Proprietary search tech stack and expectations

Preface: self-funded, part-time searcher primarily working with intermediaries and reviewing aggregators.

After focusing on intermediary-based search for the first two months of my search + getting accustomed to all the aggregators available, I've started to consider experimentation with proprietary.

I've come across A LOT of CRM posts, however, not as many full tech stack posts. I'm also to know what a successful proprietary search looks like.

Hence, my questions are:
- Are there any known playbooks with expectations on success rate, successful copy, follow-up cadence, etc - essentially a strategy.
- Aside from businesses in the area, who are folks targeting? accountants, lawyers, trade associations?
- Aside from CRM - which tools are folks using, specifically for lead generation, and scheduling/coordination, other. What other elements of the process can be digitized/automated?

Any guidance/direction would be appreciated!