When I initially start talking to prospective new clients, one of the first questions I get is “What are your Salesforce Consulting Rates?”. This question always makes me a bit uncomfortable. The reason for this is two-fold. First, I don’t like charging for our consulting services by the hour. You can see my reasoning for this and backing philosophy on pricing here. Second, when a prospective client begins asking about pricing before we’ve had a chance to discuss what they’re trying to accomplish or what value we’re trying to create, it throws up a red flag. Clients that care about cost above all else are usually a pain in the butt to work with. After all, it’s tough to add tremendous value when you’re seen as nothing more than an expense.
On the other hand, I understand that many companies are looking for pricing information on Salesforce consulting services. Many are doing so to figure out if it’s even within their budget. For those of you in that boat; this article is for you.
Typical Salesforce Consulting Rates
Below are the various types of Salesforce consulting services you’ll typically take advantage of when working with a Salesforce consultant or consulting firm. Next to each service I’ve included the current rate you can expect to pay. These rates are based on my experience working for many consulting firms as well as how we charge for our services here at Cloud Mastery.
Salesforce Consulting ($125-200/hr)
Salesforce consulting services typically make up the bulk of an engagement or project. Services under this category would include Salesforce configuration, implementation, setup, general sales & marketing consulting, etc… The industry term for this is known as “Functional Consulting”. Functional consultants work with clients on the usage and configuration of Salesforce. Functional consulting includes, pretty much, everything except development.
Salesforce Training ($150-200/hr or $1k-$1.5k/day)
Salesforce training is probably self-explanatory. It includes training your team on using Salesforce along with any customizations or add-ons. Training typically takes place prior to going live with a Salesforce implementation. If you’ve been using Salesforce for a while, you may use ongoing training to increase productivity. Training for Salesforce is usually sold in half-day or full-day blocks. But hourly training can be used to fill in knowledge gaps.
Salesforce Development ($200-250/hr)
Salesforce development involves a programmer building advanced Salesforce customizations or custom Salesforce apps. The best part about Salesforce is the ability to extend it. It can be extended to meet any business need or objective. To take advantage of this you’ll need Salesforce development services. Good developers, in general, are hard to come by. Good Salesforce developers are even harder to find. This is the reason many firms will charge more for Salesforce development services than they do for their standard Salesforce consulting services.
Salesforce Integrations ($125-250/hr)
Salesforce integration services are closely related to Salesforce development. In many cases, they are one and the same. However, due to the number of add-ons and third party tools available, many integrations can be set up by non-programmers. Existing integration tools can be configured by most Salesforce consultants. But when no “off-the-shelf” solutions exist you’ll need a developer to build a custom integration. If you need a custom integration you’ll more than likely end up paying Salesforce development rates.
Salesforce Data Management ($200-250/hr)
Salesforce data management isn’t usually difficult, but it is critical. Losing or corrupting client data must be avoided at all cost. The consequences can be quite severe. Client data has to be handled by experienced and qualified consultants. This is why the hourly rates are a bit higher. Types of work in this category would include data cleanup, migration, de-duplication, merging, etc…
Fixed Fee Pricing
Instead of charging for our consulting services by the hour, we shoot for fixed price. Fixed price engagements are when the scope and cost of a project are figured out and agreed upon up front. This allows us to sell value instead of selling hours. More importantly, it gives our clients a clear and concrete investment they can take to the bank. There’s nothing worse than being blindsided by a huge invoice for hundreds of hours. Lastly, it helps keep incentives aligned. Alignment is what leads to a healthy and successful relationship.
Summary
So there you have it. You now have the information needed to make a smart decision when hiring a Salesforce consultant. Knowing current Salesforce consulting rates will ensure you get a fair deal when negotiating. If you have any questions, or would like to know more about the cost of hiring a Salesforce consultant, be sure to leave a comment below.
If you happen to be a Salesforce consultant yourself, I challenge you to leave a comment below posting your consulting rates. Pricing isn’t something to hide or be afraid of sharing. After all, if you don’t provide the information clients are looking for they’ll find it somewhere else. So let’s give them what they want!
Talk to you guys in the next article 🙂
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