independent agents, what does your tech stack actually look like? mine feels duct-taped together

independent P&C agent, 4 years in. I've got about 350 active clients across maybe 8 carriers. the agency management side of this business is something I underestimated completely when I started. I thought the hard part would be selling. the hard part is keeping track of everything once you've sold it.

my current setup: hawksoft for my agency management system. it's fine. not great at search, the mobile app is clunky, but it holds all my policies and client info. I use google workspace for email and docs. calendly for scheduling client meetings. quickbooks for bookkeeping. canva for the occasional social media post when I remember marketing exists.

the biggest gap in my stack is the space between a phone call with a client and that information making it into hawksoft. I talk to 15-20 clients a day. some are quick, like a coverage question or a payment issue. some are longer, like a new client intake or a renewal review where we're going through all their policies. after each call I need to note what we discussed, what I promised to do, and any changes to their account. if I don't do it right after the call it's gone by the afternoon.

I've been doing a thing where right after I hang up I just talk my notes into my phone. "talked to frank about his homeowners renewal, premium went up 18% because of the roof age, I told him I'd shop it with safeco and travelers this week, he also asked about adding a scheduled personal property endorsement for his wife's ring." I use willow voice for dictation and then paste the note into hawksoft when I'm at my desk. it's not elegant but it keeps me from losing client conversations.