The situation
A brokerage drowning in spreadsheets and missed renewals
Our client — a UK-based insurance brokerage with 22 staff and a £3.4M annual premium book — was managing their entire operation across seven separate Excel files. Leads came in through email, phone, and a web form, each logged manually by a different team member. Policy renewal reminders were calendar entries. Nothing talked to anything else.
When we first audited their workflow, the operations manager estimated the team spent 14 hours a week on data entry alone. Worse, duplicate records were causing two salespeople to call the same lead on the same day — an embarrassment they'd experienced more than once with high-value prospects.
Core challenges
Four distinct problems compounding each other
Lead fragmentation
Leads arrived via 4 channels and were entered manually into separate spreadsheets by whoever picked up the phone. No single source of truth existed.
Missed policy renewals
Renewals were tracked via calendar reminders. If a staff member was off sick, renewals fell through the cracks — the team estimated losing £60K–£80K in annual premium to avoidable churn.
Zero reporting visibility
Directors had no real-time view of pipeline value, conversion rates, or team performance. Monthly reports took a full afternoon to compile manually.
Duplicate outreach
Without a shared system, two reps regularly contacted the same lead. One enterprise prospect complained, and the relationship was nearly lost.
Our approach
A structured 6-phase SEO programme
We built a phased plan that addressed technical foundations first, then content, then authority — in that order. Skipping the technical audit would have wasted the content investment.
1
Discovery and workflow mapping
Spent two weeks interviewing every team role — sales, renewals, finance, and management. Mapped 34 distinct workflow steps before writing a single line of code. This prevented scope creep and ensured the system matched real behaviour.
Stakeholder interviewsWorkflow documentationData model designScope sign-off
2
Core CRM build — lead and policy management
Built a unified lead record linking contact details, source, assigned rep, communication history, quotes, and policy documents. Every status change is timestamped and auditable. Duplicate detection runs on email and phone number at point of entry.
Laravel 10MySQLRole-based accessDuplicate detection
3
Automated renewal engine
Built a renewal pipeline that flags policies 90, 60, and 30 days before expiry — automatically assigning a task to the responsible rep and sending a branded email sequence to the client. Directors see an aggregate renewal dashboard updated in real time.
Renewal pipelineTask auto-assignmentEmail sequencesDirector dashboard
4
WhatsApp and email notifications
Integrated WhatsApp Business API for instant lead alerts to reps' phones. New web form submissions trigger a WhatsApp message within 90 seconds. Email automation handles follow-up sequences and renewal communications via Mailgun.
WhatsApp Business APIMailgun integrationAutomated sequencesInstant lead alerts
5
Payment integration and reporting
Stripe integration for premium collection with automatic receipts. Built 14 management reports covering pipeline value, rep performance, source attribution, conversion rates, and renewal retention — all exportable to PDF and Excel.
Stripe payments14 custom reportsPDF exportSource attribution
6
Training and handover
Ran four structured training sessions across all staff levels. Produced a 48-page internal user guide. Provided 30-day post-launch support with a dedicated WhatsApp group for bug reports and questions.
4 training sessions48-page user guide30-day supportVideo walkthroughs
Month by month
How progress unfolded
Weeks 1–2 — April
Discovery and specification
Completed workflow mapping, data model, and full technical specification. Client signed off on scope with zero revisions — the most thorough brief we'd ever received back.
Weeks 3–6 — May
Core CRM development
Lead management, contact records, policy tracking, and role-based access control built and internally tested. Client reviewed staging environment at week 6.
Weeks 7–10 — June
Integrations and automation
WhatsApp API, Mailgun, and Stripe integrated. Renewal engine built and tested with 3 years of historical policy data. Automated sequences approved by client.
Weeks 11–12 — July
Reporting and QA
All 14 management reports built. Full QA pass across 200+ test scenarios including edge cases identified during discovery. Zero critical bugs found at launch.
Weeks 13–14 — August
Training and go-live
Staff training completed in four sessions. Data migrated from all seven Excel files — 4,200 contact records, 1,800 policies. System went live on a Wednesday morning.
Results: before vs. after
The numbers speak clearly
Before (April 2024)
Weekly manual data entry hours14 hrs
Lead response time2–4 hours
Duplicate contact rate~12%
Renewal retention rate71%
Monthly report prep time4.5 hours
Pipeline visibilityNone
Team productivity scoreBaseline
After (August 2024)
Weekly manual data entry hours4.2 hrs
Lead response time< 8 minutes
Duplicate contact rate0%
Renewal retention rate89%
Monthly report prep timeAutomated
Pipeline visibilityReal-time dashboard
Team productivity score+40%
70%
Less manual work within 30 days of launch
4×
Faster lead processing from first contact to quote
89%
Policy renewal retention rate (was 71%)
"
We didn't think we needed custom software — we thought we just needed to be more organised. What we actually needed was a system built around how we actually work, not how a generic CRM assumes we work. The WhatsApp alerts alone changed everything for our sales team. Leads that used to sit for hours now get called back in minutes.