CHAMPAGNE MARKETING ON A BEER BUDGET

PEOs have a finite pool of capital which they can invest to grow and improve. PEOs can invest in making acquisitions, taking risk in insurance, building out a technology platform. and growing organically via sales and marketing. I have found that most PEOs have enough financial and operational capacity to do only two of those initiatives really well.   

THIS HEADLINE IS AI-GENERATED (AND THAT’S GOOD)

2023 was the year that Artificial Intelligence (AI) finally entered the mainstream, and — if James Cameron’s The Terminator is any indication — we have a few more years before things get really out of hand. All joking aside, AI tools are far away from any kind of true sentience, but in the short term still offer a variety of practical applications for users across many industries. The benefits are even more evident for marketing and communications teams — particularly small teams. These tools can significantly enhance the capabilities of your teams, allowing them to tackle complex tasks with greater efficiency and effectiveness. 

SECRETS TO SUCCESS IN DIGITAL CONTENT MARKETING: ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR PEO

The digital content landscape for small businesses these days is, in a word, confusing. Since the rise of social media, it has proven itself to be an effective tactic to increase brand awareness, create a sense of community, and generate leads at a relatively low cost. It’s almost a given now that social media will be part of a larger communications strategy, and with good reason — it’s one of the easiest ways to reach potential customers and directly communicate with them. 

FOSTERING ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION IN REMOTE SALES & MARKETING TEAMS

Culture, engagement, collaboration, and innovation have all experienced drastic changes over the past several years. The move many companies made to a remote or hybrid work environment has created a need for new strategies to achieve the same level of production and employee engagement. This is especially true for marketing and sales teams, which traditionally relied heavily on in-person collaboration and innovation sessions.

THE MOST OVERDUE ARTICLE EVER WRITTEN: ETHICS IN SELLING PEO

This article is 38 years and over 80 plus PEO Insider articles in the making. Before we get too far in, let’s get a few things straight. One, we’re going to get real. Two, I ain’t perfect, never claimed to be. Three, we do not have to overpromise or be in any way less than 100% honest to be successful in gaining new clients. Four, there are people in this business who need to be fired or need to get out of the business for their predatory sales practices.

PARTNERING WITH BENEFITS BROKERS IS GOOD FOR PEOS AND GOOD FOR BROKERS

Benefits broker partnerships can offer PEOs a unique vantage point to harness both growth opportunities and strategic collaboration, wherein both parties can leverage their specialized skill sets to provide comprehensive, value-added solutions to business clients. Understanding which broker partnerships will help you and your clients most is the first step when forming a partnership. 

THE MOST OVERDUE ARTICLE EVER WRITTEN: ETHICS IN SELLING PEO

This article is 38 years and over 80 plus PEO Insider articles in the making. Before we get too far in, let’s get a few things straight. One, we’re going to get real. Two, I ain’t perfect, never claimed to be. Three, we do not have to overpromise or be in any way less than 100% honest to be successful in gaining new clients. Four, there are people in this business who need to be fired or need to get out of the business for their predatory sales practices.

HOW PEOS ARE HELPING SMBS MEET MARKET DISRUPTORS HEAD ON

The modern world is driven by convenience and customization, SMBs included. Digitization, remote-friendly roles, and a generational shift in the workforce all impact today’s employee experience. When this experience is lacking, it can be costly to companies in more ways than one.  

THE 5 Ws OF PEO GENERAL LEDGER RECONCILIATIONS

General ledger reconciliation is a key control to help maintain timely and accurate financial statements in any business. If you speak to accounting or finance professionals in the PEO industry, they will agree that general ledger balance sheet reconciliations are the most telling and critical tools in analyzing a PEO’s fiscal position. Failure to reconcile balance sheet accounts timely and accurately can lead to material losses to the PEO. Let’s explore the 5 W’s of PEO ledger reconciliations.  

ACCELERATING THE SALES PROCESS WITH MARKETING CONTENT

Quality content is the key to a successful marketing strategy. Content published online will extend a brand, position your business as subject matter experts, attract visitors to a website, and convert those visitors to qualified sales leads.  But the role content plays in the sales process doesn’t end there.     The same content that was created to support marketing’s objectives can also be used (or repurposed) to support the sales process and even help accelerate deals through the funnel. Salespeople engage with prospects at various stages of the buyer’s journey – Awareness, Consideration, and Decision-making. 

MOVING ON UP: HOW TO ATTRACT LARGE CLIENTS

As the PEO industry continues to grow across the country, one of the larger segments of untapped potential is the larger side of the SMB equation. I mean clients with 100 to 500 employees. As a PEO with several clients over 100 employees, there are certain things we have learned that make this marketplace desirable. Here are a few pointers to achieve success in this rewarding niche. 

HOW TO MARKET TO SKEPTICS: A PRACTIAL GUIDE

It’s time to come to terms with the biggest hurdle in marketing right now: people don’t trust you anymore. Don’t take too much offense — people don’t seem to really trust anyone these days, but the fact remains that they don’t trust you either. According to the Edelman 2022 “Trust Barometer” survey, 63% of people believe businesses are “purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”  So in an environment like this, how do you reach customers through marketing and advertising? In the past, the answer was simple: prove it. Providing data or showing statistics about the impact of having a PEO was enough to lend credibility to claims of benefiting small businesses. However, that moment is over. People are increasingly skeptical of the marquee numbers we’ve been using to tout PEOs for the past several years.   

A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD: ANALYSIS FROM NAPEO’S FOCUS GROUPS OF BUSINESS OWNERS

Over the summer, NAPEO commissioned Povaddo to facilitate focus groups among business owners to determine what prevents and facilitates the using of PEOs. Three in-person focus groups were conducted in New York City in July, followed by eight additional online focus groups. Participants were divided into four categories: Large businesses with hourly employees; large businesses with salaried employees; small businesses with hourly employees; and small businesses with salaried employees.   Large businesses were defined as having 36-150 full time employees, while small businesses were defined as having 11-35 full time employees. All focus group participants were either business owners or primary decision makers of hiring professional services.  

HOW MARKETING SUPPORTS PEO GROWTH AND THE BOTTOM LINE

While the pandemic may have reinforced the benefits of marketing, savvy business and marketing leaders have always recognized the importance of marketing to establishing a company’s image, supporting sales strategy, delivering key insights and developing new prospects.  The past several years have proven the ability of a strong, well-funded marketing department to accomplish four important objectives.  

STOP RANDOM ACTS OF MARKETING

Random acts of marketing are when a business is stuck in an endless cycle of short-term marketing experiments: an email blast is tried this month, a webinar next month, and social media ads the month after that.     While random acts of kindness usually result in good feelings for both the performer and the recipient, the same can’t be said for random acts of marketing. Instead of good feelings, business leaders who are stuck on a “hamster wheel” of random acts of marketing find themselves disappointed and frustrated. 

DEATH OF THE PEO SALES REP

Hiring sales talent feels like diving into the shallow end. The pool of job-seeking sales business development executives is sparse.  We have the new-to-PEO applicant that may demand high wages and bring minimal professional or sales experience. We have the tenured “retread” that applies to all of our postings, demands high wages, uses our offers against one another, and seems to be with a new PEO every 18 months. 

THE TOOL FOR BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR PEO

In my last article, we covered the role of the salesperson in the underwriting process and the important documents we need to gain from prospective clients to effectively underwrite them for a proposal. In this article, we are going to talk about something very exciting – your proposal request form. Don’t go too crazy on me, because this is a very important document to effectively build your business case.

ECONOMIC REORDERING REVISITED: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOS

All these challenges can be met by PEOs. It may take some re-engineering of the model, but the PEO service could be central in the reordered economy and business environment in the years ahead. It is a time to be especially vigilant to customer wants and expectations, for many businesses will find it difficult to be profitable. This is where the PEO value proposition will be challenged most. 

Understanding the Sales Team’s Role In Effective Underwriting

In the early days of the PEO industry, a PEO salesperson only had to submit a census of employee and payroll data, workers’ compensation codes and health plan participation to get a proposal/pricing. There was no underwriting or scrutiny of the prospect’s information, no credit check, no comparisons. Consequently, due to a failure to manage risk, some PEOs went out of business or lost their workers’ compensation insurance or health insurance plans. The PEO industry’s reputation took a hit in some markets.

LONG-TERM LEAD NURTURING

The prospecting your team does today often doesn’t result in closed business for several weeks or months. How do you keep a prospect engaged for an extended sales cycle? How do you keep your qualified leads from going into a “black hole?”    Longer sales cycles and shortened attention spans are often deal-breakers, but lead nurturing gives you an advantage when it comes to converting prospects and building trust. 

Sharpening Your Sales Team’s Business Acumen

The PEO sale is a complex sale. To be successful at selling PEO, salespeople should have a real-world understanding of human resources practices, from hiring to retiring and all the drama in between. They should be knowledgeable about: • Employment regulations; • Workers’ compensation and regulations; • Risk management; • Employee benefits, administration, and regulations; • Payroll, payroll forms, payroll taxes, and regulations; • Time and attendance systems; and  • HR technology. 

GRASSROOTS EFFORTS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS AND INDUSTRY MARKETING

I mentioned in a previous writing that NAPEO’s Board of Directors adopted the largest budget in terms of legislative affairs and marketing/communications in the history of the organization for 2022. With that budget, the association made clear that establishing effective, influential relationships on Capitol Hill and spreading the news about the value of PEO services are our primary objectives this year.