OUTSOURCED sales agency CPM Ireland is planning a major expansion in the north which will see it double its staff numbers to 120 in the next two years.
CPM, part of the New York-listed media agency Omnicom, is Ireland’s longest established and largest field sales agency, founded 37 years ago.
It has had a presence in Northern Ireland for the last decade, where it works with major blue chip clients such as Diageo, Electric Ireland, Samsung, BT and LRS (Lucozade, Ribena, Suntory).
Its Ireland general manager John Healy, who has more than 25 years’ experience working in the food and retail sectors domestically and internationally, says the company is on a “strong growth trajectory” locally.
Speaking to the Irish News while in Belfast at a staff road show he said: “The last few years have seen a huge growth in CPM's presence in Northern Ireland, with an investment of £3 million in the last 18 months alone, with lots of job creation and more to come.
“We've been growing the business significantly here in that time, doubling our client base and opening a new office in Mallusk, as well as developing a diverse and multi-talented CPM team.
“And right now, fuelled by those significant business wins, we're in recruitment mode
“We're looking for more talent in a wide range of roles from door to door sales, refrigeration engineers, service and dispense reps and customer service advisers.”
CPM operates in 28 countries, providing outsourced sales & field marketing teams huge global brands including PepsiCo, Britvic, Glaxo Smith Kline, Amazon, Microsoft, and Vodafone.
On the island of Ireland it employs around 1,000 people - 650 permanently and 350 on a campaign basis.
John says CPM “brings together the combined power of sales, marketing and customer experience to influence the total customer journey.”
Working in partnership with Electric Ireland in the north for the last 18 months, CPM has build up a local team of 28, of whom 20 are in field sales and the remainder hybrid operations and managers.
CPM also recently secured the Elavon account for Ireland and the UK, which has led to an expansion of its presence in NI and Scotland, while its work with Vodafone Ireland had led to a team of salespeople being recruited in Northern Ireland selling into the south.
“We have found the talent pool in Belfast is excellent, so our aim is to quickly expand the team further and grow our Northern Ireland presence,” added Healy, who hails from Co Kildare.
He was directly involved in the integration of the Super Quinn brand into Musgraves, following its acquisition from Select Retail Holdings, which had purchased the business from Fergal Quinn.
He also led the Super Quinn ambient trade and fresh teams for a number of years, building and growing their unique stature within Irish retail.
Prior to taking the helm in CPM Ireland in January last year, he was the global head of leading commercial multi-billion retailer Aer Rianta International.
