Building a successful sales team in the payroll industry is not about hiring fast, throwing leads at reps, or hoping inbound demand will do the heavy lifting. It is about discipline, structure, and a clear understanding of how payroll is actually sold.
In this episode of the Payrollin’ Podcast, Scott Goldberg, Chief Sales Officer at Dominion Payroll, breaks down what it really takes to scale a sales organization in payroll. With more than two decades of industry experience and a track record of growing sales organizations by more than 300 percent, Scott offers a practical blueprint that smaller and mid sized payroll firms can actually apply.
This conversation is less about tactics and more about building a repeatable system that holds up year after year.
Selling Season Is Not a Switch You Flip
One of the most important reframes Scott introduces is how payroll companies should think about selling season. Many organizations treat Q4 as a mad dash to close deals before January 1. In reality, the selling season is simply the result of the work done earlier in the year.
For larger payroll opportunities, meaningful conversations need to start by mid summer. By July 1, most serious buyers are already engaging with vendors. Waiting until fall to build the pipeline puts a company at a significant disadvantage.
Selling season is not about suddenly generating urgency. It is about leveraging the urgency that already exists while capitalizing on relationships and opportunities that were built months earlier.
Why Pipeline Discipline Matters More Than Volume
Scott is direct about one thing many sales leaders avoid. Not every opportunity deserves time and attention. Payroll sales teams waste enormous energy chasing prospects who will never buy.
Rather than trying to convince someone to need payroll services, Scott emphasizes qualification. Concepts like budget, authority, need, and timing may sound basic, but they remain foundational. If one of those elements is missing, the opportunity should exit the pipeline quickly.
Learning to get a no early is not failure. It is efficient. In many cases, closing the loop respectfully creates future opportunity because it leaves the door open if circumstances change.
How Dominion Structures Sales Coverage
Dominion Payroll operates nationally with sales reps across multiple markets, but they do not rely on rigid territories. Instead, they focus on flexibility and funnel health.
Reps are encouraged to sell across company sizes, from small transactional accounts to complex multi hundred employee opportunities. This approach keeps confidence high, allows for consistent wins, and prevents the feast or famine cycle that often hurts morale.
At the same time, structure still exists. Dominion uses a monthly playbook approach that defines which verticals, referral partners, and upsell products receive focus during a given period. Marketing support aligns with this strategy so sales activity is never scattered.
What a Real 30-60-90 Plan Looks Like
Onboarding is where many payroll sales teams fail. New reps are pressured to close deals before they fully understand the product, the market, or the sales process.
Dominion takes a different approach. The first 30 days are heavily focused on training and enablement. The goal is not immediate revenue, but confidence and clarity.
By day 60, reps are expected to have a pipeline with at least ten legitimate, closable opportunities. These do not need to be large deals, but they must be real.
By day 90, there is a clear revenue expectation. This structure creates accountability without sacrificing long term success.
Activity Drives Results When It Is Measured Correctly
Rather than obsessing over raw activity like calls or emails alone, Dominion focuses on what they call critical activity events. These include first meetings, demos, proposals, referrals, and partner meetings.
Reps are expected to generate a specific number of these meaningful interactions each week. Data shows that when this happens consistently, quota attainment becomes predictable. In fact, Scott notes that reps with ten closable opportunities in a thirty day window hit their monthly quota more than eighty percent of the time.
The takeaway is simple. Activity matters, but only when it leads to quality engagement.
The Power of Referral Partners When Done Right
Referral relationships remain one of the most reliable growth engines in payroll, especially with CPAs, banks, and brokers. However, most firms approach these partnerships casually and inconsistently.
Dominion treats centers of influence as a structured channel with clear expectations on both sides. Sales reps are responsible for maintaining a manageable number of active partners, meeting with them regularly, and providing ongoing value.
What truly differentiates their approach is transparency. Dominion shares detailed service scorecards with partners, showing response times, resolution metrics, and client satisfaction data for referred accounts. This builds trust and confidence, and it gives partners concrete proof that referrals are being handled well.
Hiring for Resourcefulness, Not Comfort
Scott is clear that not all sales experience translates well to payroll. While large national providers offer strong training environments, smaller and mid sized payroll firms require reps who can operate without extensive infrastructure.
Resourcefulness consistently shows up as a defining trait of top performers. These reps figure things out, adapt to change, and find ways to win regardless of shifting conditions.
Experience matters, but so does mindset. The best reps do not rely on inbound leads or brand recognition alone. They understand that selling payroll requires persistence, creativity, and personal ownership.
Technology Supports the Process, It Does Not Replace It
Dominion invests heavily in its sales tech stack, but tools are always secondary to process. CRM discipline, cadence consistency, and clean data are non negotiable.
Scott points out that only a small percentage of companies truly use their CRM effectively. When data is incomplete or outdated, sales teams lose the ability to respond quickly to market shifts or competitive changes.
Technology should make good processes easier. It cannot fix broken ones.
What Payroll Sales Leaders Should Take Away
High performing sales teams are built, not hired. They require clear expectations, consistent coaching, and systems that reward the right behavior.
This conversation reinforces a truth many leaders already know but struggle to execute. You cannot shortcut the work. Prospecting, relationship building, qualification, and follow up remain the foundation of payroll sales success.
The firms that win long term are the ones that commit to doing the basics exceptionally well, year after year.
