Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Adam Bergere: Hey. Thanks for taking my question. So a quick one on R&D. What are some product areas or functionality you’re still looking to round out to get to that $600 PPEY target?

Steve Beauchamp: Yes. I think for competitive reasons I never like to announce a product until we’re very close to launching that and bringing that to market. What I would tell you is I think we continue to have opportunities to extend the valuable data that we have about an employee’s person record to be able to automate a number of internal processes for our customers. Some of those really fit right into kind of a core HR organization. Some of those start to extend outside of that where that data can become valuable. We also have opportunity to be able to add deeper capabilities and functionality, very much like Scheduling Plus which was one of our new product SKUs that allow our customers to take advantage of richer functionality and it allows us to be able to get a little bit more pricing out of that equation.

And so I think it’s really kind of a combination of innovating in places where we don’t see our competitors go on top of actually just making our functionality deeper and better. And then lastly, sometimes it’s reacting to customer feedback. I think Rewards & Recognition is a great example of client feedback driving us to launch a SKU that maybe we wouldn’t imagine three or four years ago. And so it’s all three of those things that drive the innovation.

Adam Bergere: Thank you. That’s very helpful. And then just a follow-up. Can you remind us what the ramp time is for the new sales headcount you’ve brought in this past Q1? Thank you.

Ryan Glenn: Yes. I mean I would say that I don’t think we have seen any significant change in terms of the ramp time of the sales team that we would have hired in that spring timeframe, which again is sort of the main part of the hiring season, although we continue to hire reps throughout the course of the year, every single year. And I think, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, I mean I think we are – came into the new fiscal year with sales headcount up 18%. That’s the same level of increase generally, we’ve had the last few years. And I think we feel really good about the level of talent we’ve been able to attract. And as Steve said a minute ago, I think we’re in the heart of selling season. And I think we feel pretty good about how the momentum that we had in the course of Q1 and feel really good about where we sit from a staffing perspective and from a talent level perspective as we sit here in the heart of selling season.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Robert Simmons with D.A. Davidson. Your line is open.

Robert Simmons: Hey, thanks for taking the question. So your guidance has you below the 20% growth target you’ve put out there. When do you think you can return to that level? And what is going to be the most likely catalyst to get there?

Steve Beauchamp: Well, our goal is obviously to continue to focus on that 20% target from a long-term perspective. And there’s been certainly a lot of noise post-COVID in some of these numbers. And in some ways even some of the comparables on the first half of the year that we’ve got. But we feel focused on getting there. I think if you look at the guidance overall for the year we’re right at the number implied a little bit lower but not a lot lower on the last couple of quarters. I think the other thing I would say is that’s guidance, right, not always actuals as well. And so if you kind of factor all that in place we feel like we’re – from a guidance perspective we’re pretty darn close to the target already and we’re going to stay focused on that number.

Robert Simmons: Got it. And then can you talk about the customer reaction and feedback have you had so far from the announcements you had at Elevate?

Toby Williams: Yes. I mean I think overall, we – as Steve said a few minutes ago, really good reaction at Elevate overall. But I think as it relates to some of the product announcements we’ve had, we’ve had a strong couple of quarters of new product introduction with things most recently like Rewards & Recognition and Employee Voice that Steve was talking about. And I think the overall reaction so far obviously, early days in terms of the launch of those products but the reaction so far has been great really strong. And I think those – to Steve’s point a minute ago, I mean those continue to be products that we have collaborated with clients on we’ve gotten feedback from them and we’ve now delivered products that I think they are indicating of value to them. And so while it’s early days I mean I think the reaction has been really strong so far.

Robert Simmons: Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Terry Tillman with Truist. Your line is open.

Terry Tillman: Yes, thanks for fitting me in as well. Maybe my first question and I did have a follow-up, either fortunately or unfortunately for you all. The first question is as we talk about growth algorithm – and Steve, I think you said it really well. I mean you’ve got the team on the field, you got to execute now and close business the rest of the year. So I totally get that. But what I’m curious is with what you know right now, how do you think the mix of growth in new revenue coming on would look between new units and average revenue per customer this year versus last year? Do you see any discernible potential changes in those mixes? And then I had a follow-up.

Steve Beauchamp: Sure. Okay. So I think – I think you know this Terry but we quote our salespeople on new recurring revenue, not necessarily based off a specific number of units. I think over the last couple of years as we’ve had success upmarket and success with driving more product you’ve seen average revenue per customer play a bigger role. And the units obviously were a slightly smaller component of that. It just — I think my reaction to that is we want to get to the number and we want the sales force to be able to go with what the customers need. And sometimes that means they’re selling more customers and sometimes they’re selling more product. But I think it’s too early to be totally honest with you this year to be able to tell you whether we’re going to see a specific mix shift.

Terrell Tillman: Yeah.

Steve Beauchamp: We do have a fair amount of product coming out this year. And we’ve leaned in a little bit more into selling back to the client base. So if I were to tell you a lean that would probably be the slight lean based off of that initiative but we’re going to let the year play out.

Terrell Tillman: Understood. Totally. And maybe just a follow-up question and maybe this is easier said than done but you all have done a lot in terms of these add-on products that drive that PEPY. But have there been learnings when you bring these newer products out that somehow you can just get the quicker kind of attach rates of that like 20% plus target et cetera with the newer products just because from learnings from the prior add-on products? Or is it not that simple to be able to have all that kind of testing and learning?

Steve Beauchamp: Yeah. So I mean these are obviously — you’re talking products that can be maybe $1 PEPM up to several dollars PEPM. And so as you look to add those you first typically see a fair amount of movement with new customers coming on board. So you launch it to the sales force. The two new products we just talked about are available for January starts. So we’re already tracking sign-ups for those two products, as we speak. And so that ends up being what I would say is a fairly normal ramp-up rate that has been pretty consistent with various products overtime. So I don’t see a big opportunity to move that. We have gotten better over the years though as we sell back to the client base. And that team has scaled and the performance of that team has been really strong.