May 12, 2025 • 22 mins
Brooke Hoffman, Business Development Manager at Questco, shares how Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) help businesses thrive by managing HR responsibilities while business owners focus on growth and revenue generation. Her journey from being "HR's worst nightmare" to helping businesses navigate the complexities of employment showcases the value of outsourcing specialized functions.
• PEOs co-employ workers, handling payroll, taxes, and assuming employer risk and liability
• Small business owners can focus on revenue-generating activities instead of administrative HR tasks
• Outsourced services allow experts to handle specialized functions while business leaders focus on growth
• Compliance management is crucial as employment laws constantly change across different locations
• Building authentic relationships based on trust is essential in business development
• Finding the right benefits solutions requires understanding what employees truly want and need
• Questco takes a partner-not-push approach, focusing on education and customized solutions
• Making personal connections through phone calls and in-person meetings creates stronger business relationships than digital outreach
Reach out to Brooke Hoffman at brooke.hoffman@questco.net to learn more about how PEO services can help your business focus on what matters most.
www.questco.net
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Storie (00:17):
Welcome back to Market it With Atma, where we share the
tips, tools and strategies tohelp your business be successful
.
Today we have on the show a topsales leader in the industry.
Her name is Ms Brooke Hoffman.
She is the business developmentmanager at Questco and also an
author and mom.
I'll let her introduce the restof what she does.
Welcome, brooke.
Brooke (00:38):
How are you, I'm doing well Story.
How are you?
Storie (00:40):
I'm great.
So tell me, with the nameQuestCo, it could be so many
things.
What exactly is QuestCo, andhow did you develop into this
role and position and begin tolove it the way you do?
Brooke (00:53):
Sure, absolutely so.
Questco is a PEO, which standsfor Professional Employer
Organization.
So what we do is, in the eyesof the IRS, co-employ your
employees so that we can runyour payroll, do your taxes.
And really the big thing forbusiness owners or leaders is
that we transfer the risk andliability of being an employer
(01:17):
to us, so we take on a lot of,or take off a lot of the risk
and liabilities so that abusiness can run more
effectively, focusing on whatmakes them money.
Yeah, it was.
I was HR's worst nightmare andI was never.
I think it's highly ironic thatI'm in this role because, you
know, I didn't want to put in aPTO request, I didn't ever want
(01:39):
to do my reviews and I wasn'tgoing to bring anything to the
potluck, right.
Storie (01:42):
And look at you now and here I am right.
Brooke (01:46):
It was something that I experienced firsthand, in that
the gentleman I was married toowned a business right.
Storie (01:53):
And.
Brooke (01:53):
I one day remember asking what was the hardest part
of what you do?
And he said people Absolutelyand we struggled with insurance,
like a lot of people do insmall business.
We struggled with, you know, hewas working in the business
during the day and on thebusiness at night, and so it
really did affect usprofessionally personally, as a
family.
So when I learned about what aPEO is and does, I was like, wow
(02:17):
, that could have saved us a lotof time, energy, effort as a
family building his business.
And so that's when I kind offell in love with it and said I
would love to bring the solutionto people that don't know about
it.
Storie (02:29):
So that is awesome.
So it's a third party.
Hr services is kind of whatyou're describing right.
Brooke (02:35):
Yeah, outsourced HR.
Like a lot of businesses aregoing to like an outsourced CFO
model or outsource CMO oroutsource why do you feel that
more businesses are diverting inthat direction?
I think it's kind of like letthe experts do what they're good
at and let's focus on what I'mhere and good at right, like
(02:55):
this is how we make money.
I will I always tell this storyOne of my first clients female
business owner, great business,40 employees, and she was a rock
star at selling her business,developing the business, but she
absolutely struggled with herpeople, and so when I reached
out to her, she was like tell memore about this.
(03:16):
What?
Storie (03:16):
are you?
Brooke (03:16):
talking about.
I can, I can get this off myplate, and so she's, since was
just one location here in Dallas, she's in, I think, all major
markets in Texas and has justquadrupled her business and she
actually got her to take herfirst trip to Africa and be
hands off For once.
Because she is all the rightpeople in place and the things
in place to operate efficiently.
(03:37):
Wow.
Storie (03:38):
So the way you frame it like that, it's also a lot like
what we do at Atma.
We're a marketing agency and wereally take that pressure off
of having to deal with thatin-house, because when you don't
have the brain for certainthings or the capacity to do
them, it's worth every singlecent when you know you have
trusted people to take care ofit right a hundred percent.
Brooke (03:58):
If you think about hr, it sounds like you have a little
bit of background in that.
There's just a myriad of thingsyou have to think about taxes,
workers comp, insurance, youknow, you name it the 50 or not
EEOC claims all kinds of crazystuff, just simple things, and
you know zip code to zip code.
Storie (04:18):
Even in states like California, those things can
differ absolutely laws pass allthe time and if you're not on
your compliance, you know andthat's an pass all the time, and
if you're not on yourcompliance, you know, and that's
an annual update that you guysmake sure you're proficient in.
Oh, absolutely, that'swonderful.
So tell me more about one.
How long has Questco been herein DFW?
Brooke (04:38):
So I was hired as the first person in DFW a little
over a year ago.
Even though we're nationwide,Dallas is an emerging market for
us.
Storie (04:48):
Okay, that's awesome.
So obviously you've you'vecontinued to do well in this
market.
That's great.
And so what led you to youryour book writing?
Now, you have multifacetedtalents, I see, but let's shift
over to a little more about you.
What urged you to create thisbook and and to help people?
Brooke (05:09):
yeah.
So this book, um, was just kindof a lightning strike, right,
like I've always kind of in myback of my head, known I wanted
to be an author but never reallyhad a story to tell.
I live in Flower Mound and theyhave this tradition that the
day after Thanksgiving you'regoing to see all of these trees
just decorated like Christmastrees, are out town and like in
the most random of spaces, right, so I'll go for a run and see
(05:32):
one out in the woods, you know,or in these funny spots, and
it's always just brought me suchjoy.
Yeah, and I was telling myfriend about this who was
visiting and he was like youshould write a book about this
and it was like, again,lightning strike.
I'm like absolutely.
So I went home, gathered mykids, we sat down and it was
written in within a couple hoursand here was this book and it's
(05:52):
it's just children's storyabout finding joy in difficult
times.
Storie (05:57):
Oh, I love that.
I need to definitely get thelink to that and to put at the
bottom of your bio on this.
So, with that being said, youhave a brilliant mind, obviously
.
How do you balance the businessdevelopment, the author and
being a mom all in one?
Brooke (06:13):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
I enjoy what I do.
I was a college athlete so Ijust kind of have that team
winning mentality.
I don't ever let anything getme down, or if it's you know
something I'm having a hard timewith, I see it as a challenge
rather than you know, adistraction or anything like
that.
So with the kids I just makesure that they're, you know,
(06:35):
first and foremost, happy,healthy, doing well, and they
all seem to be good so far.
Storie (06:41):
They're still alive, that's okay.
They win.
Brooke (06:47):
You know, when I'm lucky enough that I have a hundred
percent remote job so I'm athome or structuring my day
schedule in a way that it'seffective and efficient again to
be, you know, I get what I needto get done and focus on
knocking that stuff out andallows me to go pick up the kids
when they need to be picked upand then, the author thing.
It's kind of.
I find the time writing is kindof cathartic to me, right, I
(07:10):
find the time to write workingon book number two, and it's a
bit different.
It's not a children's story,but it allows me to kind of
process the things that I'vebeen through.
So yeah.
Storie (07:21):
Do you take your experiences with QuestCo into
thought like what people haveovercome?
Kind of helping people.
When you, when you think ofthat.
Author mentality.
Brooke (07:31):
Yeah, I think when you go to anything in sales, yeah,
it's a lot of difficult times insome really good highs, right.
So it's a challenging place tobe and you have to have this
positive mindset and I think myhistory in sports and writing
through things really helps meprocess them again.
(07:52):
I don't know that I bring worknecessarily into my writing, but
I think I take my personalexperience into work for sure,
absolutely.
Storie (08:01):
I think a lot of.
I hate the word sales, butbusiness development is creating
relationships.
No one is going to work withyou.
They don't trust you.
Would you agree?
Brooke (08:10):
Absolutely.
Storie (08:11):
And you can tell you're very authentic.
So, with that being said, youhave a perseverance.
It seems like this is one ofyour values, so how do you
transfer that into your?
The PEO with people that areunfamiliar?
with PEOs, I know you kind ofgave a brief description.
How do you transfer that intothe PEO With people that are
unfamiliar with PEOs?
I know you kind of gave a briefdescription.
How do you transfer yourpersonal insight and creating
(08:32):
relationships in with your job,your day-to-day with HR support
and onboarding these people toshow that they can trust you?
Brooke (08:41):
Yeah, trust is the biggest challenge, right, I
think, for me.
I've always protected my brandbeing me right.
I am never going to go outthere and sell something I'm not
proud of or misrepresentsomething to where, if I bumped
(09:02):
into this person in the grocerystore, I'd want to hide right.
Storie (09:05):
You don't ever want that experience.
I don't think.
Brooke (09:07):
No, no.
And so for me it's just being,you know, working with ethics,
you know telling the truth If Idon't know the answer, if it's
not the right fit.
I mean, peo is great for somebusinesses and maybe it's not
the right fit for some.
You know, there's definitelytimes when I run into people and
they just are like Nope, notinterested, and that's okay.
(09:30):
You know I think, when you're inbusiness development you put so
much pressure on yourself thatwhen you can get to a place
where you say, and that's okay,you know, a no is is is like.
Storie (09:43):
I'm just moving on right like it's.
Brooke (09:44):
They don't need my help right now exactly.
But I'm gonna put them in myqueue to follow up and make sure
that in three months I sayhello again you know so it's
that perseverance, um interest,like you said, trying to be
wholly authentic to where myclients become my friends and I
check in with them consistentlyand make sure we're all on track
and and that they're happystill and you know, if there's
(10:06):
something that changes in thebusiness and they need to do
something different, I'm goingto support them and help them
get them there.
Storie (10:13):
So I know I touched on you being in Dallas now, but how
long has this company beenaround?
Brooke (10:17):
Gosh almost 40 years since 1986.
So y'all must be doing somethingright, it seems like you have a
great company structure.
Yeah, so I think about the PEOindustry.
There are probably a thousandPEOs in the country, right, but
a lot of them are small,regional or industry specific
type PEOs.
Okay, you'll know the big dogslike ADP, trinet and Sparity.
(10:41):
About eight years ago, questcodecided, hey, this is where we
want to take our business, andso they hired Jason Randall who
is our CEO.
He's phenomenal.
Got to spend some time with himrecently and he's really
brought a people-centric,customer service-centric
approach to Quesco in all ways.
(11:03):
Like, if you read his bio andlook at his book, he just really
strips it down to puttingpeople first.
And so when you go into the PErelationship again.
They're all different and onesize doesn't fit all.
Here we're looking for thecompanies that have a heart set
(11:24):
for their employees.
We're just not a payrollbenefits solution.
We want to make sure that we'resupporting the business so that
the HR team or the leadershipteam can look at culture and
employee engagement and reallybuild out what the future of our
workforce looks like.
And how do we want to get thereand what kind of company do we
want to be.
Do we want culture by defaultor do we want culture by design?
(11:47):
And we want to free up them, tonot have administrative burdens
or get knocked off track, toreally focus on building the
culture and the employment placethat they want.
Storie (11:57):
Amazing, would you say.
That's what differentiates youfrom the big players.
Quote, unquote.
Brooke (12:02):
I think it makes us different in the marketplace.
For that reason we have justsuch a huge focus on customer
service and being the best kindof supportive HR team we can be
to our clients.
You know there are others inthe marketplace that have that
focus too a few of them.
And you know there are othersin the marketplace that have
(12:23):
that focus too a few of them.
Storie (12:25):
But there are definitely others that are just more of a,
a feeling Right, you told me,or mentioned before, that you
have a partner, not pushmentality, and that that sounds
like what you just described.
So how do you create awarenessabout what you do to these
business owners and businessleaders and encourage them to
(12:46):
reach out for that help thatyou're offering?
Brooke (12:48):
Yeah, a lot of education .
I think the market penetrationand PEO is in the mid 20s in
terms of, you know, companiesthat are using PEO, so there's a
lot of market share out thereand a lot of people that don't
even know about PEO.
Back to you know my myex-husband.
So for me, you know, I think thephone is not dead.
I love making phone calls andagain it's that challenge thing,
(13:10):
right, like this person doesn'tknow I'm calling and I'm going
to be super friendly and I amgoing to.
You know, I kind of go in witha goal.
It's a win for me to have aquick conversation and say, hey,
would it be okay if I reach outto you again.
So that's awareness, just doingthe hard work and the phone
calls.
But I love being out in thecommunity, I love events.
(13:32):
There's some nonprofits that Ilike to support and things of
that nature.
So just word of mouth.
You know, working from home canget kind of lonely for people
that don't know what that's like.
Storie (13:43):
So I make sure.
Brooke (13:44):
I set up lunches with you, know future or current?
Clients and influencers and,you know, like, outsource CFO
partners that can send mebusiness.
So I'm always kind of thinkinglike hey, how can my mental
health, you know, be, how can myenergy be reinvigorated by
sitting and talking to people?
(14:04):
And then you know yeah, it'sthat balance and people hear it.
Storie (14:08):
When, in such an AI driven world now, it seems like
people want more of a personaltouch, they almost want a phone
call so they know you're a realperson.
So I think what you're doing isreally giving that to that
demographic that doesn'tencourage the AI as much.
They really find that valuableto have that personal hands-on
experience, would you say.
Brooke (14:28):
I would think so too, and you see anybody who's out
there in development knocking ondoors and actually stopping in
to talk to people and bringingthem, you know, little cookies
or something like that.
I think it was out, and now Ifeel like it's back in because
of that personal touch Like hey,you know, yeah.
Storie (14:46):
I feel like our emails are constantly inundated with
with here and there and tryingto weed it out.
When you have someone in frontof you, it really just brings
you out of the screen, right?
And that follow-up theyactually pay more attention to,
which is, I think, a great beingin business development.
I think it's the personal touchpeople want right now.
Brooke (15:04):
Yeah, for sure, I don't know, if it's possible.
Storie (15:09):
They're the AI.
I think my kids inform me moreon what's going on and trending
and digital marketing than Ieven know sometimes, which is
great.
You got to stay in the mix ofall of it, I guess, right.
So what would you say thecompany is in?
Right now we have a build,launch, grow, scale methodology
we mentioned earlier.
Where would you say yourbusiness is this little sector
(15:32):
of your business and then thecompany as a whole?
Brooke (15:35):
I'm definitely in.
I would say grow.
You know, I am just trying toplant seeds everywhere I can to
let them know about Quesco andthe value that we bring.
So that's where you knowpersonally, my goals are where
I'm at With Quesco.
I think we're definitely in thebuild stage.
We're making a lot ofacquisitions, bringing on a lot
(16:01):
of BDMs in different markets.
And so we've got aggressivegrowth goals.
Mm-hmm coast to coast Wow.
Storie (16:11):
That's great, and I'm sure it varies for each region,
right?
So how would you say, um, howdo you know when it's time to
help a business owner?
Scale in terms of what you do?
The HR section of it.
Brooke (16:24):
Yeah, um, just a really great conversation asking a lot
of questions, right?
Because we touch every piece ofan organization when it comes
to HR right.
Touch every piece of anorganization when it comes to HR
right.
So it's a lot of questions,it's a lot of follow-up calls
and you know, just feeling out,you know where are we at.
(16:44):
Does this make sense for theorganization?
Does it?
Storie (16:46):
make sense for your people.
Brooke (16:46):
You know like we go back to the insurance piece.
There's such a need there, butwhat does that look like?
There's so many different waysto tackle benefits these days.
Igras and a lot of people aregoing to these.
You know the physicians whereyou pay a monthly thing.
Storie (17:05):
You know what's right for your people.
Brooke (17:06):
What do your people want ?
Storie (17:07):
And your team's doing the research on that for them.
Brooke (17:10):
We're asking the questions like what makes the
most sense for your business andyour people and what do they
want?
And if it's something that wecan do for them, we will
absolutely step in and help, andor we're advising.
You know, hey, maybe you don'tneed a traditional plan, maybe
you want to look at somethingelse and try to be bring some
solutions that are different.
Storie (17:29):
Right that they can trust that you're not just
another company upselling.
You're really trying to helpthem utilize and optimize their
business without having to be sohands on.
Brooke (17:38):
Yeah, it's benefits are probably one of the biggest cost
centers for any business.
Storie (17:43):
If you're offering them to employees.
Brooke (17:45):
it is expensive out there, Everybody knows it.
Storie (17:48):
And trying to understand all the different terms and how
it can help your staff.
I know a lot of CEOs don't havethe capacity to try and educate
themselves on all of that right.
Brooke (18:00):
Yeah, and that's where we come in when we want to be an
educational source for theiremployees.
You know, if we are workingwith them and saying this hey,
let's break this down, we've gota customer call center.
We will spend an hour with youremployees to go through it.
All all those things we want tobe able to, to educate wow but
ceos ceos you have.
They don't want to dive intothose details.
Generally we're working cfosand hr managers um that want to
(18:23):
understand the numbers, but ceosare like.
I just want to make surethere's good stuff for my people
wow.
Storie (18:28):
So you really you're an educator.
You're really educating peopleon the do's and don'ts of this
and and being a resource theycan have at any point during
during the week.
Are you guys a kind of a 24-7option if things were going to
go wrong?
Seven days a week?
Brooke (18:41):
oh yeah, thank god, my cell number's out there all the
time it's okay.
Storie (18:47):
So what's on the horizon for you?
The book, the business,anything exciting coming?
Brooke (18:53):
up.
Yeah, um.
So, like I mentioned working onbook number two, I really would
love to get that launched.
Um, it's a fun one for me.
Um, the book still working on.
So that was finished November12th last year in terms of being
able to publish that, and it'sa Christmas book oh sweet
holiday book, and so last year Ididn't have a whole lot of time
to turn that around um, so thisyear I'd like to really focus
(19:16):
on getting that out to peopleand see if I can drum some
interest up there.
Storie (19:21):
And it was always just a passion project.
Brooke (19:24):
So if it doesn't go anywhere, I'm okay with that too
.
Storie (19:26):
It's great to have passions outside of what you do,
though, isn't it?
Oh, yeah, yeah, I would sayit's healthy, and I need to be
better about it, for sure, butthis is what you're doing is
inspiring, and I'm sure it's agreat role model for your
children to follow, like youdon't have to be stuck in what
you do all the time.
You, you can expand youroptions, right yeah, I think
(19:46):
it's just.
Brooke (19:47):
I mean, when my daughter saw my name on Amazon, like,
she was like oh my gosh, it'sreal thing, um, and so that was
really, really fun.
I think that alone was worth.
You know, the the effort.
Storie (20:01):
So absolutely, now you're making me jealous.
I need to be a book writer orsomething for my children to
aspire to, right?
Brooke (20:09):
Everybody's got a story right.
Yeah, I mean, it's just I don'tknow.
I think there's an inspirationthat comes and you know, it
really has been an experience.
I've learned a ton.
I interviewed a lot of peoplethat had written their own books
and said what do I need to do?
Because it's kind of a trickyworld, the publishing world and
figuring out how to do it.
But it's been fun.
Storie (20:37):
What's one piece of advice, since you said that
would you give people that arelooking to start their own
business, or to create a book ortell their story?
What's one piece of advice youwish you had had prior to
starting all of that?
Brooke (20:45):
I would say do your research and talk to a lot of
people.
Like I said it was.
You know, I don't think youshould ever hold back, even if
it's never going to go anywhere.
But if you just write somethingand getting that off your chest
or getting that story out,sharing it with others, don't be
.
I was very nervous to share mystuff with other people, even my
family, even my mom.
I'm like, oh don't judge me.
(21:09):
But when I got positive feedbackover and over and over, I was
like, okay, it gave me theconfidence to run with it.
So, share what you have Askpeople questions.
I think that was key for me isreally asking those people that
I knew, that were authors andtalking about it, Just talking
like hey, I've written this book.
And so many people were like,oh my gosh, I know this person,
you should talk to them.
(21:29):
You know just the world openedup in terms of resources.
Storie (21:34):
So networking should talk to them.
You know it.
Just the world opened up interms of resources and so
networking.
Brooke (21:37):
You would say it's a great thing to do share it.
Storie (21:38):
Yeah, that is awesome, so if anyone wants to reach out
to you, in terms of questco, oreven advice um on how to kind of
begin the process of being yourown person how can they?
Reach you um.
Brooke (21:50):
My email at work is brookehoffman, at questconet.
I think if you Google me, mybook will come up on Amazon.
You can find me my cellnumber's available on my website
for that.
But yeah, it's, I'd be morethan happy.
One of my favorite things to dois get out for a lunch or
(22:11):
coffee and just meet people,because everybody has a great
story and I always learnsomething from people and love
to share resources and referralsand all of those things.
Storie (22:20):
So yeah, well, you're a great person.
It seems like to work with, Ithink we might be working with
you pretty soon too.
So um, to our listeners outthere, if you'd like to reach
out to Brooke, please do atleast to, to get some feedback
on how to optimize what you donow.
Until next time, we'll see you.
Welcome back to Market it With Atma, where we share the
tips, tools and strategies tohelp your business be successful
.
Today we have on the show a topsales leader in the industry.
Her name is Ms Brooke Hoffman.
She is the business developmentmanager at Questco and also an
author and mom.
I'll let her introduce the restof what she does.
Welcome, brooke.
Brooke (00:38):
How are you, I'm doing well Story.
How are you?
Storie (00:40):
I'm great.
So tell me, with the nameQuestCo, it could be so many
things.
What exactly is QuestCo, andhow did you develop into this
role and position and begin tolove it the way you do?
Brooke (00:53):
Sure, absolutely so.
Questco is a PEO, which standsfor Professional Employer
Organization.
So what we do is, in the eyesof the IRS, co-employ your
employees so that we can runyour payroll, do your taxes.
And really the big thing forbusiness owners or leaders is
that we transfer the risk andliability of being an employer
(01:17):
to us, so we take on a lot of,or take off a lot of the risk
and liabilities so that abusiness can run more
effectively, focusing on whatmakes them money.
Yeah, it was.
I was HR's worst nightmare andI was never.
I think it's highly ironic thatI'm in this role because, you
know, I didn't want to put in aPTO request, I didn't ever want
(01:39):
to do my reviews and I wasn'tgoing to bring anything to the
potluck, right.
Storie (01:42):
And look at you now and here I am right.
Brooke (01:46):
It was something that I experienced firsthand, in that
the gentleman I was married toowned a business right.
Storie (01:53):
And.
Brooke (01:53):
I one day remember asking what was the hardest part
of what you do?
And he said people Absolutelyand we struggled with insurance,
like a lot of people do insmall business.
We struggled with, you know, hewas working in the business
during the day and on thebusiness at night, and so it
really did affect usprofessionally personally, as a
family.
So when I learned about what aPEO is and does, I was like, wow
(02:17):
, that could have saved us a lotof time, energy, effort as a
family building his business.
And so that's when I kind offell in love with it and said I
would love to bring the solutionto people that don't know about
it.
Storie (02:29):
So that is awesome.
So it's a third party.
Hr services is kind of whatyou're describing right.
Brooke (02:35):
Yeah, outsourced HR.
Like a lot of businesses aregoing to like an outsourced CFO
model or outsource CMO oroutsource why do you feel that
more businesses are diverting inthat direction?
I think it's kind of like letthe experts do what they're good
at and let's focus on what I'mhere and good at right, like
(02:55):
this is how we make money.
I will I always tell this storyOne of my first clients female
business owner, great business,40 employees, and she was a rock
star at selling her business,developing the business, but she
absolutely struggled with herpeople, and so when I reached
out to her, she was like tell memore about this.
(03:16):
What?
Storie (03:16):
are you?
Brooke (03:16):
talking about.
I can, I can get this off myplate, and so she's, since was
just one location here in Dallas, she's in, I think, all major
markets in Texas and has justquadrupled her business and she
actually got her to take herfirst trip to Africa and be
hands off For once.
Because she is all the rightpeople in place and the things
in place to operate efficiently.
(03:37):
Wow.
Storie (03:38):
So the way you frame it like that, it's also a lot like
what we do at Atma.
We're a marketing agency and wereally take that pressure off
of having to deal with thatin-house, because when you don't
have the brain for certainthings or the capacity to do
them, it's worth every singlecent when you know you have
trusted people to take care ofit right a hundred percent.
Brooke (03:58):
If you think about hr, it sounds like you have a little
bit of background in that.
There's just a myriad of thingsyou have to think about taxes,
workers comp, insurance, youknow, you name it the 50 or not
EEOC claims all kinds of crazystuff, just simple things, and
you know zip code to zip code.
Storie (04:18):
Even in states like California, those things can
differ absolutely laws pass allthe time and if you're not on
your compliance, you know andthat's an pass all the time, and
if you're not on yourcompliance, you know, and that's
an annual update that you guysmake sure you're proficient in.
Oh, absolutely, that'swonderful.
So tell me more about one.
How long has Questco been herein DFW?
Brooke (04:38):
So I was hired as the first person in DFW a little
over a year ago.
Even though we're nationwide,Dallas is an emerging market for
us.
Storie (04:48):
Okay, that's awesome.
So obviously you've you'vecontinued to do well in this
market.
That's great.
And so what led you to youryour book writing?
Now, you have multifacetedtalents, I see, but let's shift
over to a little more about you.
What urged you to create thisbook and and to help people?
Brooke (05:09):
yeah.
So this book, um, was just kindof a lightning strike, right,
like I've always kind of in myback of my head, known I wanted
to be an author but never reallyhad a story to tell.
I live in Flower Mound and theyhave this tradition that the
day after Thanksgiving you'regoing to see all of these trees
just decorated like Christmastrees, are out town and like in
the most random of spaces, right, so I'll go for a run and see
(05:32):
one out in the woods, you know,or in these funny spots, and
it's always just brought me suchjoy.
Yeah, and I was telling myfriend about this who was
visiting and he was like youshould write a book about this
and it was like, again,lightning strike.
I'm like absolutely.
So I went home, gathered mykids, we sat down and it was
written in within a couple hoursand here was this book and it's
(05:52):
it's just children's storyabout finding joy in difficult
times.
Storie (05:57):
Oh, I love that.
I need to definitely get thelink to that and to put at the
bottom of your bio on this.
So, with that being said, youhave a brilliant mind, obviously
.
How do you balance the businessdevelopment, the author and
being a mom all in one?
Brooke (06:13):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
I enjoy what I do.
I was a college athlete so Ijust kind of have that team
winning mentality.
I don't ever let anything getme down, or if it's you know
something I'm having a hard timewith, I see it as a challenge
rather than you know, adistraction or anything like
that.
So with the kids I just makesure that they're, you know,
(06:35):
first and foremost, happy,healthy, doing well, and they
all seem to be good so far.
Storie (06:41):
They're still alive, that's okay.
They win.
Brooke (06:47):
You know, when I'm lucky enough that I have a hundred
percent remote job so I'm athome or structuring my day
schedule in a way that it'seffective and efficient again to
be, you know, I get what I needto get done and focus on
knocking that stuff out andallows me to go pick up the kids
when they need to be picked upand then, the author thing.
It's kind of.
I find the time writing is kindof cathartic to me, right, I
(07:10):
find the time to write workingon book number two, and it's a
bit different.
It's not a children's story,but it allows me to kind of
process the things that I'vebeen through.
So yeah.
Storie (07:21):
Do you take your experiences with QuestCo into
thought like what people haveovercome?
Kind of helping people.
When you, when you think ofthat.
Author mentality.
Brooke (07:31):
Yeah, I think when you go to anything in sales, yeah,
it's a lot of difficult times insome really good highs, right.
So it's a challenging place tobe and you have to have this
positive mindset and I think myhistory in sports and writing
through things really helps meprocess them again.
(07:52):
I don't know that I bring worknecessarily into my writing, but
I think I take my personalexperience into work for sure,
absolutely.
Storie (08:01):
I think a lot of.
I hate the word sales, butbusiness development is creating
relationships.
No one is going to work withyou.
They don't trust you.
Would you agree?
Brooke (08:10):
Absolutely.
Storie (08:11):
And you can tell you're very authentic.
So, with that being said, youhave a perseverance.
It seems like this is one ofyour values, so how do you
transfer that into your?
The PEO with people that areunfamiliar?
with PEOs, I know you kind ofgave a brief description.
How do you transfer that intothe PEO With people that are
unfamiliar with PEOs?
I know you kind of gave a briefdescription.
How do you transfer yourpersonal insight and creating
(08:32):
relationships in with your job,your day-to-day with HR support
and onboarding these people toshow that they can trust you?
Brooke (08:41):
Yeah, trust is the biggest challenge, right, I
think, for me.
I've always protected my brandbeing me right.
I am never going to go outthere and sell something I'm not
proud of or misrepresentsomething to where, if I bumped
(09:02):
into this person in the grocerystore, I'd want to hide right.
Storie (09:05):
You don't ever want that experience.
I don't think.
Brooke (09:07):
No, no.
And so for me it's just being,you know, working with ethics,
you know telling the truth If Idon't know the answer, if it's
not the right fit.
I mean, peo is great for somebusinesses and maybe it's not
the right fit for some.
You know, there's definitelytimes when I run into people and
they just are like Nope, notinterested, and that's okay.
(09:30):
You know I think, when you're inbusiness development you put so
much pressure on yourself thatwhen you can get to a place
where you say, and that's okay,you know, a no is is is like.
Storie (09:43):
I'm just moving on right like it's.
Brooke (09:44):
They don't need my help right now exactly.
But I'm gonna put them in myqueue to follow up and make sure
that in three months I sayhello again you know so it's
that perseverance, um interest,like you said, trying to be
wholly authentic to where myclients become my friends and I
check in with them consistentlyand make sure we're all on track
and and that they're happystill and you know, if there's
(10:06):
something that changes in thebusiness and they need to do
something different, I'm goingto support them and help them
get them there.
Storie (10:13):
So I know I touched on you being in Dallas now, but how
long has this company beenaround?
Brooke (10:17):
Gosh almost 40 years since 1986.
So y'all must be doing somethingright, it seems like you have a
great company structure.
Yeah, so I think about the PEOindustry.
There are probably a thousandPEOs in the country, right, but
a lot of them are small,regional or industry specific
type PEOs.
Okay, you'll know the big dogslike ADP, trinet and Sparity.
(10:41):
About eight years ago, questcodecided, hey, this is where we
want to take our business, andso they hired Jason Randall who
is our CEO.
He's phenomenal.
Got to spend some time with himrecently and he's really
brought a people-centric,customer service-centric
approach to Quesco in all ways.
(11:03):
Like, if you read his bio andlook at his book, he just really
strips it down to puttingpeople first.
And so when you go into the PErelationship again.
They're all different and onesize doesn't fit all.
Here we're looking for thecompanies that have a heart set
(11:24):
for their employees.
We're just not a payrollbenefits solution.
We want to make sure that we'resupporting the business so that
the HR team or the leadershipteam can look at culture and
employee engagement and reallybuild out what the future of our
workforce looks like.
And how do we want to get thereand what kind of company do we
want to be.
Do we want culture by defaultor do we want culture by design?
(11:47):
And we want to free up them, tonot have administrative burdens
or get knocked off track, toreally focus on building the
culture and the employment placethat they want.
Storie (11:57):
Amazing, would you say.
That's what differentiates youfrom the big players.
Quote, unquote.
Brooke (12:02):
I think it makes us different in the marketplace.
For that reason we have justsuch a huge focus on customer
service and being the best kindof supportive HR team we can be
to our clients.
You know there are others inthe marketplace that have that
focus too a few of them.
And you know there are othersin the marketplace that have
(12:23):
that focus too a few of them.
Storie (12:25):
But there are definitely others that are just more of a,
a feeling Right, you told me,or mentioned before, that you
have a partner, not pushmentality, and that that sounds
like what you just described.
So how do you create awarenessabout what you do to these
business owners and businessleaders and encourage them to
(12:46):
reach out for that help thatyou're offering?
Brooke (12:48):
Yeah, a lot of education .
I think the market penetrationand PEO is in the mid 20s in
terms of, you know, companiesthat are using PEO, so there's a
lot of market share out thereand a lot of people that don't
even know about PEO.
Back to you know my myex-husband.
So for me, you know, I think thephone is not dead.
I love making phone calls andagain it's that challenge thing,
(13:10):
right, like this person doesn'tknow I'm calling and I'm going
to be super friendly and I amgoing to.
You know, I kind of go in witha goal.
It's a win for me to have aquick conversation and say, hey,
would it be okay if I reach outto you again.
So that's awareness, just doingthe hard work and the phone
calls.
But I love being out in thecommunity, I love events.
(13:32):
There's some nonprofits that Ilike to support and things of
that nature.
So just word of mouth.
You know, working from home canget kind of lonely for people
that don't know what that's like.
Storie (13:43):
So I make sure.
Brooke (13:44):
I set up lunches with you, know future or current?
Clients and influencers and,you know, like, outsource CFO
partners that can send mebusiness.
So I'm always kind of thinkinglike hey, how can my mental
health, you know, be, how can myenergy be reinvigorated by
sitting and talking to people?
(14:04):
And then you know yeah, it'sthat balance and people hear it.
Storie (14:08):
When, in such an AI driven world now, it seems like
people want more of a personaltouch, they almost want a phone
call so they know you're a realperson.
So I think what you're doing isreally giving that to that
demographic that doesn'tencourage the AI as much.
They really find that valuableto have that personal hands-on
experience, would you say.
Brooke (14:28):
I would think so too, and you see anybody who's out
there in development knocking ondoors and actually stopping in
to talk to people and bringingthem, you know, little cookies
or something like that.
I think it was out, and now Ifeel like it's back in because
of that personal touch Like hey,you know, yeah.
Storie (14:46):
I feel like our emails are constantly inundated with
with here and there and tryingto weed it out.
When you have someone in frontof you, it really just brings
you out of the screen, right?
And that follow-up theyactually pay more attention to,
which is, I think, a great beingin business development.
I think it's the personal touchpeople want right now.
Brooke (15:04):
Yeah, for sure, I don't know, if it's possible.
Storie (15:09):
They're the AI.
I think my kids inform me moreon what's going on and trending
and digital marketing than Ieven know sometimes, which is
great.
You got to stay in the mix ofall of it, I guess, right.
So what would you say thecompany is in?
Right now we have a build,launch, grow, scale methodology
we mentioned earlier.
Where would you say yourbusiness is this little sector
(15:32):
of your business and then thecompany as a whole?
Brooke (15:35):
I'm definitely in.
I would say grow.
You know, I am just trying toplant seeds everywhere I can to
let them know about Quesco andthe value that we bring.
So that's where you knowpersonally, my goals are where
I'm at With Quesco.
I think we're definitely in thebuild stage.
We're making a lot ofacquisitions, bringing on a lot
(16:01):
of BDMs in different markets.
And so we've got aggressivegrowth goals.
Mm-hmm coast to coast Wow.
Storie (16:11):
That's great, and I'm sure it varies for each region,
right?
So how would you say, um, howdo you know when it's time to
help a business owner?
Scale in terms of what you do?
The HR section of it.
Brooke (16:24):
Yeah, um, just a really great conversation asking a lot
of questions, right?
Because we touch every piece ofan organization when it comes
to HR right.
Touch every piece of anorganization when it comes to HR
right.
So it's a lot of questions,it's a lot of follow-up calls
and you know, just feeling out,you know where are we at.
(16:44):
Does this make sense for theorganization?
Does it?
Storie (16:46):
make sense for your people.
Brooke (16:46):
You know like we go back to the insurance piece.
There's such a need there, butwhat does that look like?
There's so many different waysto tackle benefits these days.
Igras and a lot of people aregoing to these.
You know the physicians whereyou pay a monthly thing.
Storie (17:05):
You know what's right for your people.
Brooke (17:06):
What do your people want ?
Storie (17:07):
And your team's doing the research on that for them.
Brooke (17:10):
We're asking the questions like what makes the
most sense for your business andyour people and what do they
want?
And if it's something that wecan do for them, we will
absolutely step in and help, andor we're advising.
You know, hey, maybe you don'tneed a traditional plan, maybe
you want to look at somethingelse and try to be bring some
solutions that are different.
Storie (17:29):
Right that they can trust that you're not just
another company upselling.
You're really trying to helpthem utilize and optimize their
business without having to be sohands on.
Brooke (17:38):
Yeah, it's benefits are probably one of the biggest cost
centers for any business.
Storie (17:43):
If you're offering them to employees.
Brooke (17:45):
it is expensive out there, Everybody knows it.
Storie (17:48):
And trying to understand all the different terms and how
it can help your staff.
I know a lot of CEOs don't havethe capacity to try and educate
themselves on all of that right.
Brooke (18:00):
Yeah, and that's where we come in when we want to be an
educational source for theiremployees.
You know, if we are workingwith them and saying this hey,
let's break this down, we've gota customer call center.
We will spend an hour with youremployees to go through it.
All all those things we want tobe able to, to educate wow but
ceos ceos you have.
They don't want to dive intothose details.
Generally we're working cfosand hr managers um that want to
(18:23):
understand the numbers, but ceosare like.
I just want to make surethere's good stuff for my people
wow.
Storie (18:28):
So you really you're an educator.
You're really educating peopleon the do's and don'ts of this
and and being a resource theycan have at any point during
during the week.
Are you guys a kind of a 24-7option if things were going to
go wrong?
Seven days a week?
Brooke (18:41):
oh yeah, thank god, my cell number's out there all the
time it's okay.
Storie (18:47):
So what's on the horizon for you?
The book, the business,anything exciting coming?
Brooke (18:53):
up.
Yeah, um.
So, like I mentioned working onbook number two, I really would
love to get that launched.
Um, it's a fun one for me.
Um, the book still working on.
So that was finished November12th last year in terms of being
able to publish that, and it'sa Christmas book oh sweet
holiday book, and so last year Ididn't have a whole lot of time
to turn that around um, so thisyear I'd like to really focus
(19:16):
on getting that out to peopleand see if I can drum some
interest up there.
Storie (19:21):
And it was always just a passion project.
Brooke (19:24):
So if it doesn't go anywhere, I'm okay with that too
.
Storie (19:26):
It's great to have passions outside of what you do,
though, isn't it?
Oh, yeah, yeah, I would sayit's healthy, and I need to be
better about it, for sure, butthis is what you're doing is
inspiring, and I'm sure it's agreat role model for your
children to follow, like youdon't have to be stuck in what
you do all the time.
You, you can expand youroptions, right yeah, I think
(19:46):
it's just.
Brooke (19:47):
I mean, when my daughter saw my name on Amazon, like,
she was like oh my gosh, it'sreal thing, um, and so that was
really, really fun.
I think that alone was worth.
You know, the the effort.
Storie (20:01):
So absolutely, now you're making me jealous.
I need to be a book writer orsomething for my children to
aspire to, right?
Brooke (20:09):
Everybody's got a story right.
Yeah, I mean, it's just I don'tknow.
I think there's an inspirationthat comes and you know, it
really has been an experience.
I've learned a ton.
I interviewed a lot of peoplethat had written their own books
and said what do I need to do?
Because it's kind of a trickyworld, the publishing world and
figuring out how to do it.
But it's been fun.
Storie (20:37):
What's one piece of advice, since you said that
would you give people that arelooking to start their own
business, or to create a book ortell their story?
What's one piece of advice youwish you had had prior to
starting all of that?
Brooke (20:45):
I would say do your research and talk to a lot of
people.
Like I said it was.
You know, I don't think youshould ever hold back, even if
it's never going to go anywhere.
But if you just write somethingand getting that off your chest
or getting that story out,sharing it with others, don't be
.
I was very nervous to share mystuff with other people, even my
family, even my mom.
I'm like, oh don't judge me.
(21:09):
But when I got positive feedbackover and over and over, I was
like, okay, it gave me theconfidence to run with it.
So, share what you have Askpeople questions.
I think that was key for me isreally asking those people that
I knew, that were authors andtalking about it, Just talking
like hey, I've written this book.
And so many people were like,oh my gosh, I know this person,
you should talk to them.
(21:29):
You know just the world openedup in terms of resources.
Storie (21:34):
So networking should talk to them.
You know it.
Just the world opened up interms of resources and so
networking.
Brooke (21:37):
You would say it's a great thing to do share it.
Storie (21:38):
Yeah, that is awesome, so if anyone wants to reach out
to you, in terms of questco, oreven advice um on how to kind of
begin the process of being yourown person how can they?
Reach you um.
Brooke (21:50):
My email at work is brookehoffman, at questconet.
I think if you Google me, mybook will come up on Amazon.
You can find me my cellnumber's available on my website
for that.
But yeah, it's, I'd be morethan happy.
One of my favorite things to dois get out for a lunch or
(22:11):
coffee and just meet people,because everybody has a great
story and I always learnsomething from people and love
to share resources and referralsand all of those things.
Storie (22:20):
So yeah, well, you're a great person.
It seems like to work with, Ithink we might be working with
you pretty soon too.
So um, to our listeners outthere, if you'd like to reach
out to Brooke, please do atleast to, to get some feedback
on how to optimize what you donow.
Until next time, we'll see you.
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