ADP Partner Program - Benefits to Bookkeepers + Their Clients
Oct 17, 2022
Welcome back, everyone. Today, I’ve asked Hannah Joyce, my personal payroll rep with ADP, to come on and discuss the benefits of working with ADP as your payroll provider. I've discussed payroll in the past, but things have changed since then, and I want to keep you all updated!
I used to use only Gusto, but now I suggest using both ADP and Gusto together. Even though ADP is my preferred payroll provider, Gusto is a great software to have, and using both in tandem has worked wonderfully for me!
The reason I prefer ADP as my payroll provider is because it is incredibly nice to hear from an actual rep. There’s something about being able to connect with an actual person that really sets ADP up as the frontrunner payroll provider here.
That’s why I’ve invited Hannah to discuss all the benefits of becoming an ADP partner. We’re going to talk about what that partnership can look like, as well as discussing the perks to you and your clients.
ADP Info
Hannah: Hello, everyone! So, a little bit of background on ADP: we pay one in six Americans, and we've been around for seventy-plus years at this point.
We’re one of the biggest names in the payroll provider industry, so you might already be a bit familiar with ADP. Maybe you've been paid by an employer who used ADP as their payroll provider before, but that's really where your baseline knowledge stops. Luckily, I’m here to help with that!
How ADP Works With Accountants and Bookkeepers
Hannah: As for how we partner with accountants and bookkeepers and what we offer for their clients, we have various partner programs that allow us to work hands-on with your entire book of business. Whether they're all on ADP or you have some that are wanting to look into it, you're going to have a single point of contact for that entire relationship, meaning that your clients will work with your aligned partner (for Katie, that’s me!), and you will work with that partner as well.
We’re segmented by employee count; for instance, my segment of ADP is small business services, so I work with companies that are one to forty-nine employees. This is really where we find the niche, because it means we fit right into majority of accounting professionals or bookkeepers. A lot of our clients are in the same space, so the partnership works really well; we're seeing the problems, needs, and concerns for that line of business on a daily basis. Because of this, we have a lot to offer, whether it's resources or products to be able to assist them.
The Client Experience
Hannah: For the clients, we have a fully Cloud-based program where they're able to run their payroll and get human resource assistance. They can also set up retirement plans, health insurance, and workers comp insurance through us. We handle everything tax-compliance-wise on the payroll side and employee management, but we also have those additional employee-facing benefits that they can integrate directly into their payroll.
Katie: I use ADP in my firm, both to pay myself and W2 employees that I have. My contractors and I did use Gusto before, and now I use ADP for all of those things. As for my clients going onto ADP, I start that thought process as soon as there's one employee for them to consider.
Remember, even if you’re the owner of an S-corp, that makes you an employee. So even if you’re your only employee, I count that, because the number one thing that S-Corps need to do is to pay yourself payroll to avoid being flagged for an audit.
Length of Service Matters
Katie: ADP is my favorite payroll provider, Gusto is second in line, and outside of that, I couldn't even tolerate other payroll providers. ADP, as Hannah said, processes payroll for one in six Americans. I like that simple statistic. It means that they process a lot of payroll, and seventy-plus years means they've been a payroll provider for a long time.
These days, people like the newer, shinier things. For me, I like to stay with things that are proven. If they’ve been able to stick around that long, it proves they understand what goes into that process.
It’s the same thing with banks. I prefer long-standing banks because I always prefer long-standing experts in their field. And what is so great about ADP, in my opinion, is that the value is far superior. The ability to grow is much, much greater for what I would call the same ballpark pricing as other payroll providers. So if you're getting a superior product and service and the price is matched, it's a complete no-brainer to me!
Features That Set ADP Apart as a Payroll Provider
Retirement Plans
Katie: Being able to integrate payroll with a retirement account is one of the really big benefits ADP offers that not a lot of payroll provider competitors have.
Hannah: Retirement plans are almost like their own beast. Sometimes companies or other payroll providers will take on pieces of that integration or that compliance, but having it all in one place where ADP is filing things for your 401K plan, moving the money for it, keeping track of your employee's contributions, and automatically making any changes when they elect to bump it up or lower it down. There's a lot of moving parts, so knowing that it's through your payroll provider with ADP and that we're taking over all of that, it takes a lot of the headache away from a business owner as well as a bookkeeper or accountant, knowing that it's being done right and those forms are being filed properly for the client. We also offer a SEP-IRA at a low cost for smaller clients, which is very affordable.
App Access
Katie: I recently started using the app for my own running payroll, and it’s so nice.
Hannah: Yes! We had a very recent upgrade, and now the app is fully accessible. Everything you can do in your online portal, you can now do from the app. So instead of having to log in from your computer to add an employee, to download reports, to make any of those bigger changes to your account, you can do that from the app now. It’s designed to mimic everything that the web-based portal actually does.
Katie: Those are such great additions we’ve been asking for over the years, so everyone is very happy on our side about that. It now notifies you when payroll is due, which is great, but I also use the time tracking feature for my hourly employees. They can now self-manage that, which means they clock in and out when they sit down at their computer, and all I have to do is approve the time card. Those hours transfer straight in, I can quickly review who's getting paid, and then I can press the button and get payroll handled.
Benefits of the Partner Plan
Katie: Tell us about how the partner program benefits bookkeepers, and when they can start having that conversation with you.
Hannah: We have a couple of different partnership options for the accounting space, whether that's a CPA, an accountant, or a bookkeeper. The one you're referencing is our revenue share program.
Our revenue share program is a commission referral credit program you can enroll in as a partner of ADP. When you refer new clients that get started with your designated person, such as myself, you will actually get paid out a percent of their annual invoice to ADP for making that introduction.
The cool thing about that is that you're only responsible for making that introduction. From there, it comes to me. I handle the entire sales process, the onboarding with the client, and then I'm also their point of contact for anything service-wise they need. So you have that single point of contact relationship for yourself, for your client, and then you're also getting compensated for making that introduction.
The revenue share program is based on the number of clients you refer to ADP and the contract year when you sign. So what I always tell people is that we can talk about it, and I can walk you through how the program work works and what the compensation looks like at any point, but until you have that first client that you're thinking of referring to ADP, don't actually complete the enrollment. Your contract period starts on the day that you complete that enrollment and it gets approved in our system. So say you enroll on November 1st, you have until November 1st, 2023 to get as many clients started as you can to bump up that commission structure, or at least hit your three minimum referrals.
Once you hit three clients onboard with ADP and they actually choose us as their payroll provider, you get 25% of their annual invoice to ADP. If you get up to five clients, that number bumps up to 50%, and you get paid retroactively on those first three clients. So really, your first five clients are all 50% of their annual invoice fee to ADP. And if you get up to nine in one calendar year, that goes up to 75%. And then anything over nine in that contract period, you are getting 75% of their invoice to ADP.
There’s really no profit margin for ADP when you have that many clients, but that's just how we work with our partners. We want to treat them as well as we possibly can. We want to build that partnership. We want to continue year after year. So the idea is just to help you onboard as many clients as you can and make it worth your while.
I Can’t Recommend ADP Enough As Your Payroll Provider!
Now you know all the reasons I recommend ADP! Huge thanks to Hannah for hopping on to talk about all things ADP. To get connected with Hannah and discuss if/when becoming a partner makes sense, click here: www.katieferro.com/adp
If you're looking for more tips for bookkeeping, insight on how to become a bookkeeper, and how to say hello to a more confident business model, enroll in Become A Bookkeeper (BABs).
Or to learn more about growing your bookkeeping business and hiring a team, enroll in Life By The Books™ (Libby).
If you have enjoyed this blog post, head on over to Instagram, share your IG stories, and tag me: @orderlyaccountingbykatie
Kajabi affiliate www.katieferro.com/kajabi for extended 30-day trial
CONNECT WITH KATIE:
Website: https://www.katieferro.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/orderlyaccountingbykatie
