Payroll Busy Season

Peak Payroll Season: Are You Prepared?

It’s officially the prime season for payroll services. From October to February, business owners, HR professionals, and office managers are searching and comparing payroll services. However, there are two crucial questions you need to ask yourself. One, will they choose your business? And two, are you prepared to gain their business?

To avoid missing out on new business, and feeling overwhelmed, it’s essential to prepare for the busy season. In this article, we’ll be going over our top 5 tips to ensure you conquer the peak payroll season. 

1. Start Early

For the Payroll industry, the busy season kicks off in October, but planning begins much sooner. To properly account for the beginning of the busy season with a good plan and budget, you should begin setting yourself up for success during your company’s end-of-year planning. Determine your budget, and resources, and put a plan in place so you’re not blindsided once October rolls around. The idea is to give yourself enough time to prepare for all aspects of your payroll business to maximize your success rate. 

In Practice:

Ensure that during your end-of-year planning, you take a look at the data to put a plan in place for the busy season. This will ensure that you account for your slow months and have a plan in place to hit hard on sales during the peak season. 

2. Be Aware of Your Payroll Season Timeframe

Depending on who you talk to or what expert you turn to, unlike most industries with a peak month, the payroll industry has multiple months.  Some companies swear their peak season is in November, while others swear it’s January. Narrowing it down, we can see your timeframe to take advantage of maximizing sales is between October and February. 

In Practice:

With this timeframe in mind, you can craft your marketing campaigns accordingly. For example, at the start of October, you can begin with social media ad campaigns on Facebook and LinkedIn to build brand awareness and gain leads. In November, you can begin email marketing campaigns to engage with current customers or target new ones. 

3. Set Monthly Goals

Sales goals aren’t new, but predetermining the sales goals you’ll need to meet during the peak payroll season is vital. It is the season that can make or break your business. If monthly targets during the busy season are not accurately forecasted or missed, this could mean the difference between meeting your yearly goal. You should analyze data from past years as you prepare to set monthly payroll goals. 

In Practice:

Create monthly goals for your sales team that take into account both your busy and slow payroll seasons. Next, to ensure goals are met, make sure to take the time to train sales agents accordingly. Use slow seasons as an opportunity to focus on training to ensure new and vetted sales agents are prepared to meet goals during the busy season. In addition, you must make time to show your appreciation toward your hardworking staff. This can be showcased through incentives like gift cards or parties, or even just acknowledgment of their hard work. Remember, keeping employees happy is just as important as keeping them motivated to meet monthly goals. 

4. Review Sales Procedures

You started early, the timeline is established, and your monthly goals are set. Nice, but what happens if plans don’t go accordingly? Of course, we all plan for the unexpected. No need to mention the elephant in the room…covid19. But even so, some things don’t take planning and just require adjustments. If you find that you’re not getting the right leads, or not closing as many as you’d like during the busy season, it’s time to take a look at your sales process and adjust accordingly.

Payroll Season

In Practice:

Ensure your sales team is not falling victim to these sales mistakes:

  • No Call Attempts
  • Waiting to Call  
  • Not Calling Enough
  • Not Tracking Leads
  • Giving Up Early

Example: Timid Timothy

Timothy does not like to make phone calls. Instead, he emails or texts the prospect. And if it’s necessary to call, Timothy will find excuses to put it off. He doesn’t like to follow up because he feels timid and doesn’t want to bother the prospect. After about three touchpoints, he labels the lead cold and moves on. 

Instead, do the following:

  • Call Fast
  • Don’t Wait to Call
  • Call Often
  • Track Your Progress
  • Don’t Quit

Example: Politely Persistent Peter

Peter calls every prospect and makes sure to call them within 5 minutes. He leaves voicemails, tracks his progress, and makes sure to make 6 call attempts per week to the prospect. Peter understands the sales cycle takes time and doesn’t give up. Instead, he continues to work on the lead, and if he’s not successful will add them to a drip campaign. 

Next, it might be time to consider outside help to ensure you’re gaining sales-qualified leads. 

5. Streamline Your Lead Flow 

Now that you have a strong sales team and sales process in place for the busy payroll season, it’s time to ensure you’re generating high-quality leads. An easy way to do this is by hiring a lead generation company. Lead generation companies help businesses like yours grow and reach more customers. They are experts in their field and generate qualified leads that are more likely to convert. 

In Practice:

A lead generation agency will attract and target your audience. You get to focus on your business, and your sales agents get to focus on closing deals instead of cold calling while the lead generation company brings in prospects. In addition, experts are focussed on getting decision-making buyers for suppliers. 

Lead Generation Stats:

  • The most challenging aspect of marketing is lead generation, according to 61% of marketers. (HubSpot)
  • More than 80% of marketers believe marketing automation increases leads (and conversions). (APSIS)

Ready to Close Deals During the Payroll Busy Season?

At 360Connect, we understand finding new payroll service clients is hard work during any season. That’s why we’re ready to help make it easy for you. With our Revenue Growth Program, we put you in front of companies actively searching for payroll services. If you’re ready to close more deals during the peak payroll season, sign up today!

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