SYRACUSE — PeopleSystems, a Syracuse–based firm that specializes in providing business services to clients nationwide, has partnered with the local franchise of Sandler Training to develop a training division.

PeopleSystems, which operates at 241 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse, helps its clients with human-resources compliance, unemployment-cost control, and training.

Sandler Training is the local affiliate of the Owings Mills, Md.–based Sandler Sales Institute, which follows the methodologies and techniques of David Sandler, who founded the organization in 1983.

Sandler Training, which has a local history dating back to 1987, was most recently known as Dermody, Burke & Brown [DB&B] / Peak Performance Management / Sandler Training.

Franchise owner Richard (Rick) Olszewski and Sandy Stefano, the local franchise’s director of operations, on Nov. 1 of last year moved into new office space at PeopleSystems.

Olszewski is commonly known to colleagues and associates as “Rick O.”

Olszewski and Stefano had previously operated the franchise at the office of Syracuse accounting firm DB&B, located at 443 N. Franklin St. in Syracuse’s Franklin Square area.

PeopleSystems was familiar with the work of Sandler Training from a previous working relationship between the two organizations, says John (Jack) Rade, president and CEO of PeopleSystems, speaking by phone from his office in Jacksonville, Fla.

“We hired Rick and Sandler many years ago … and were very impressed with what they accomplished for our people both in sales and customer service while servicing our clients,” Rade says.

Rade wanted to eventually have a training arm for his company and has wanted that “for a long time,” Olszewski says.

“He had thought that with the products … and services that we provide, we could enhance the … the short-term relationships they have throughout the states as well as have longer-term business relationships with our product line,” Olszewski added.

With “thousands” of clients in all 50 states, PeopleSystems wanted to expand its training services, Rade says.

The training had focused on topics such as sexual harassment, discrimination, unemployment insurance, and workers’-compensation issues, Rade says.

“What we wanted to do was to expand that training and create a separate division, which is in effect what we did by bringing Sandler on board,” he adds.

Olszewski says the discussions to integrate Sandler Training into PeopleSystems’ current operations began last June.

“There is a financial arrangement that was made in order to do that … if it didn’t work … Rick is always free to leave and he still owns his franchise … We see this as a PeopleSystems training service and Sandler is a part of it,” Rade explains.

Neither side disclosed the terms of their financial agreement. The two entities signed their deal “in October” to begin their relationship as of Nov. 1, Olszewski says.

Jack McDermott, an attorney with McDermott & Britt, P.C. provided legal consultation for PeopleSystems in the transaction, according to Christopher Fletcher, the firm’s executive vice president and COO.

At the time of the discussions with PeopleSystems, Olszewski was majority owner of the local Sandler franchise with DB&B as a minority-equity partner, he says.

Olszewski eventually acquired the DB&B stake in the franchise to become sole owner of Sandler Training. Sandler still views its relationship with DB&B as a “strategic alliance,” Olszewski says.

Sandler still uses the DB&B office at 443 N. Franklin St. as a training center, according to an email message Stefano sent out last October.

About the organizations
The local franchise of Sandler Training started as Peak Performance Management, a company that Peter Morrissey started in 1987 and later became Sandler Training. Morrissey retired last year.

Olszewski first worked with Peak Performance in 1998 as a client and later joined as an associate and trainer of the Sandler Training program.

Dermody Burke & Brown became familiar with Sandler’s services, purchased a stake in the local franchise, and became a minority owner with Olszewski.

Sandler hopes to add three account executives and two trainers over the next two years as the firm grows, Olszewski says.

He declined to disclose any revenue information for the local Sandler franchise.

PeopleSystems is a registered trademark of National Employers Council, Inc., which began in 1975 as an unemployment-tax control service, according to its website.

The firm has operated in its current location since December 1986. Jack Rade and his business partner, Donald Frank, share equal ownership in the company, Rade says.

The firm employs 71 full-time employees. It has a backup operations center in Brighton, Colo. and offices in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Florida, California, and Oregon.

Rade declined to disclose specific revenue information but indicated PeopleSystems generated 5 percent growth in 2013 compared to the previous year.  He’s also projecting an additional 5 percent revenue growth in 2014.

The firm’s clients include Syracuse University, the PGA Tour, and Avon Products, Rade says.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com