Experience Talks
May, 2007

A graduate of St. John Fisher College, Tortorella joined Paychex in 1987 after working as a financial consultant with two Wall Street brokerage firms and as operations manager at Allstate Insurance Company. Tortorella is responsible for Paychex's Human Resource Service product line. He also oversees operations for Paychex Administrative Services, Paychex Business Solutions, and Paychex Agency, Inc. Tortorella's career accomplishments at Paychex include playing a key role in founding the company's National Sales Support division, which now includes more than 100 telephone salespeople who support the company's field sales organization. HRS and PBS generated nearly $325 million in revenue at the end of fiscal 2006 and employ more than 600 sales professionals.

Managing a large sales force requires great communications, training, and consistent effort. Can you discuss your strategy for success?
You're right. A large sales force is a demanding and dynamic organization to manage. The ways I have tried to successfully lead our large team is, first and foremost, to develop and support a network of communication. I frequently meet with groups of sales reps and front line managers who act as an advisory board to my field executives and me. I hope to ensure that information comes to me unfiltered and unbiased. I also try to be open to change and accept suggestions and feedback at every opportunity. I don't believe I can be 100% right, 100% of the time, and by encouraging and receiving feedback, I can tweak some of the decisions I've made to, hopefully, improve the outcome. Because I am ultimately responsible for making decisions that affect over 600 salespeople, I try to make informed decisions. I'm a big believer in the philosophy that as long as your overall strategy is sound, you can, and must, change your tactical direction to compensate for changes in the environment.
Our training philosophy at Paychex is legendary. I was fortunate to have been part of the development of our sales training program and was a facilitator for our first classes during the late 80s. As soon as we realized what a great ROI training provides, we hired training professionals and developed our formal training and development center called the University of Paychex.

"When we receive exceptional reviews for something we've done, we create a best practice around it."

It's located here in Rochester at our corporate headquarters. The Paychex training organization was just recognized for the sixth straight year as one of the top 125 training organizations in the world by Training magazine. Our training is specific, repetitive and supported by a Web-based Learning Management System. We have also taken the training to our reps in the field, both locally and through national meetings. This has been a great way to introduce new products or train new feature enhancements. I believe the competitive edge our sales reps have in a sales situation is their technical knowledge, and that's gained through training and education.

  Understanding customer needs and solving those issues can be a challenge. How do you collect and evaluate customer needs?
Understanding our market is the area that really differentiates Paychex from other providers in the service sector. I am also convinced that much of the fuel for our growth has been how we react to our customers' needs, especially in the area of employee benefits. We have taken the position that our customers' vision of service is the primary market research tool we use. To collect the data, we employ a number of methods including formal surveys that engage our clients both at the time of sale and then randomly during their experience with Paychex. The survey scores we receive give us an idea how close our delivery is to expectations the client has. When there is a variance, we correct it. When we receive exceptional reviews for something we've done, we create a best practice around it.

To gain feedback on new product ideas or enhancements to our current products, we once again turn to our clients. Our sales force provides a great market research focus group, and we drive product changes and development through the open communication we have with our sales reps and front line managers. They have an unbelievable sense of what our clients are looking for today and in the future. We also host focus groups of certified public accountants, which provide us with valuable feedback on how the CPA community would like us to service our mutual clients. And, finally, we use our expertise in product development within this space to create new products and enhance our current offerings. Paychex started its product development group about four years ago, and we staff it with some of the industry's most experienced people who are experts in payroll, employee benefits, and HR services. We are constantly getting presentations from this department on new and innovative ways to service the client. We then prioritize what to roll out next. It's one of the most dynamic changes I have seen at Paychex in my 20 years with the company. We have literally gone from being a data processor to a full-service outsourcer of the functions you would find in the most complex human resources department. This was achieved by developing products and services and leveraging the strength of our core payroll service. 

How do you think the sales process has changed during the last ten years?
The sales process has changed dramatically in the last ten years. We must solve clients  problems today and be a dynamic and integrated partner in their businesses. We achieve this through highly trained teams of people who touch our clients. We have specialized sales people who are experts in their field and concentrate in different areas of the HR offering. Twenty years ago, we had one product. Today, a client who subscribes to our Paychex Premier HR service sees at least four different sales representatives who specialize in payroll, HR, insurance, and employee benefits. It is amazing to see how orchestrated and managed we have become. I look at us today as system engineers at the client site and as information specialists who partner with our clients on an ongoing basis to help run their businesses. It has become a very complicated world, especially in the areas of compensation and employee management, and I believe we have responded well to our clients'  needs in this area. 

Technology as part of the sales process is another area I have seen change. The use of the Internet, intranets, and sales force automation has dramatically changed how productive a sales rep can be. I have been an early adopter of technology and push hard to have our sales reps have tools that make them more productive and enhance the experience for our clients during the sales presentation. We are looking at increased technology today that will allow our sales and operations people to become materially more efficient in the areas of accuracy and presentation quality.  

Solving the customer's problem may not be enough. What more can be done?
I agree that after we solve the client's immediate problem, we must go farther for that client. Paychex has taken the approach that we become a partner with our clients in how they pay and manage their employee benefits programs. Our service models encourage guidance and peace of mind, and we stay engaged long after the sale because most clients have a need profile that changes and develops as their own business goes through cycles of change.

Paychex's financial strength has enabled us to provide a suite of services that helps businesses manage their employees, gives them the peace of mind that we are the experts in our field, and offers them the security that we'll be there tomorrow. I think it's important to our clients that the company who has partnered with them to handle all aspects of their payroll and employee benefits programs is, in itself, a well managed, secure company.  

Balancing growth and / or controlling growth so that the infrastructure (including customer support) can be prepared is a difficult process. Can you share your thoughts on managing growth?
Managing growth is a combination of having great foresight and the willingness to prioritize what is important. During our periods of rapid growth, we have focused on prioritizing projects and resources that not only allow us to handle the growth today, but allow us to build the infrastructure to handle growth in the future. In a service business, the agreement between a company and its client is the promise of delivery, and the mistake that many growth companies have made is they have outgrown their capacity to deliver. I really believe that leaders must be able to focus on the horizon two to five years out, and have plans in place today to be prepared for the growth ahead. The ability to prioritize is essential in managing growth. Because your resources are limited, it is essential to commit the resources you have to the most important and immediate tasks at hand. We would all love to have unlimited time, money, and skilled labor, but the reality is, that's just not the way it happens--so great leaders must make things happen with what they have, in a very organized, focused way.  

Who is your most respected sales "guru"?
Gene Polisseni (former Paychex senior vice president of sales and marketing) was my sales and management mentor. His philosophy was that life is a sales call, and we are always selling--whether it's a product or a budget or an idea. When I came to Paychex in 1987, and for the next 14 years, I worked directly for Gene. His priorities were to develop the person, be tolerant of mistakes, have unyielding ethics, and always do the right thing even though sometimes you're the only one who believes it's the right thing. I learned many things from Gene, but the best thing was how to make sure all parties in a negotiation are in a "win" position. Although he was one of the original franchisees that started the company with founder Tom Golisano and was a big part of the Paychex story, I'll always remember Gene as a person who built up other people. He passed away in 2001, but I still think of him almost every time I walk into our offices.  

BSM
 
 

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