RENEW YOUR CPSM CREDENTIALS
Renewing your Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) designation demonstrates your commitment to strengthening your knowledge and skills while staying competitive in your profession and industry.
How to Know When It’s Time to Recertify
All CPSMs must renew certification every three years. To fulfill this requirement, you must earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) by December 31, every third year after your official certification date. For example, if you were originally certified in 2013, you must be recertified by December 31, 2016, and then again by December 31, 2019. Credits earned in one, three-year recertification cycle may not be carried forward to another three-year cycle. One continuing education unit (CEU) is awarded for each contact hour of instruction. You can easily track credits earned online.
In keeping with the high standards of the certification program, CPSMs are required to accumulate a minimum of 50 CEUs over a three-year period.
The Recertification Process
Please refer to the full CPSM Recertification Guidelines.The application fee for certification renewal is $225 for SMPS members and $375 for nonmembers; the fee should accompany your recertification application.
Below are the two steps you need to take to recertify. If you have questions about the CPSM recertification process, please contact Professional Testing Corporation (PTC) at https://ptcny.com/contact or 212-356-0660.
- Attend educational programs related to the knowledge and skillsets outlined in the SMPS Domains of Practice for Professional Services Marketers to earn 50 continuing education units.
- Submit your Recertification Application every three years via the SMPS Online Recertification Processing Portal. Note: This is a separate system from the SMPS website and uses separate logins. If you have a problem logging in, or have not received your login information, contact PTC at https://ptcny.com/contact for help. We recommend that you keep a record of CEUs earned in case of an audit by PTC. CPSMs can also use the attached CEU documentation form to capture/record any CEUs they earn if they do not receive any kind of electronic confirmation for SMPS and non-SMPS educational programs. Again, these completed forms should be retained by the individual CPSM in their portfolio in case of an audit.
A maximum of 15 CEUs may be submitted during a three-year period for the speaking/moderating at educational events and writing. CPSMs can also earn 10 CEUs during every three-year recertification cycle for reading articles in the Marketer.
A CPSM who makes an educational presentation or moderates a panel or roundtable at an event open to the general profession and marketing community can earn one CEU for each instruction hour with students. In addition, the presenter or moderator may receive one CEU for every two hours of research and preparation time.
Download the CPSM Speaker Documentation Form to keep track of your CEUs earned in case of an audit by PTC.
A CPSM who authors an article during the recertification time frame is eligible to receive one CEU for every 500 words published. This includes articles or other industry publications whose content covers any of the six Domains of Practice and is available to the general profession and marketing community. The author may write for SMPS or any other organization. In addition, the author may receive one CEU for every two hours of research used to write the article. Articles written for internal publication at one’s own firm do not qualify unless the publication is available to the general profession and marketing community.
Download the CPSM Writing Documentation Form to keep track of your CEUs earned in case of an audit by PTC.
A CPSM may earn CEUs for reading Marketer articles and answering questions based on the articles. One CEU can be earned for each feature article marked with the SMPS CEU logo. For documentation purposes, you should make copies of your answers to keep on file in case you are audited.
Any SMPS webinar originally broadcast at least one year earlier is free for CPSMs regardless of whether you are a member or nonmember to watch online. To access webinars, visit the Live and On Demand Webinars page. Look for the green “Register (Free!)” button to access archived webinars free of charge. Follow the simple registration steps and the online learning portal will recognize you as a CPSM in the system and add the webinar to your dashboard for free. You earn 1.5 CEUs for every webinar you view. The webinars are covered under general CEU programming, so there is no limit on the number of CEUs you can earn per recertification period.
One continuing education unit (CEU) is awarded for each contact hour of instruction. A contact hour is defined as one hour of interaction between a learner and an instructor. For purposes of calculating CEUs, your breaks, meals, and social/networking time cannot be included in the contact time.
For functions with more than one hour of contact time, the minimum increment of contact time eligible for CEUs is 15 minutes, which cannot be rounded up to the next greatest interval. A presentation during a meal function can be counted for the length of the presentation only. Meeting time devoted to chapter business and committee activities cannot be counted.
SMPS recertification will be processed online. Visit the SMPS Recertification Portal to view your certification history and log CEUs in the online portal. Note: This is a separate system from the SMPS website and uses separate logins. If you have a problem logging in or have not received your login information, contact PTC here for help. When you have recorded the required number of CEUs, you will be able to submit your online application and payment.
Certified Professional Services Marketers who maintain their certification throughout their careers will be certified for life upon reaching the age of 65. No further reporting is necessary except for notifying the SMPS certification administrator of meeting the age requirement.
Have questions? Please email knowledge@smps.org
