- Sales Management
Integrate your apps
Integrate your apps
customer story
Choice Financial Group
Financial Services
Virginia Beach, VA
Implementing a new CRM is rarely a simple process, especially when it’s done in tandem with running daily operations. This was a challenge for Choice Financial Group (CFG), and it was compounded by the need to migrate large volumes of data at the same time.
In this interview with Charles Beemus, we discuss Pipeline’s CRM onboarding process and how it helped streamline the team’s internal processes. Find out how we got the CFG team up to speed, and lay the groundwork for a more effective sales workflow.
We began hiring new producers in our agencies (commercial and employee benefits sales). Initially, we did not have a useful prospecting CRM. Our only usable system was inside our agency management system, which worked for sales opportunities with short windows: call-ins for personal lines or very small commercial sales.
Yes, I do have some experience with CRMs. When I started producing in the late 90s, a CRM was unknown to me. I needed something to organize over 200 suspects/prospects, so I added a few macros to Excel and created my own raw version.
Around 2008, my agency utilized a commercial CRM that seemed adequate, but at that time, it was mainly pushed out to new producers.
In 2015, I was with a different agency that developed a proprietary CRM integrated with the agency management system. It was very ‘bulky,’ requiring too much detail for most salespeople. I was told it mirrored Salesforce.
All salespeople with a sales goal ‘must’ input current activity. Current usage is less than 50% as most sales are transactional; call-ins are for personal lines or very small commercial sales.
We are a young company integrating more than 33 agencies into one. We allow each agency a high level of autonomy due to their long-standing name reputation in their communities and the nature of our industry. Insurance is very regional, if not localized, and based on coverage.
I searched for a ‘prospecting CRM’ on Google, and found Pipeline CRM and a few others. Essentially, the idea was to find a basic standalone CRM. I was not interested in Salesforce or HubSpot due to pricing and expansive capabilities.
In June 2023, I had a demo with your team, as well as with Pipedrive and MondayCRM.
From the beginning, I liked Pipeline CRM’s simplicity in organizing a large number of prospects for each producer, and its ability to customize the CRM system to our needs. While we were not ready to move forward in 2023, I knew I would need to act quickly to adopt a CRM when the time came.
Well, we did not have a sales CRM prior to September 2024. Each salesperson had their own style, and management had zero forecasting capabilities.
This year, before May 2025, all agencies were onboarded. However, we are still in the early stages of utilization. Pipeline CRM will be a useful tool for sales forecasting as more agencies adopt the platform. Additionally, as we hire more producers with high sales goals, utilizing Pipeline CRM will be mandatory.
This is a difficult question as usage and perception are lumpy at best. Some agencies and salespeople have embraced Pipeline CRM, and for others, it is a corporate requirement.
Prior to onboarding, I worked with your team for two months to integrate Pipeline CRM into Choice Financial Group workflow. The Pipeline CRM team’s knowledge, attentiveness, and ability to work with my habits were and are outstanding. They took control of onboarding our agencies with flawless execution.
Pipeline CRM is simple to use. Salespeople sell; they do not like inputting data, and most are horrible at it. Pipeline CRM is a great sales CRM platform for any salesperson to manage hundreds of prospects from ‘Suspect’ to ‘In funnel’ to ‘Won.’
Pipeline CRM is simple to use. Salespeople sell; they do not like inputting data, and most are horrible at it. Pipeline CRM is a great sales CRM platform for any salesperson to manage hundreds of prospects from ‘Suspect’ to ‘In funnel’ to ‘Won.’
Charles Beemus, from Choice Financial Group (CFG)
Pipeline CRM will allow us to manage producers’ sales plans and goals, train new producers, and forecast results.
Pipeline CRM has provided the ability to increase sales by over $100k in a few short months. This is mainly in our intra-agency cross-selling efforts. As many agencies still act autonomously, Pipeline CRM brings agency disciplines together. For example, an agency that only sells commercial insurance can easily share client relationships with an agency that sells employee benefits.
We have begun a company-wide push to increase new sales by $1.5M and added a four-month sales contest with cash and prizes of $150k. To be recognized, every sale must be inside Pipeline CRM. As I like to tell everyone, “If it’s not in Pipeline CRM, it didn’t happen.”
While the above does not necessarily answer your question, this contest is making everyone aware of sales—seeing the potential in front of them. Many of our agencies are successful doing what they have always done. With small changes and technology, we can push them out of their comfort zone and into higher success.
We are integrating Pipeline CRM into every agency to provide us with all customer data across the company. Once we understand the data, we can focus on numerous opportunities: account rounding, industry volume and success, cross-selling disciplines, etc.
I will begin implementing initiatives and download opportunities to assigned users. I will work with the Pipeline CRM team to develop a process and push our campaigns out.
I expect to increase sales by 1.5% or $1.08M with these campaigns in 2026. The indirect income gain is difficult to quantify as overall retention will rise and create numerous sales opportunities. In our industry, sales that stick have a three-time multiplier. Our campaigns will be geared towards sticky sales.
Need help getting started with Pipeline CRM? Our CRM onboarding experts are here to make the transition seamless.
From the first kickoff call, our customer success team creates a personalized onboarding plan tailored to your business needs. We’ll assist with CRM setup, data migration, and team training, so your entire team can confidently use Pipeline CRM from day one.
