Picture this: You’re knee-deep in renewal season. Phones are ringing, submissions are piling up, and one of your producers just flagged a quoting delay because a client never sent over their dec pages.
Now imagine someone suggests this is the perfect time to implement a new CRM or overhaul your AMS. Sound familiar?
It’s a classic agency move—tackling one big transformation at a time, thinking you'll circle back to other improvements “later.” But that “later” rarely comes.
When contemplating ways to grow, data intake automation often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. But skipping it means missing the piece that ties the whole system together.
Intake Isn’t a “Nice-to-Have”—It’s the Tip of the Spear
Every agency wants more premium. But premium starts with prospects. And prospects start with intake. Before a CRM workflow can trigger, before a rating engine can quote, before a producer can close, someone has to collect and standardize the raw data that fuels all those steps.
Think of your intake process like the spearhead of your sales organization. It's the very first point of contact between your team and a potential client. If that point is dull—if you're relying on back-and-forth emails, PDFs, manual entry, or incomplete information—everything downstream is slower, sloppier, and more expensive.
Worse, a bad intake experience sends a subtle but powerful message to your prospects: “We’re not modern. We’re not prepared. We’re not easy to work with.”
So even if you’re upgrading quoting, implementing a new CRM, or rolling out VOIP, intake has to be part of the conversation.
Why Agencies Put Off Automating Intake
We get it. Change is hard. It’s normal to say, “Let’s get the big stuff in place first, then we’ll circle back to SALT.” But that logic assumes intake is disconnected from the rest of your tech ecosystem. It’s not.
When Catalyit refers you to SALT, it's because they see the central role intake plays in everything else. If your new CRM is only as good as the data you feed it, what happens when you're still relying on outdated intake methods? That data becomes dirty, delayed, or incomplete—sabotaging your entire implementation.
Do It All at Once. Your Future Self Will Thank You.
We’re not saying you need to boil the ocean. We’re saying this: if you’re already opening up your tech stack, now is the time to wire it up the right way.
Integrating SALT during broader tech upgrades ensures:
- Cleaner data flowing into your CRM or AMS
- Shorter sales cycles by eliminating follow-up and rework
- Better customer experiences starting from the very first interaction
- Higher adoption rates across all systems, because users don’t feel like they’re duplicating work
Think of SALT as a muscle you can activate right now—not an accessory to bolt on later.
Start With a Simple Quiz
Not sure if your intake process is holding you back? Take SALT's Data Intake Quiz—a quick, 5-minute assessment that grades you on how effectively you’re handling one of the most critical parts of your business: new client acquisition.
You’ll get a custom score that reflects the strength of your current intake process, and specific guidance on where to improve—whether you’re a digital-first agency or still reliant on phone calls and spreadsheets.
Bonus: it’s a great team conversation starter. Have your producers and CSRs take it too. You might be surprised by what they reveal.
Final Thought: Surgery is Disruptive—Make It Count
Every tech upgrade causes some disruption. But that’s not a bad thing. It’s a window of opportunity.
Just like a patient already under anesthesia should fix everything they can while the hood is up, agencies should treat technology transitions as a chance to reimagine how they work—not just install new tools.
If you’re working with Catalyit, you’re already on the right path. They’ve helped you identify areas for improvement. They’ve mapped out a smarter tech strategy. They’ve brought in the best tools for the job.
Now it’s time to go all in.
SALT can be live in minutes. The return on efficiency and professionalism is immediate. And the impact on your close rates, retention, and team satisfaction? Long-lasting. Get yourself a quick win!
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