Britt Landrum Jr. can't remember exactly how many clients he had the first year he opened his small employment office in downtown Pensacola.
Probably about 20, he figures.
His recollection is a little sharper when it comes to that first year's income.
"I do remember that the total of all fees collected in my first year was $25,000 -- more than I ever made, but hardly enough to pay all the bills and take something home, even in 1970," he said.
Some 37 years later, he is president and CEO of a company with three divisions, 120 employees and combined sales topping $370 million last year.
And while that kind of success might define excellence for many small businessmen, Landrum and his employees are celebrating an accomplishment he feels is a much better measure.
Landrum Professional Employer Services was one of six state organizations to be awarded the Governor's Sterling Award at a ceremony earlier this month in Orlando.
The Sterling Award is modeled after the Malcolm Baldridge National Criteria for Performance Excellence, established by the U.S. Congress in 1987 to recognize quality and business achievements of U.S. organizations.
Familiar terms pepper the criteria for the Sterling Award: leadership, performance results, organizational excellence.
But the rigorous examination that follows a Sterling application is designed to make sure that companies' claims to excellence are more than words on paper.
Sterling Council examiners -- volunteers from public and private organizations throughout Florida -- visited Landrum twice and spent hundreds of hours verifying information in the application. They talked to every Landrum employee.
"The questions were as broad as, 'Is there anything you'd like to tell us?' " said Landrum employee Leslie Gordon, who authored the Sterling application.
Often, examiners ask if employees know what the company's goals are and what their part in reaching that goal is, said Gordon, who also volunteers as an examiner of other Sterling Award applications.
The award does not come easily or quickly. The application alone is 50 pages.
Charts and flowcharts accompany the 50 pages of text. They detail everything from strategy and management structure to product and service outcomes.
In Landrum's case, the road to cinching the Sterling Award began in December 2004 after a now-retired employee suggested the award would be a good goal for the company. That employee, Harry Booros, was among the group to travel to Orlando earlier this month to accept the Sterling Award.
"We just saw it as a way to get better as an organization," said Ted Kirchharr, vice president and chief operating officer at Landrum.
The result? For one, the company scrapped its annual planning meetings and replaced them with monthly all-employee meetings and quarterly meetings for key leadership members.
Kirchharr thinks all Landrum employees, as a result, are more in tune with the company's goals and its clients' needs.
In the fall, Landrum will host an open house, where anyone is invited to come and see how it operates.
"The idea is you can take this business model, and it applies to any organization," Kirchharr said.
While Landrum employees worked toward achieving its Sterling Award, the company continued its role on the front lines of local businesses' battle against record low employment and rising health care costs. .
Gail Ackerman, CEO at Pensacola-based Bogan Supply Inc., said her company has relied on Landrum for staffing and human resources services for the past 10 years.
"We've grown as a company quite a bit and they've grown with us," she said. "I think they've been innovative."
Bogan, a plumbing distributor with about 80 employees and eight branches, relies on Landrum for payroll and benefit services.
"I've charged them with our latest quest to find cheaper health insurance for our employees," Ackerman said.
In addition to the security and professionalism she gets from Landrum, Ackerman likes the fact that Landrum is a well-connected, locally based company that gives back to the community.
A few years ago, Landrum said he developed a theory about what it takes to be successful in business, a theory he boils down to three goals: Provide the highest quality service possible to clients; make the company the very best place to work for employees; earn a reasonable profit.
The Sterling Award indicates his company is achieving the first goal, Landrum said. As for the second goal, his company has twice been named one of the 25 Best Small Companies to Work for in America, an award hosted by the Society of Human Resource Management.
"My philosophy is that if a company takes care of goals one and two, making a profit will be no problem," Landrum said. "So far, that's worked for us."
