Question for ADP, Paychex and Ceridian employees

I'm interested in applying to these to companies. To those who have worked for ADP, Paychex, Ceridian or any of the other payroll companies, how difficult is it to sell payroll? A friend who is a CPA told me that she wants nothing to do with the payroll sales reps who are constantly knocking on her door. I was surprised by this comment... I thought that the CPAs were glad to have clients who were signed on with payroll companies.
Is it realitic to think I could make a decent living in this field? Also, how long does it take new employees to get to President's club and in the top 15% of the sales force? Finally, do you have to be in the top 15% for med recruiters to look at you?

 

I have worked for Paychex for just over three years now. I target the 50 and under market and I think if you can't sell payroll you shouldnt be in sales. Especially if you work for one of the big boys (Paychex, ADP and Ceridian).

I have about 200 CPA's in my territory and I only need 15-20 of them to refer to do above average. A lot of CPA's in my territory do payroll and view me as competition, but I don't mind, if they want to compete I'll steal more of their clients than we'll lose to them. Most business comes from current client referrals, banks and good old fashioned prospecting.

I am a "Conference" sales rep at Paychex, it took me a year to do it and I'll be leaving the company in under a month for greener pastures. I've had a lot of recruiters call me becuase they like the type of sales payroll reps do. And quite frankly, most payroll reps look at their company like a stepping stone to move on to better things. I've had a number of medical and pharma companies call, there are tons of jobs out there once you have proven experience.

 

I started at paychex last monday. Seems like it will be a good gig and a definite stepping stone to go into med sales in the near future. I leave for tier 2 training on sunday. Any tips and advice you could give me would be great, I want to knock it out and be a conference/circle rep asap. Where you headed after paychex?

 

I've had offers from a variety healthcare companies, but due to the sensitive nature of me still being at Paychex and not at my new job yet, I better not say.

Tier 2 is an overhyped cake walk and Tier 4 is even more of a cake walk mixed with more partying. When you get back just hit the current clients, banks and cpa's hard, don't waste time just trying to build the relationship, start asking for business. If you really want to hit Conference, work eight hours a day. After a year I was working 20-30 hrs a week and I still hit Conference.

When you are in NY other new reps will start talking about going into pharma and med sales and in a month when you come back to NY, some may have already made the jump, becuase a lot of companies target Paychex reps even after only a month in the position and with the lower comp plan than healthcare sales, it's no suprise why they leave.

What district are you in?

 

I am now 33, worked for ADP selling payroll/tax sevices for three years. Did 3 years in pharma and 4 yrs in biotech selling infused biologics. My ADP success was more important to Boston Scientific than my healthcare sales experience. ADP will teach you how to sell in a competitive environment. Good, busy CPA'S encourage their clients to outsource payroll. Small/shitty CPA's want to do the cllients payroll themselves. Finally-the point was accurate-if you cannot sell payroll successfully, then you have NO business in devices. Good luck.

 

I have an interview with ADP tomorrow. District manager SBS. I have heard mixed feelings about the company on this and other forums. My judgment is that your life as a rep all depends on the sales manager, branch operations, and your marketplace. It's not rocket science, but it does require hard work and persistence. Would this be an accurate assessment?

 

How do you even get in with ADP/PAYCHEX? Do they hire recent grads with a Biomed degree or do they know what I have up my sleeve???

 

ADP hires mostly kids <3 years out of school. Trust me, having 2 years of documented success is HUGE.

 

Paychex employee, that's impressive that you are able to hit Conference working 20-30 hrs a week. Based on your comment and what I've read in a couple of other posts, it sounds like the company offers the opportunity to be successful and still have time for a life outside of work. Just out of curiosity, have you found that some people start at Paychex viewing it as a stepping stone into medical sales but end up deciding that they want to stay?

 

I made the Paychex post and I would say most employees that I've seen (75%-90%) that work at Paychex view the company as a great place to work and gain good experience for their resumes.

I would say the ones that stick around are either sales reps who are top 20 in the company or reps comfortable on making $55,000-$70,000 for the rest of their lives with a pretty flexible work schedule.

Paychex and ADP are great places to work, but the average cycle for a rep to be hired then move on to a better job is 2-4 years. There are just too many better paying jobs out there, even outside of the healthcare world.

 

To the person who interviewed with ADP SBS, how'd it go? I recently interviewed with both Paychex and ADP, and the ADP DM that I met was a major cheeseball. I wish I could pass on some of the comments that this guy made. He struck me as the kind of guy who would like to hire girls (not guys) <3 yrs out of school. The HR guy at ADP seemed nice enough, but he also had an unprofessional demeanor. However, the people whom I met at Paychex were much more professional. That's just my experience though.
To the recent grad who was asking how to get in to one of these companies, my impression as an outsider is that it is actually pretty competive. I have been extremely successful in sales already and during this initial interview process it seems like I am up against other people who also have similar histories of sales success. Maybe some of the ADP / Paychex employees who've been reading these posts can give some more insight.

 

I left Paychex about a year ago for medical sales and I've never looked back. Not a bad company to work for, just not a huge earnings potential. Great company for gaining experience for medical sales.

It is pretty competitive, but if you have any sales background and you can draw parallels to what you will be doing (high activity, cold calling, b2b sales, developing referring relationships, etc.) it isn't a very tough job to land. Also focus on how training is very important to you and how committed you will be to the job.

Consider yourself hired.

 

That's awesome that you made the break into med sales. How long did you work for Paychex and what type of med sales are you doing now?

 

It's actually a fairly easy process to come from a Paychex or ADP into med sales. Just get in with a number of recruiters and have atleast two years of good solid numbers and you'll be interviewing every week. That's what I did and I am not in a big city market. Most companies have 1-2 reps for the entire state that I live in.

 

I am just starting the interview process with ADP this week. Since so many of you have experience with these types of companies, can you give me an idea of what to expect? Is it similar to pharma interviews? Should I bring my brag book?

 

Of course you should bring a brag book.......that is what seperates you from the other losers.

 

Have been with Paychex just 7 years in the small business division. Always looking for greener pastures, but there is a lot to give up at Paychex. Circle of Excellence is typically top 10-15% of company. Last year I made $150K. OK money, not great, but you are working 30 hours a week no travel, 2 players in the market (us and ADP), great industry, incredible culture, and generous stock options to top 2% in company (top 50 sales reps).

Paychex reps I have heard can make more money, work more on referral with accountants, ADP supposedly focuses more on telemarketing and banks. Top reps in my region with ADP barely can make 100k, whereas there are a few of us at Paychex that are there.

I always interview with device companies in case something blows me away, and they love the relationship sell that we have, but it seems like device reps think their ___ don't stink, and there always seems to be new players, products in the market, gov. regulations, market factors. Those are a few of the reasons I have stayed. Hope that helps.

 

I know I'm a little late to the game on this post.......
But when I was at ADP we had tons of Paychex and Ceridian reps trying to get into ADP. But you never saw ADP going the other direction.

I made 70 my 2nd year, 100 my third and was never even close to the top 5 or 10% of ADP reps out there.

 

were you sbs or majors?

 

If you are going to work at ADP stay the fuck out of the Mid-Market. That whole ship is sinking.