Payroll services are evolving and Payroll Vault’s Sean Manning is changing history as we know it. With better benefit packages, clear scheduling, and leveraging technology for your business goals, Payroll Vault is on the rise to make payroll for people again. Is there more to the CEO beyond the company figurehead? How can you make your employees happier? Ditch your current corporate payroll model and switch to Payroll Vault. It’s the future.

How To Leverage Technology Using Payroll Vault With Sean Manning

We’re in the offices of Sean Manning. He is the CEO of Payroll Vault. Sean, welcome to the podcast.

Thanks, Bob.

Sean, tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve. 

The payroll industry is a little bit unique that there are not a whole lot of national brands that bring a localized payroll service to business owners. Payroll Vault is a localized concept for payroll services with a national footprint that basically helps small business owners be more successful in managing their people and their payroll processes in order for them to be more successful in running their business and really helping to manage their people to make them happier. Payroll Vault’s an organizational franchise system that is designed to be the number one alternative to the corporate model of payroll services and bring it local and responsive to business owners.

You own a CPA firm as well. For you, what was the genesis of the thought process behind Payroll Vault? 

In having a CPA firm, our focus there was also small business. We did accounting, tax, and a little bit of payroll consulting to business owners. I love the advice end of working with business owners when you open up to them and ask them, “What do you need? How can I help you? What’s your biggest need?” It was funny because payroll service technology, how to be a better business owner, always came to the top. After about fifteen or twenty years of organically growing that payroll, we said this is a bigger need. We need to absolutely create a new brand, find a way to better serve, and bring all the tools together since we have HR tools, we have a workmen’s comp, we have time clock tools, all electronic delivery, paperless environment, to help business owners be more successful. Payroll Vault’s basically sprung out of a need from the accounting firm in order to service our clients better.

Once we rebranded, it took off in the local market. That led to a lot of new opportunity with helping other accounting firms possibly consider that type of service. A lot of national speaking, a lot of education, brought us forward in regard to the opportunity to help others tap into this market and service their clients better. That directly led us into franchising, so we can basically offer everything we can to a person that wants to service that need, that payroll service need, that is growing. Compliance is getting a lot more complicated. Federal level’s pretty complicated, but actually the state level is where things are accelerating for business owners to stay compliant with payroll laws. You can see the migration that happens when you own a business like an accounting firm and really identify a need for payroll services and then create a brand and a system that can help them.

One of the things as you said, “We rebranded at some point.”

I believe in business, you have to have a very focused thought process. Although we actually were doing payroll services for about 80 companies, small businesses at the time when we rebranded, but when you rebrand, you identify as to who you are and how you serve. The minute we created a sister company under the brand Payroll Vault, people identified with what that was more clearly. It does it at three levels, not only from a client level, but also from a staffing and management level. People identify with who they are within the company. Even for leadership, it helps me focus different needs. The accounting firm and our payroll service brand have very different needs for me so it allows me to focus in on what those needs are.

When did you take a rebrand?

That was in 2008.

It's a very seamless process to help business owners be successful.

Click To Tweet

You’ve been running Payroll Vault for a decade. What’s your penetration or franchise level across the country? 

We’re at a pretty fast pace. Oddly enough, most of our overgrowth has been organic. We now have 42 franchise locations. We started Payroll Vault, the original brand, in 2008. We franchised in late 2012, so effectively, 2013 was our first year as a franchise system. We now have 42 locations in about 22, 23 states now; very broad scope. We have offices all the way from Hawaii to New York. It’s growing at a fast pace, but also at a pace that’s very manageable for us. We’re excited.

I was on was on your website, Payroll Vault. You have received a fair amount of recognition for your work. 

Little events like this, getting the word out, letting people know we’re available. We’ve won several awards within the franchise space. Thankfully, our franchisees are great people to work with and they rate us very high with the service level we provide them. We’re constantly looking for opportunities. When you get a rating from your franchisees and even clients, the good thing about that is you always identify two or three years where you can improve. This year was a major focus year of taking maybe two or three areas where we felt we can do some improvement and focus in on those. We’re excited this year. We’re going to release some new things that are going to help our franchisees grow and probably service their clients at a higher level, too.

There was a young woman that was out at Mobile that was recognized as one of your franchisees. 

Yes, Cadie Gaut; amazing team there. Her mother also owns an accounting firm, Karen Simmons. It’s one of those ideal franchisees where a family’s definitely looking for opportunity. A mother wanted to help create a legacy for her family and Cadie; amazing business owner. They’ve taken Payroll Vault to the top level in their local market. Oddly enough, one of the franchise system, people that rate success and franchise, identified her as a high achiever and labeled her as a rock star in franchising. Pretty excited for her.

Why don’t we talk about the business owner and why they should reach out to Payroll Vault and what problems it solves? What do you think the key components were that helped Ms. Gaut be recognized and grow? If somebody in the audience goes, “I need to know more about what you guys do. How do I get involved?”

People ask me all the time, “What do you do? What does Payroll Vault do?” My answer to that is we help business owners be more successful in managing their people so they’re happier and can contribute to the company. They’re like, “What does that mean?” I go, “We help business owners be more successful and manage their people.” We do that through a payroll service that identifies. We take a very consultative approach when we sit down with a prospective client. We want to make sure they’re a good fit for us because we leverage technology. We find things that are going to make them more successful. We find ways to make their employees happier to receive their paychecks consistently in an easy online fashion. It’s a very seamless process to help business owners be successful. Not only that, but we take it to another level. If you have a business, we’re going to look for opportunities where we can help you otherwise. Do you need a new bank? How’s your legal representation? Do you need an attorney for a will?

We were very well-networked. We have a lot of centers of influence and that allows us to take it to a new level with regards to helping that business owner. We want to be a top advisor to them. Not only provide them payroll services but be a top advisor. Cadie and Karen in Mobile are very well-connected in their community and they literally live that. They’re there to help their clients be more successful. They also build amazing teams of people around them. The people that work there love their job, they love the culture, they love the foundation that they’re getting from their leadership to service their clients at the high level. To answer the third part of that question in who might be interested in this opportunity, people that have the technical skill are great. They probably have the foundation and good with numbers. The payroll business can be a lot of fun. You’re out meeting people, you’re helping business owners be more successful, your clients are calling to get important questions answered, and you can be a top advisor to them.

Our Payroll Vault brand is a very rewarding business opportunity because you can take this to the level that you want. You can be very technical, you can be out in your community, out networking and having fun. The long-term benefit is that this business has transitional to multi-generations. If you have kids or family members that might be a good fit for this business long term, you can transition it to them. My son’s 16 years old, he’s working at the mall at a local retail place. He probably has that communication bugging him or something, but he sent our sales person a referral and he was talking to a business owner and he brought up Payroll Vault and payroll services and the gentleman said, “Have your team call me. I’m interested in your dad’s business.” It can be fun. For our son to be enjoying that, that makes it interesting.

As an employer and you’re trying to communicate your value proposition to your employees and so you have your backend, you have all the benefits, and so on. What are you hearing from the employees when the employer adopts Payroll Vault?

They usually are pretty shocked at what tools and resources are available to make not their job easier, but the receipt of a paycheck. Everything’s online. Obviously, we do direct deposit, but we also bring to the table reporting and knowledge around, “Do people need a scheduler?” One of the hardest things for employees is to know their schedule and to get it in a timely fashion. Oftentimes, we have to identify that as a need because the business owners maybe haven’t asked the question. When we bring that in, the business owners call us and say, “Our employees loved what you did for them.” It’s knowing what business owners need and coaching them through the process, and then when you find a success story, obviously you want to share that so other business owners can see the value in it. There is a direct impact to employees and how they can be more satisfied at the jobs they’re at.

Do you find that it highlights the benefits package that the employers offer to the employees? 

Yes. In a lot of times, employers don’t really identify the benefit package very well. Everything is about the hourly wage or the salary so we always want to coach them through, “There are additional benefits that you’re providing your employees. These could be a good schedule, a timely reporting, healthcare, 401(k) retirement funding.” A lot of business owners don’t even know what options are available so we can help introduce that. We go into the employer’s place of business and help educate the employees when it’s time to do that. The really great thing about the Payroll Vault brand is we also support other colleagues in the financial services, the insurance, HR, all of those different components we can bring to the table through other professionals that actually do a really good job supporting the employer and the employee when those needs are identified.

Payroll Vault: Payroll is almost a fundamental component of all successful businesses

It would seem like accounting and CPA practices would be a natural for this. What would be the prototypical type of account or CPA that might be interested in this type of service? 

They have the technical skills. The one thing is sometimes that can be a little bit of a deterrent. They might be too technical. You have to have a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit and even better is probably more of a good management and leadership skills. That’s an area that our organization works on. If they identify themselves as a very good candidate, obviously give us a call. We have a very thorough review process in Discovery Days, so people can make a good decision. We can help them and we can identify them if they’re a good fit. I would say about 10% of accounting, bookkeeping, tax, payroll people are a good fit because we have all the systems dialed in and ready to go. They have to be able to execute them. If they’re not intimidated by systems and good processes which, believe it or not, a lot of people like to create their own, then they should probably create their own. If they want to springboard based upon the successful model that we’ve created, they should give us a call and then allow us to follow up and have the conversation.

For the sake of illustration, let’s say I’m a potential client of payroll and I’m interested in the franchise. Walk me through the timeframe and process if I’m on board to running a payroll.

It can be pretty quick. This is a scalable business that doesn’t require a build out. From the time we get an initial call, we have a process. We need to get an application, do some reviews, have a phone call with me as the CEO, and get some questions answered. Marilyn also walks them through a very good education process about who we are and what we do. She’s our franchise development lead. We then come in for Discovery Day and it’s a really cool opportunity. Most of the day is spent with me. Trisha, our COO and my partner, spend some time with them and shows them our Littleton office. We don’t make a decision at Discovery Day. It’s about us interviewing them and them interviewing us. We let them take a little bit of time. I probably ask them to do a little bit of homework after that.

About twice a month we have Discovery Day. It’s easy to get to. From the time you initially call, you’re probably talking three to four weeks to get that invitation to Discovery Day and attend that. We then usually look at another one to two weeks for our decision after that process and their decision. Obviously, it’s a two-way street there. From the time they make that decision, we usually have them trained within two to three weeks and depending on how engaged they are and ready.

How does the training occur?

That occurs here and we have three franchisees here today doing training. It’s a three-day training. It’s basically the foundation because we have about a twelve-month checklist so we can have them in business in two to three weeks. To really build a business, it takes time. My dad started the accounting firm in the mid ‘70s and we’re still growing and building and leveraging technology and doing things. It’s a journey and so we want to make sure they get off on the right foot. Really, the journey’s there to take with us supporting them along the way.

I don’t have any idea how long the iTunes podcast will stay on there. The pricing is available to be found on your website. How do people find you on social media?

PayrollVault.com. The franchise opportunity link is there and it walks them through the information and how to contact. The best way to connect with me personally is on LinkedIn. Definitely invite people to do that. I do quite a bit of education and speaking throughout the country and I’m always happy to make myself available to people that have questions. If they get engaged with Payroll Vault and the opportunity, I’ll spend plenty of time with them and help them through the process.

The biggest mistake would be not calling.

The interesting thing to me is that I do take advantage when I have access to people to thank them, to ask them a question especially if I know they can be important to my own success, reach out, and maybe ask for a little bit of mentorship. I was attending a call last week and identified very important knowledge that this person has. I directly reached out to them and I literally have a mentor call with them next week. A very successful business owner and I’m looking forward to the conversation. I would highly recommend when you have opportunities to talk to people to connect.

I noticed on the website that you also have a military opportunity for prior military.

Yes, they fit our model really well. They’re systems people. One of our franchisees down in Texas both came out of military and they’re doing great. Rebecca and Sean are down in the Texas area and they’ve done a great job. I do think our model suits the military very, very well and happy to offer that discount and help them achieve business success if they’re interested.

I met your gracious wife and we chatted a little bit about that you’re a little bit unusual and that you have this perpetual entrepreneurial orientation and you have started how many businesses?

I don’t often count because the ideas are always flowing. Somebody came up with an idea yesterday and they said, “Hold on, Sean.” If I look at our real estate and businesses today, we have four successful businesses. I’m working on one or two more and they’re all in alignment. The one thing I worked hard at is making sure all of our teams get the proper support, proper leadership and access to me. It sounds like a lot but when you enjoy not only the business aspect in the personal aspect, Marilyn, my wife, we work together and have a lot of fun. To me, it’s what I need to do. It’s helping people be successful.

I don’t often live by a quote but entrepreneurship and so I’m always interested in those thoughts, but the one quote that I’ve identified, or I live is this culture quote. The culture quote to me is something that I came up with but it’s letting people have fun in a safe environment for mistakes to happen that allows business to thrive. I live that and you can see how starting businesses helps foster that. It’s creating opportunity for people. It’s creating businesses that thrive. When you’re aggressive in thought process, you’ll make a few mistakes, but you have to have the right safety nets there to allow people to build businesses with you. When you delegate that, when you trust...