Keeping the Personal Touch: Levitate and Carolina Property Insurance podcast recap

The Insurance Perspectives Podcast involves contributors outside of HawkSoft. The participants' views are entirely their own and may not reflect the views of HawkSoft.

This recap of the Insurance Perspectives Podcast gives highlights of the two episodes about HawkSoft API Partner Levitate.  HawkSoft host Kenny Hendricks interviews Leia Stallings of Levitate and April Jordan of Carolina Property Insurance, who uses the Levitate platform. 

Leia and April discuss how Levitate helps independent insurance agencies build and automate communication touchpoints with clients and other contacts, without losing the personal touch.

In this article:

• Part 1: Levitate (Leia Stallings)

• • What is Levitate's reason for participating in the independent agency channel?
  • What one aspect of Levitate draws agencies in and keeps them working with you?
  • How does Levitate approach data ownership with regard to your customers?
  • What is the hardest part of working with insurance agencies?
  • What is the best part of working with insurance agencies?

• Part 2: Carolina Property Insurance (April Jordan) 
  • Tell us about your agency
  • What was your agency looking for when you first encountered Levitate?
  • What is your agency able to do now with Levitate that you couldn't do before?
  • What is one thing you would change about Levitate if you could?
  • How would you describe the value that Levitate brings to your agency?

Part 1: Levitate (Leia Stallings)

Watch the video podcast - Part 1

Question 1: Why does Levitate exist? What is your reason for participating in the independent agency channel?

• Leia Stallings explains that Levitate is a keep-in-touch marketing tool that addresses the shortcomings of traditional CRM or outreach tools, which often lack authenticity or a personal touch.
  
  
• The platform is designed for relationship-driven businesses like insurance agencies, helping them communicate regularly to stay top-of-mind with clients and referral partners.
  
  
• Levitate supports agencies in growing their book of business through word-of-mouth referrals and authentic communication.
  
  
• Features like Google review automation, blog and social media support, and online presence management are also included.

“Our CEO, Jesse Lipson, saw a gap in how traditional outreach tools didn't really help you keep in touch in a way that's consistent and feels personal. We know that insurance agencies are built on referrals and relationships, and we focus on making sure everything is authentic and personal at Levitate.”

Question 2: If you had to pick one aspect of Levitate that draws in and keeps agencies working with you, what would that be and why?

• Leia highlights the personal touch Levitate itself has with customers. Each customer has a dedicated customer success specialist that guides them in using the platform effectively.
  
  
• April Jordan loves having a success specialist and shares how hers has been instrumental in helping her agency use the platform to automate communications.
  
  
• Levitate’s service model is proactive and includes recurring meetings with the customer to align with agency goals and adapt to industry changes.
  
  
• Kenny Hendricks shares about HawkSoft’s own Customer Success team, which serves a similar purpose at HawkSoft.
  
  

“Every customer at Levitate gets a dedicated success specialist to work with you to understand your goals, create content, and hold your hand as you're using the tool. We strive to have a regular cadence of meetings with our customers. We're coming with ideas. We want to hear what's going well, what goals have changed so we can pivot and make adjustments.”

Question 3: How does Levitate approach data ownership with regard to your customers?

• Leia affirms that agencies own their data, and Levitate simply helps them use it more effectively. HawkSoft remains the source of truth, with Levitate pulling relevant data for segmenting and outreach.
  
  
• April shares her experience transitioning between AMS systems, noting Levitate’s support and flexibility during the process.

• She notes that Levitate also helps identify and correct data issues, such as email bouncebacks or missing contact info, enhancing data quality and usability.

“The data is always yours. We tell clients HawkSoft is your source of truth. You've already got all that information, like clients' birthdays and policy renewals and emails and phone numbers, in HawkSoft. We sync it into Levitate to make it easy for you to segment and reach out to people.”

 

Question 4: What is the hardest part of working with insurance agencies?

• Leia observes that agencies are extremely busy, which can make it challenging to help them understand that spending some time on Levitate can actually reduce their workload long-term.
  
  
• April agrees, saying agencies need to be bought in and commit some time up front. Once they start using the platform, the value becomes clear—especially after seeing results like read reports and client responses.

“Agencies have lots of demands on their time. They're so busy that they don’t always see that we're trying to help them with the things that might be creating that busyness for them. We try to help them understand how a keep-in-touch platform can help them.”

Question 5: What is the best part of working with insurance agencies?

• Leia says the people are the best part—insurance professionals are deeply committed to their clients and communities, which aligns with Levitate’s own culture.
  
  
• Levitate values relationships and sees its work with agencies as a natural extension of its own values.
  
  
• Kenny notes that he has been very impressed with Levitate’s company culture, treatment of employees, and engagement in their community in Raleigh.
  
  

“At Levitate, we work with multiple industries, but I think we all love our insurance agency clients the best. Our HawkSoft clients genuinely care about their clients, their communities. That really matches with our own Levitate culture and values.”

Part 2: Carolina Property Insurance (April Jordan)

Watch the video podcast - Part 2

In this episode:

• Tell us about your agency
• What was your agency looking for when you first encountered Levitate?
• What is your agency able to do now with Levitate that you couldn't do before?
• What is one thing you would change about Levitate if you could?
• How would you describe the value that Levitate brings to your agency?

Question 1: Tell us about your agency. How long have you been in the business, and how did you get into the business? Do you have any specializations? What gets you excited about insurance?

• April Jordan originally started at a captive agency and joined Carolina Property Insurance in 2021 as Managing Partner, bringing 20 years of experience in the industry.
  
  
• The agency was founded by real estate agents in 2018 and has grown significantly in that time, recently opening a satellite office in Myrtle Beach. There are now 8 full-time employees in addition to April.
  
  
• The agency started in personal lines, especially selling home coverages to clients of their real estate partner. They are now starting to expand into commercial lines as well.
  
  
• The agency focuses heavily on their referral partnerships, and Leia agrees that referral partners are vital to any business strategy.
  
  
• April loves the fast pace, constant learning, and personal connections that come with working in insurance.
  
  

“I did get out of the insurance industry briefly, but realized very quickly that it was where my heart belonged. I love helping people, and I love the fast pace. We have a lot of things to do every day and no day is the same. We keep learning something new as the industry changes and as underwriting guidelines change, and that's kind of exciting.”

Question 2: What was your agency looking for when you first encountered Levitate?

• April had her eye on Levitate for years, but wanted to wait until the agency was in a better place to be able to implement it. They started with Levitate in 2024 to help manage growth and improve communication.
  
  
• The agency needed a scalable way to stay in touch with clients and referral partners, especially after events and meetings.
  
  
• April liked that Levitate offered a solution to streamline follow-ups and maintain a personal touch without overburdening staff.
  
  
• Leia adds that Levitate is often good for teams that are reaching the tipping point of being able to reach out manually themselves.
  
  

“As our agency grew, I saw some pain points. We needed to find a way to communicate with clients and follow up with potential referral sources after an event in an efficient format. It was really the communication and the personal touch that we could not keep up with, but that we wanted to achieve.”

 

Question 3: What is your agency able to do now with Levitate that you couldn't do before?

• April shares that implementing automated Google review requests has significantly increased the agency’s online presence and freed up staff time.
  
  
• Leia points out that Levitate uses your own email platform, so emails look like they’re coming from you rather than a mass email blast.
  
  
• April appreciates that Levitate allows for quick import and organization of contacts from events.
  
  
• She also likes that Levitate allows her to easily save personal information about a client, like names of children, pets, or interests, so that she can easily bring them up again in future conversations. She can either use premade content templates or customize her own, giving her many options for communication.
  
  
• Overall, Levitate allows the agency to be more personable, authentic, and thoughtful in communications without sacrificing automation.
  
  

“If I have a conversation with someone and learn some gold nuggets about them, I can go in and make a customization – like mentioning something about your cat. Levitate makes it easy to make those connections with our clients and other contacts. We get responses from people that say thank you so much, this is so thoughtful.”

Question 4: What is one thing that you would change about Levitate if you could?

• April loves Levitate and has nothing major that she would want to change about the platform.
  
  
• She mentions that texting capabilities could be richer and more intuitive, though she acknowledges regulatory challenges.

“One of the things we're trying to figure out as an agency is the texting piece, with both HawkSoft and Levitate. Some of it may be that we just don’t know enough about what we’re doing, but I think the functionality could be a little bit richer.”

Question 5: How would you describe the value that Levitate brings to your agency?

• April emphasizes that Levitate saves time while increasing the value of client interactions.
  
  
• HawkSoft and Levitate have transformed how the agency communicates, making outreach more efficient and meaningful.
  
  
• Levitate’s responsiveness, ease of use, and integration with HawkSoft have made it a vital part of the agency’s workflows.
  
  

“Time is money, and anything that we can make more efficient in an insurance agency is a gift of time. We've been able to make those touches in less time, and the touches are more valuable. That’s a win-win formula for success.”