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November, 2008
"COMPANY HAS REDEEMING VALUE" - KC Small Business Magazine, Issue 11, November 2008
 LENEXA, KS – Have fun is in the company’s mission statement. But, really, how could you be an
employee at Redemption Plus and not have fun? After all, employees are surrounded every day by toys
and are invited to play with them all the time. It’s a part of the job description for the company that’s
responsible for distributing toys and prizes to family entertainment centers, educational learning
centers and fund-raising companies throughout the country.
The 13-year-old company began as a way for Sylvan Learning Centers to keep its school stores
stocked with merchandise, said Ron Hill, company president and CEO, who founded Redemption
Plus with several other investors. At the time, Hill didn’t have any experience in the industry, but he
did know how to run a business, having been part owner of an ExecuTrain franchise in Seattle.
He’d just moved back to Kansas City, ready for another venture when the opportunity to start
Redemption Plus presented itself.
Bumpy Start
Redemption Plus’s story, while it has a happy ending so far, didn’t start out in fairy-tale fashion,
Hill said.
“It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t a success,” he said. “We made a lot of mistakes.”
The two most damaging mistakes were being woefully underfunded and not hiring the right people.
“We hired the people we could afford, instead of those who could drive the business,” Hill said.
The situation became dire enough in 2000 that Hill and Matsch considered shuttering the
business altogether.
“Margins were low and sales were not where we needed them to be,” he said.
That was the impetus Hill and others needed to turn things around, to become very creative
about their work.
Ironically, with a new focus, the company’s business picked up after 9/11.
“We just knew that we had good people, a great product and great things to provide our
customers,” Hill said.
So what exactly does Redemption Plus do? Well, walk into just about any arcade, look at the
available prizes and there’s a good chance the company is responsible for the prizes being
there. Redemption Plus doesn’t manufacture the prizes. Instead, it combs the world looking
for just the right baubles to entice players to put more quarters in the machines. At
educational centers, such as Sylvan locations, the idea is to get students to make more visits
to the site’s store. For fundraisers, the goals vary depending on the organization.
Industry Innovator
As Hill and his team worked to save the company, they realized Redemption Plus needed to be
an industry innovator. Hill’s background is in technology, so he seized on the idea that
there had to be a better way to track customers’ orders, their redemption value and his
inventory.
“We set out to bring technology to an industry that wasn’t adopting it,” Hill said.
“We pushed the industry.”
The technology the company developed — digital packing list — was the first in the industry
to do away with manual entry of products. The company had seen many customers lose money by
redeeming prizes for less than their value because someone entered a price wrong. Digital
packing list makes it possible for Redemption Plus to send the correct information electronically
to a customer, thus eliminating errors. The technology has been so successful that Redemption
Plus recently was awarded a trademark for the product.
The company also ramped up its customer service efforts as part of its reinvention.
“We were the first company to bundle everything companies should have in prizes,” Hill said.
“We custompriced our merchandise. We really look at the way our customers are selling and
redeeming the products.
“When we started, we bought less expensive products from China. But we worked to get a lot of
retail name brands for redemption. Our competitors followed us there and are trying to follow
us with technology.”
People Make It Work
One of the promises Hill made to himself when he started hiring employees was that Redemption Plus
would be a place where people would have fun and would be proud to work.
“We want people to be better for having worked here,” he said. “We have a long way to go, but we’ve
come a long way with it. We give people big jobs and allow them to make mistakes and decisions.”
Almost from the beginning, Hill realized he couldn’t do everything himself, despite wanting to be in
control of it all, like many entrepreneurs.
“I wanted to build a team—one that was smarter than me,” he said.
Hiring remains one of the toughest parts of owning a business, Hill said. It’s all about hiring the
right people, which, he admits, he hasn’t always done.
He’s also fostered a family atmosphere at the company, centered on a good work-life balance for all.
“We want people to succeed,” he said. “But we want people to have a life and not be dominated
by work. I think you have more dedication and get more from people that way.”
The family feel extends to the warehouse crew, a group of young people who have worked packing boxes
for distribution for several years. They went to college this year and Hill was amazed at their reaction to
leaving the business.
“They were coming to me and thanking me for the opportunity to have worked here,” he said. “They’ve helped
us a lot. They know the business and they love it. It’s been cool to watch them grow and mature.”
Giving Back Is Important
In addition to wanting his business to succeed, Hill feels a responsibility to give back to the community.
Redemption Plus participates in a number of small events and fundraisers throughout the year, but it’s the
company’s HillOween event that draws the most attention. The combination online auction/costume party is
staged each October with a goal of raising more than $100,000 for the Lee Ann Britain Infant Development
Center’s Autism Therapy Program. The first HillOween party was at Hill’s house in 2000. It wasn’t until
2004 that the event took a charitable turn, though. The Infant Development Center was chosen as the
event’s focus after Hill and his wife, Barbie, made a visit and were impressed by the center’s work.
“In Kansas City, we have a chance to make a difference,” he said. “It’s important to me.”
Up Next
Hill is optimistic about the future, despite the country’s current economic outlook. Redemption Plus is
looking to have a better 2008 financially than 2007, and a trip to a trade show in September showed
him that the market for family entertainment ceneters is hardly slowing.
“ We got a lot of referrals and saw a lot of new family centers coming online,” he said. “Time
will tell, but traditionally, families still have to have an entertainment outlet. Larger trips may
be out, but they do stay local and go out.”
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