CPC Program Description

This brief document is to introduce the new Certified Photographic Consultant™ Program -- a totally modernized update of the long-standing CPC employee testing and certification system. Let's start with the basic structure of the new CPC.
   First, the employee enrolls in the CPC program and becomes a "candidate" for eventual membership in the Society of Photographic Consultants. This can be handled by the employee, or by the company.
    Second, the candidate receives the CPC Digital Supplement and Question and Answer Booklet. The Reference Guide is also available upon request online or in CD format. This large manual covers Photo Technology -- digital photography from capture to output -- and an equally complete course on Retail Selling and Customer Relations, arranged in easy-to-study modules. The Digital Supplement is an update to the existing Reference Guide. The Question and Answer Booklet contains the 300 questions used in the CPC Qualifying and Final Examinations.
  Step Three involves the most important innovation in the new CPC system. In order to qualify to take the CPC Final Exam, the candidate must answer 90% of the "Qualifying Questions" correctly. The exams are taken online and persons receive immediate results. The exams may be taken as many times as needed until a score of 90% has been achieved. The Qualifying Exam is made up of 300 questions with an unlimited amount of time allowed. The Final Exam consists of 100 (of the 300 questions) and 120 minutes is allowed. You can see what's happening here. It's a form of quality control. The title Certified Photographic Consultant is intended to be a mark of excellence. The process we've set up is intended to set the bar high enough that it takes effort to jump over it, but not so high that it's an impossible hurdle for the kind of people you have working for you. We believe our "no fail" approach eliminates undue pressure and negative outcomes from the program, while maintaining sufficient requirements to keep "CPC" a viable benchmark of achievement. So far we've talked about CPC as an employee program. A major part of our redesign, however, has been to take the owner's interests into account. Here's what we've come up with ......
     If an outlet employs a minimum of one CPC -- enough to ensure that one will be on duty at all times -- then PMA will recognize that outlet as a Certified Photographic Consulting Center™. This designation will be something the company can advertise to the public or use in any other facet of its marketing efforts. An attractive plaque, with a customized certificate, will be given to the firm. The designation as a CPC "Center" will be held under a license from PMA. The license will require that the firm maintain enough CPC's to meet the "On Duty At All Times" requirement, or have candidates in the pipeline to replace any full-status CPCs who may have left the company. We believe the concept of Certified Photographic Consulting Centers provides companies an added incentive for participating because it gives them an ownership stake in the success of the program. Being a licensed CPC Center can enhance your firm's prestige as an Expert Photo Center. Please visit the Expert Photo Center site. Once you qualify as a CPC Center, you also qualify to be an Expert Photo Center and will be listed on the consumer site www.takegreatpictures.com.
    Best of all, it turns CPC into more than a training expenditure on a single employee -- an individual who can quit tomorrow, taking all the value of your investment out the door. As long as you remain committed to the program, you can realize important benefits no matter what your staffing situation happens to be at any given moment.
     The cost of the entire "Candidacy" process is extremely modest . complete process costs includes (1) enrollment, (2) CPC status, (3) the comprehensive Digital Supplement and the Question and Answer Booklet, (4) the entire testing procedure, and (5) a customized certificate and pin. Once certification is attained, the annual dues are again nominal (see renewal fees for each country). As far as what it costs you to be a "Certified Photographic Consulting Center," the answer is NOTHING --- absolutely nothing, except (of course) having enough CPCs current in their memberships to maintain your licensing requirement as a "Center”.