Four Reasons to Offer Payroll Services

You are so much more than just an accountant or bookkeeper. You’re also your clients’ advisor and supporter. Clients trust you with their books and come to you when they have questions. But, some clients may need help with tasks beyond their books, like running and managing payroll.

In the past, your firm may have avoided offering payroll services due to manual payroll entries and processes. But thanks to evolving technology and automation—like cloud payroll software—offering payroll services to clients is easier and more convenient than ever.

Reasons to offer payroll services

Offering payroll services to clients is a win-win. Your firm can increase profits and expand its offerings. Plus, you can take the payroll headache away from your clients. Learn more about why your firm should offer payroll services to clients below.

1. Make your firm more profitable

Offering payroll services can be your initial opportunity to get new clients in the door. Then, you can upsell additional services ranging from monthly bookkeeping to advisory services. After all, the more services you offer, the more likely you are to attract and retain clients. But, you have to have the right strategy (and payroll solution) to be profitable.

Gone are the days of having to do payroll by hand. Thanks to modern-day technology, you have a variety of options to choose from when it comes to payroll—including cloud payroll.

With a cloud payroll software solution, you don’t have to worry about manually updating everything to keep up with new or ever-changing tax laws. Instead, the software automatically updates for you. And if you take advantage of a full-service payroll software, you don’t have to spend time filing and remitting pesky payroll tax forms and payments to the proper tax agencies.

To make your firm more profitable, you can cover your clients’ payrolls using the software. Then, you can charge your clients a premium for handling the payroll for them. Some payroll providers might even have special partner pricing and reduced software rates for accounting firms like yours.

2. Draw in additional clients

If you want to further grow your client base, offering payroll services may be the way to go. Think about it this way: There are over 31 million small businesses across the United States. And, that number continues to grow every year. Who needs assistance with payroll taxes and running payroll the most? That’s right, employers at small businesses.

Offering payroll services can be your initial opportunity to get new clients in the door. Then, you can upsell your tax services to them.

Adding payroll to your firm’s list of services can also potentially help you gain out-of-state clients, too. In these remote times, you can offer online payroll and accounting services and meeting with clients via video conference or phone call instead of in-person.

3. Give clients more peace of mind

There is nothing more stressful than dealing with inaccurate payroll or tax penalties. You know this and you never want your clients to have to deal with payroll problems.

By offering payroll services to your clients, you can give them more peace of mind knowing that their payroll is in good hands. They don’t have to worry about staying up to date with the latest payroll-related laws or making a mistake while running payroll. They can simply rest easy knowing that a professional is handling payroll for them.

4. Strengthen your relationships with clients

When you have a strong relationship with a client, they will likely stick around for years to come. Offering payroll services can help strengthen said relationships. How? By adding payroll to your offerings, you can further solidify your role as a trusted advisor for your clients.

The majority of small business owners have little to no experience in payroll, which can cause them to spend a lot of time trying to learn the ropes. Not to mention, it can cause business owners a whole lot of stress trying to set payroll up on their own.

Offering payroll helps combat clients’ payroll frustrations. And, it can give your clients a person to go to for payroll advice.

Searching for a payroll provider? Start your journey here

Ready to start offering payroll services? Great! Before you can begin providing payroll, you may want to partner up with a payroll provider. 

So, what do you look for in a payroll provider? Here are just a few things you should consider while on the hunt:

• Costs
• Reliability
• Features
• Setup process
• Security
• Integration
• Customer service reputation

You may also want to look for a partner program that offers additional perks, like free payroll for your firm and reduced pricing based on the amount of clients you bring on board.

Once you team up with a payroll provider, you can begin marketing your new services to clients. Email your current clients to let them know about your payroll services. Promote your new offerings in advertisements and on social media. Also, don’t forget to update your firm’s website to include your new service!