Northrup Remodeling and Northrup Roofing & Exteriors in Minneapolis, Minnesota offers a wide range of interior and exterior remodeling services.
The office manager, Sharon, has a story that is similar to other CSI clients. After terrible experiences with large payroll companies that treated her like a number - and being passed from representative to representative – she decided it was time for the switch to our payroll service.
Here’s the story of how CSI Accounting & Payroll helped her business by:
- Handling the transfer from her old payroll service
- Improving customer service
- Helping with unique payroll needs
- Saving time and stress
Managing Payroll: “It made me a nervous wreck.”
Sharon handles Northrup’s bookkeeping, office administrative tasks, sales support, and also oversees the company’s payroll. She does a bit of everything, but that doesn’t mean that payroll came naturally.
The first time she ran payroll, she was a little overwhelmed. “I'm not an accountant, so I don't want that liability of paying federal, state, unemployment… You don't want to mess that up because taxes and penalties and interest – it's not worth it.”
Plus, Northrup had more work and more salespeople than her prior employer, and she likes to have everything done every day. Time is an important resource for her.
Experience With Large Providers: “You’re a number; you’re not a person.”
When Sharon started at Northrup, they used Paychex. Before that, they used ADP. With large providers, Sharon would have issues with errors in their system and no customer service to support her.
She had a dedicated representative, but she claims, “The dedicated person never responds… Then you have to call an 800 number, and then it's... an hour wait… And three hours later, you might get a phone call – or no phone call.” Sharon had also been assigned more representatives than she could keep track of within the span of a year.
The worst-case scenario she encountered was “a phenomenal fee” that she shouldn’t have had to pay. Why? She contacted them for help with an issue, but they didn’t answer the phone for two days until it was too late. This could have been avoided with a response from her representative.
A year and a half ago, Sharon reached her limit. While chasing down critical reports that she needed for audits, she was repeatedly given incorrect information and ignored by her representative. She decided it wasn’t working.
Paying your workers correctly and on time influences their livelihood. Sharon states, “Payroll's too important. People work hard. They want to get paid on time. And so we switched to CSI, who's been awesome.” The owner of the company, Mark, agrees.
Making the Switch to CSI
Lots of businesses hesitate to transition their payroll over to another service, especially when it’s not the end of the year. However, Sharon transferred her payroll to CSI Accounting & Payroll in the middle of the summer. “They just implemented everything over. I didn't have to do a thing.”
The only area of friction was with her old provider. Sharon explains, “Paychex, who got the cancellation not once, but three times, [still] submitted a [Form] 941, which really messed things up. And so [CSI] had to help correct that issue.” We’re glad we could save the day!
Overall, though, when asked if the transition period was smooth with CSI, Sharon responded, “Yeah, it was with you guys. You guys did everything.”
Her advice to other businesses is, “Get it set up, get it done. The transition [was] super easy.” She says the transition is worth it even if you’re only a month into another payroll service.
“The best thing is the service.”
As a self-proclaimed “customer service person,” Sharon said customer service is what she looks for in a business to partner with.
Sharon first met with CSI’s payroll department manager, Bret, and was then assigned to Alex as her direct contact. While Sharon says she still has questions, Alex always picks up the phone to answer them. Sharon describes Alex as “consistent” and “super friendly.”
With her old providers, Sharon claims she would “hit a button, and - boom - [payroll is] done. And nobody even looks at it.” However, with CSI, she submits her payroll information on Mondays instead of last minute. She says we pay more attention to detail by using that extra time to make sure it’s right - and there have even been two times when Alex caught mistakes before payroll was run.
When it comes to catching mistakes, Sharon says, “I don't think you would have that with the other companies because I know I did make a mistake [with my old payroll service] and it wasn't caught, and I had to pay dearly for it.”
Even with unique payroll needs, Alex either offered guidance or handled certain processes for Sharon. Some examples include:
- Making changes to base pay, hourly pay, and commissions
- Adding or removing employees
- Managing PTO
- Pulling information for audits
- Retrieving IFF files for their accounting system
- Monitoring different pay schedules
Alex does all of these things while still “being so kind… because I am not technology smart.” This isn’t uncommon, and that’s okay! It’s what we’re here for.
Recommending CSI: “Do it now. I wouldn’t wait!”
We asked Sharon if she recommends working with CSI Accounting & Payroll. She responded, “I can't say enough; hire them. You will not be disappointed.”
She’s already been telling people, “Call them. They'll do your books, they'll do your payroll, they'll set it up, and you have to do nothing. It's worth it. Then take the headache off yourself.”
Sharon goes on to say that we make her life easier. CSI freed up a lot of time for her. “I used to have like a payroll sheet and have to write it all down… now really all I have to enter in is, you know, the people that are paid hourly, which makes a huge difference.”
What about the value? Sharon says she gets “all the value in the world.” She loves the care that comes from working with another small business. “You have a relationship with the people you work with. It's not like, ‘Who are you? You're number 999, and I don't care about you.’ You care about your clients… and you do things to make them happy. And that's the way a good business runs.”
To recap it all, Sharon reiterated how much she loves working with her direct contact. “Alex has been great to work with. [She’s] very helpful in every single way.” “Because, as long as I'm working – and I don't plan on retiring – she's gotta be my rep.”
“I highly recommend anybody using any other service to go to CSI.” “It’s just been wonderful.”
If you’re interested in becoming our newest success story, we hope you’ll consider giving CSI Accounting & Payroll a try! Click the button below for a free consultation.
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