The network puts these around an agency: Carrier access, Stronger economics, Agency growth, Expert support, Technology and tools.
Membership
Membership, and what it is worth to a book like yours.
Carrier access on the group's volume. Stronger commission and contingency on the same premium. An agency that stays entirely yours.
What membership is.
The six things an owner weighs a network on, answered on the page rather than on a call.
You own all of it
Your agency, your book, your client relationships, your expirations, your producer codes and your commissions, from the first day. No vesting schedule, and nothing of yours that has to be bought back if you leave. The contractual wording is on the terms page.
Carriers on the group's volume
Appointments are weighed against what the group writes rather than what your agency writes alone, which is how a market that will not open for one book opens. Which carriers, in which of your states, and what each expects in production is the first real conversation we have.
Commission and contingency
Tiers and profit share are negotiated on group volume, so the same policy, written the same way, by the same person, is worth more inside the group than outside it. Contingency is steadier too: one bad fire year can erase a small book's bonus and barely move the group's.
Every fee, in public
Signup, monthly, technology, exit. Each one is named on the terms page alongside the commission arrangement and the notice period, so you can price membership before you speak to anybody here.
An agency management system, included
InsuraDesk comes with membership, free while the introductory period runs. Nothing requires you to leave the management system, rater or CRM you already run. See what it does.
Owners at your stage
Carrier appetite as it moves, placement help on the accounts that do not fit, and owners who have already hired the producer, bought the agency or made the mistake you are about to make. None of you are competing for the same client.
What it costs.
Published, so you can work it out before you ask.
The commission arrangement, every fee, the minimum to join, the notice period and what leaving costs are all on the terms page. Nothing material is held back for a later stage, no fee appears after you sign, and none is triggered by an event rather than charged on a schedule.
What membership is worth to you is a different number, and it turns on your mix, your carrier concentration and your retention rather than on your size. Book Check works that out on your own figures in about a minute, asks for no email address and stores nothing.
How joining works.
Four phases. The first one you can do yourself, right now, without talking to anybody.
Before you commit
Four stages, and you can stop after any of them.
1. Qualification. Four screens on this site, about two minutes. It ends in an actual outcome: a strong fit, a fit, or an honest "not yet" with the reason attached and what would change it. No callback required to find out. Start there.
2. Discovery. What you write, where, what you hold now, and what is not working. The last one decides the rest of the conversation. An agency that wants a better commission tier needs a different answer from one that cannot place its commercial submissions.
3. Market assessment. Specific to your states and lines: which carriers are reachable, how each one is reached, roughly how long each takes, and what production each expects. You should be holding that before you sign rather than finding it out in month four.
4. The economics. What membership costs you and what it returns, on your numbers rather than on an example. You can do a version of it yourself first with Book Check, and we would rather you did, because you will ask sharper questions.
Joining
The agreement, and the folder every carrier asks for.
5. The agreement. The full document rather than a summary, with commercial terms that match the ones already published. Take it to your own attorney and take the time you need. We would rather you spent three weeks on it than signed on a call.
6. What to have ready. Resident and non-resident licenses active in the states you intend to write, with the lines of authority to match. Your errors and omissions certificate, at whatever limits your carriers require. Your tax ID and W-9, your agency's loss history, and the commission payment details carriers will need. Every carrier asks for the same set, and having it assembled is the difference between a submission going out this week and one going out next month.
Getting to market
Three stages, and the first is not ours to schedule.
7. Carrier submissions. Your submissions go out with the group's volume behind them. Appointments are still granted by carriers at their own pace, against their own appetite and your agency's experience and loss history, so what you get from us is a straight account of where each submission stands rather than a date nobody can hold.
8. Systems. InsuraDesk access, the placement contacts, and the introductions that make the first quarter worth something. Nothing requires you to move off the management system, rater or CRM you already run, and what InsuraDesk does is set out on its own page.
9. The first placement. The goal for the first month is narrow: one real piece of business placed through a market you did not have before. That is where membership stops being a document. By ninety days there should be enough appointments live to change how you quote, and a first read on whether the economics are landing the way stage four said they would. If they are not, that is a conversation to have at ninety days rather than at renewal.
Being a member
What this is supposed to be in year three.
10. Ongoing. Placement help on the accounts that do not fit. Carrier appetite as it moves, which in personal lines has been moving quickly. The growth work in agency growth: hiring producers, moving into commercial lines, acquisition, and perpetuation when you get there. And the other owners, which is the hardest part of this to show you in advance.
The first quarter is easy for any network. What should still be true in year three is that somebody picks up, that markets keep opening as your book changes shape, and that the contingency reflects the group you helped build.
Questions
What agency owners actually ask
The ones that come up on nearly every first call.
Do I keep ownership of my book?
Yes. Your agency keeps its name, its clients, its client relationships and its expirations, from the first day and without condition. The contractual wording, which is the part that actually decides it, is published on the terms page rather than explained on a call, so you can read it before you speak to anybody.
What does it cost?
The commission arrangement and every fee are on the terms page, in public, so you can work out what membership costs you and what it is worth before you talk to us. There are no fees that appear later and none triggered by an event rather than charged on a schedule.
Can I leave?
Yes, and the terms are published alongside everything else: the notice you give, what leaving costs, and what happens to your book and your appointments when you do. You take your clients, your expirations and your data with you. We would rather earn the renewal every year than own it.
Do I have to give up my brand?
No. Your agency keeps its name, its staff, its office and its identity. The network is leverage behind you, not a sign over your door. If you want to mention membership in your own marketing you can, and if you would rather not, that is equally fine.
Do I have to move my agency management system?
No, and we would rather you did not move anything that already works. A network that charges you for software you are already paying for is charging you twice. What our technology is built to do is make the book you already have more legible, not to replace the systems you run it on.
How long does it take to get appointed?
It depends on the carrier and on what your agency already holds. A carrier appointment is a commercial decision on the carrier's side, and no network controls the timetable. What the group changes is whether the submission gets weighed at all. The qualification questions ask what you are appointed for now, so the first conversation can be specific rather than general.
Are the appointments mine or the network's?
This is the right question and it has a different answer at different networks, sometimes a different answer for different carriers inside one network. Direct appointments and access through a network's own code are not the same arrangement and they behave very differently on the day you leave. We wrote up the distinction in direct appointment or sub-code.
What if I am already in a network?
Most agencies that talk to us are. The questions ask which one, and it is not a disqualifier. Knowing where you are and why you are looking is how a useful conversation starts. Read your current agreement's notice and exit provisions before you do anything, including talking to us.
What if I am just starting an agency?
Say so in the questions. A new agency needs different things from an established book, and the answer at the end will tell you honestly whether now is the moment. Some networks are built for startups and some are not; being told which is more useful than being signed up.
What is expected of me once I join?
Membership is a commercial relationship, not a club. Carriers expect production against the appointments they grant, and a network's contingency depends on the group's loss ratio as well as its volume, which means how you underwrite affects everybody. Anything that functions as a minimum is published on the terms page.
How do you make money?
From the arrangement published on the terms page, and from nothing else. Your details are not sold, shared or passed to a carrier as a lead. An inquiry to a network about the future of your agency is a confidence, not inventory.
Can I talk to a current member?
Yes, and we will introduce you to somebody whose agency looks like yours rather than to a flagship. Ask them what they would change as well as what they like. It is a more useful conversation than anything we can tell you ourselves, which is why we offer it rather than wait to be asked.
Start with the four questions.
Two minutes, and a straight answer at the end, including an honest "not yet" if that is the truth.