consultants: They support coaching, set realistic targets and monitor team performance.
- Marketing and revenue consultants: Sitting between marketing and sales, these consultants improve the cross-collaboration and handover between marketing and sales.
- Financial and advisory consultants: They review pricing, discounts and deal structures.
- Strategy consultants: They refine go-to-market strategies and identify high-value segments you may not have been aware of.
- IT and systems consultants: They configure complex agentic workflows and integrations. This helps automate manual sales tasks.
6 signs that show you need a sales consultant
Still unsure whether a sales consultant would make a difference for your business? These signs can help you work out if the extra support is worth it.
1. High customer churn
If customers are leaving faster than you can replace them, it usually points to gaps in the handover between sales and account management. A consultant can review where relationships are breaking down and help stabilise your retention.
2. Low sales team productivity
Teams often lose time on the wrong tasks or chase leads that will not convert. A consultant can refocus the team on high-value work and clarify who they should be putting effort into.
3. A sales tech stack that does not support your goals
Outdated tools or an overcomplicated CRM slow teams down and create errors. In fact, only 35% of sales professionals completely trust the accuracy of their organisation’s data. A consultant can assess the software you have, suggest better options and then manage the migration and training process.
4. Unpredictable results and a leaky pipeline
When deals stall, disappear or move through the funnel without a clear pattern, it is a sign that your process is not supporting consistency. Consultants help identify the points where opportunities fall away and rebuild a structure that gives you a reliable forecast.
5. Inconsistent or weak sales messaging
If every rep explains the product differently, customers get mixed signals and lose confidence. Consultants help refine how your value is communicated so the team presents a unified message across every conversation.
6. No clear path to scale
Growth becomes difficult when there is no shared understanding of who you sell to or how the sales process should run. We found that 82% of sales professionals feel confident in their growth strategy, but still face increasing pressures. A consultant can further define the steps, roles and priorities needed to support expansion without losing quality.
How AI supports sales consultants
AI helps sales consultants work more efficiently by reducing manual tasks, improving visibility and giving clearer signals about where to focus. Instead of relying on gut feeling, consultants can use AI to support where they decide to put their effort.
Here are some of the ways that AI is changing the way sales consultants sell to customers.
AI-powered lead scoring and qualification
Agentforce Sales uses CRM data to highlight which leads are most likely to convert. This helps consultants prioritise their time and stops the team from chasing low-value opportunities.
Task automation
Using MuleSoft’s automation, routine admin tasks can run in the background. This includes updating records, moving deals through stages and syncing data. This means your team will have more time to focus on selling.
Improved outreach and personalisation
Agentforce Marketing can shape messages that reflect each buyer’s behaviour and interests. This gives consultants more relevant touchpoints to work with to get higher engagement. For example, if you know a customer runs a startup, you can personalise their marketing to offer packages designed for new businesses.
Customer engagement and support
All good sales consultants know that retention is just as important as closing a deal. Agentforce Service supports this by giving the support team the context they need in real time, helping them answer questions quickly and accurately.
Sales coaching and skill development
Becoming a great sales representative doesn’t happen overnight; it requires constant awareness and growth. Agentforce can support this by analysing calls and highlighting coaching opportunities. This gives consultants clear visibility of where reps need support and helps them tailor training to address the real needs of the sales team.
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The evolving (vital) role of sales consultants
Sales consultants help teams sell more effectively by improving how leads are qualified, how customers are guided through the buying process and how the sales function is run.
As AI becomes a standard part of sales work, consultants who know how to use AI-backed tools like Agentforce and Agentforce Marketing can reduce admin, strengthen forecasting and improve the overall customer experience.
If your team needs clearer structure, better conversion or a more efficient way to work, the right consultant can make a measurable difference.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Almost every industry uses them, including retail, SaaS, finance, real estate, automotive, telecommunications and professional services.
Yes, many work as freelancers or contractors. It’s also common for sales consultants to be employed internally by a company.
This is very unlikely. What AI can do is take over admin, score leads and surface insights, but it cannot replace the parts of selling that rely on human judgment.
Sales consultants will be needed to interpret nuance, read a customer’s priorities, build trust and navigate situations where emotion, hesitation or internal politics shape decisions.
