If you are unsure whether to hire a business consultant or a sales consultant , this post is for you. And for those who thought they were the same thing, this article will help you avoid making the wrong investment.
Unfortunately, many companies hire a business consultancy, when in fact they should hire a sales consultancy , or consultancies specialized in certain areas: human resources, legal, tax, among many others.
As a result, they are unable to achieve the expected results and feel that the investment was not worth it. We decided to explain the difference between the two . This will make it easier for you to decide which one will be more efficient for your company’s needs and needs.
First of all, let’s understand the role of a consultancy, whether it be business or sales consultancy .
What does a Consultancy do?
Consulting is a service carried out by professionals – with expertise in the area in question – to help the company identify its needs and ways to resolve them.
In organizations, consultancies perform an impartial function and are generally hired for four reasons:
- The company does not know how to identify its problem ;
- Knows how to identify the problem, but doesn’t know how to solve it ;
- There is no way to send someone from the company itself to solve the problem;
- Need to take unpopular measures , but lack the political strength or need an outside view to implement them
Obviously, these four reasons are subdivided into a series of other issues, but basically, they are what guide the decision-making process when hiring a consultancy.
Often the company cannot even identify its problem, it only knows that it is not able to sell, for example. Other times, it knows about the problem (or thinks it knows!) and does not know how to solve it.
There are still cases where all of this is known, but to meet the demand, it would be necessary to move someone full time to the operation.
However, in many highly complex situations, managers and coordinators do not have the skills and autonomy to resolve issues, requiring the involvement of senior members of the company. This often makes it impossible to carry out consulting projects done “in-house”. After all, directors, CEOs and presidents have many demands and cannot dedicate themselves only to side projects.
Therefore, it would be better to hire a consultancy, which would be 100% focused on that project, with a much smaller investment.
The Need for the 18th Camel
Have you ever heard the story of the 18 camels ? In short: three brothers inherited 17 camels. Their father said that the oldest would get half, the middle one would get 1/3 and the youngest would get 1/9.
But you can’t divide 17 camels by 2, 3 or 9. They started arguing and couldn’t reach an agreement. They decided to seek outside help.
When she consulted one of the local elders, she thought of a solution and decided to give them one of her camels. So that they would have 18 and the count could be done. And so, the oldest got 9, the middle one got 6 and the youngest got 2. Since 9+6+2=17, there was one camel left, so they gave it back to her.
In other words, in principle there was no need for the 18th camel. However, without it, the relationship between them could have deteriorated and they would not have reached an agreement that satisfied everyone. The elder (consultant) solved their problem and they accepted the decision because it was not imposed directly; it was a joint process in which no one felt they were missing out.
This is often how consulting works. In addition to being neutral, it sees solutions that those who are involved in the operation often cannot see.
They usually perform a diagnosis to identify business gaps and present solutions to resolve them. More complete consultancies follow this process until execution.
These consultancies are the most competent, because they are committed to the client’s results .
And in the end, what matters (and what a company seeks) is to always improve its results, do you agree?
But now let’s look at the role of business consulting and sales consulting .
What does a Business Consultancy do?
All of the above aspects are characteristics of both business consulting and sales consulting.
Business consultancies, in turn, analyze different areas of the company and generally look at the main areas of administration : finance, HR, marketing and production.
Business consultancies perform a macro analysis of cyprus whatsapp data the business. They diagnose the company as a whole and seek solutions to the problems encountered.
Strengths
By having a macro vision, it will analyze all the main areas of the organization and outline solutions for each of them.
When the company is not aware of its pain, this consultancy can be efficient in identifying operational errors and the problems they generate.
Weaknesses
Precisely because they analyze the whole, they will hardly delve into each of the areas.
When the company already knows its problem, this consultancy may not be very effective, as it will analyze areas that are often not directly related to the customer’s pain.
And regarding the pain in question, she will three steps to optimize your partner marketing budget in 2024 outline generic and palliative treatments .
Business consultancies are more generalist , while a sales consultancy or a marketing consultancy, for example, focus on a specific problem.
Let’s understand more about sales consultancy!
What does a Sales Consultancy do?
As the name suggests, a sales consultancy is about sales. In other words, it is a consultancy specializing in this area .
It has the same principles as a consultancy, but it is focused on addressing the pain points and needs of companies’ sales operations.
To be efficient, it must be focused on improving the business’s sales productivity .
Therefore, when hiring a sales consultancy, the company must be aware that its pain is in this area, even if it does not know exactly what the problem is that andorra business directory causes poor performance, for example.
So, if your company needs to increase sales volume, average ticket, positivity, sales and leadership performance, among other sales-related issues, this consultancy is capable of solving this.
Unlike business consultancy, which carries out a macro analysis and sometimes ends up providing more generic solutions, sales consultancy goes to the heart of the problem.
It has more depth in this area in question, both to identify the cause of the problem and to find solutions.
Strengths
As a specialist in the sales area, she has more depth and competence to solve problems in this area than a business consultancy.
When consulting is committed to the company’s results, the investment becomes easier to measure. It moves beyond the motivational and theoretical scope and into the practical part.
Weaknesses
As you may have noticed, it is a Sales Consultancy. Therefore, its focus is on this area and not on the company as a whole.
So if your problem is not exactly about the business operation, it will not be effective.
Which doesn’t mean she won’t look at other areas.
After all, a complete sales consultancy makes a systemic diagnosis of the operation . This means that it analyzes all the variables that interfere with sales productivity . Precisely because there are other areas that interfere with these results. For example, in retail, sales depend on purchasing, logistics, and marketing. In technology companies, sales depend on IT (product), Marketing, the Customer Success (CS) area, and so on…
If you want to know more about the subject, see: The Complete Guide to Sales Consulting !
Now, to make it even clearer:
Differences between Business Consulting and Sales Consulting: which one should you hire?
The answer is simple. Let’s make an analogy!
When you have a serious health problem, what is the procedure?
Go to the doctor . Okay, but which doctor? If you have a back problem, there’s no point in going to a general practitioner; you need to go to a specialist.
This is obvious! And it should be obvious to companies too.
Imagine your company as an organism and each of its areas as specific organs.
When do you see a general practitioner and when do you see a specialist? Think about it with the company!
While business consultancy would be a general practitioner, sales consultancy would be a specialist on the subject, as would financial consultancy, accounting consultancy, marketing consultancy or legal consultancy.
The specialist is someone who has a deeper knowledge about that problem and still has a systemic view of other areas of your body.
Let’s go back to the back problem. To resolve your pain, you go to an orthopedist to identify the causes and treatment. Obviously, this back problem can be a consequence of other areas of your body, such as the sciatic nerve, for example.
That’s why the orthopedist needs to have a systemic view of your body, but he has to understand a lot about the spine.
This is one of the main differences between a business consultancy and a sales consultancy .
Business consultancies are more generalist and involve themselves in various areas of the company, such as strategic planning, skills building, financial control , etc.
In a way, it doesn’t end up having much depth in any of them. They paint a general picture.
They are also efficient and can deliver good results, but they will not always be able to get to the bottom of a specific problem.
If your company’s pain is to improve its sales operations, it is more efficient to hire a sales consultancy.
In addition to a specialized view of sales, good sales consultancies also provide a systemic view of the operation, to verify which factors interfere with the company’s sales productivity .
At DNA de Vendas , for example, we are a sales consultancy focused on productivity, but when we make a diagnosis we analyze the company’s entire operation and all the factors – including those from other areas – that interfere with sales.
This was a major differentiator in achieving the experience and market position we have today. In addition to not limiting ourselves to the theoretical part.
Which unfortunately happens in many consultancies
We believe that, to be effective, a consultancy needs to fully immerse itself in the client’s operations, not only with generic and theoretical content, but also committing to the execution of the entire sales process .
Glaucia Santo, Human Resources Manager at Stetsom , gave a statement that demonstrates exactly the importance of acting in this way:
”We hired DNA with the aim of strengthening our sales and what we gained was a business partner whose differential is not only their methodologies/techniques, but also consultants who do much more than expected, giving 120% without measuring efforts, always full of energy, positivity, enhancing actions and committing to our results .”
That’s it!
One of the main characteristics of a good sales consultancy is being committed to results.
When hiring one, check this requirement!
Do you already know what type of consultancy is most efficient for your business?
We hope this article has helped clarify the main doubts regarding the two consultancies. And that from this you can understand which one will be more effective for your company.
If you still have any questions, leave a comment, we will be happy to help. Or speak to one of our consultants to better understand how DNA de Vendas works.