Cost of Hiring Consulting Salesforce Architect vs Partner

You can hire a Salesforce Architect from a Consulting Firm for $400/hr, or a Salesforce Architect who just left that same Firm for $170/hr. How come these hourly rates) are so different?

This is the power of Fractional Consultants.

Fractional Consultants are Independent Salesforce Consultants (i.e. Freelancers), who work on a project-by-project basis. They offer a cost-effective alternative to hiring a Consultant from a Consulting Firm and the vast majority of these Consultants have spent 5+ years working at those very same Consulting Firms, so you are talking about identical experience and quality.

The quality of Fractional Consultants available for projects is greater than we've ever seen before, largely driven by market factors like remote work and an increase to the supply side of the Freelancer market (due to layoffs, shifts in priorities etc).

Salesforce Consulting Partners serve an important purpose but they are often over-utilized. Companies that need a solo Consultant or small team shouldn't default to a Partner because they don't know where else to turn.‍

If you're unsure whether Fractional Consultants can be utilized for your specific project or need, check out this guide here.

Benefits of using Salesforce Fractional Consultants

Fractional Consultants offer immense benefits in terms of:

Cost-effectiveness

One of the biggest advantages of working with Fractional Consultants is the flexibility they offer. You can hire them for as long as you need them and only pay for the time they work on your project. This can be a huge cost savings for companies that only need a Salesforce architect for a short period.

Additionally, Consulting Firms charge a premium because they carry a lot of overhead. In stark contrast, Freelancers have virtually no expenses and can charge a lower rate, while still taking home the vast majority as ordinary income.

Flexibility

When engaging with Salesforce Consultants, you are granted a flexibility that so many projects need, and few get. You can scale either up or down the hours of your consultant depending on how your needs evolve without worrying about long-term commitments or rigid contractual constraints.

Control

There's no other setup that allows you to stay on top of your budget and needs as much as engaging with Fractional Consultants. You can take decisions based on how the project is progressing and how your budget is looking.

The true power of Fractional Consultants is that it allows you to:

👉 Hire talent you can’t otherwise afford

👉 Hire talent that is otherwise unavailable

👉 Hire talent with a specialization that’s not otherwise utilized

Let’s quickly dig in to each.

Hire talent you can’t afford.

If you are an early-stage SaaS startup with a mid-level Rev Ops Manager and a growing Sales organization.

A Fractional Head of Rev Ops (5-10 hours per week) to advise and coach your Manager would level them up and help the company make smarter decisions in a time when you don’t need that seniority full-time.

Hire talent not in the market.

A 10+ year, Sr Salesforce Engineer that works full-time at Google or Stripe but carves out 15 hours per week on side projects. Tapping into that caliber of experience could be a massive benefit to the scalability of your GTM Tech infrastructure.

Hire talent with specialization

Your CPQ rollout that didn’t go exactly how you planned could benefit from a CPQ Architect to help get things back on track. You don’t need them on staff but fractional help for 2-3 months would get you there.