What does a Pardot Consultant do?
When you bring a Pardot Consultant on board, you can expect them to do more than just tell you the steps you need to take during initial setup. Pardot Consultants are more deeply embedded into an organization since an understanding of your broader Marketing Operations and Sales strategy is necessary. A few benefits they should provide include:
Automating Business Processes Between Sales and Marketing
One of the great things about Pardot, in particular, is that many of the processes that have been done manually in the past can now be automated. Pardot allows up to 150 automation rules to be created. A Consultant can discuss your specific needs and then set up the automation rules to meet those needs. This kind of automation can foster increased support between sales and marketing teams, leading to efficient campaigns that generate more sales, cutting down on manual entry, automating the process of reconnecting with old customers, and easily correcting or eliminating incomplete lead entries. Pardot takes on many formerly tedious tasks on its own. But it does need to be set up in the first place and that is best done with a knowledgeable Pardot Consultant!
Setup and Account Configuration
It’s no small feat to properly set Pardot up for an organization. Making sure it integrates with (or replaces) current software is tough enough. To be successful, your Pardot Consultant will have to connect with your Business Systems team to make sure everything is optimized. But a Consultant can also help you to make sure all accounts are configured properly. Your organization may not need all features for every employee. Configuring Pardot to meet the needs of various teams will set you up for success and minimize unnecessary license expenditures.
B2B Marketing Analytics
Analytics can help you to know who your current customers are, what might attract future customers, and what you need to change in your campaigns.When it’s properly optimized by an expert, Pardot is fantastic at helping your team close the deal with MQLs and SQLs.
Defining Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
MQLs are potential customers who expressed interest in your products or services. They might have filled out a form on a website, left a business card at a trade show, or shopped in your online store. Pardot Marketing Automation Consultants can make sure you have a good framework for how you define an MQL and ensure Pardot is properly identifying and sorting your B2B leads.
Defining Sales-Qualified Leads (SQLs)
An SQL also has the intent to buy, but they have actually expressed an interest in your products or services.
Typically, MQLs become SQLs because they’ve been handed by the Marketing team to the Sales team to be targeted as potential customers. This handoff is a critical step for any Pardot Specialist to properly design. A Pardot Consultant can help to ensure that the handoff is seamless so that all teams are set up for success and the right type of leads are being passed to Sales, in order to use their time effectively and maximize the conversion rate of inbound leads!
Different types of Pardot Consultants you can Hire
As with all Salesforce Consultant hiring, you can choose between a Salesforce Consulting Partner or a Salesforce Freelancer (Independent Consultant).
Hiring an Independent Pardot Consultant is an attractive proposition because of their flexibility and potential to work at a lower cost. Many Freelancers focus on Pardot exclusively, which means that they know the platform inside and out.
A Registered Salesforce Consulting Partner may have a larger team to dedicate to the implementation, integration, and optimization process. However, they tend to be more focused on the initial setup and don't often work with companies on an ongoing basis to optimize, build out campaigns, and identify changes that need to be made as your Sales process evolves. You may also not be large enough that you need a dedicated team to work on the project, so make sure to assess all options before defaulting to a costly Consulting Partner.
If your integration with your CRM doesn’t go smoothly, Pardot won’t work properly. Converting potential customers from top-of-funnel leads to MQLs to SQLs to paying clients is the point of getting Pardot.
How FoundHQ helps find Salesforce Certified Pardot Specialists
It's about finding the right Pardot Consultant for your specific business. There are tons of different Partners and Freelancers out there but you want to find someone that has worked in your industry, with a company at your specific growth stage, and has familiarity with all the tools in your Sales and Marketing Stack.
FoundHQ is a Salesforce Freelancers Marketplace with a network of 1,000+ pre-vetted Salesforce Consultants, including dozens of Certified Pardot Consultants available for projects.
You can Create an Account or List a Salesforce Project and our team will identify the best 1 or 2 Pardot Consultants with experience for your business and project goals.