Just a Minute with Melissa Nonken Gursky, president of Promotional Marketing Group Ltd.

Company address: 7160 W. Donges Bay Road, Mequon
Company Web site: http://demo.epmgltd.com
Industry: Promotional merchandise distributor
Number of employees: 7
Education: Bachelor of arts in journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dale Carnegie Sales Course
Family: Daughter, Samantha; and sons, Benjamin and Alexander
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
"We became a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and joined the Oracle PartnerNetwork."
What’s new at your company?
"Promotional Marketing Group is one of only a few companies in the country to marry the disciplines of promotional merchandise, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supplier diversity. We developed an on-line promotional merchandise program called E-PMG, which interfaces with a client’s ERP system, such as Oracle, to reduce transaction costs and maverick purchases."
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
"We find ourselves in a unique position and will continue to work with emerging technologies and exciting clients."
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year? "We will be forming partnerships with companies that use ERP, to create full-service, cost-effective promotional merchandise programs."
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
"There’s a new item every day in our industry. We’re tapping into the trend in the greater business world toward e-procurement and supply chain management."
Do you have a business mantra?
"We answer our phones with ‘May I help you?’ That says it all."
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
"I have been fortunate to work with some incredibly intelligent women with a strong sense of social justice, both in business and as a volunteer. My other role model and personal hero is my grandfather."
What was the best advice you ever received?
"My father told me that anything worth doing is worth doing well."
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your career?
"We have to test our products for quality control. So we ‘scientifically’ tested which kind of chocolate was more user-friendly, a two-pound bar of milk chocolate or a gift box with smaller squares of milk and dark chocolate. The smaller squares won because nobody wanted to be the first to bring out a knife and hack up the big bar."
What do you like to do in your free time?
"I’m taking classes in interior design. I would love to buy an old house and renovate it."
October 1, 2004, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI