Sales Consultant Job Description Templates
Free sales consultant job description templates for small business: retail, automotive, financial, B2B, and outside sales. FLSA-classified. DOCX.
Sales Consultant Job Description Templates
5 free templates by setting, each with the right FLSA classification and a clear commission and OTE structure. Download as DOCX.
The sales consultant job description is the one most owners copy from a generic recruiting template that lists "generate sales" and stops, missing the two things that actually matter for this role: which overtime classification it falls under, and how the commission is structured. Get those wrong and you either underpay a candidate out of the running or misclassify an employee and owe back overtime. Almost no template online addresses either.
At FirstHR, we build templates for the small businesses that hire sales consultants: auto and furniture dealers, insurance and financial offices, retail showrooms, and B2B and SaaS startups closing their first deals. The five templates below cover the role by setting, general (W-2), retail and automotive, financial services, B2B and SaaS inside, and outside field, each with the correct FLSA classification and a clear commission and OTE structure built in. Fill in the brackets and post, and the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
What a Sales Consultant Actually Is
A sales consultant is, in most postings, a salesperson who uses an advisory approach to sell a company's product or service, not an outside advisor hired to review a company's sales operations. The title signals a needs-based, consultative style, and it is common in retail, automotive, financial services, and considered B2B sales, where it also makes the role sound more professional than salesperson.
For the employer writing the posting, that disambiguation is the starting point: you are almost always hiring an employee to sell, and the useful next decision is the setting. The advisory sales core stays constant while the setting shifts: a showroom floor for retail, a licensed office for financial services, a desk and CRM for inside B2B, and a territory for outside field sales. That setting drives the duties, the pay structure, and, most importantly, the overtime classification, which is why the templates below split along exactly those lines.
Sales Consultant vs Sales Representative vs Associate
One job, several titles. The differences are mostly in connotation and industry convention, not in the work, so name the role by what your candidates actually search for. Here is how the common titles compare.
| Title | Typical connotation | Common setting |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Consultant | Advisory, needs-based selling | Retail, auto, financial, B2B |
| Sales Representative | Broad, traditional sales role | B2B, wholesale, field |
| Sales Associate | Entry-level, floor or retail | Retail stores, showrooms |
| Account Executive | Full-cycle B2B closer | SaaS, B2B services |
If your role is closer to a representative or an entry-level floor role, the sales representative templates and the sales associate templates follow the same structure as this set. Pick the title that matches the search behavior in your industry, then get the setting, pay, and classification right, because those are what actually shape the hire.
Sales Consultant Duties and Responsibilities
Sales consultant duties center on prospecting and qualifying, presenting and closing, hitting targets and following up, and keeping records and staying compliant. The setting shifts the weights, a retail floor leans on demos and walk-ins while inside B2B leans on outbound prospecting, but the categories hold. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
A strong posting grounds these in your business: your product, your CRM, your sales cycle, and your targets. Sales candidates read a posting for the product, the comp plan, the setting, and the tools before they apply. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by setting, since the setting decides the overtime classification and the pay structure as much as the duties. The advisory sales core runs through all five, but the classification fields, the schedule, and the compensation differ enough that the matched version reads more credibly and keeps you compliant. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Sales Consultant Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, and a compensation section with the FLSA classification and commission structure built in. Fill in the brackets, set the pay, and post.
Template 1: General Sales Consultant (W-2)
The universal version: full-cycle advisory selling, CRM and targets, and base-plus-commission pay. Start here and adapt it to your product and setting.
Template 2: Retail / Automotive Sales Consultant
For floor-based selling: greeting customers, demos and test drives, hourly plus commission, and the Section 7(i) commission exemption.
Template 3: Financial Services Sales Consultant
For licensed selling: needs assessments, compliant recommendations, license requirements, and the disclosure rules of financial products.
Template 4: B2B / SaaS Sales Consultant (Inside)
For inside sales: prospecting through close by phone and video, CRM and quota, OTE pay, and the non-exempt classification that inside sales carries.
Template 5: Outside / Field Sales Consultant
For field sales: an assigned territory, in-person meetings at customer locations, travel, and the outside sales exemption when both conditions hold.
FLSA: Is a Sales Consultant Exempt or Non-Exempt?
Whether a sales consultant is exempt from overtime depends on where and how they sell, not on the title, and this is the question almost every competing template ignores. There are three paths, and picking the wrong one creates real back-pay exposure.
| Path | What it removes | Core test |
|---|---|---|
| Outside sales exempt | Minimum wage and overtime | Primary duty is sales AND regularly away at customer sites |
| Section 7(i) retail exempt | Overtime only | Retail/service employer, >1.5x min wage, >50% commissions |
| Non-exempt (default) | Nothing; owed overtime | Inside, desk, or floor sales not meeting the above |
The outside sales exemption applies only when both conditions hold: the consultant's primary duty is making sales, and they are customarily and regularly away from your place of business, at customer sites. Under DOL Fact Sheet #17F, sales by phone, email, or internet do not count, and a home office is treated as the employer's place of business, so most inside and remote consultants are non-exempt. Retail and service establishments can instead use the Section 7(i) commission exemption, which removes overtime but not minimum wage, and only when all three of its conditions are met. Run the test on actual duties, and because states like California and New York apply stricter rules, confirm with an employment attorney before classifying. This is general information, not legal advice.
Commission, Draw, and OTE: What to Disclose
The compensation section is where a sales consultant posting wins or loses candidates, and where a small business most often gets vague. Strong salespeople read the comp plan first, so state it plainly and honestly.
| Term | What it means | What to disclose |
|---|---|---|
| Base | Guaranteed pay before commission | The amount, or state commission-only clearly |
| Commission | Pay tied to sales results | Rate or tiers, and what it is paid on |
| Draw | Advance against future commission | Amount, and whether it is recoverable |
| OTE | On-target earnings at quota | A realistic figure, not the top earner's |
Two rules keep the comp section honest and compliant. First, for any non-exempt consultant on commission-only or draw, you still owe at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, or your higher state minimum, for every hour worked in a week where commissions fall short, and a draw is an advance, not a substitute for that floor. Second, several states now require a pay range or salary information in the posting itself, so check your state's pay transparency rules. Advertise a realistic OTE for someone who hits quota, not an outlier's ceiling, because the candidates worth hiring can tell the difference and the inflated number drives early turnover.
Skills and Qualifications
Sales consultant qualifications center on sales or customer-facing experience, an advisory communication style, self-motivation, and CRM comfort, with licensing added for financial roles. Keep the formal bar realistic, because sales is a skills-first field where results matter more than degrees.
| Weak requirement | Strong requirement |
|---|---|
| Good at sales | [1-3] years of sales or customer-facing experience |
| People person | Advisory, needs-based selling with strong discovery |
| Motivated | Self-driven, hits targets without daily oversight |
| Tech skills | Proficient in [your CRM, e.g. Salesforce or HubSpot] |
| Licensed | [Active license, e.g. Life & Health] for financial roles |
Set the experience bar to the level and the setting: entry-level for a retail floor, more for B2B or outside field, and a current or obtainable license for financial services. Many sales roles need no specific degree, which makes this good for skills-first hiring, so default to a realistic bar and raise it only where the work demands it. Keep every requirement job-related, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics. The SHRM job description tools describe a good job description as a plain-language summary of a position's tasks, duties, and responsibilities.
How to Write a Sales Consultant Job Description
A strong sales consultant posting takes about 20 minutes once you settle the setting, the classification, and the comp plan. Here is the process the templates are built around. If this is among your first hires, the guide to hiring your first employee covers the steps around the posting.
Sales Consultant Pay
Sales consultant pay is usually a base plus commission, and it varies widely by industry, so a range tied to the relevant federal category and your market is more useful than a single number. Because sales consultant is not a separate federal occupation, the closest benchmarks come from related categories.
Within those ranges, the commission structure and the consultant's performance against quota move actual earnings far more than the base. Retail and entry-level roles sit at the lower end on base with commission upside, while B2B, technical, and outside field roles price higher. For a posting, set a base, a commission plan, and a realistic OTE for the specific role and industry, and include a range where your state requires it. National compensation surveys can help you benchmark your market and level.
Hiring for a Small Business
For a small business, hiring a sales consultant comes down to getting three things right that generic templates skip: the overtime classification, the commission structure, and the onboarding that turns a hire into revenue. Here is what actually matters.
After You Hire: Onboarding
The job description is step one, and for a W-2 sales consultant the onboarding starts with the document most likely to cause a dispute: the compensation agreement. Send an offer that spells out the base, the commission structure, any draw, and the classification, collect the signed version, then complete Form I-9 within the first days along with the rest of the new hire paperwork and gather tax forms.
Then onboard them to what drives revenue: your product, your CRM, your sales process and pricing, your discount and approval rules, and your pipeline standards, alongside the usual onboarding documents. Because a consultant's output is measurable and ramps over weeks, a 30-60-90 day plan works well: learn the product and shadow deals, then sell with review, then own the quota, the kind of structured start the employee onboarding guide describes. Once terms are agreed, the offer letter template handles the core terms and the comp plan, and the training plan template structures the product and process ramp. FirstHR generates and e-signs the offer letter with commission terms, stores the signed comp plan and documents, and runs an onboarding workflow with product and process training. FirstHR does not run payroll or administer benefits, so pair it with your payroll provider. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a sales consultant do?
A sales consultant guides customers through an advisory sales process: understanding their needs through questions, recommending the right product or service as a solution, and closing the sale. Despite the consultant title, in most postings this is a salesperson, an employee who sells your product, rather than an outside advisor reviewing your sales operations. The core work is consistent: engaging and qualifying prospects, running discovery or needs assessments, presenting and demonstrating products, preparing quotes, closing deals, following up, and hitting sales targets. The emphasis shifts by setting. A retail or automotive consultant works a showroom floor with demos and test drives. A financial services consultant sells licensed products under compliance rules. A B2B or SaaS consultant runs a full inside-sales cycle against a quota. An outside or field consultant develops a territory in person at customer sites. This page offers a template for each, with the correct overtime classification built into every one.
What is the difference between a sales consultant and a sales representative?
In practice, very little. Both titles describe an employee who sells a company's products or services, and the same job boards rank near-identical job descriptions under each. Sales consultant often signals a more advisory, needs-based approach, common in retail, automotive, financial services, and considered B2B sales, and is sometimes used to make a sales role sound more professional. Sales representative is the broader, more traditional label. The distinctions that actually matter for a posting are not the title but the setting and the classification: inside versus outside, retail versus B2B, and exempt versus non-exempt for overtime. A small business should pick whichever title its candidates search for in its industry, then get the duties, compensation, and FLSA classification right. FirstHR has separate template sets for both the sales consultant and the sales representative roles, since each draws its own search traffic even though the underlying job overlaps heavily.
Is a sales consultant exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
It depends on where and how they sell, and getting it wrong is a common and costly mistake. The federal outside sales exemption (DOL Fact Sheet #17F) applies only when both conditions are true: the consultant's primary duty is making sales, and they are customarily and regularly away from your place of business, at customer sites. Sales made by phone, email, or internet, including from a home office, do not count as outside sales. That means most retail, showroom, and inside B2B sales consultants are non-exempt and entitled to overtime past 40 hours in a week. Retail and service establishments have a separate option, the Section 7(i) commission exemption (Fact Sheet #20), which removes the overtime requirement, but not the minimum-wage requirement, when three conditions are met, including that more than half the consultant's earnings come from commissions. Run the classification on the actual duties, not the title, and confirm with an employment attorney in your state. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can I pay a sales consultant commission only?
Yes, commission-only and draw-against-commission pay are legal and common in sales, but there is an important limit for non-exempt consultants. In any workweek, a non-exempt employee must earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, or your higher state minimum, for every hour worked. If commissions in a slow week do not reach that floor, you must make up the difference. A draw against commission can smooth out earnings, but a draw is an advance on future commissions, not a replacement for the minimum-wage obligation. The minimum-wage floor does not apply to a consultant who genuinely qualifies for the outside sales exemption, which is one reason the exempt-versus-non-exempt question matters so much for your payroll math. Whatever structure you choose, state it clearly in the posting, since experienced salespeople evaluate the compensation plan before anything else.
What should a sales consultant job description include?
A strong sales consultant job description includes a company overview, a position summary that frames the advisory approach, key responsibilities across prospecting, presenting, closing, and follow-up, qualifications set to the level, and a clear compensation section. The compensation section is where this role differs from most: state the base if any, the commission structure, whether there is a draw, and a realistic on-target earnings (OTE) figure, not just the top earner's number. Critically, decide and state the FLSA classification, exempt outside sales, non-exempt, or the Section 7(i) retail exemption, because it drives both your overtime obligations and the candidate's expectations. Name the CRM and tools, note the setting (floor, inside, or field) and schedule, include a pay range where your state requires it, and add an equal-opportunity statement. The five templates here build the structure and the classification fields into each version.
How much does a sales consultant make?
Sales consultant pay varies widely by industry and is usually a base plus commission, so the title alone does not map to a single number. Because sales consultant is not a separate federal occupation, the closest benchmarks come from related categories. Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, except technical and scientific products, had a median annual wage of about $66,780 in May 2024, while the technical and scientific category was about $100,070. Retail salespersons, a fit for showroom and store-floor consultants, had a median of about $16.62 per hour. The broader sales occupations group had a median of about $37,460. Actual earnings depend heavily on the commission structure and how the consultant performs against quota, so the useful approach for a posting is to set a base, a commission plan, and a realistic OTE for the specific role and industry, anchored to the relevant federal category rather than a single national average. National compensation surveys can help you benchmark your market.
What is the outside sales exemption and when does it apply?
The outside sales exemption is an FLSA exemption from both minimum wage and overtime for employees whose primary duty is making sales and who customarily and regularly work away from the employer's place of business, meaning in person at customer sites. Unlike the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, it has no salary-level test. The catch for sales consultants is the second condition: under DOL Fact Sheet #17F and 29 CFR 541.500, sales conducted by phone, mail, or internet do not count as outside sales, and a home office is treated as the employer's place of business. So a consultant selling remotely or from a desk does not qualify, even if the title says outside sales. A genuine field consultant who spends their working time visiting customers in person generally does. Because the test turns on actual duties and where the selling happens, run it carefully before classifying the role as exempt, and get state-specific advice, since several states apply stricter rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
What happens after I hire a sales consultant?
For a W-2 sales consultant, run a consistent hire-and-onboard sequence, with extra care on the compensation paperwork since pay is the most common source of sales disputes. Send an offer letter that spells out the base, the commission structure, any draw and whether it is recoverable, and the FLSA classification, and collect the signed version, since a specific, signed comp agreement protects both sides. Complete Form I-9 within the first days, gather the W-4 and state tax forms, and for licensed financial roles verify the license before the first sale. Then onboard them to what drives revenue: your product, your CRM, your sales process and pricing, your discount and approval rules, and your pipeline and reporting standards. Because a sales consultant's productivity is measurable and ramps over weeks, a structured first 30 to 90 days pays off quickly. FirstHR handles this: generate and e-sign the offer letter with commission terms, store the signed comp plan and documents, and run an onboarding workflow with product and process training. FirstHR does not run payroll or administer benefits, so pair it with your payroll provider. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.