💰 Salesforce Sales Professional Certification
Become a high-performing Salesforce Sales Professional. This page focuses on the official Salesforce Certified Sales Foundations (Sales-101) credential, previously known as the Sales Representative exam, which validates modern, customer-centric selling skills on Salesforce.
Why Pursue the Salesforce Sales Professional Path?
The Sales Professional / Sales Foundations credential is designed for account executives, sales reps, SDRs, and sales leaders who want to prove their expertise across the end-to-end sales cycle — from planning and prospecting to closing and customer success — using Salesforce as their core selling platform.
- Discover how to plan territories and accounts using data and research.
- Improve customer engagement with a value-selling and customer-centric approach.
- Manage pipeline, opportunities, and forecasting accurately inside Salesforce.
- Drive long-term customer success, renewals, and expansion.
Use this page as your Sales Professional certification roadmap, then follow the detailed exam guide on your blog or Trailhead to prepare step-by-step.
Salesforce Sales Professional Credential
Salesforce Certified Sales Foundations
Core Sales Professional Credential | Exam Code: Sales-101
(Often referred to as the Sales Professional / Sales Representative certification)
The Salesforce Certified Sales Foundations credential proves that you can manage the complete sales lifecycle using a customer-centric methodology on Salesforce. You’ll be tested on planning, prospecting, discovery, deal management, pipeline, forecasting, and post-sale customer success. It’s the go-to certification for Salesforce sales professionals who want to stand out in the ecosystem.
📊 Exam At a Glance
| Duration | 105 minutes |
| Number of Questions | 60 scored multiple-choice questions (+ up to 5 unscored) |
| Passing Score | 70% |
| Exam Fee | $200 USD (Retake: $100 USD) + applicable taxes |
| Prerequisites | None (6 months – 3 years sales experience strongly recommended) |
🔍 View Exam Topics & Weightage
The Sales Foundations exam is scenario-heavy. Questions are grouped into the following topic areas:
- • Planning: 21% — territory planning, account planning, research & prioritization.
- • Customer Engagement: 15% — discovery, building credibility, multi-channel engagement.
- • Deal Management: 37% — opportunity strategy, value-based selling, handling objections, closing.
- • Pipeline Management: 12% — managing stages, progression, prioritization and next steps.
- • Forecasting: 6% — forecast categories, confidence, and reporting accuracy.
- • Customer Success: 9% — hand-off to success teams, renewals, upsell and long-term value.
Tip: focus heavily on Deal Management and Planning — together they make up more than half of the exam.
- The exam has been refreshed and rebranded as Sales Foundations (from Sales Representative), with updated objectives.
- More emphasis on digital selling, virtual meetings, and multi-channel engagement.
- Questions increasingly reference Sales Cloud capabilities (pipelines, forecasting, collaboration) in real-world scenarios.
- Stronger focus on customer-centric discovery, value-based selling, and long-term customer success.
Study Tips for Sales Foundations Success
Sell Inside Salesforce
Use a real or demo Sales Cloud org to manage leads, opportunities, activities, and forecasts. The more you practice real sales workflows in Salesforce, the easier scenario-based questions become.
Map Questions to the Process
When you read a question, ask: Which stage of the sales cycle is this? (planning, engagement, deal, pipeline, forecasting, or success). This helps you quickly eliminate wrong options.
Practice Timed Exams
Simulate the real exam: 60 questions in 105 minutes. Aim to average around 1.5–2 minutes per question and flag tricky ones to review later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should take the Salesforce Sales Foundations exam?
This exam is ideal for sales reps, AEs, SDRs, BDRs, and sales leaders with around 6 months to 3 years of experience who want to formalize their sales skills and prove they can manage the full sales cycle on Salesforce.
Do I need Salesforce admin or technical knowledge?
No deep admin or developer skills are required. You should be comfortable using Salesforce — working with leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, activities, and basic reports — but you don’t need to configure the system.
How long does it take to prepare for the exam?
Most candidates take around 3–6 weeks of focused study alongside their day job. If you’re newer to sales or Salesforce, you may need a bit longer. Combine Trailhead modules, real selling experience, and timed practice tests for best results.
Is this a good first certification for my Salesforce career?
Yes. If your primary role is selling (not administration or development), Sales Foundations is a strong first certification. Later, you can add technical credentials like Platform Administrator or Sales Cloud Consultant to complement your sales expertise.