Salesforce is the number-one customer relationship management software used by businesses today, which means the need for highly skilled, intelligent, and creative consultants is on the rise. In fact, one study expects the need for Salesforce freelancers to create more than 9 million new jobs and generate about $1.2 trillion in revenue for businesses around the world by the year 2026.
Whether you have a one-time project you need help with or you want ongoing assistance with this CRM software, hiring experienced, dedicated, and professional Salesforce consultants is essential. Working with professionals ensures you have what you need to implement the software and make it a success for you and your clients alike.
What Does a Salesforce Consultant Do?
Salesforce consultants are experts at implementing their skills by building and maintaining CRM systems that focus on solving problems, adding creativity, and creating custom solutions for each business. This includes using popular programming languages, including Javascript and Apex, to write codes that focus on your company's specific needs.
Consultants work to understand your company goals, how you work, and where you could use improvement to further succeed in your industry. Common responsibilities include administrative tasks, troubleshooting, and recommending new features or ways to improve how you use Salesforce to help your company thrive.
Why Hire Dedicated Salesforce Consultants?
Finding Salesforce consultants provides several benefits for your business. Perhaps most importantly, a consultant makes it easier for you to track your progress as you design, implement, and maintain robust customer relationship management software.
Working with a dedicated consultant is also important for helping you resolve any issues you have within your business, such as migrating large amounts of data, troubleshooting problems in the system, and ensuring you're using the best Salesforce practices. Finally, working with a dedicated consultant improves your return on investment since you'll have professionals who can help you make more sound business decisions.
Should I Hire a Freelance Salesforce Consultant?
When you hire Salesforce consultants, you can bring on a full-time or part-time worker, or a remote freelancer. While hiring a person or team full- or part-time may seem like the right idea, the reality is that most businesses only need to hire on a freelance basis.
Hiring someone remotely reduces your company risk, ensures you don't need to commit to someone long-term, and saves you money. Think of it this way. When you hire a full-time employee, you must provide salary and benefits, plus you're likely in a contract with the employee for a term of six months to a year or longer. When you work with freelancers, you can choose people to focus on shorter projects, making it easier for you to hire another consulting team if you don't mesh well with your first choice. Beyond that, you'll save money, since you'll only need to pay someone for the work you need, rather than keep them on as a full-time employee even during times you don't need their services.
What Skills To Look For When Hiring Salesforce Consultants
There are a number of essential skills to look for when hiring Salesforce consultants.
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Apex – Apex is useful for implementing functionality into Salesforce. It includes testing, developing test classes, and working to synchronize, modify, and deploy back to the CRM software.
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Workflow Rules – This skill set involves creating roles, profiles, and access settings as well as developing time-dependent rules and deploying those rules when necessary.
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Cloud – Consultants use knowledge of the cloud to deliver personalized content, develop cloud-based solutions, manage documentation, and perform administrative services remotely.
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Custom Objects – These skills may include creating custom page layouts, designing and implementing entity-relationship data models, and creating custom reports.
While these are some of the most common skill sets needed when you hire Salesforce consultants, it isn't an exhaustive list. Other technical skills to consider include SFDC, dashboards, approval processes, data manipulation, and obviously, knowing the Salesforce CRM software inside and out.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire Salesforce Consultants?
The amount that you spend to hire Salesforce consultants depends on a variety of factors, including your pricing model, how long you'll need the services, and what your consultant's hourly rate is. The most common pricing model when working with consultants is a fixed price per project. This is beneficial if you have a specific proposal outline with a rigid deliverable timeline. However, this type of pricing is not always a good idea, especially if you're not 100% sure what your project will entail and feel you may need to make adjustments throughout the duration of the project.
Many business owners find that hiring based on an hourly rate is the right way to go, especially when working with freelance contractors. This allows you to start and stop work as you need it, work with a variety of consultants if you desire to, and create a more flexible work environment for yourself and your consultants. Typically, you'll pay $15-$150 per hour to hire freelance Salesforce consultants. Entry-level consultants are typically on the lower end of the scale while certified and experienced partners are on the higher end.
Tips for Writing a Salesforce Developer Job Description
Writing an informative job description is essential for finding the right talent. You should not only provide exact details about your project but also about the type of Salesforce consultant you want to work with.
Focus on the duties and responsibilities of the Salesforce consultant. Using a bullet list, detail each duty and responsibility you expect a consultant to take on with your company. Typical examples include meeting with you to determine what you want out of your CRM system, creating budgets and cost estimates, and helping troubleshoot technical problems.
Finally, use a section to provide information about the requirements and qualifications your consultant needs. Commonly, Salesforce consultants have a bachelor's degree in computer science or information technology, are certified in Salesforce, have several years of experience, and are strong communicators.
How To Find Freelance Salesforce Consultants for Hire
Hiring Salesforce consultants helps you create a CRM platform that increases your return on your investment by helping to create a platform that keeps you well-organized and ensures your clients are happy. There is a wide range of freelance platforms and consulting companies that can provide the services you're looking for. Each one is unique, though, so it's important to consider which one will best meet your needs.
Consider how fast you'll be able to hire someone, which methods the platform uses for matching you with Salesforce talent, and how much work you'll need to do to find the right team. Toptal is an excellent choice, offering you world-class talent that you can hire and put to work in a timeframe that works for you.
Finding the top Salesforce consultants to work for you can mean the difference between a surviving business and a thriving one. This list of the top sites to find Salesforce consultants is an excellent starting point.
Hiring Salesforce Consultants - FAQs
- Why Should You Hire a Salesforce Consultant?
Companies of all sizes use the popular cloud-based customer relationship management platform, Salesforce. This scalable CRM tool provides multiple benefits:
- Improving customer service
- Tracking customer activity
- Personalizing and automating marketing
- Analyzing data and metrics
- Managing sales operations
Salesforce integrates easily with multiple platforms, making it extremely versatile. The Salesforce platform has AI capabilities.
Salesforce consultants keep track of new add-ons, updates and best practices and pass that knowledge on to you. Combined with their knowledge of business practices and your specific goals, they help ensure that you derive all the benefits of using Salesforce.
- Where can I find Salesforce Consultants for hire?
- Toptal
- Upwork
- X-Team
- Hired
- Guru
Explore more sites in our comprehensive list of top companies.
- Are Salesforce Consultants In Demand?
Salesforce is the #1 CRM platform worldwide, with multiple Fortune 500 companies as clients. The trend toward maintaining a digital business presence continues to grow, and competition is fierce. The demand for Salesforce consultants should increase at a much faster than average rate through 2031.
- How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Salesforce Consultant?
The average pay for Salesforce consultants in the U.S. is $111,845 per year or $54 hourly. Annual salaries range between $24,500 and $161,000, varying by location, experience, and skills. You can avoid payroll and overhead expenses by utilizing freelance consultants.
- What does a Salesforce consultant do?
- A Salesforce consultant helps you reach your business goals by designing, implementing, maintaining, and tweaking the CRM to meet your specific needs.
- What is the hourly rate for freelance Salesforce consultants?
- The hourly rate varies greatly when you hire Salesforce consultants. Entry-level consultants may only charge $15-30 per hour, but certified consultants may charge $150 per hour or more.
- How do you hire a Salesforce consultant?
If you decide to hire a Salesforce consultant to enhance your CRM, you’ll need to find one with the right skill sets. Ideally, you’ll choose someone with experience in your industry. These professionals need a combination of technical and soft skills:
- Database proficiency
- In-depth understanding of the Salesforce platform
- User experience research skills
- Project management
- Excellent communication abilities
Your project may require one or a team of Salesforce consultants. You can find qualified part-time, full-time or freelance candidates using top sites. You’ll be able to use talent-matching services, post job openings or view consultant profiles.
- What's the demand for Salesforce development?
- An increasing number of companies are using Salesforce each year, which means the need for developers and consultants is on the rise and is expected to be through at least 2026.