What Is a CPSM?

SMPS, the recognized leader in education and information for marketing professional services, offers a credential that recognizes your expertise: Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM).

Your marketing skills are vital to the lifeline of your firm. Every day you further your company’s growth by identifying new project opportunities, developing business relationships, and getting your company’s name in front of prospective clients. That’s your job as a professional services marketer.

The CPSM credential is a voluntary certification designed to elevate the professional standards in marketing and influence the future of this vital field. Further, the CPSM designation serves as a mark of distinction for professional services marketers and business developers, raising their standing with their employers, peers, and the public.


Benefits of Certification:

A CPSM is recognized as an individual who has met a rigorous standard of experience and expertise in marketing professional services and has demonstrated their knowledge of the practice and related disciplines through a thorough examination of marketing competency. This individual further adheres to the ethics and responsibilities of the profession as outlined in the CPSM Code of Ethics.

For Employers

SMPS, the authority on marketing professional services, has published the SMPS Domains of Practice which is the body of knowledge outlining the disciplines and skills required for successful professional services marketing. Through the SMPS certification program, an employer can be assured that their marketing professionals have what it takes to generate profitable business through demonstrated proficiency in the domains of practice.

Certification is a time-tested means of measuring a professional’s credentials. The CPSM sets the standard for all service-marketing professionals within the design and building industry. Because the Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) designation is the model for excellence within the services marketing profession, qualifying for it demonstrates an employee’s pledge to excellence.

A CPSM on your staff brings many benefits to your organization:

  • A diverse background and skills to successfully develop meaningful project opportunities for the firm
  • Documented background and experience in marketing management to help plan the future growth and prosperity of the firm
  • Knowledge and experience to complete projects more effectively than their peers
  • Commitment to keeping abreast of the latest marketing trends
  • Increased professionalism

CPSMs are identified as the experts — professionals who have turned their knowledge into results for their companies. They’ve developed databases of qualified prospects, found the most creative ways to communicate with them, built the types of relationships that generate repeat business opportunities, and prepared proposals and presentations that win new business. CPSMs know how to find and deliver profitable business! Consequently, employers who hired CPSMs or support the certification of their employees can be confident that they employ the best-qualified professionals to build business for their firms.

For Professionals

Being a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) means being a part of something special. You have successfully positioned yourself among an elite group of professional services marketers who have invested in themselves and understand and embrace the need for continuous improvement through education, enhancing their opportunity for professional success.

The CPSM designation is a recognized mark of distinction. The achievement offers you a wide range of important benefits:

  • Increased knowledge in strategic market planning, market research, plan implementation, business development, and promotion
  • Demonstrates your dedication to the professional services marketing profession
  • Industry recognition of professional competence
  • Enhanced credibility with employers, clients, and peers
  • Improved ability to compete in the job market
  • Potential for increased compensation and benefits
  • Career advancement
  • Public recognition in the roster of CPSMs on the SMPS web site
  • Invitation to CPSM-only educational and networking programs
  • Access to the CPSM communities on MySMPS and LinkedIn

Upon earning the CPSM designation, you will receive:

  • A personalized certificate of achievement
  • A CPSM lapel pin
  • A notification letter sent to your employer
  • Acknowledgement in SMPS’s publications, on the web site, and at Build Business, the annual conference
  • A professional designation that is portable as you move geographically or from one service industry to another.

Become a CPSM

Learn more about eligibility and the application process.

Get Started

Recertify

Your certification is good for 3 years; be sure to keep your credentials up to date.

Recertify

CPSM Week is not taking place this year.

Have questions? Please email knowledge@smps.org.