ADVOCACY 101: HOW TO TELL YOUR PEO STORY

Every year, we hold PEO Advocacy Day as part of NAPEO’s PEO Capitol Summit. Working with our outside lobbying firm, Mehlman Consulting, we schedule meetings with Representatives and Senators for NAPEO members. And every year, we are asked if these efforts are worth it and if they make an impact.

The short answer: yes. Participation in PEO Advocacy Day is an investment in the PEO industry.

Last year, more than 80 NAPEO members met with their Representatives and Senators on the issue of how ERTC processing delays harm small businesses in their districts and states. Two months later, NAPEO testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, discussing the very same subject. The combination of grassroots activity and NAPEO’s PEO Advocacy Day visits had positioned the PEO industry as an expert on ERTC processing and its impact on small businesses. We also achieved success in 2017, when NAPEO lobbied for clarifications to tax reform legislation that pass-through entities that use a PEO retain their eligibility for the 20 percent tax deduction contained in Section 199A of tax reform. In response, the Department of Treasury issued rules making it clear PEO clients were eligible for this tax deduction.

Even if there is not an immediate issue, these visits are important. Advocacy is much like client development. It is a process that takes time, education, and trust building. While we are all experts on the PEO industry and our positive impact on small business, most members of Congress are not familiar with the industry (though that is changing).

Every day, Members of Congress and their staff are quite busy with daily schedules packed with meetings, conferences, speaking engagements, constituent problems, and fundraising calls.  Often, they will have multiple meetings and calls scheduled well into the evening. To say they are busy people is an understatement. Our job is to cut through the daily clutter and make them care about the challenges facing the PEO industry and their impact on small businesses.

While Alex and I are good at representing the industry on Capitol Hill, there are thousands of people just like us doing the same thing for myriad industries. Our friends on the Hill are always happy to see us, but they always prefer to meet with a constituent. That is not unique to us. Members of Congress care very much about what a resident of their district or state has to say. Furthermore, they are always interested in hearing the concerns and challenges of small businesses in their district/state.

One of the biggest advantages you carry into PEO Advocacy Day is your expertise and experience with small businesses. There is no more popular group in the country or in Congress than small business.  And the PEO industry is the expert on small business in America. We know what challenges they face, and we provide the solutions to those challenges. The more you can relate to how the problems PEOs face impact your small business clients, the more likely Congress is to address those problems.

Participating in PEO Advocacy Day is a key component of NAPEO’s federal government affairs program. We use communications, lobbying, outside consultants, and the PAC to promote the federal legislative and regulatory agenda of the PEO industry and to educate federal policy makers about the important work PEOs do to help small business grow. PEO Advocacy Day is where we match our messaging and education efforts with the voters in a Representative’s district or a Senator’s state.

All you need to do to participate in PEO Advocacy Day (May 21, 2024) is to sign up when you register for PEO Capitol Summit. Working with Mehlman Consulting, we schedule meetings with your Representative and Senators (or their staff). These meetings typically last about thirty minutes. When you arrive at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City, we provide talking points, directions, and collateral material about the PEO industry that you can share during the meeting. We also host a webinar prior to PEO Advocacy Day on what to expect and how to prepare for this day – and we repeat this information just before we leave for Capitol Hill. After breakfast on PEO Advocacy Day, we provide you with your meeting schedule for that day.

Every day, NAPEO and its government affairs team focuses on advancing your regulatory priorities. The most effective form of advocacy is when representatives hear directly from you, their constituents. That is why NAPEO hosts PEO Advocacy Day during PEO Capitol Summit. This event allows us to bring NAPEO members and their representatives together to have substantive conversations about the problems they face in their districts and the solutions that make the most sense for the PEO industry and the small businesses that depend on our services.

NAPEO’s federal government affairs program is anchored by the relationships built between members of Congress and individual NAPEO members. Hearing directly from you is what moves the needle in the right direction. And like all good sales campaigns, you do not close on the first meeting. You are opening a dialogue, building a relationship, educating your Representative and/or Senators (and their staff) about the industry, and offering expertise on small businesses in their districts and states. All good things, but all things that take time and repetition.

Please consider joining us for this year’s PEO Advocacy Day, May 21, 2024, in Washington D.C.