I passed this certification basically immediately after it became available but wasn’t really sure it makes sense for the team to pass. Now, when I finished the preparatory Trailmix, I feel it is worth it.
No sales rep I’ve ever worked with would take this. Why would they? It doesn’t even help their resume.
I’m having this debate right now. I also say no, there are very few reps who will do it on their own. But as a consultant, it would be a nice claim to say all of our team, including sales and project managers, are certified/credentialed.
It might indeed be a good onboarding for an AE to learn the “Salesforce way”. I’ve heard others in the community mention that it helps them as an admin to understand how Sales Cloud should operate. But that seems a rather roundabout way to get there rather than a good discovery with their internal reps.
But then I realised, this is a perfect exam for Business Analysts and Admins to sit, to help them understand how sales works, as that’s what they are building for in Sales Cloud at least. I think this exam would be extremely beneficial to those roles because there is a distinct lack of knowledge about sales processes within the tech team, and it is a very smart way for Business Analyst, or SF admin to get into the business mindset.
That’s just a few quotes from people once the exam has been published and I felt (and feel the same).
It probably isn’t the right exam for the experienced sales professional (but they won’t use the guidance part of the Path component as well), but great for new sales people in the ecosystem as well as for admins and consultants to understand what’s going on, how these people work, how they should design the system to better suit them.
Make sure to tailor your pitch to the prospect and stick to a discussion of solutions, not product features. This customized approach makes the prospect feel valued.
Surprisingly (actually not that much) I didn’t find much information about different industries, which are perfectly covered in the special Trailhead for partners (you know you can access it from PLC, right?)
95% of buyers make purchase decisions based on emotion
The Trailmix is full of links to interesting articles, some of them I liked more than others, such as the one about closing deals. And as I said – worth checking at least the trailmix for everyone if you don’t want to pass the exam.
And when you will study the Navigating the Sales Process ebook might be handy as well.
61% of executives think sales managers aren’t properly trained in pipeline management
