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The differences between professional consultants and small business consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a professional consultant and a small business consultant. Additionally, a professional consultant has an average salary of $80,770, which is higher than the $47,982 average annual salary of a small business consultant.
The top three skills for a professional consultant include customer satisfaction, customer service and C #. The most important skills for a small business consultant are customer service, business clients, and outbound calls.
| Professional Consultant | Small Business Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $80,770 | $47,982 |
| Hourly rate | $38.83 | $23.07 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 100,996 | 116,476 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Professional consultants provide their expert advice to organizations and businesses. This professional advice helps the organization to improve its business performance in terms of management, operation, and strategy. Their main tasks are to detect issues and find ways to resolve them, conduct surveys and research an understanding of the business, and assess the pros and cons of possible strategies. Professional consultants must have good numerical, teamwork, and interpersonal skills to succeed. Also, they must have commercial awareness, self-motivation, and good attention to detail.
A small business consultant specializes in developing and recommending strategies to optimize the daily operations of small businesses. They typically meet with clients to identify their needs and preferences, determine their short and long-term goals, perform market research and analysis to find business or client opportunities, determine the strengths and weaknesses of current processes, and implement solutions against problem areas. They may also conduct risk assessments and help address issues and concerns, resolving them promptly and efficiently. Moreover, a small business consultant must devise a plan to implement the establishment's policies and regulations, suggesting new ones as needed.
Professional consultants and small business consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Consultant | Small Business Consultant | |
| Average salary | $80,770 | $47,982 |
| Salary range | Between $69,000 And $93,000 | Between $34,000 And $66,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Rafael, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | - |
| Best paying company | Citi | - |
| Best paying industry | Finance | - |
There are a few differences between a professional consultant and a small business consultant in terms of educational background:
| Professional Consultant | Small Business Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between professional consultants' and small business consultants' demographics:
| Professional Consultant | Small Business Consultant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.7% Female, 43.3% | Male, 59.0% Female, 41.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.2% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 9.7% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |