- SMBS here means Cisco Small and Medium Business Sales, exam code 700-250, tied to Cisco's Small and Medium Business Sales Specialization.
- The exam costs USD $80 plus tax, runs 90 minutes, and is open-book, self-administered, and non-proctored through Pearson VUE.
- Ten official objectives each carry 10%, so no single domain can be skipped without hurting your result.
- Cisco does not publish a passing score, and the reviewed sources do not establish a question count or pass rate.
What a SMBS Actually Is: Cisco's 700-250 Sales Exam
If you searched "What is a SMBS?" and landed here, the answer on this site is specific: SMBS is the Cisco Small and Medium Business Sales exam, code 700-250. It is associated with Cisco's Small and Medium Business Sales Specialization and is aimed at the sales side of the Cisco partner ecosystem. It is not a hands-on engineering test, and it is not a general business credential. Other certifications elsewhere in the industry happen to share the same four letters, but nothing in this article applies to them.
The exam belongs to Cisco's 700-series, which Cisco positions for channel partners. These exams focus on how to position Cisco's portfolio to customers, how to talk about business outcomes, and how to take solutions to market. If you want the shorter definitional versions of this topic, our pages on what SMBS is, what SMBS stands for, and the SMBS meaning cover the naming. For the credential itself, see the SMBS certification overview.
Who the Exam Is Built For
The 700-250 targets people who sell or support the sale of Cisco solutions into small and medium businesses. That typically means account executives, sales specialists, business development staff, and partner-side managers who need to speak credibly about Cisco's SMB offerings without configuring a router.
The ten objectives reveal the intended audience. They cover partnership with Cisco, workplace experiences, security, application performance, go-to-market planning, and managed service provider (MSP) opportunities. Almost every heading is framed around a business situation a customer faces rather than a command-line task. For the formal side of eligibility, our SMBS requirements guide explains how qualification works.
What it is not
- It is not a configuration or troubleshooting exam.
- It is not a proctored, locked-down test.
- It is not a substitute for individual engineering certifications.
Exam Format, Fee, and Delivery Mechanics
The logistics are unusual compared with many certification exams, and they matter for planning. Here is the delivery picture based on Cisco's and Pearson VUE's published information.
| Item | Detail for 700-250 |
|---|---|
| Exam code | 700-250 SMBS |
| Provider | Pearson VUE (Cisco exam) |
| Fee | USD $80 plus tax, under Cisco's 700-series channel-partner rate |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Format | Self-administered, non-proctored, open-book, online |
| Attempts per purchase | One, to be completed within two days |
| Pause behavior | Closing the browser pauses the exam clock; resume within the two-day window and remaining exam time |
| Retake wait after failing | 48 hours |
| Language | English listed on the overview; Japanese appears on Cisco's exam list, so confirm during registration |
| Passing score | Not published by Cisco |
| Question count and pass rate | Not established by the reviewed exact-exam sources |
A note on the 90-minute figure
You may see an older document estimating 60 minutes for this exam. The current Cisco exam page and the current objective outline both specify 90 minutes, so plan around 90. If you want the full cost breakdown, including how tax affects the total, read our SMBS certification cost guide.
What "open-book" really means
Cisco lists the exam as open-book, which changes how you prepare. You are not rewarded for memorizing a spec sheet. You are rewarded for knowing where to look and for interpreting scenarios correctly. That said, 90 minutes is finite, so hunting for every answer is a losing strategy. Candidates who already understand the positioning logic use reference material to confirm details, not to learn the topic mid-exam.
The Ten Exam Objectives Explained
Cisco publishes ten objective headings, each weighted 10%, for a total of 100%. Cisco describes these as guidelines, allows related topics to appear, and may change them. The headings are also not preparation-curriculum allocations, meaning the weighting reflects exam coverage rather than how much course time each topic gets. The official outline is a two-page document linked from Cisco's exam page. For a deeper walk-through, see our complete guide to all 10 SMBS content areas.
Domain 1: Partnership Opportunities with Cisco
This domain is about the relationship between you and Cisco as a channel partner.
- How the partner model creates sales and services opportunities
- What partnership means for your business development and customer reach
- Recognizing the value you bring and receive in the program
Domain 2: Enabling People, Enhancing Workspaces
Focuses on how technology supports employees and the physical and digital places they work.
- Connecting workplace outcomes to Cisco solutions
- Framing conversations around productivity and collaboration
Domain 3: Exploring SMB Experiences
Understanding what small and medium businesses actually need, how they buy, and what constrains them.
- Typical SMB challenges and priorities
- Tailoring a pitch to a smaller organization's resources
Domain 4: Navigating Hybrid Workforce Experiences
Covers businesses where people split time between office and elsewhere.
- Needs created by mixed in-office and remote work
- Positioning solutions that bridge both environments
Domain 5: Adapting to Remote Workforce Experiences
Addresses fully distributed teams and what they require from technology.
- Remote collaboration and connectivity concerns
- Differences between remote-first and hybrid conversations
Domain 6: Securing the Modern Workplace
Security as a sales theme for SMB customers who often lack dedicated security staff.
- Why security belongs in nearly every SMB conversation
- Matching security offerings to customer risk concerns
Domain 7: Implementing SMART IT
Covers how to help customers modernize and simplify their IT environments.
- Positioning simplified, manageable infrastructure
- Connecting IT modernization to business results
Domain 8: Enhancing Application Performance
Speaks to the customer's experience of the applications they depend on.
- Why application performance is a business concern, not only a technical one
- Linking Cisco solutions to a smoother user experience
Domain 9: Mastering Cisco's Go-to-Market Strategies
One of the two final, distinctly sales-oriented domains. It covers how to take Cisco offerings to market effectively.
- Go-to-market planning and customer engagement approaches
- Aligning your sales motion with Cisco's strategies
Domain 10: Exploring MSP and Services Opportunities
The other sales-specific domain, looking at managed service provider models and service-based revenue.
- How MSP and services models differ from one-time product sales
- Recognizing recurring and services opportunities within SMB accounts
Because the weighting is flat, a candidate who ignores Domains 9 and 10 gives up 20% of the exam coverage, the same as skipping any two others. If you want to know how demanding this really is, see how hard the SMBS exam is.
What the Questions Reward
Cisco does not publish a question count for this exam in the sources reviewed, so be wary of any site that quotes one as fact. What the objective headings do tell you is the style of thinking being tested: scenario recognition, business-need matching, and sales-motion judgment.
Expect business framing over bits and bytes
Nearly every objective heading is phrased as a customer situation or a business goal. Expect items that ask which approach best fits a described customer, which opportunity a given circumstance points to, or how a partner should position an offering. Technical vocabulary appears, but usually in service of a positioning decision.
Related topics can appear
Cisco states that related topics may be included beyond the literal headings. In practice, that means you should study the neighborhood around each domain rather than treating the heading as a narrow fence. Reading Cisco's official preparation material, Small and Medium Business - Sales, is the most direct way to cover that neighborhood.
Key Takeaway
Do not rely on memorized facts alone. Because the exam is open-book and scenario-oriented, your edge comes from quickly matching a customer situation to the right domain's logic, then using reference material only to verify details.
Who Hires for This Skill Set
The exam does not promise a specific job title, and Cisco does not publish placement data tied to it. What we can say is where the knowledge it validates is useful: organizations that sell Cisco solutions into the SMB market.
- Cisco channel partners and resellers that need sales staff who can speak to SMB customers across collaboration, security, and infrastructure themes.
- Managed service providers building recurring-revenue relationships with small and medium businesses, which ties directly to Domain 10.
- Distributors and solution providers that support partner sales motions.
Roles that benefit include account managers, inside sales representatives, business development managers, and pre-sales or sales-engineering support. For a realistic look at the career side, see our pages on SMBS-related jobs, the SMBS salary guide, and whether the certification is worth it. We avoid quoting salary numbers here because Cisco does not publish them for this exam.
A Domain-Based Preparation Sequence
Rather than generic scheduling advice, here is a sequence built around how the ten domains relate to each other. It assumes you have the official outline open and are working through Cisco's Small and Medium Business - Sales material. For broader strategy, our SMBS study guide goes deeper, and the SMBS cheat sheet is useful for a final review.
Foundation: Domains 1 and 3
- Learn the partner relationship first, since it frames everything else
- Study SMB buyer behavior so later scenarios make sense
Workforce Themes: Domains 2, 4, and 5
- Group these because they share a people-and-workspace logic
- Practice distinguishing hybrid from fully remote scenarios
Technology Positioning: Domains 6, 7, and 8
- Pair security, IT simplification, and application performance as outcome-driven topics
Sales Motion: Domains 9 and 10, Then Review
- Finish with go-to-market and MSP topics so they sit on top of the earlier material
- Run practice questions across all ten domains and revisit weak spots
Four weeks is a suggestion, not a requirement. Adjust it to your experience. Someone already selling Cisco into SMBs daily may compress this considerably. When you are ready to test yourself, our SMBS practice tests let you drill each domain separately, and you can read about the pass-rate data and passing score situation to set realistic expectations. If you are scheduling, check exam dates and scheduling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here it refers to Cisco Small and Medium Business Sales, exam code 700-250, associated with the Cisco Small and Medium Business Sales Specialization. See what SMBS means for more on the naming.
The fee is USD $80 plus tax under Cisco's 700-series channel-partner exam rate, delivered through Pearson VUE. The exam lasts 90 minutes.
No. It is self-administered, non-proctored, and open-book. Each purchase allows one attempt, which must be completed within two days. Closing the browser pauses the clock, but you must resume within the two-day window and remaining exam time.
Cisco does not publish a passing score, and the reviewed exact-exam sources do not establish a question count or pass rate. Treat any specific figure you see elsewhere with caution.
You must wait 48 hours before retesting, and a new attempt requires a new purchase. Use the wait to review the domains where scenario questions felt weakest, then retake once you have closed those gaps. For related information, see what SMBS certification is and SMBS training options.