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The differences between professional consultants and solutions 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 solutions consultant. Additionally, a solutions consultant has an average salary of $94,839, which is higher than the $80,770 average annual salary of a professional consultant.
The top three skills for a professional consultant include customer satisfaction, customer service and C #. The most important skills for a solutions consultant are pre sales, sales process, and cloud.
| Professional Consultant | Solutions Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $80,770 | $94,839 |
| Hourly rate | $38.83 | $45.60 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 100,996 | 103,093 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| 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 solutions consultant is an individual who has an in-depth knowledge of technology that can help a company to overcome issues, increase sales, and have a better connection with their customers. Solutions consultants are responsible for heading the installment of customized software solutions and train dealers and customer sales engineers to administer the customized solution. They represent the company by attending tradeshows and events to demonstrate their company's technology. Solutions consultants must also ensure to demonstrate technical feasibility through beta tests plus trial programs.
Professional consultants and solutions consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Consultant | Solutions Consultant | |
| Average salary | $80,770 | $94,839 |
| Salary range | Between $69,000 And $93,000 | Between $68,000 And $131,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Rafael, CA | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | Citi | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a professional consultant and a solutions consultant in terms of educational background:
| Professional Consultant | Solutions Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between professional consultants' and solutions consultants' demographics:
| Professional Consultant | Solutions Consultant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.7% Female, 43.3% | Male, 69.1% Female, 30.9% |
| 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, 7.8% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 13.6% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |