About Stephanie Wood, CPSM
Share some news with us: 2017 marks my 10-year anniversary with Stantec!
How has SMPS helped you in your career? Networking, educational opportunities, and becoming a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM).
Share a helpful hint with your fellow SMPS members: There are so many great books out there for marketing, communication, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and leadership. Start your own book club (or something of the like), whether it’s within your SMPS chapter, company, or just your network. It’s a non-stressful, fun environment where you can freely explore, communicate, and learn.
Also, share your knowledge and experiences. Whether inside or outside of your firm/organization, become a trainer in an area in which you specialize and enjoy. I’ve found that the more you share, the more you learn.
Tell us something we’d be surprised to learn about you. I have my degree in theatre, studied classical voice, and have recorded two CDs. I also trained in gymnastics for 12 years, which helped me when performing in musical theatre—I could always throw tricks and flips when needed.
Tell us about a recent work day: I earned 10,000 steps…and this is how: I grabbed my caffeine, then—as always—checked in with my team! I touched based with my local staff in person, then Skyped with each of my remote direct reports to be sure they were doing well and to see how they were feeling about their workloads. With the team situated, I hopped onto the system and approved timecards and expense reports.
Once the coffee kicked in, I bravely opened my Outlook and sorted through, prioritized, and responded to a dozen or so new marketing-support requests from across the region. Of course, that meant pulling up my trusty interactive workload report so I could play the never-ending chess game of strategically assigning my talented marketing specialists to a myriad of new pursuits with competing and overlapping deadlines—proposals, presentations, brochures, conferences, training sessions, and the list goes on.
Running to and from meetings packed my day from there on out: SMPS Orange County board meeting, proposal kick-off meeting, regional marketing team meeting, safety committee meeting, and interview preparation meeting. And, of course, the non-scheduled one-off happenings, 911 requests and issues, and conversations filled any of my spare moments. At the end of the day, my Franklin Covey planner had more checks than arrows, which I consider success!
As a CPSM, how has certification benefitted you? Studying for the CPSM exam reinforced information, experiences, practices, and processes that I was already familiar with on different levels. The studying and test-taking process has helped me keep all the information top of mind for immediate use in a variety of settings—BD or client meetings, staff management, industry conferences, proposals, etc. That said, I keep my books close by and refer to them whenever I need.
I’ve noticed that there’s a certain respect and recognition that I receive when people learn I’m a CPSM. Even if they don’t know what it is exactly, they realize it took focused effort to earn the designation. I’m not aware of any A/E/C marketing college degrees out there. That’s why the CPSM is so important. It’s an excellent way to show that I made it a priority to become more formally educated in our very specialized field. I’m honored to be part of the SMPS CPSM family.
