Make it to the Top
Demonstrate your Professional Excellence: Resolve to Become a Certified Professional Services Marketer
You are vital to the lifeline of your firm. Every day you help your company grow by identifying new project opportunities, developing business relationships, branding your firm, strategizing your firm’s future development, and getting your company’s name in front of prospective clients. That’s your job as a professional services marketer. The Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), the recognized leader in marketing for the design and building industry, offers a credential that recognizes your experience and demonstrates your skills: Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM).
Certification is the time-tested means of measuring a professional’s credentials. It sets the standard for architects, engineers, attorneys, accountants, and many other professionals. Now, professional services have a benchmark to measure their excellence and knowledge. The demanding journey to certification helps ensure the highest quality preparation and training for professional services marketers. Holders of the CPSM designation are recognized as the best prepared to develop databases of qualified prospects, find the most creative ways to communicate with them, build the types of relationships that generate ongoing business opportunities, and prepare proposals and presentations that win new business. Consequently, employers can be confident that they have hired the best-qualified professional to market their firm’s services.
CPSM Study Group
SMPS is committed to being the premier source for education and information in marketing professional services within the built and natural environments. In keeping with this mission, SMPS SF Bay Area Chapter has supported our members in becoming more proficient in the skill sets for A/E/C marketing, embodied in the following six domains of practice:
- Marketing Research
- Marketing Plan
- Client and Business Development
- SOQs/Proposals
- Promotional Activity
- Information, Resource, and Organizational Management
These knowledge and skill sets are the foundation of SMPS’ Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) Program. Join fellow members and study for your CPSM! Earning a CPSM designation offers you a wide range of important benefits including:
- Enhanced credibility as a professional in the A/E/C community
- Expanded professional network
- Increased potential for additional compensation and benefits
- CPSM List Serve becomes your resource for answers to your questions and valuable ideas from CPSMs throughout the nation
With enough expressed interest, the chapter will also offer a study group to help qualified candidates prepare for the exam. If you have any questions, or if you are interested in participating in the CPSM Study Group, please contact the chapter CPSM Affiliate.
Minimum Qualifications
To sit for the CPSM Examination, candidates must be proficient in the knowledge and skills identified in SMPS Domains of Practice for Professional Services Marketers. Each candidate must meet the following requirements:
- Possess a bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree plus four years of experience in marketing or business development for firms providing professional services, or
- Possess an associate’s degree plus six years work experience in marketing or business development for firms providing professional services, or
- Without a degree, have eight years of experience in marketing or business development for firms providing professional services.
The 150-question, multiple-choice certification exam is offered in two formats, a traditional paper exam or an online exam. Candidates must achieve a 75% score or higher to pass the CPSM examination. Additional information about the exam and the certification process can be found at www.smps.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Certification
To view a list of SMPS SF members who have completed certification, click here.
