Sandler Certification FAQs

What key changes to Certifications were announced January 2023?

• The existing Instructor Certification Courses are being retired and replaced with our new Train-the-Trainer processes in the spring 2023.
• No new enrollments will begin as of February 1, 2023 in the existing Bronze and Silver Instructor Certification courses.
• If you are currently enrolled in ANY Certification Course (including Instructor), you must complete them by April 19, 2023 to receive credit for completion.
• All NEW Franchisees will automatically be enrolled in the Bronze Instructor Certification courses as part of initial training – complete these in Sandler Online by April 19, 2023.
  1. Any training completed in Sandler Online before the Franchisee is enrolled using their Sandler email will not be counted towards the Instructor Certification.
  2. If you complete the Bronze and Silver Certification with your @Sandler.com email, that will now be equivalent to the Instructor Certification courses.
• Gold certification was retired on October 15, 2021. Videos and some materials may reference Gold certification. Please disregard those sections.
• The Bronze and Silver Certification program(s) for Sandler clients will be revised with the release of the Sales Development Series in 2023.
• The Instructor Certification is not equivalent to the Train-the-Trainer (T3) for the 2023 Sales Development Series. This new requirement will be communicated separately.
• Learners must complete certifications by certain dates noted in the table below in order to have their certification migrated to the new LMS. Any learners in progress will be re-enrolled, but their progress will be set to 0%.
• Franchisees are responsible for communicating completion dates to clients to meet the data migration cut-off dates listed below.

What is the timeline for all the changes to Certifications announced in January 2023?

Glossary of Terms and New LMS Migration Details (2023)

Term or Course	Description	Migration Status	Learner Completion Date
Certification	A prescribed path of requirements often including instructor-led training and asynchronous activities completed in the Sandler Online Platform. Please look for qualifiers (Instructor, Learner, Bronze, Silver) to differentiate WHICH certification is being discussed. Sandler offers certifications to professionalize the Sales professional and to ensure high quality and consistency among instructors.	n/a	4/19/23
Instructor Certification	This is the legacy process by which Franchisee Owners and Associates are certified to be able to purchase, sell, facilitate the Bronze and Silver Certification programs to their clients.	Will retire with current LMS. Badges will disappear from sitelets and be retired.	4/19/23
Certified Sandler Instructor (Badge)	This is the badge or credential added to a sitelet once the Owner of a Franchise completes the Instructor Certification for Bronze Certification. It rewards a self-paced, self-reported course completion	This will be retired and removed from sitelets over April and May 2023. Replacement credentials for Franchises are currently being planned.	3/30/23

Bronze Certification	BRONZE, the knowledge level, requires successful completion of classroom training (Foundations), Sandler Online courses, and examinations.	Will migrate all completed certifications + New Version aligned with SDS will be available. SDS version and older version are equivalent. Re-taking is not required.	4/19/23
Silver Certification	SILVER, the application level, requires classroom competency development (Sales Mastery), continued study through Sandler Online courses, and successful completion of exercises and role-play demonstrations administered in-person by a Certified Sandler Instructor.	Will migrate all completed certifications + New Version aligned with SDS will be available. SDS version and older version are equivalent. Re-taking is not required.	4/19/23
Gold Certification (RETIRED 2021)	GOLD, this product did not offer additional content, but a tracking course for field observations. It was retired in 2021.	Already Retired
Sandler Certification (Enterprise Only)	Equivalent to BRONZE, the knowledge level, requires successful completion of classroom training, Sandler Online courses, and examinations. The key difference is that this is deployed only by enterprise accounts, uses a slightly different exam and different content (microlearning instead of videos) in the online course.	Will migrate all completed certifications + New Version aligned with SDS will be available. SDS version and older version are equivalent. Re-taking is not required.	4/19/23

[Product] Train-the-Trainer Program (NEW) Example: Sales Leader Growth Series Train-the-Trainer Program	This program will award product-specific facilitator certifications. It will replace the instructor certification listed above and be a requirement for all new product (program) releases. Each Train-the-Trainer will be Product/Program specific. This document does not detail those requirements. We are using Train-the-Trainer as the term for this to align with industry standard terminology even though we consider our bench facilitators and not trainers.	SLGS T3 will migrate Others will be available in the new LMS	2/28/23
Instructor	A legacy term that should start to be phased out to refer to a Sandler Owner or Associate who leads a program in front of clients.	n/a	n/a
Trainer	A legacy term that should start to be phased out to refer to a Sandler Owner or Associate who leads a program in front of clients.	n/a	n/a
Facilitator	The preferred term to refer to a Qualified Sandler Facilitator who leads a program in front of clients. This could be a Franchise Owner, Associate, Enterprise Facilitator, or Client Ambassador. Qualification steps may vary depending on tenure, program, and individual doing the facilitation, but will be part of the Train-the-Trainer programs.	n/a	n/a

What is the cost of the Certifications?

United States

Certification is included in the Corporate Bootcamp - Foundations and Sales Bundle. It is included with the cost of the online course.

International:

Certification can be purchased for $225pp for each level.  Purchase it under the “Courses” section on Sandler Online.

How much do I charge for Certification?

Franchisees can charge what they want for certification. 

Certification fees can be:

• “Bundled” into your all-inclusive tuition model
• Priced separately

Considerations:

• How will the training be provided to the client (public, in-house, one-to-one)?
• What additional resources will be needed to provide the certification support (staff to onboard participants, assign or review assignments, meetings with management)? 

 Can I offer Certification to my clients?

Franchisees must become certified in a particular level, prior to enrolling clients into certification.  If you have questions about becoming certified or offering to clients, discuss with your coach.

What Sandler Online program does the participant need to be enrolled in?

Participants must be enrolled in the Corporate Bootcamp - Foundations, Sales Bundle or Sandler {BRONZE, SILVER} Certification course

How can I enroll my client into the Certification program?

Participants must be enrolled in the following courses purchased on Sandler Online:

Note: The Franchisee must be certified prior to enrolling clients into the Certification courses.

For US Franchisees:

• Corporate Bootcamp – Foundations (contains Bronze only)
• Sales Bundle (contains Bronze and Silver)

For International Franchisees:

• Foundations
• Sales Mastery
• Sales Mastery with Foundations
• Sandler Management Solutions with Foundations
• Sandler {Bronze, Silver} Certification

What is the “Sign up to receive Sandler Weekly Certification lesson reminders by email!” opt in? 

The Sandler Weekly is a lesson reminder email communication, which is opt in/opt out and optional to clients. This delivers weekly reinforcement lesson emails for a program with direct links to each chapter beginning lesson, including each knowledge test.

What is the passing score?

Participants must pass at 80% or higher. This is scored automatically, and partial credit is given if there are several answers to a “Select All” question.

The platform represents scoring based on the number of questions; for example:

39 out of 45.  To calculate the percentage, divide 39 by 45 to get the passing grade of 87%.

Can tests be retaken?

Yes, quizzes can be taken immediately after the previous attempt. All attempts are recorded.

Final Exams can be taken 24 hours after the initial attempt so the client can review material for a retake.

Will I receive a notification that an assignment has been uploaded?

No, the system is unable to notify the trainer when an assignment has been uploaded or completed.

Who is responsible to review client submittals?

It is the responsibility of the trainer or the participant’s Manager to review submittals to ensure that the individual is completing the assignments and is applying the Sandler Selling Methodology.

How do I pull a report of who completed certification each month?

1. Trainer reports
2. B: course progress report or D. total course completion
3. Select your organization default group OR a company name in the company filter
4. Select the course* - required field
5. Enter status if requested: completed

Additional information on reports can be found here: How to Use the Report Calculator

Can I create my own certificate?

No. Certification is from Sandler Systems, Inc. not the local Franchisee, so SSI needs to retain the integrity of certification by providing the certificate. The system will generate a unique id number associated with each e-Certificate for core program certification. Therefore, the only certificate that participants should receive is the one provided in Sandler Online.

Upon completion of the certification program, the participant can print an e-Certificate. 

Does the Manager need to be enrolled in Sandler Online to be able to access their salesperson’s responses?  And does this require the purchase of a product?

Managers must be enrolled in the same online course if they wish to obtain analytics via the Manager Reports tab. An admin can schedule a client report to deliver automatically to a client to eliminate any confusion for a Manager.

Can I place a student in another franchise’s training program if they are pursuing certification?

Yes

Who do I contact if I have questions?

Your coach is the best resource for information on certification.