8 min read

The B2B Sales Consulting Services Guide

Picture of Johanne Johanne : May 6, 2024 1:37:05 PM

Sales growth

Contents

What is Sales Consulting Services?

Sales Consulting Offers Solutions to Business Challenges

Top 5 Ways Sales Consulting Firms Help Clients

Sales Consulting Services 101

What can Big Business Agency do for your business?

FAQ

What is Sales Consulting Services?

Sales Consulting Services are a valuable resource for businesses looking to boost their sales and maximise profits. Skilled sales professionals with market expertise and strategic know-how collaborate closely with your business to evaluate your current status, pinpoint areas for enhancement, and offer tailored strategies for sales growth.

B2B Sales consultants offer valuable guidance and advice on crucial aspects like Lead Generation, Go-To-Market Strategy, Pricing, and Negotiation tactics. Their primary goal is to assist businesses in identifying and resolving any issues that may impede their success and growth.

Through the sales consulting process, businesses can pinpoint opportunities for improvement and leverage them to optimise their sales performance.

There are three main types of sales consultants:

Sales Coaches

Sales Coaches play a crucial role in supporting sales teams to reach their targets by providing guidance and motivation. They closely monitor performances, offer constructive feedback, and focus on enhancing the training process. Their main objective is to elevate the team's success rate through expertise and advice, rather than selling themselves.

Business Consultants

Business Consultants collaborate with companies to enhance their performance by offering valuable advice and guidance on various topics such as financial planning, operational efficiency, strategic planning, and marketing. They meticulously research and analyse data to develop effective solutions tailored to their clients' needs.

Independent sales consultants

These individuals are often independent entrepreneurs who are adept at working independently or in small teams. They may work on a commission basis or on a project or retainer basis. They specialise in promoting a specific product or service they have developed expertise in, (think GAP selling or LinkedIn sales etc). Their deep knowledge of the field allows them to make informed decisions that drive sales growth.

consulting in office photo image

Sales Consulting Offers Solutions to Business Challenges

The realities of a modern and digitally focused sales environment mean sales professionals face a unique set of challenges that offer opportunities for growth and innovation. Sales consultants help businesses navigate these challenges by providing expertise and guidance on adapting to an evolving sales industry.

Here are a few common challenges that sales professionals face:

Changing Buyer Behaviour

Today's customers have high expectations - they want personalised experiences, quick responses, and the ability to anticipate their evolving needs. An experienced Sales Consultant can guide businesses in adapting to these changing customer demands by offering strategies for building relationships, enhancing customer service, and improving retention.

Digital First Business Strategy

It's clear that technology has had a significant impact on the business landscape. To stay ahead, businesses must keep up with emerging trends. Sales Consultants are here to help organisations leverage new technologies like social media platform and AI to grow their customer base and secure more deals, all while maintaining crucial human connections.

Sales Plan Template Capture your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent plan Complimentary download

Increasing Complexity in the Sales Process

Navigating the increasingly complex buying journeys, which now involve multiple decision-makers and longer cycles, is where a sales consultant can step in to help you effectively close deals without relying on traditional sales approaches.

Increasing Competition

With technology simplifying market entry for businesses, competition has intensified. A Sales Consultant can offer valuable guidance on how to differentiate and stand out in a crowded marketplace while highlighting your company's unique value proposition.

Gartner answers the question: When it comes to Sales Planning, what are top sales leaders doing differently?

Chief Sales Officers using data-driven analytics are >2 times more likely to achieve higher forecast accuracy and 1.8 times more likely to exceed customer acquisition goals

sales consultant headshot photo

Some of the different types of Sales Consulting Services include:

1. Sales Operations and Sales Process Consulting

This type of consulting is a fantastic way for businesses to streamline their sales process and boost efficiency. Services offered may include revamping processes, tracking performance, and implementing sales automation.

2. Sales Enablement Consulting

Sales enablement involves equipping your sales team with the necessary tools, techniques, and processes to enhance their performance. This generally results in closing more deals, closing them more quickly and securing higher-value transactions.

3. Sales Leadership Consulting

Companies that provide sales leadership consulting services empower sales leaders, managers, and emerging talents with the necessary tools to cultivate and lead successful sales teams, consistently surpass sales targets, attract top talent, and outperform competitors.

4. Sales Training Consulting

When aiming to enhance the effectiveness of a company's sales team, sales training consultancies provide training and development programs, personalised coaching, and performance benchmarking to drive success. As full cycle sales emerges as a popular response to current economic conditions, sales people need to be developing their business acumen to been seen as a trusted advisor by their prospects and their customers. Business acumen is a skill that can be developed with training, coaching and is ultimately what will determine success or failure for every salesperson.

5. Sales Hiring and Recruitment Consulting

Companies specialising in sales hiring consulting assist businesses in finding and hiring qualified sales staff members. Services typically encompass assessment, recruiting, and selection support to ensure the best fit for your team.

6. Sales Outsourcing

This type of service entails delegating specific aspects of the sales process to a third-party provider. Services offered may include lead generation, market research, or inside sales/digital sales. Services might be specific for a nominated task or tasks or could even be end-to end sales process outsourcing.

7. Social Selling Sales Consulting

This method of sales really took off post-pandemic with B2B salespeople getting to grips with the absence of in person meetings and networking opportunities turned to the digital realm to meet their prospects.

Depending on the industry, Consultants leverage platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Tiktok to help clients establish a strong online presence. By utilising social selling techniques, businesses can effectively reach new customers and drive sales growth.

Social Selling Complimentary 37 page guide Set yourself up for success, claim your Social Selling Guide and take your Sales to the next level !

and last but not certainly not least -

8. Sales Compensation and Incentive Plans
Sales Consultants collaborate with Sales Leaders and Managers to create or update sales compensation and incentive plans that inspire sales teams effectively, ensuring they align with company goals and industry standards.

Top 5 Ways Sales Consulting Firms Help Clients

Sales Strategy Development:
Consultants have the expertise to create tailor-made sales strategies that align perfectly with the client's business goals and conditions. This includes identifying target markets, setting sales targets, and crafting unique value propositions.
Sales Process Optimisation:
Implementing and streamlining a sales process that everyone follows, incorporating best practices, and ensuring the sales cycle is optimised, leading to shorter sales cycles and increased conversion rates.
CRM Implementation and Optimisation:
Consultants can assist in selecting, implementing, or optimising Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to ensure that sales teams and leaders are making the most of technology for improved tracking, analysis, and management of customer interactions.
Performance Metrics and Analysis:

By guiding sales leaders in defining and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), consultants can assist sales managers in monitoring their team's progress accurately measuring success of sales efforts and making data-driven decisions to enhance sales performance.
Change Management and Transformation:
During times of change, sales consultants are adept at guiding sales teams through transitions, such as mergers, acquisitions, or shifts in strategic direction, to minimise disruption and maintain sales momentum.

Sales Consulting Services 101

How can sales consultants help my business?
Sales Consultants bring a wealth of experience, knowledge, and expertise to the table. They offer an objective perspective on your business and can identify areas for improvement that you may not have considered.

By investing the time to grasp your sales strategy, processes, and team dynamics, a sales consultant can offer valuable insights on how to optimise and expand your business. Sales Consultants can help your business with;
- Identifying your target market
- Working with your to establish your % market share and your growth plan
- Collaborating with your to define your Ideal Customer Profile
- Workshopping with you to define your Buyer Personas
- Developing a Sales Strategy tailored to your ICP and the buyers' journey
- Implementing a Sales Strategy while providing support to execute
- Coaching sales teams to be more effective in their roles
- Tracking progress and adjusting the sales strategy as needed
- Providing feedback and support for the sales operations team
- Support and guidance as your business grows
What types of things can a Sales Consultant help me with?
Top Challenges a Sales Consultant can solve
1. Ineffective Sales Processes: Finding ways to streamline operations and eliminate unnecessary time and resource wastage
2. Lack of Sales Strategy: Crafting a clear, actionable sales strategy tailored to the company’s goals.
3. Slow Sales Growth: Introducing fresh strategies and tactics to jumpstart sales growth.
4. Ad hoc use of Sales Technologies: Advise of selection of appropriate CRM and increase the adoption of CRM and sales automation tools. Guide sales leaders how to best use AI in sales activities and sales processes
5. Poor Conversion Rates: Improving sales techniques to boost conversion rates from leads to customers.
6. Difficulty in Scaling: Creating scalable sales models for business growth.
7. Competitive Pressure: Developing competitive strategies to stand out in the market.
8. Difficulty Entering New Markets: Assisting businesses in navigating market entry challenges through adopting the most appropriate growth plan as defined by the Ansoff Matrix
When does it make sense to engage a Sales Consultant?
There are a number of different events that may be a trigger use sales consulting services. Listed here are the most common;
1. Planning to expand into a new market or launch a new product/service
2. Business has pivoted - new market or rebranded existing product/services with new use case
3. Business is failing to get traction in the market and is unsure of product-market fit
4. Business has a number of new sales hires and need to give the entire sales team the skills and tools needed to close more sales and exceed their sales goals.
5. A Sales Consultant is often engaged when a business is doing well as they can help identify opportunities to reach even greater success. They can offer valuable insights and data analysis to pinpoint new market opportunities and develop strategies for expanding the current customer base.

What can Big Business Agency do for your business?

We are here to help you develop into a top-tier sales and service organisations, equipping you to thrive in today's tight market using contemporary digital sales techniques and powerful automation tools. By carefully aligning individuals, teams, processes, and technology within growing companies, our team of B2B Sales Consulting experts offers the strategies, structures and tools necessary to achieve long-lasting business success and provide your business with a solid competitive advantage.

When you work with Big Business Agency you will be collaborating closely with a B2B Sales expert who will dedicate time to understand your company’s Go To Market Strategy and Growth Goals. With a thorough understanding of your success criteria, your assigned Sales Specialist will craft a personalised plan to assist you in implementing new capabilities and expanding your business.

We review your go-to-market strategy, operating models and structures for your sales organisation as a tailored sales consulting engagement aimed at small business and middle-market sales organisations.

We are uniquely qualified to transform your sales and service organisation from the ground up – because we know what works. We lean in to AI and automation with tools like Sales Hub and Expandi to give your team productivity gains and a competitive edge.

From boosting leads with Google Ads to improving search rankings with fresh content, our proven system covers all bases to find, attract and win new customers, giving you outstanding results.

If you'd like to find out more, get in touch for an obligation free chat.

FAQ

Can a Sales Consultant help with understanding our Buyer's Journey?

The customer journey consists of 5 stages: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, Retention, and Advocacy. Providing helpful content at every stage helps prospects feel recognised and appreciated, leading to successful customer journeys.

This is a classic opportunity to use Sales Consulting Services to help you map your buyer's journey and develop your buyer persona, which will help you create helpful content for your prospective customers.
We have a particularly complex challenge, how can we get help?
What can I expect when I engage Sales Consultancy Services?
Can I implement the consultants plan myself?

We work with our clients to provide the solution that best meets their needs and their timeframe.

Some clients prefer to take our plan and implement it themselves, while others entrust us to handle the execution.

Further, some clients decide on a mix of both options - opting for our Project Management Services and use their team to resource the implementation the plan.

This demonstrates the variety of options available to cater to your business needs.
How do we get started with Sales Consulting Services?