Payroll and HR outsourcing firms · Professional services
Be the firm an owner calls before the next salary goes out wrong.
A finance manager at a packaging unit in Peenya has run payroll on Excel for six years. The colleague who handled provident fund returns resigns on the 24th, the portal login leaves with her, and month-end is a week away.
A 90-minute audit call and a written, scored report. Turnaround, reporting and term are agreed in writing after the audit.
In one paragraph
A payroll and HR outsourcing firm runs salary processing, provident fund and ESI filings and HR paperwork for companies that do not want all of it in one clerk's head. GullySales makes your checks and your scope visible to owners, builds referral routes through CAs and bankers, and records every enquiry to the client it became.
The manager asks her CA, who names two firms. The bank's relationship manager names a third. Your firm runs payroll for companies exactly like hers and is not on the list.
Owners rarely doubt that you can calculate a salary. They doubt what happens when the attendance file arrives late, an employee disputes a deduction, or a notice comes from the provident fund office. Most firms answer with a rate per employee and a brochure about end-to-end HR services, so the quote is compared on one number. The controls, the checks and the way a switch is run stay invisible, and the founder is still the only person who can explain them.
Last updated 6 Oct 2026.
How buyers decide
How payroll and HR outsourcing firms are chosen.
Payroll is bought when something breaks or is about to. The payroll clerk resigns, a salary goes out late, a notice arrives from the provident fund or ESI office, a second state is opened, or an investor asks for clean statutory records. The owner then asks their CA, auditor, banker and other founders for names, and searches only after that.
The decision is about trust. The owner hands over salary sheets, bank details and every employee's PAN and UAN, and wants to know who checks the work, where the data sits and who answers an employee at ten at night on the last day of the month. A rate per employee is asked first and seldom decides.
Switching is slow and slightly frightening. Most companies want one payroll run alongside the old one before they move, so the firm that explains how a switch is done wins over the firm that only quotes. The CA who files the company's returns is also the best source of introductions and a possible rival for the same work.
The problem
What usually goes wrong for payroll and HR outsourcing firms.
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“Owners call only after a payroll has gone wrong”
A founder searches for payroll outsourcing in the week a salary was late or a challan was missed, and compares three firms that evening. A firm they have never heard of is not one of the three.
“We are compared on the per-employee rate”
The quote sheet shows one number. Filings, query handling, exits and the checks behind the run are not on it, so a cheaper firm that does less looks identical on paper.
“Owners cannot see the control behind the work”
A buyer is about to give us salary files and bank details. Nothing on our site says who prepares the run, who checks it or who sees the data, so the question arrives on the last call and the deal stalls.
“A new client's onboarding drags and nobody owns it”
Previous registers, UAN and ESI details, opening balances and the attendance format arrive in pieces over WhatsApp. The first live payroll slips, and the client's first impression is of us chasing them for papers.
“CAs send us work and we never track or thank them”
A CA firm introduces three clients in a year and we cannot say which three. The next introduction goes to the firm that remembered to ring.
“A client leaves after one late answer and we hear at renewal”
An HR admin's query waited two days, the owner heard about it, and the termination notice came with a one-line reason. Nobody had seen the pattern building.
What we do
What we do for payroll and HR outsourcing firms.
Everything included for payroll and HR outsourcing firms, and the result each part is there to produce.
Service pages for what you actually run
One page each for payroll processing, PF and ESI filings, contract payroll, full and final settlements and labour law audits, saying what you do, what stays with the client and what you need before the first run.
Result: An owner can see the scope before the first call.
A one-page note on how a payroll run is checked
Who prepares the run, who checks it, who approves the bank file, who can see salary data and what happens to it when the agreement ends. Written for the buyer, with no client data in it.
Result: The data-security question is answered before it is asked.
A scoping sheet and a written quote format
Headcount, states, pay structure, attendance source, expected joiners and exits, and a quote that lists what the rate covers and what is billed separately.
Result: Quotes compare like with like instead of one number against another.
An onboarding checklist with one named owner
The documents, previous registers, opening balances and portal details a new client hands over, with a plan for one run alongside the old process before the switch.
Result: A new client's first payroll starts from a complete file.
A referral pack for CAs, auditors and bankers
A short note on what you take on and what stays with the CA, a way to record every introduction, and a routine for telling the referrer how it went.
Result: Introductions keep coming because the referrer's own client is safe.
An enquiry and client record
Every enquiry logged with its trigger, headcount, states and source, then followed to a signed agreement or a reason for loss, reported against the baseline recorded at the audit.
Result: You know which source brings clients and which only brings quotes.
How the result is measured
- Client enquiries by source
- Quotes sent against agreements signed
- Reasons quotes were lost: price, trust, timing or a CA's advice
- Time from signing to the first live payroll
- Introductions by each CA, banker and reseller
- Clients lost at renewal, with the reason recorded
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Every service, written for payroll and HR outsourcing firms
Each has its own page: what it involves for payroll and HR outsourcing firms, what you get, and what it is measured on.
- SEORank for the payroll problem an owner has this week, not for HR services.
- Content marketingAnswer the compliance question in the owner's words before the notice arrives.
- Lead generationReach the owner in the week the payroll person resigns.
- Email marketingWrite when something changes that touches the owner's payroll, and only then.
- Sales processScope before you quote, and run one payroll alongside theirs before they switch.
- Referral marketingMost payroll clients arrive on a name, so earn the name from people who hear it first.
- CRMRecord why a company enquired, how many people it pays and who signs.
- Website developmentShow who checks the payroll and where the salary data sits.
- Reputation managementThe review that hurts is from a client's employee whose salary was short.
- Customer retentionFind the client who is leaving from the invoice, the register and the query log.
Worth a page and a campaign of their own
Payroll processing with statutory filings · PF, ESI and professional tax compliance · Third-party payroll for contract staff · Employer of record for foreign companies · Multi-state payroll for companies with branches · Full and final settlements and exit formalities · Labour law audits and licence renewals · HR policies, handbooks and POSH committee setup · Payroll software setup and migration
Priority campaigns
Campaigns for what payroll and HR outsourcing firms most want to sell.
Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.
The payroll clerk has resigned campaign
A guide on what to hand over before a payroll person leaves, with an offer to run the next cycle alongside the clerk's last one. Aimed at finance heads whose payroll sits with one person.
Result: You are the call a finance head makes when the resignation letter arrives.
Second state, first payroll campaign
Outreach to companies opening a branch or plant in another state, where professional tax, labour welfare fund and shops and establishments registration differ from the home state.
Result: The founder asks you before the first salary in the new state is paid.
Foreign parent, new India entity campaign
Material for consultants, law firms and foreign HR teams setting up an Indian entity, explaining payroll, statutory registration and an employer of record arrangement in plain steps.
Result: A foreign head office finds a firm that speaks to both sides.
Funding closed, records clean-up campaign
A short checklist for founders who have just raised money and expect an investor's review of statutory filings, with an offer to read the last year's returns against the registers.
Result: A founder fixes the gaps before the investor finds them.
Year-end and increment season campaign
Notes for finance heads on Form 16 preparation, TDS reconciliation and revised salary structures after the financial year closes, with a view for companies unhappy with how last year ended.
Result: Dissatisfied clients of other firms find you at the moment they are deciding.
Beyond search
Where we reach buyers of payroll and HR outsourcing firms, beyond Google.
Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.
CA and company secretary firms
The firms that audit and file for your target companies see the payroll trouble first. A clear split of what you run and what stays with them turns a possible rival into a source.
Bank relationship managers
A salary account is opened or moved whenever a company changes payroll. Relationship managers at current account and salary account desks hear it early and are asked for names.
Industrial associations and chambers
Peenya, Bommasandra and Harohalli have associations whose members share vendor names over tea. A talk on contract labour and payroll compliance puts you in the room.
Payroll software vendors and resellers
A company that buys Keka, greytHR or Zoho Payroll often still lacks anyone to run it. A partner arrangement with the vendor's reseller sends you the clients who bought the tool and not the service.
HR forums, incubators and coworking operators
Founders in incubators and coworking spaces hire their first ten people with no HR head. The operator and the local HR forum are asked who handles payroll for them.
Who it is for
This is written for these payroll and HR outsourcing firms.
- Payroll processing firms for small and mid-sized companies
- Statutory compliance consultants for PF, ESI and professional tax
- Third-party payroll and contract labour compliance firms
- Employer of record firms for foreign companies in India
- CA and accounting firms with a payroll practice
- HR outsourcing firms handling policies, onboarding and exits
- Payroll software implementers and resellers who also run the payroll
- Factory and plant compliance consultants
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
- You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
- You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.
How it works
From your first message to the first report.
No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.
First
Free audit call
90 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
After the call
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come with it, in writing.
Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.
After the baseline
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
As agreed
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.
At renewal
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.
How the work runs for payroll and HR outsourcing firms
- 1
Assess
In the free audit we trace where your last signed clients came from, how many quotes were lost and why, and how onboarding actually runs for a new client.
- 2
Make the work visible
Service pages by what you run, a note on how a run is checked, and a data-handling page, so an owner can judge your control without a visit.
- 3
Fix the quote
A scoping sheet and a written quote that show what the rate covers, so you are no longer compared on one number.
- 4
Reach the people who recommend you
CAs, auditors, bankers, associations and software resellers, each with a short note on what you take and what you leave with them.
- 5
Convert and keep
An enquiry record, an onboarding checklist with one owner, and a log of client queries that shows who is unhappy before they write the notice.
Proof
What happened when owners fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
Growth Sage
- Situation
- There was no settled visual identity, so nothing on the page told a prospect what kind of firm this was.
- What we did
- Vision and brand values
- A logo for a professional firm
- The site audited, then rebuilt
- Market and competitor research
- Result
- No numbers were recorded for this engagement. The work is described in full in the case study.
SB Engineering
- Situation
- Buyers searching for laser cutting and sheet metal work in Bengaluru were finding other suppliers first, because the company did not rank for the terms its own customers type.
- What we did
- The site redesigned for mobile
- Search work on the buyer's terms
- Content that shows the work
- Social channels managed
- Result
- Website traffic rose 60% within six months, against a target of 50%.
- High-quality leads rose 45%, with a rise in conversion rates alongside them.
- Fifteen target keywords moved up the rankings, five of them into the top three positions.
Also worked with
Chord Road Hospital · Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Felicity Inn · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with the free audit.
Option 1
The audit on its own
A 90-minute call and a written, scored report. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix the audit ranks first, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
An ongoing programme
We run the work, report against the baseline, and you renew on the numbers. The term and the reporting are agreed in writing first.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions payroll and HR outsourcing firms ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How do we market ourselves without naming our clients?
Should we publish our per-employee rate?
Our CA contacts also sell payroll. Can we still work with them?
Do we need to run Google ads?
Can you help us sell to companies that already use payroll software?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Notes for owners
Read more about payroll and HR outsourcing firms.
- Why companies hesitate to hand payroll to an outside firmOwners do not hold back from outsourced payroll over the fee. They hold back over errors, confidential salary data and who answers when an employee complains. Answer these before the proposal.
- How companies choose an outside service firmCompanies hand hiring, payroll, accounts, facilities and advertising to an outside firm after asking someone they trust. This post explains who is asked, who signs, and what decides renewal.
Part of Business services. See the other industries in the group.
Your next practical step
Get a free audit of how you sell, and a scored report of where the work is.
90 minutes. A written, scored report. No invoice and no obligation.