Choosing a Pardot Consultant: What to Check

To choose a Pardot consultant, find out who will do the work and check their current Salesforce certifications, partner tier and AgentExchange reviews. Ask what they have built in Marketing Cloud Next and Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud), get the scope, the price and the handover in writing, and expect them to say so when a move is too early.

Disclosure: ConvertPilot wrote this guide, and we are one of the firms in the comparison further down. The comparison has no ranking: firms are grouped by type, sorted alphabetically within each group and described only with facts from their own websites and their AgentExchange listings.

The guide is for B2B teams on Salesforce and Account Engagement (Pardot) that want outside help to fix their setup, add Marketing Cloud Next or take over a stalled project. The checks work on any shortlist, ours included.

Agency, Consultancy, Partner or Freelancer: Which One Do You Need?

The labels overlap, so judge a firm by the work it does. An agency usually plans and runs campaigns and uses Pardot as one tool among several; a consultancy designs, builds and fixes the Pardot and Salesforce setup itself; a freelancer is one person doing either. "Salesforce partner" is a membership in Salesforce's partner programme that any of them can hold.

Many people search for a "Pardot agency" when they mean someone to set up or repair the system. Know which of the two you are buying. We call ConvertPilot a consultancy because our work is the Pardot and Salesforce setup itself.

What Should You Check Before Hiring a Pardot Consultant?

The twelve checks fall into four groups: 1 and 2 are about the people, 3 to 6 about Salesforce's own signals, 7 to 9 about the products and your licence, and 10 to 12 about the deal.

1. Who Does the Work?

Ask for the name of the person who will build in your org, and make sure that person joins a call before you sign. In many firms the person who sells is not the person who configures. You should know who touches your scoring and your Salesforce sync, whether any part goes to a subcontractor, and who takes over when that person is ill or leaves.

For Pardot with Marketing Cloud Next, Salesforce's setup guide names four roles to fill before you start: a Data Manager who configures how Data 360 brings in, models and matches your data, a Marketing Admin, a Salesforce Admin and a Compliance Lead for consent. Ask which of them the consultant covers and which stay with your team.

2. Have They Worked on a Setup Like Yours?

Pardot behaves differently depending on the edition, the number of business units and how the Salesforce sync is configured. With several business units, for example, a lead or contact record can sync with a prospect in one business unit only. Ask for two examples of B2B projects with leads, contacts and accounts in Salesforce, similar in size to yours, and for one client you can call.

What this means for sales: scoring, grading, assignment and the Salesforce sync decide which leads reach your sales team and when. A consultant who changes any of them changes what sales sees in Salesforce the next morning. Bring your head of sales to the first call and ask how changes are tested before they go live.

3. Which Certifications Do They Hold Today?

Salesforce's certification names no longer say "Pardot": look for Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Specialist, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Consultant and, for the newer product, Marketing Cloud Next Consultant. Salesforce describes the last one like this:

"Certified Marketing Cloud Next Consultants design data-first marketing solutions on Data 360, orchestrate AI campaigns via Agentforce and Flow, and advise on architecture and implementation."

Salesforce's 2027 Certification Retirements FAQ lists the Account Engagement Consultant among 24 certifications that retire on 1 February 2027; the last day to take the exam was 31 August 2026. The Account Engagement Specialist is not on that list. For holders, the FAQ says:

"A retired certification is still a valid certification."

Salesforce's certification lifecycle blog adds that retired certifications no longer show on the certification verification page. They stay on the holder's Trailblazer profile, which the FAQ says marks them as retired. From February 2027, ask to see the profile if the Account Engagement Consultant matters to you. For the exam's skills, the FAQ names "an upcoming Agentforce Marketing certification launching in late 2026".

4. Are They a Select or Summit Partner?

With its FY27 partner programme, announced on 2 March 2026, Salesforce moved the consulting track to two tiers, Select and Summit. The FY27 programme brochure describes the change as "Four tiers" to "Two tiers: Select & Summit", so a consulting badge with any other tier name comes from an earlier programme. The brochure's definitions:

"Summit. Top-tier partners aligned to strategic growth."

"Select. Proven delivery partners meeting clear performance standards."

Salesforce's partner programme policies add that a new partner starts as a Provisional Partner and gets a tier only once it meets the qualification requirements. Partners are evaluated quarterly, and Salesforce may assign tiers at its sole discretion. A tier tells you where a firm stands across all its Salesforce work, not how much of that work is Pardot. Read it together with checks 2 and 3, which carry more weight when a firm has no tier.

5. Which Competencies Do They Show?

Competencies are Salesforce's newer signal for product skill. In the FY27 programme, 28 competencies replace 170 Navigator distinctions, with two levels, Accredited and Expert. The brochure names what a competency rests on:

"Each Competency is measured by: Certifications, Completed projects, Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)"

You can see this on a consultant's AgentExchange listing. Its Competencies tab lists each product competency with the level reached, the number of eligible projects, the average CSAT and the number of certifications.

For marketing, look at the row named Agentforce Marketing. On the listings we checked on 16 October 2026, some firms held it at Expert, some at Accredited, and some showed the row without a level. Compare the eligible projects and the CSAT behind each level.

6. What Do Their AgentExchange Reviews Say?

AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) is Salesforce's marketplace, and consultants have listings there. A listing shows the average rating with the number of reviews, how many certifications and certified people the firm has, its partner tier if it has one, and the Competencies tab from check 5. On reviews, Salesforce's Trailhead unit on AgentExchange listings says:

"All AgentExchange listing reviews are contributed by community members, and unfiltered"

Read the number of reviews next to the average, because an average from three reviews tells you less than one from ninety. Open the newest reviews and check whether they concern Pardot or Marketing Cloud work. A firm without a listing can still be a good fit; ask it for a reference call instead.

7. What Have They Built in Marketing Cloud Next and Data 360?

If Marketing Cloud Next is on your roadmap, your consultant should know it from real work. It runs on Data 360, and Salesforce's edition overview states the requirement directly:

"Salesforce Enterprise or Unlimited edition and any Data 360 edition are also required."

Salesforce's getting-started guide for Pardot customers advises outside help:

"We strongly recommend working with a Certified Salesforce Partner to implement Data 360 and Marketing Cloud Next."

Marketing Cloud Next journeys are built in Salesforce Flow, while Engagement Studio stays in Pardot, so both can run side by side in one org. Ask which Marketing Cloud Next flows the consultant has put live, how they set up consent (in Marketing Cloud Next, consent is managed only through subscriptions, and a record without consent data counts as opted out) and how they plan Data 360 credits.

On Salesforce's Flex Credits rate card of 31 August 2026, Data 360 identity resolution (unification) costs far more credits per million rows than segmentation or queries, so a consultant should be able to tell you what will run it and how often. If the data side is new to you, start with what Data 360 does for a B2B marketing team.

Salesforce documents several setup choices that are hard or impossible to undo, and a consultant with real setups knows them:

8. Do They Check Your Licence Before They Quote?

A consultant who proposes a licence purchase before reading your contract has skipped a step. Salesforce's Account Engagement pricing page says:

"Customers on Account Engagement Growth, Plus, Advanced, and Premium Editions have Account Engagement+ today."

Account Engagement+ gives access to Marketing Cloud Next through permission set licences: Growth gets the Growth Edition, Plus, Advanced and Premium get the Advanced Edition.

You need Sales Cloud or Service Cloud Enterprise Edition or higher and a Data 360 licence (the no-cost Salesforce Foundations counts; existing Pardot customers request Data 360 access through their Salesforce account executive), Pardot editions ending in "-LP" don't include it, and credits for messaging, AI usage and Data 360 are bought on top. Our overview of what Marketing Cloud Next includes for Pardot customers lists the editions.

9. Will They Tell You "Not Yet"?

A good consultant says when a project isn't worth doing yet, even if that costs them the project. Salesforce's pricing FAQ says:

"No, there are no End-of-Life (EOL), End-of-Sale (EOS), or End-of-Roadmap (EOR) plans for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement."

Ask every candidate what they would advise you against, and listen for a concrete answer. If someone tells you Pardot is going away, check what Salesforce actually says about Pardot's future before you sign anything.

10. Is the Price Fixed and the Scope Written Down?

Consultants charge by the hour, by the day, per fixed-price project or per package. Any of these works if you know the price before work starts. Ask for a written scope that lists what is included, what is left out, what you receive at the end and how changes are priced.

Keep consulting fees and Salesforce costs apart: licences and usage credits are billed by Salesforce. As a reference, Account Engagement+ list prices run from $1,250 (Growth+) to $15,000 (Premium+) per org per month, billed annually, as of October 2026.

11. What Does the Handover Look Like?

The project ends well when your team can run what was built without the consultant. Ask who will own admin access afterwards, how the consultant's users are set up so you can deactivate them, what your team learns before go-live and what stays with you in writing: field mappings, scoring rules, automations and why each exists. Agree on this before work starts; afterwards it is an extra.

12. How Do They Handle Your Data and Consent?

A consultant working in your org sees personal data, so ask for a data processing agreement before you grant access, and ask how they test without emailing real prospects.

If both Pardot and Marketing Cloud Next will run, ask how they plan consent across the two. Consent doesn't flow between them by itself: you set up Salesforce's automatic email consent matching or import consent by hand. Older Salesforce pages still say consent isn't shared at all. Salesforce's Help page on matching consent by hand says:

"To minimize the risk of missing opt-out requests, market to a subscription within either Account Engagement or Marketing Cloud Next, but not both."

What Should You Ask in the First Call?

Ask questions that need a concrete answer, and note who answers them. These eleven cover the checks above:

1. Who will build in our org, and can we speak to that person before we sign?
2. Which Account Engagement or Marketing Cloud Next certifications does that person hold, and where can we see them?
3. What is your partner tier, and which marketing competency and level do you hold?
4. Can you show two B2B projects similar to ours, and can we call one of those clients?
5. What have you built in Marketing Cloud Next and Data 360, and what is live today?
6. What does our licence already include, and what would we have to buy?
7. What would you advise us not to do?
8. What is the price, what is in the scope, and how are changes priced?
9. What do we receive at handover, and how does our team learn to run it?
10. How do you handle access to our personal data and consent?
11. Which settings in our setup can't be undone, and when do we decide them?

Pardot and Marketing Cloud Consulting Firms Compared

We picked firms that describe Pardot or Marketing Cloud consulting on their own websites, in North America and the UK. They are grouped by type and sorted alphabetically within each group; the order says nothing about quality.

Each cell comes from the firm's own page or its AgentExchange listing, both linked in the row, checked on 16 October 2026. An empty cell means neither states it, or only under a name from an earlier partner programme; "No" under prices means the pages we checked show none. If your firm is listed and something has changed, send us the correction and we update the table.

Large Salesforce Partners

Firms with many Salesforce products and a large team, where Marketing Cloud is one practice among several.

Marketing Cloud Specialists

Firms whose Salesforce work centres on the marketing products, including Marketing Cloud Next.

Pardot and B2B Marketing Operations Specialists

Firms that focus on Pardot, often next to other B2B marketing automation platforms.

Small Consultancies and Freelancers

Firms of a few people, and individual freelancers. We don't name individual freelancers here; marketplaces list many, and the twelve checks apply to them in the same way.

Where ConvertPilot Fits, and When It Doesn't

We fit B2B teams on Salesforce that run Pardot, want to add Marketing Cloud Next, or need a stalled project finished, and that want one certified consultant as their contact from the first call to go-live.

The facts behind that: Axel Kuehnle founded ConvertPilot, has worked with Salesforce since 2016 and in Pardot consulting since 2018, with 50+ projects. Two certified consultants back each other up; between us we hold the Account Engagement Specialist, Account Engagement Consultant and Marketing Cloud Next Consultant certifications. You talk to the person doing the work, and we'll tell you if Marketing Cloud Next is too early for you.

Our prices are public. You get a quote before anything starts, and many teams go straight to the project.

For those who want to start small, the Pardot Express Audit costs $1,300 (read-only, a prioritized action plan and a 90-minute readout). The Marketing Cloud Next Readiness Check costs $500 in its Lite version for small setups and $1,300 in full. Both are credited in full against any package booked within 90 days.

Another firm fits better in these cases:

• You run Marketing Cloud Engagement. We don't work on it, not even as the starting point for a move.
• The project is Sales Cloud or Service Cloud work without a marketing side.
• You need many consultants working in parallel across several Salesforce clouds. The large partners in the first group are built for that.

Which Kind of Help Fits Your Situation?

The right consultant depends on whether you stay on Pardot, add Marketing Cloud Next, move, or rescue a project.

• Stay: Pardot runs, but scoring, the sync or your automations no longer match what your team needs. You need someone who knows Pardot and Salesforce in depth; checks 1 to 3 matter most. The free Pardot health check shows where you stand in twelve questions, and Pardot consulting covers fixing, rebuilding or running it with you.
• Add or move: Your licence may include Marketing Cloud Next and you want to use it, or you plan to move from Pardot. You need someone with live Marketing Cloud Next and Data 360 work who checks your licence first; checks 7 to 9 matter most. Marketing Cloud Next consulting starts from what you already own.
• Rescue: A partner left halfway, the admin is gone or the go-live keeps slipping. You need someone who takes stock and says plainly what can't be saved; checks 10 and 11 matter most. Project rescue starts by taking stock and gives you a written verdict.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Does a Pardot Consultant Cost?

Consultants charge by the hour, by the day, per fixed-price project or per package, and few publish prices: of the eleven firms in our comparison, we publish ours and one other firm shows training prices. Salesforce licences and credits come on top and are billed by Salesforce. Ask for a written quote with the scope before anything starts.

What Is the Difference Between a Pardot Agency and a Pardot Consultant?

An agency usually runs campaigns and content and operates Pardot as one tool among several. A consultant works on the system itself: setup, scoring, the Salesforce sync, consent and moves. Many firms do some of both, so ask who on their team configures Pardot.

Is the Pardot Consultant Certification Still Valid?

Yes. The Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Consultant retires on 1 February 2027, and the last exam date was 31 August 2026, but Salesforce says a retired certification is still a valid certification. Retired certifications no longer show on the verification page; they stay on the holder's Trailblazer profile.

What Is a Salesforce Summit Partner?

Summit is the higher of the two consulting partner tiers in Salesforce's FY27 programme, announced in March 2026; the other is Select. Salesforce evaluates partners quarterly. The tier covers a firm's whole Salesforce business, so it says little on its own about Pardot experience.

Do I Need a Different Consultant for Marketing Cloud Next?

Not necessarily, but you need one who has built in it. Marketing Cloud Next runs on Data 360, builds journeys in Salesforce Flow and handles consent differently from Pardot. Ask what the consultant has put live there.