Last year Manchester Interactive Marketing experienced their most successful year to date, achieving record sales, their highest ever profit margins and expansion into new markets after opening a new branch in Glasgow City Centre. As a fitting end to the year, they attended an Industry Awards Ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall in London’s South Bank. In a period when there are more threats of recession and raising unemployment levels in the UK, the Awards Ceremony offered an insight into the exciting future of the Direct Sales & Marketing industry – recently dubbed “Recession Proof” by Manchester Interactive Marketing’s Managing Director Gilles Baudet.

The first half of the ceremony was dedicated to rewarding those deemed to have performed ‘exceptionally’ in 2011 with ‘rising star’ and ‘Top Performance’ awards. For Manchester Interactive Marketing, who narrowly missed out on the 5 different awards for which they were nominated, the ceremony was a great chance to network with other Independent Sales Advisors who were deemed winners. The event provided them with the opportunity to learn from the winners of the Rising Star award for showing great promise within their first 3 months and the Top Performance award, which is again presented in recognition of ‘exceptional sales performance & entrepreneurial spirit.’

For those from Manchester Interactive Marketing, the highlight of the ceremony by far was the 40 minute motivational speech from James Caan, one of the UK most well known, successful entrepreneurs and former star of BBC’s Dragon’s Den. Caan addressed over 2,000 entrepreneurs in attendance representing UK and Irish businesses along with international guests from across Europe and North America. Gilles Baudet, MD at Manchester Interactive Marketing commented, “It was amazing to hear where James (Caan) began and how he views the industry we’re in. To say I was inspired would be a drastic under-statement. I’m buzzing with excitement about this coming year and will take on board many of the lessons he shared with us about his time in business. The organizers of the event branded it ‘a resounding success and enjoyed by all those who attended.’

Manchester Interactive Marketing will now look to mirror their achievements of 2011 and have set their sights on another record-breaking year. Gilles Baudet concluded, “The hard work starts here. We’ve got a lot going on and it’s a really exciting time to be part of such a motivated group of people. We believe this year will mark the start of a great future for anybody involved with Manchester Interactive Marketing. Come next year, we hope to be winning all of these prestigious awards.”