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[HEADNOTE]
CMA team helps CIM deliver to its clients by making its employees happy, and creating support systems that make accounts management a breeze
The prevalent management mantra over the past few years has been, "know your business and focus on your core competencies." It has worked for a number of companies, and has opened up a wide variety of outsourcing opportunities for others.
One of the companies to benefit from the outsourcing craze is Consumer Impact Marketing (CIM), which has turned the "know your business" mantra on its head and seen double-digit growth every year since its inception. It has done so by recognizing that information is power and that it is the combination of people and technology - over time - that produces the best results. The company has been rewarded elsewhere for its efforts too, being named one of the 50 best-managed companies in Canada by the National Post three years in a row. There's every likelihood that that successful streak will only continue.
CIM was launched in 1993 as an outsourcing company focused on events, promotions, sales and merchandising management. It has blossomed since and become a leading provider of third party strategic outsourcing services across North America, including sales force automation, data analysis, knowledge management and payroll services.
Sales and promotions
The basic services that CIM offers its clients are pretty straightforward. The events and promotions it does, for instance, might involve setting up trade show events, demonstrating products like Xbox or promoting snack food brands.
Its sales and merchandising business, on the other hand, is more complex. For several key clients, CIM acts as the year-round sales and merchandising team. It takes care of all sales-related activities, including selling and merchandising products, building displays, placing products and promotions in the right venues and maintaining relationships with clients and consumers. CIM's job is to promote the product, whatever it might be, in the most effective way, in the best venue for the target audience involved.
While these services are the foundation, the company has also taken on a variety of initiatives to satisfy client needs, such as key account management, and call centre and telesales services. And the client list includes all of the big names, from Much Music...