Pro Motion Voted Best Place to Work

Best Place to Work

St. Louis, May 14, 2004: Pro Motion Inc. is a different kind of company with a different kind of corporate culture. Just ask Cathi Kennedy, office manager for the West Port Plaza-based marketing agency. She was given the green light to take her young son to work for more than a year and a half.

Ask any of the 15 home-office employees and their spouses who received a company-paid team-building retreat at the beach resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, during last year's Christmas season.

Ask Bryan Baskett, a client account manager, who finds that a daily staff meeting is the perfect forum for solving company -- or personal -- problems. Or ask the company's young field workers who annually can earn $30,000 or more passing out Anheuser-Busch beers at sporting events around the country.

Company President Steve Randazzo has found that putting employees first has paid big dividends to the company he founded in 1995. "We've really grown over the last four years," Randazzo said. "We've been growing 25 (percent) to 30 percent per year and had revenue approaching $10 million last year."

Randazzo, 41, credits his employees for that success. The home-office staff has grown to 17 this year, and depending on the field staff working on projects, total employment nears 50. "I've never been around more dedicated individuals in my life," Randazzo said. "They have the entrepreneurial spirit and the autonomy to get the job done."

The job typically revolves around what Randazzo calls "live advertising." In the marketing field, Pro Motion is regarded as a sales promotion agency that specializes in mobile product sampling. The company's cohorts of mostly 20-something "field ambassadors" travel around the country pushing products and services in stores and at special events. Runners at a regional marathon, for instance, cross the finish line to discover a Michelob Ultra beer being thrust in their hands. Or shoppers at Home Depot stores have the opportunity to handle the saws and routers of agency client Bosch Power Tools.

To be successful, Randazzo said Pro Motion needs cadres of clean-cut, enthusiastic field workers and a central office staff that knows how to keep them motivated and productive. And Randazzo thinks the company has found the right formula:

Employees first always
Make it happen
Reputation before revenue
Work as a team; win as a team
Commitment to safety

For company managers, good business starts with employee relationships. While the company offers common benefits such as 401(k), profit sharing, life insurance and tuition reimbursement, Pro Motion also offers flextime; is instituting a mentoring program; routinely conducts employee satisfaction surveys; shares company financial information on a monthly basis; distributes annual bonuses that average more than $1,000; and provides games for employee children who may have to spend some time in the office.

One innovative agency program is the 2:02 meeting, a daily staff get-together during which St. Louis office employees share successes and problems, sometimes of a personal nature.

"During the meeting, we talk not only about the good things that are happening," Baskett said, "but also about where someone might be stuck with a problem."

The company also makes a substantial investment in training, spending an average of three weeks teaching each field ambassador, according to Julie Doherty, Pro Motion's director of player development. "They report to their project managers daily, so if something comes up we take care of it right away," Doherty said. "We really do work as a team and win as a team."

According to Baskett, the company has had no manager turnover within the last four years and has successfully placed many field ambassadors, who typically work in the field for no more than 12 to 18 months, in client-side marketing and sales positions. "We've almost become a training ground for Anheuser-Busch," Baskett, 37, said. "The way we do business and treat employees pays dividends, not only for the people who work here, but also for our vendors and clients who hear about the things we do," Baskett said.

William Poe is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.