Salesforce Agentforce Specialist Certification Guide & Tips

The Salesforce Agentforce Specialist certification is a deep-dive style certification into generative AI and its usage within Salesforce. Candidates will be expected to configure and apply Agentforce tools in Salesforce, including testing and deployment from a sandbox. 

In this guide, we’ll explore what this certification entails, who should consider pursuing it, and the key topics you’ll need to master to succeed.

About the Salesforce Agentforce Specialist Exam

• The exam consists of 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions.
• You’ll have 105 minutes to complete the exam.
• The passing score is 73%.
• The exam costs $200* and retakes are $100.
• The exam can be taken online or at a testing center.
• There are no prerequisites to take this exam.

* Following Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce has made the Agentforce Specialist certification free until December 31, 2025.

Who’s the Ideal Candidate?

The Salesforce Agentforce Specialist certification is designed for individuals who are responsible for managing Agentforce within their organizations. It validates expertise in implementing Agentforce to drive business success. 

You’ll need to know how to configure and customize Agentforce tools to meet specific scenarios and understand the importance of data quality and ethical AI practices. 

While deep technical knowledge of coding or external AI tools isn’t required, this exam is far more difficult than you may expect, and hands-on experience is essential to comfortably sit the exam! 

Skills assessed include:

• Navigating Salesforce tools and developing custom solutions, actions, or integrations.
• Identifying appropriate use cases for Prompt Builder, managing prompt templates, and understanding grounding techniques.
• Creating and customizing agents based on business needs.
• Using the Agentforce Testing Center to validate agent functionality.
• Leveraging the Agentforce Data Library to improve response accuracy.
• Understanding how Data Cloud retrieves ground responses.
• Monitoring agent adoption and ensuring user security.
• Engaging stakeholders in discussions on Agentforce opportunities and challenges.

No prerequisites are required; however, if you lack any foundational understanding of Salesforce, the following certifications may be helpful:

• Salesforce Certified Associate
• Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam
• Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder

Key Topics

To successfully earn your Salesforce Agentforce Specialist certification, you’ll need to master a range of key topics. Here’s an overview of what you can expect to encounter on the exam:

Prompt Engineering: 30%

• Given business requirements, identify when it’s appropriate to use Prompt Builder.
• Identify the right user roles to manage and execute prompt templates.
• Identify the considerations for creating a prompt template.
• Given a scenario, identify the appropriate grounding technique.
• Explain the process for creating, activating, and executing prompt templates.

Prompt Builder allows you to create templated, reusable prompts that can be deployed across your entire org using functionality such as Custom Buttons and Flow.

1. Prompt Template Workspace: Enter your natural language prompt.
2. Resources: Select which resources you want your prompt to include.
3. Resolution: View your prompt with record data selected by the user. The data replaces the placeholders initially created in the prompt, sourced from the chosen merge fields, flows, or Apex code.
4. Response: Preview the response for selected records. Verify the output for accuracy and safety before using the template.
5. Configuration: Select which model type to use for your prompt.

This is one of the highest-weighted sections of the exam, so be sure to spend some time here. You should be able to identify when it’s appropriate to use Prompt Builder, the user roles to manage or execute prompts, prompt templates, how prompts are grounded, and how to create prompts. 

If you fancy getting hands-on with prompts, the article below will guide you through five sample prompts.

Agentforce Concepts: 30%

• Explain how an agent works and how the reasoning engine powers Agentforce.
• Leverage standard topics, custom topics, standard agent actions, and custom agent actions.
• Manage and monitor agent adoption.
• Manage Agentforce user security.
• Test an agent using the Testing Center.
• Deploy an agent from sandbox to production.

Agentforce is made up of four main components: the assistant, topics, actions, and the reasoning engine.

In this section, you’ll learn about standard actions, how to create custom actions, how to organize actions into topics, and how to test your agents using the Testing Center.

The assistant (or agent) knows which actions and topics to use thanks to the reasoning engine, called Atlas.

Agentforce and Data Cloud: 20%

• Improve agents’ response accuracy and personalize answers with Agentforce Data Library.
• Ground with retrievers in Data Cloud.

This section will teach you how to make an AI agent give more accurate and personalized responses using the Agentforce Data Library. The library works by organizing your knowledge articles, data fields, or uploaded files in a way that helps AI agents know exactly what information to base their answers on. 

This means the AI can check its responses against your organization’s information, giving you the most reliable and relevant answers.

You’ll also learn about retrievers from Data Cloud – what they are and how they work. A retriever is like a smart search tool that pulls in the right information from a special database (called a vector database) to add to an AI prompt. This way, the AI responses are more accurate, up-to-date, and useful for the people who use them.

Agentforce and Service Cloud: 10%

• Build an agent that answers questions based on Knowledge articles.
• Connect an agent to a digital channel.
• Given a scenario, identify the correct generative AI feature in Agentforce for Service.

Agentforce Service agents are smart virtual assistants that help your customers by automatically handling common questions and issues. When a request is too complicated or sensitive, the agent smoothly hands it over to a live service representative. This way, your customers always get the help they need, and your service team can focus on more important, high-value tasks.

To get started, you’ll need to build an agent that can answer questions using your Knowledge articles. You’ll also learn how to connect the agent to different customer channels, like email, web chat, or messaging apps. Make sure to check the guidelines and limitations for using agents on each channel.

To pass this part of the exam, you’ll also need to know about a few key Einstein service features:

• Einstein Service Replies for Email: This feature helps your service team save time by automatically drafting personalized email responses based on your Knowledge articles. When a service rep chooses a recommended article for a customer issue, Einstein analyzes it and writes a response. The rep can then review, edit, and send it directly from the Lightning email composer or copy it into another email tool.
• Einstein Work Summaries: Einstein automatically creates summaries of customer interactions to save your team time and boost efficiency. At the end of a conversation or from the Case page, Einstein predicts and fills in details like the summary, issue, and resolution. Reps can quickly review, make changes, and save these summaries.
• Einstein Service Replies for Chat: This feature helps speed up customer chats by suggesting fluent, polite, and relevant responses as conversations happen. It can also draft and send emails using recommended articles right from the Case page. Your reps can then review, make adjustments, and send the responses to customers.

Agentforce and Sales Cloud: 10%

• Given a scenario, identify the correct generative AI feature in Agentforce for Sales.
• Given a scenario, identify when to use Agentforce Sales Agents (SDR and Sales Coach).

Agentforce comes with two ready-to-use sales agents:

1. Agentforce SDR: This agent acts like a business development representative. It works leads, handles initial outreach, answers common questions, and passes prospects to human reps when needed. It can boost your sales pipeline by sending personalized introduction emails to prospects, responding to replies, and connecting qualified leads with sales reps. To make the most of it, be sure to study how Agentforce SDR uses the Activity Timeline to manage customer outreach.
2. Agentforce Sales Coach: This agent helps your sales team by providing real-time coaching and feedback. You can customize its feedback for each stage of the sales process by using prompt templates, making it more relevant and useful to your team.

For this part of the exam, you’ll need to understand when and how to use each agent based on different scenarios.

Also, make sure to learn how Einstein Generative AI creates sales emails and how you can use these AI-generated emails to personalize customer interactions.

Study Strategy

Here’s a comprehensive study strategy to help you prepare effectively:

1. Start With the Official Exam Guide

Begin by checking out the official Salesforce Trailhead exam guide. This resource provides a detailed outline of all the concepts you need to be familiar with before taking the exam. Use this guide as your revision plan:

• Segment your study: Break down the guide into manageable sections.
• Track your progress: Tick off each section once you fully understand the concepts.

2. Utilize Trailhead for Learning and Practice

Salesforce’s online learning platform, Trailhead, is an invaluable tool for your study plan:

• Explore relevant modules: Engage with Trailhead modules related to the exam. These modules cover the features in-depth and provide real-time feedback through challenges.
• Hands-on practice: Beyond theoretical learning, test the features in a Developer Org or Trailhead Playground. Experiment with these features to understand their limitations and practical applications.

3. Follow Structured Learning Paths

For a comprehensive, hands-on experience, become an Agentblazer and follow the cert prep trail on Trailhead:

• Become an Agentblazer
• Cert Prep: Salesforce Agentforce Specialist 

Specifically designed by Salesforce, these trails guide you through the most important topics covered in the exam.

4. Understand the Exam Structure

Familiarizing yourself with the exam structure is crucial for effective preparation:

• Multiple-choice format: Salesforce exams typically feature multiple-choice questions.
• Pattern recognition: The exam usually includes one correct answer, an incorrect one, and one that seems correct but isn’t the best practice. Recognizing this pattern will help you avoid common pitfalls.
• Practice exams: These can help simulate the real test environment. Practice exams are designed to reflect the actual exam’s format and difficulty, helping you get accustomed to the question types and timing.

The Salesforce Agentforce Specialist Certification consists of 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions, each with three possible answers. 

5. Continuous Review and Practice

• Revisit difficult topics: Regularly review sections you find challenging to reinforce your understanding.
• Join study groups: Collaborate with others preparing for the exam. Study groups can provide support, additional resources, and different perspectives on difficult concepts.
• Stay updated: Salesforce updates its platform regularly. Ensure you stay current with any changes that might affect the exam content.

By following this structured strategy, you can approach your Salesforce Agentforce Specialist certification exam with confidence. Remember to leverage the vast resources available through Trailhead, engage in hands-on practice, and familiarize yourself with the exam format to maximize your chances of success.

Exam Strategy

When exam day finally arrives, implementing effective strategies can significantly enhance your chances of passing with flying colors. Here are some proven tips to help you succeed:

Before the Exam

• Review and memorize key concepts
  • Create a cheat sheet for any challenging concepts. Review and try to memorize these right before the exam to keep them fresh in your memory.
  • Engage in last-minute cramming using topic-level practice exams, focusing on areas where you feel less confident. This targeted review can reinforce your knowledge.

During the Exam

• Carefully read each question
  • Pay particular attention to each question and read it multiple times. Scenario-based questions often contain key clues within the text that can guide you to the correct answer.
• Utilize provided tools
  • If you’re taking the exam at a test center, make good use of the pen and paper provided. Drawing out data schemas, role hierarchies, or other diagrams can help you visualize and solve complex problems more effectively.
• Process of elimination
  • Use the process of elimination to discard answers that are definitely incorrect. Salesforce exams often include distractors that are either fictional features or incorrect interpretations of real features.
  • Be cautious of curveballs – answers that seem correct but are not aligned with best practices. Focus on standard Salesforce features to determine the best solution. For example, while you can create a custom approval process with Process Builder, using the standard approval process feature is often the best practice.
• Mark for review
  • Take advantage of the “Mark for review” feature. If you’re unsure about a question or need more time to think, mark it for review and return to it later. This helps you manage your time effectively and ensures you don’t get stuck on difficult questions.

After Completing the Exam

• Review your answers
  • If time permits, review all your answers, not just the ones marked for review. This comprehensive review can help you catch mistakes and make necessary corrections.
  • Pay special attention to the questions you marked for review. Re-evaluating these questions with a fresh perspective can lead to more accurate answers.
  • If in doubt, stick with your initial answer (you probably know more than you think!).

Resources

• Trailhead Exam Guide
• Become an Agentblazer
• Cert Prep: Salesforce Agentforce Specialist 

Summary

The Salesforce Agentforce Specialist certification is a valuable credential for anyone looking to advance their career in the Salesforce ecosystem and gain expertise in artificial intelligence, specifically as it applies to Salesforce. 

Having taken the exam myself, I must confess that the certification is much harder than expected. My top piece of advice would be to get hands-on experience in an Agentforce Developer Edition org before taking the exam. You need this hands-on practice to fully grasp the features and how each one slots together with the others. 

Taken the exam? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to share your tips to pass the exam!