Company: SurePayroll, Inc., Glenview, IL
Company Description: SurePayroll is a wholly owned subsidiary of Paychex, providing an easy, online, convenient payroll service that keeps our small business customer in control. SurePayroll also offers efficient online solutions for managing 401(k) plans, health insurance, workers' compensation, employee screening and more.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Representative of the Year - All Other Industries

Nomination Title: Sales Rep of the Year - Matt Hudson

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since the beginning of July 2013 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

“I always say I’m here to build a partnership, not just one deal.”

That’s SurePayroll Sales Representative Matt Hudson’s approach to selling an easy, online payroll solution to CPAs and accountants that they then resell to their clients, improving the value of their businesses. The SurePayroll software-as-a-service does all of the payroll tax work automatically.

The goal for Hudson is not just one accountant, but the 30, 40 or 70 clients they bring with them. To make sure accountants are able to properly implement SurePayroll’s service, he’s heavily involved from start to finish, making sure everything goes off without a hitch.

“I follow through on everything,” Hudson said.

Motivation and Opportunity

In 2010, Matt Hudson moved from small town Ocean City, Maryland to the nation’s Second City, Chicago. He didn’t have a job – but he had motivation and he’d find opportunity. Clearly a key to his success.

Matt was quickly hired for SurePayroll’s bank team. In just over 4 years and in his first job out of college, Matt has excelled in all three of SurePayroll’s sales channels – working with accountants, banks and small business owners.

A self-described farm kid, turned summer surfer, turned Chicago Yuppie, Matt knows how to adapt.

“It’s how I build trust and develop great relationships. I adapt to meet need, whether it’s my customer or Paychex partner rep,” Matt said, talking about he works with SurePayroll’s parent company to develop leads.

His inspiration comes from his older brother Alex. “As kids, I was trading baseball cards, my brother was watching the stock market. I saw him achieving goals I soon wanted to hit.” Matt also attributes his success to an innate sense of competition and the realization that “if I can’t outsmart you, I’ll outwork you.”

He says the intense but friendly competition on the SurePayroll Accountant team and developing great relationships with accountants and Paychex reps really helps drive him.

“Matt’s work ethic and comprehensive approach to a sale is second to none,” said Vice President of Sales Jason Copeland. “He has great knowledge about our product and really instills trust in his clients.”

Numbers Don’t Lie

Matt has single-handedly brought in $480,000 in new customer revenue during the last year, an all-time SurePayroll record, making him the top seller on a team of 40. His revenue totals are 11 percent higher than the No. 2 selling sales rep.

He’s also in the top 1 percent of all 1,500 Paychex reps.

The Big Picture

Constant communication with his CPA clients is the key to Hudson’s success. And he understands that one strong relationship with a CPA can multiply into more and more revenue for the company.

“I want to bring all their clients on to our payroll engine,” Hudson said. “The more clients a CPA brings on, the more money we make. So one client could bring on 60 clients and that’s $25,000. The big picture is I want all their clients.”

His job, of course, comes with challenges.

Some CPAs are resistant to spend the costs upfront. Hudson, however, is able to convince them of the tremendous long-term benefits of saving time on tax filings and payments, as well as making it easier to generate profit from selling payroll services.

The other challenge is that Hudson works solely over the phone, so he doesn’t have the luxury of face-to-face meetings. However, he turns that into an advantage. It’s part of what puts him ahead of the competition.

“I can drive sales to 25 to 30 CPAs over the phone in a single day, and they’re becoming more and more receptive to working with someone over the phone,” Hudson said.

It’s this constant drive that helps Hudson retain all of his best clients and keep new ones coming in.

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