This morning, our inboxes were flooded with emails from our amazing customers. They were forwarding to us an email that they had received from another company selling an agency management system (AMS) that directly named and targeted HawkSoft. The words of support for HawkSoft by our customers are truly humbling. Thank you to every agent who took the time to forward the email and share your feelings about it. As many of our customers have emoted, the email campaign they received largely reaffirmed they had chosen to do business with the right people and company.
Candidly, these types of campaigns are not new to us. We don't usually dignify them with a response. However, the blatantly false information in this particular campaign compelled us to respond to ensure misinformation is not spread among customers and those considering our product.
In this article:
What was said about HawkSoft?
Below you’ll see an example of the unadulterated email that our customers are forwarding to us. We obtained permission from this agency to use this email that they received. The name of the employee at the other company selling an AMS is masked for their own protection. Links have been removed.
From: A******* P******* <*******.*******@***.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2023 10:01 AM
To: Kevin <***@***.com >
Subject: There are more options out there
Hello Kevin,
Several HawkSoft users have reached out to us because they’ve heard the transition to HawkSoft 6 isn’t going smoothly, especially in terms of change management. We’re also hearing that not all the features you're used to will be available in the new version.
Since you’ll be going through a management system transition soon, I thought it’d be worth connecting to see if ******* or ******* would be a better fit for you. I can assure you both systems have all the capabilities you’ve come to rely on and even more to help your agency reach its full potential. And if that’s not enough, special offers are available through June 23, 2023, making your transition cost-effective.
With our extensive experience, migration to ******* or ******* will also take a minimal amount of time – we’ve migrated thousands of agencies and streamlined the process so that what used to take six months now takes two.
I’d love to talk more about which management system might work best for your business. Please let me know if you’d like to schedule a time to chat.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
A******* P*******
If you don't want to hear from me again, please let me know or click here to simply update your preferences.
Fact vs. Fiction
Let’s dissect the email to clarify fact versus fiction.
Several HawkSoft users have reached out to us because they’ve heard the transition to HawkSoft 6 isn’t going smoothly, especially in terms of change management.
This statement shows a lack of understanding of our launch plan that is publicly available on our website. As of today, May 18, 2023, HawkSoft has not started the process of transitioning existing customers to our new cloud platform. Obviously, rumors about this process and related change management are false. Our migration team will be working personally with agencies as they transition to our new cloud platform to make the process as smooth as possible.
We’re also hearing that not all the features you're used to will be available in the new version.
Quite the opposite, in fact. To guarantee that agencies have access to the features and workflows that they currently rely on to power their insurance business, we are implementing a phased launch process. Each phase ensures that agencies that qualify to transition in that phase are welcomed on the new platform with a similar set of capabilities that they currently use. In addition, we are not forcing agencies to transition during a launch phase that does not support their current workflows.
One of our goals since the inception of our cloud platform has been to be as open and transparent with our customers as possible. Here’s the documentation on our launch phases which is available on our website. Again, this is publicly available information. If any company wishes to make a quick buck by trying to tarnish the HawkSoft name, we hope they would at least validate and cite their claims.
And if that’s not enough, special offers are available through June 23, 2023, making your transition cost-effective.
HawkSoft doesn't offer sales gimmicks to get agencies in the door, only to dramatically raise fees later. Our price is transparent. We don't require term-based agreements. There are no data extraction fees to get a copy of your data. There are no termination fees to keep customers from leaving us; all you need is 30 days notice to leave. Our customers, in return, have rewarded us with an average retention of 18 years on our platform! That's the biggest accolade we could ask for.
How HawkSoft operates
We want our customers (and competitors) to know that HawkSoft does not employ these types of unsolicited campaigns where a competitor is named, deficiencies are highlighted, and we lure the audience with a ray of hope in their supposed misery. Our set of eight core values guardrail us against such antics.
These campaigns – while undoubtedly effective with a certain type of reader – are remnants of an era in marketing and lead generation that we believe is past us. We've long promoted the idea that a rising tide raises all ships, and we strive to work with, not against, our competitors to push the independent agency channel forward. We also know that today’s audience is more sophisticated. They wish to align with companies that share their core values, principles, and stand for transparency. They ask these companies to put their verbal commitments in writing.
In fact, here's what one of our customers (whose permission we received to share this) posted in a social media thread as a suggested response for those who received the email. We are humbled to see the deluge of positive responses about why our customers love HawkSoft.
Every product and company has strengths and room for growth. We feel almost 80% of what an AMS does is the same across brands. What differentiates one company or product from another is the remaining 20% of workflows and capabilities that they excel in, the values the company chooses to stand behind, and how the company treats its customers and employees. Perhaps, we should also add to that trifecta, "how they treat competitors."
