(FORTUNE Small Business) – Here, you've got to meet Jamey Sunshine," chirps Brad Nierenberg, pulling over a young employee during a meeting with a visitor as if he were plucking a product off a shelf. "I had to hire him because of his name." Nierenberg, the CEO of Momentum Marketing Services, a promotional events company in Alexandria, Va., grins as Sunshine does his best to live up to the name. The enthusiasm that spills out of this freckle-faced 38-year-old CEO could purge pharmacy shelves of Prozac.

At Momentum, Nierenberg plays the part of acting coach, using his upbeat style to pump up his 48 full-time and hundreds of temporary employees about the products they're pushing. Momentum promotes brands such as Dunkin' Donuts by offering samples of their wares at malls or from brand-emblazoned vans. Nierenberg realized early that his events are only as good as the people running them. To that end, he invests heavily in training.

New hires take three days of courses ranging from project accounting to office etiquette. Established employees have a $500 annual allowance to spend on their choice of educational topics, as well as internal courses. Momentum even flies temporary employees from around the country for one-week training sessions in Virginia. They engage in mock promotions, heading out to a bar, for example, to practice their skills for brands such as Icehouse beer or Alize cognac. Perched on barstools, they practice the right way to strike up conversations about booze ("Hi. I'm representing Alize tonight, and I'd like to talk to you about it.").

The premise has proved quite successful. Founded a decade ago, Momentum, which says it is profitable, expects its sales to reach an estimated $19 million for 2004, up from $10 million last year. "So many promotion companies just send their workers a big binder filled with information on the brand," explains Nierenberg. "I thought that if we hired great people and did a great job training them, our clients would get superior results." It doesn't hurt that Nierenberg invests in props such as a talking robot.

Customers say the extra effort pays off. "Momentum's people are as knowledgeable about our product as ours are," says Michael Lawless, director of channel marketing at AOL (which is owned by FSB's parent, Time Warner). Lawless hired Momentum to promote AOL's 9.0 Optimized ISP service and says that was one of its most successful product launches.

Momentum's employees say that they feel great loyalty to Nierenberg, who opened a briefcase and gave $1,000 cash bonuses to 30 of them for exceeding a 2003 sales goal. Turnover was zero last year. "Every national survey shows that learning and development is one of the most effective ways you can retain employees," says Ed Gubman, co-founder of Strategic Talent Solutions. It seems to work for Momentum—proof that you don't have to be named Sunshine to feel good about your boss. —ELLYN SPRAGINS