4 steps to profit from auto enrolment

Transcription

1 4 steps to profit from auto enrolment Educate, communicate, demonstrate, accentuate. These are the four steps that accountants can take in order to successfully sell auto enrolment services to clients. This guide will cover the ways that you can make the most of each step.

2 Background to auto enrolment As of October 2012 the government issued new legislation that requires every business to auto enrol their employees into a qualifying pension scheme. The workplace pension reform was introduced because as a society we were not saving enough for our retirements and the government felt that it was time to step in and make a change. Up to this point, over five million employees have been successfully auto enrolled into qualifying pension schemes. Now that the majority of the larger employers have reached their staging date (the day from which their responsibilities begin), it is now the turn of the small and micro businesses, with around 46,300 businesses set to stage in 2015 alone. From an accountancy point of view, research* from The Pensions Regulator found that 53% of micro companies (1-4 employees) and 61% of small companies (5-49 employees) plan to consult external advisers (such as their accountant). To successfully sell auto enrolment to your clients, you need to Educate your clients, Communicate with them effectively, Demonstrate to a level that is understandable and Accentuate your profits. Legal information This information doesn t constitute financial, investment or professional advice and shouldn t be relied on as such. IRIS do not make any personal recommendation or give advice to employers and their workers on how to make investment decisions. If you are seeking this kind of advice we would suggest speaking with a qualified financial adviser.

3 4 Steps to selling auto enrolment to your clients 1) Educate your clients As the number one target for their auto enrolment enquiries, your clients will be coming to you if they have any questions or queries regarding auto enrolment. This means that you have the opportunity to become a trusted source for auto enrolment. When your client has any questions and decides to start inquiring about how they can begin their auto enrolment journey, they will want to get in touch with you. With this in mind, it is important to note that they are more likely to buy services from you if you are the one educating them. Become a thought leader Position yourself as the thought leader of auto enrolment to your clients and they are more likely to come to you for help and support. This can be done through the use of various pieces of information that you can gain from trusted sources such as The Pension Regulator and IRIS. This information will educate your clients and help them to understand why auto enrolment is important for their employees. *

4 4 Steps to selling auto enrolment to your clients 2) Communicate effectively Opening up a dialogue early with your clients is important to help them feel that they are in safe hands when it comes to auto enrolment. There is a multitude of ways to communicate: Example letters Infographics arranging data into an easy to read picture Newsletters and information Webinars and seminars Infographic: Guides Product Sheets Case Studies templates Website copy 48% of accountants according to TPR say that their clients have already contacted them in regards to auto enrolment. An open, continuous dialogue is extremely important for establishing a healthy working relationship through such a complex piece of legislation. There are many auto enrolment traps that your clients could fall into and many businesses described themselves initially as being terrified of auto enrolment. If you start the dialogue, it closes off the route for any competitors meaning you re the number one in their mind. As you know, this is in conjunction with the first point of Educating your clients.

5 4 Steps to selling auto enrolment to your clients 3) Demonstrate how you can help As the famous saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and there is no better way to demonstrate to your clients that you can take full control of their auto enrolment by actually showing them what it is you will be doing for them! A lot of businesses will feel much more comfortable buying their auto enrolment service from their accountant if they see it in action and how it can help them to stay compliant. Transparency is key. If they see the processes as they work, they will be confident that their payroll and auto enrolment duties will be in good hands. Demonstrate through use of Videos and presentations product demos example payslips, P60s and pension letters Product sheets Your clients can gain a peace of mind by seeing you demonstrate a high level of competency within your solution. In turn, they may even feel confident enough about your practice to tell other businesses about you and win you further business via referral.

6 4 Steps to selling auto enrolment to your clients 4) Accentuate your profitability Imagine a piece of law being introduced that requires almost every business in the UK to use a service that you provide Welcome to auto enrolment. The IRIS AE Suite automatically assesses employees for their auto enrolment eligibility, distributes payslips and P60s electronically and also publishes pension communications; all alongside the payroll run. The IRIS AE Suite is the perfect solution to take care of your clients needs. Using the software will generate extra revenue and profit for your accountancy practice because you can charge your clients extra for auto enrolment services. This means that the cost of the IRIS AE Suite can be passed on to your clients meaning that the software s return on investment is always a positive. Remember, auto enrolment really isn t optional and TPR have already issued a total of 367 fixed penalty notices of 400 and 4 escalated penalties of up to 10,000 per day for non-compliance. This can be used as a reminder to those clients who are considering burying their heads in the sand. This means that almost every business in the UK must adopt auto enrolment and this is where you as an accountancy practice will come to the rescue. Some companies however may see auto enrolment as the final straw when it comes to payroll and processes and just simply outsource their entire payroll to you. Businesses are expecting that, as well as their pension contributions, they will have to pay for auto enrolment at some point. This shows that there is money to be made from auto enrolment so if you Educate, Communicate and Demonstrate your solution to clients, you will be well on your way to Accentuating your profitability. Book a free demo >> iris.co.uk/openpayslips

7 4 Steps to selling auto enrolment to your clients Charging and tier pricing Communicating with clients early on can help them to understand what will be involved and will allow you to offer a tiered payment structure based on the level of service that you will provide. Offering an early bird service also encourages people to get setup early and will try to minimise any potential capacity crunch that may occur with a lot of people all vying for the same products and services all at the same time. For a real-world pricing example, you could charge clients anything from 5-15 per month for auto enrolment services. Based on a company having 500 employees, that is anywhere between 30,000 and 90,000 per annum. And that isn t all, either. You can charge for the setup fees of auto enrolment services as well as charging for ongoing assessment and pension communications.

8 How can IRIS help? The industry's leading auto enrolment solution Auto enrolment legislation and communications is very complex. Here at IRIS we have developed the industry's most comprehensive auto enrolment solution; the IRIS AE Suite. The IRIS auto enrolment solution has been adopted by over 3,100 organisations assessing 570,000 employees. Employees no longer just require payslips and P60s, they require additional pension communications delivered at key stages. This comprises of three elements; assessment, communications (pension letters) and electronic payslips and P60s. Effortless Communications The IRIS AE Suite takes care of your communication requirements, removing the administration. It allows you to: Produce relevant automatic enrolment communications and deliver them directly to your workforce Access audit facilities for producing compliance evidence Print and deliver electronic and paper payslips and P60s Electronic Payslips and P60s You can view your payslips and P60s wirelessly via: Your smartphone or tablet Your laptop/desktop PC Secure online employee portal accessed via Book a Free Demo The IRIS Auto Enrolment Accountancy Kit Bag We've put lots of useful information in to the Auto Enrolment Kit Bag to help you provide clear messaging to your clients on your services and on the changes that auto enrolment will bring to businesses. Content includes testimonial videos, overview documents which you can joint brand, template letters and on-demand webinar. iris.co.uk/kitbag Call us now on

9 Summary Here is a handy reminder of the four main steps to selling auto enrolment to your clients 1. Educate your clients. 2. Communicate with them effectively. 3. Demonstrate your services to your clients. 4. Accentuate your profitability. Auto enrolment will affect everyone and you can take this opportunity not only to profit from it, but help your clients and form a better working relationship. iris.co.uk/kitbag

10 About IRIS With 35 years' experience, IRIS provides business critical software and services to the UK SME sector and accountants in practice. Over 53,500 small and medium-sized companies including 15,500 accountancy practices rely on IRIS every day to run their business and collaborate, with around 82,000 endusers subscribing to IRIS cloud solutions. IRIS Software Group is the number one solution provider for RTI and its software pays 18 percent of UK businesses that operate under PAYE. All customers receive the greatest choice of RTI payroll software and services managed under the brands IRIS and Earnie. IRIS has developed a complete solution to help businesses prepare for automatic enrolment. This includes compliant payroll software, the IRIS AE Suite to handle your employee assessment, pension communications, and payslip/p60 distribution. Get in touch today to see how IRIS can help you prepare for auto enrolment with your clients. Call us: us: sales@iris.co.uk Visit us: iris.co.uk/autoenrolment Follow us on