You do not need the most features. You need the handful that get a lead called fast and followed up reliably. What to look for, and what to ignore.
Figures in this article describe the wider market and are drawn from the third-party sources listed at the end. They are not Lead Foundry results, and nothing here is a projection of what any individual broker will achieve.
CRM selection turns into a feature comparison because features are easy to compare. The features that decide whether your leads get called are a short list, and most of them are unglamorous.
| Capability | What it prevents | How to test it in a demo |
|---|---|---|
| Automated lead intake | A lead waiting for a person to notice an inbox | Ask them to push a test record while you watch |
| Automatic owner assignment | A lead that is nobody's responsibility | Ask what happens when the default owner is on leave |
| Automated cadence creation | A follow-up sequence that depends on memory | Ask to see six tasks created from one trigger |
| Timestamped activity logging | Not knowing your own response time | Ask where the arrival and first-attempt times live |
If a CRM does those four well, the rest of the feature list is a matter of taste. If it does any of them badly, no amount of reporting will compensate, because there will be nothing worth reporting on.
The question that separates systems: Does following the process take fewer clicks than not following it? A system where the compliant, fast path is also the lazy path will be followed during the week you are busiest, which is the only week that matters.
Because it converts a discipline problem into a configuration problem. Research across close to 3.5 million leads found 93% of converted leads are reached by the sixth attempt, while 50% of leads are never called a second time. Salesforce reports 44% of reps stop after one attempt.
A system that creates all six follow-up tasks the moment a lead arrives removes the decision from a tired person at 4pm on a Friday. That single behaviour closes most of the gap those numbers describe.
Your CRM is where the answer to "how did this person become a client and what were they told" ends up living. Four things should be recordable without effort.
In New Zealand the Code of Professional Conduct governs the advice and IPP 3A governs your position as an indirect collector of the information. In Australia the best interests duty under ASIC RG 273 applies to credit assistance, and ACMA expects consent records to show method, terms and timestamp. All of that is easier if the fields exist rather than being kept in a note.
Judge it against returned hours rather than against the subscription. Salesforce research puts the share of time sales professionals spend actively selling at around 40%, with the rest going to administration and internal work. A CRM that removes an hour a week of re-keying and reminder-setting pays for itself at almost any realistic price for a broker.
The stronger argument is the one that does not appear on an invoice. A system that reliably produces six attempts per lead instead of two changes the number of conversations you have from the same spend on supply.
Four things: automated lead intake so records arrive without anyone noticing an inbox, automatic owner assignment, automated creation of the full follow-up cadence on arrival, and timestamped activity logging so you can measure your own response time. Systems that do those four well are sufficient; systems that do any of them badly cannot be fixed with reporting.
You need something that assigns an owner, creates the follow-up sequence automatically, and timestamps every attempt. A CRM is the usual way to get that. Given that half of purchased leads are never called a second time, the automation that produces six attempts instead of two is usually worth more than the subscription costs.
The enquiry source and submission time, the consent and disclosure evidence supplied with the record, every contact attempt including unsuccessful ones, and the information gathered before advice. Together those answer how a person became a client and what they were told, which is what a file review asks.
Ask the vendor to push a real lead record in live during the demo and show you what an adviser sees on their phone thirty seconds later. Ask what happens when the assigned adviser is on leave, and where median time to first attempt is displayed. Sample data demos hide exactly the behaviours that matter.