There are lots of businesses that are top-fee clients of other firms that normally would not talk to you about your services, or invite you into their businesses. They already have an accounting firm. Perhaps they feel that all firms are the same, or maybe they feel they are not getting what they truly want, but changing firms seems too complicated. Payroll has proven to be one of the best ways to get an accounting firm in the door of these larger businesses.

These businesses would not normally have invited another accounting firm in. But if your firm is in their offices helping them with a payroll issue, you may also talk about their other accounting issues. It is a natural progression.

For example, one CPA firm that acquired a client with a 50-person payroll at $300 per month, and it led to $35,000 in yearly accounting fees for them (within four months). Another case history was a firm where a $100 per month payroll led to an $8,000 per year client, plus a full retirement plan. So again, payroll is a superb marketing tool. Payroll is the marketing activity that gives substantial profits, and also produces thousands of dollars of additional business.

When an accounting firm begins to believe the “5 Keys,” the payroll business becomes one of the hottest businesses in America for that firm. The wide payroll market that exists in this country for outsourced payroll services will be divide among accounting firms that have a vision for the future – the vision of the one-stop shop, of which payroll is a part, and the vision of the accounting firm being the most trusted advisor that a business has.