As a sales manager, (senior) account manager or employer, what use is a Sales Certification? What Sales Certifications are there and what are the differences between a national SMA Sales Certification and an International SMEI Sales Certification?

(This article also appeared as a Linkedin Long Post.)

At the 2016 Sales Event, Coen Bos, president of the Dutch Sales Management Association (SMA), rightfully proudly announced that the national SMA sales registry is finally a reality. A sterling achievement on which the SMEI (the world's largest Marketing & Sales Association), warmly congratulated its Dutch sister organization at the time.

"SMEI has been issuing Sales Certifications (and Sales Registry titles) since the 1980s and has been setting the tone in this area among the sales forces of the fortune 500 global players worldwide ever since."

The fact that the SMA aligns itself - albeit on a national level - with the idea that Sales Certification benefits the quality of the sales profession makes us very happy. But, what does Sales Certification really add and why should (Senior) Account Managers, Sales Managers and employers be excited about it as well? Why do Sales Professionals choose Sales Certification?

Sales Professionals (Sales Managers or (Senior) Account Managers) choose to obtain Sales Certification for 5 reasons:

  1. You demonstrate conclusively that you know what you are talking about within your sales profession. You can therefore differentiate yourself towards clients, employers, recruiters, etc.,
  2. Being able to demonstrate mastery of your craft means that, in case of equal opportunity, you will always have an edge. In sales, we know how important this can be.
  3. You get recognition for the fact that you have just a little bit more left to master the trade than someone else. Differences in competencies within the sales profession should be seen.
  4. You're securing your future. Sales professionals with Sales Certification rarely stand along the line for long and are increasingly preferred....
  5. Last but not least, you will be able to achieve faster, easier and more successful performances with your professional knowledge.

So it is not surprising that Sales Certification is becoming more and more natural.

Why do employers choose Sales Certification?

More and more employers are deliberately choosing to have certified (or having certified) Sales Professionals. It is mostly the following 3 reasons why they choose this:

  1. For many companies, the most important business process is; 'finding, binding and further developing customers'. 'Buying teams' are becoming increasingly professional and this therefore automatically requires increasing professionalism of 'sales teams'. The sales process can therefore be left less and less to people who say they are professionals, but who do not have a satisfactory answer to the question "Where does this show?".
  2. The quality of sales forces is rapidly evolving to a higher level. If your organization wants to stay ahead of the competition and present itself in a demonstrably professional manner to customers and other "stakeholders," then Sales Certification will be insurmountable in the coming years.
  3. Responsibility, discipline and ambition are increasingly core aspects of what you as an employer need to have in your sales people. As an employer you will no longer win the war with people who wait until they are offered another sales training on a silver platter. Maintaining a Sales Certification or Sales Registry title requires responsibility & discipline to keep developing yourself. Professionals with a Sales Registry title are therefore naturally preferred. In addition, success requires ambition to belong to the best. Account Managers and Sales Managers who do not want to belong to the middle of the pack often go for a Sales Register title. It is logical that for this reason alone, they have an edge with employers.

Dutch employers are thus following the example of global fortune 500 companies.

What Sales Certifications are there?

If you recognize that Sales Certification can make a very important contribution to professional development and the demonstration of "sales excellence" and you recognize yourself in the benefits, then it is wise to delve a bit more into the various Sales Certifications.

In the Netherlands, you now have 2 options:

  1. You are going for national recognition: SMA Sales Certification or SMA sales registry title. For more information, go to: www.sma.nl. You can find more information on how to obtain an SMA Sales Certification here.
  2. You will go one step higher and achieve national and international recognition: the SMEI Sales Certification or SMEI Sales Register title.
    (For more information please visit: the Sales Leadership Academy who together with the HAN University of Applied Sciences are the exclusive implementing partners of the SMEI Sales Certifications in the Benelux).

Which Sales Certification is the best choice?

When do you choose the national SMA Sales Certification and when do you choose the international SMEI Sales Certification or SMEI Sales Registry title?

You will ultimately gain more from an (inter)national SMEI Sales Certification when one or more of the below 3 factors may be important to you:

  1. You do not rule out the possibility that at some point in your career you will work for an international company. An international Sales Certification obviously has much more value for such a company than a Sales Certification that is only valid at the national level.
    Note: Consider that currently more than 60% of our gross national product depends on international trade and 1 out of 5 jobs in the Netherlands are derived from it.
  2. Your market or industry not only moves according to Dutch sales & marketing standards, but is cross-border. Obtaining an international Sales Certification may then make more sense than a Sales Certification built only on national standards.
  3. Quality is most important to you. The Sales Certifications of the SMA include Dutch business universities that are involved in Sales Certification, but this is different from the fact that these universities also design and implement their own programs according to these standards! Nevertheless, their involvement does of course indicate that you are dealing with quality at the SMA. At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that the quality at SMEI seems to be just one step higher. At the SMEI, several (inter)national business universities have subjected their own programs to the SMEI standards. This means that the programs are designed and implemented according to the international SMEI standards and they link their reputation in this field to this. Remarkable when one considers that one of these universities, the University of British Columbia, is in the top 50 in the world ranking.

Conclusion

Wherever your preference lies as a (Senior) Account Manager, Sales Manager or employer, it is becoming increasingly clear that if you want to demonstrate that you are serious about the sales profession, a Sales Certification from the SMA or SMEI is a requirement.

~H. Ben Mastboom, helps companies as a sought-after speaker, consultant, coach and trainer how to become the preferred choice and excel.