How do you know if this type of relationship is right for your payroll firm and your clients?

If you are like other payroll organizations we encounter, your prospects may be asking about the availability of applicant tracking software (ATS) and/or employee onboarding software within your product offerings.

Questions to Ask About Your Client Base

1. Are you competing against providers that already have applicant tracking software in their toolkit?
   • Whether or not you have lost deals as a result of competitors offering applicant tracking in a bundled solution will be a key decision point as you consider a partnership. If you are looking for new ways for your salespeople to open doors (or keep those doors open), then expanding your proposal to include a trusted partner’s niche recruiting software application is worth consideration.
2. What company size do you target?
   • Under 100 employees – Clients in this market segment are generally not large enough to warrant a web-based applicant tracking or onboarding solution. They are probably doing fine managing applicants in email folders or via an Excel spreadsheet. The exceptions to this rule occur when a small business is:
     • ramping up for a big hiring push;
     • suffering from high turnover;
     • or, responding to compliance regulations (i.e. going through a Department of Labor audit or converting a large number of independent contractors to direct employees)
     • NOTE: You are more likely to see these exceptions in industries such as quick service/fast food and hospitality.
   • 100 employees and over – In this segment, you are competing for prospective clients with organizations that often lead their pitch with offerings outside of their core services such as applicant tracking, onboarding, etc. Think Paychex, ADP, Ceridian, etc…
3. What “buzz words” do you consistently hear from prospects?
   • If any of these phrases have come up in conversations recently, it may be time to consider a partnership:
     • get away from paper; paperless – your prospect can use a web-based system to automate both the hiring/selection and employee onboarding processes
     • tech savvy – they may be ready to leverage technology to be more efficient with their human resources workflow
     • thin the herd; filter applicants – if your prospect has too many applicants to handle, then he/she will be looking for ways to automatically filter out applicants who don’t meet basic qualifications for listed positions

Other installments in this 3-part series:

Part 2: Now you know, so how do you vet vendors?
Part 3: What is my role as the middle man between the vendor and my clients?

Interested in exploring a partnership with ExactHire?

Contact us to learn more.