Built Your Way: Questions Every Exclusive Agent Should Ask Before Going Independent

Thinking about making the leap from being an exclusive agent to independent agency ownership? The right questions matter.  Tonya, Mike, and Robby Jabour discuss what exclusive agents need to know before making the move. From book ownership and contracts to carrier access, quoting models, profit sharing, onboarding support, and hidden costs, this conversation is a practical guide to evaluating agency network opportunities with confidence. 

Learn more at IntegraPartnerNetwork.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is IA Forward, your playbook for success as an independent insurance agent. Now, here to help you knock it out of the ballpark are your hosts, Day Tatum, Mike Basel, and Tony the lead.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to IA Forward and a special episode because the Robbie Jabor is back with us. We kicked Shane out. We brought Robbie back in.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Well, you know, I've just been hearing about all the success you guys have been having since my last episode. And I I noticed Mike was giving out autographs at conference. And so uh I was like, man, I I gotta get a piece of that again.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Well, and Robbie, you are still the number one episode that we have ever had, was the first Robbie Jabor episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Well, that was fun. I mean, I remember it, the life insurance episode. Jeff was in on that. And uh, for y'all that don't know Jeff Havert, he used to used to work here with our life guy. But anyway, that was a lot of fun. So I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Well, apparently it is the sleeveless episode. That's right. Mike, it must be 45 degrees in in Buffalo, New York, because you've got your sleeveless going on.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Oh, very nice. It's it's 68 here, so it's not that much warmer here than it is there.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

I for those who are watching and that were at conference with us, I this was my shirt at conference. You know, I was pitching the brand, and people were saying, Oh, you know, you should wear that more. But full disclosure, I kind of lost the shirt. I not kind of, I lost the shirt, and it took me going and actually looking for it last night for about 15 minutes to dig it out of the closet. And uh, and I was like, Okay, here we go. It's coming back.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

This is the shirt that when when Mike gets uh an email that says, You should dress up for this event, and um, it's elevated, business casual, dress a little nicer than you normally would. This is what Mike chose to wear for that.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

You just need to have a bow tie, Mike, and I think that'd be the Terry on top.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Funny story about this shirt. Look, so I've made this myself with my wife's see this. I'm now I'm gonna screw this up. What cricket what is it actually called? Okay, so I went online. This is how much I know about this stuff. So I'm like, I'm gonna make me this shirt. So I go online, I thought it was cricket, like like a cricket that hops in your backyard. So I'm trying to get it. Now I don't see, I don't even know what this thing is called. So once I got past that, you know, little tutorial, couple minute tutorial, here we go, and I got after it. It took me all night, but I got it done all night the night before I left.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah, I sold mine at the garage sale last weekend. I didn't I just don't have time. Like, I do not have the time or the patience, the time value of money for me and a cricket, just I'm so glad there are people in the world that enjoy theirs. The amount of stress that it created for me was just not there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:26

But like, so we talk about like, oh, how oh, you know, people start agencies, are they like you know, are do they have all their ducks in a row, everything lined up? Are they super meticulous? And here I am the night before conference. My flight was at 6 a.m. Like 9 30 p.m. I'm up there this thing's trying to, you know, second try, and I'm up there peeling stuff off. I got I got this.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

You got it, man. Some some some do best under pressure. That's right. Yeah, that's right. I needed the pressure.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

And see, I have my little tools right here to do all of that. Like, I have the tools to to make it happen, so I can send you extra tools.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

No, my wife's got them, but she hadn't even used the thing in years. So I asked her, I'm like, hey, what do I do with this thing? She's like, I haven't used that thing in two years. I don't remember.

unknown 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Oh, so apparently it doesn't break her joint either.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

It is joyless.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah. So so Romney, are you gonna join us for the sleeveless episode? You're gonna do the uh incredible halt.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

I mean I could roll my sleeves, but that's about that's about as good as I can do for today.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

How much do you think we could get from uh for advertising from cricket? Obviously, they're gonna be contacting us soon.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Well, if you mention it, you can stuff it'll get around and you might get a phone call.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Okay, so Shane lets us do an episode without him, and and this is where we go. Yeah, yeah. So um, anyway, Shane is away at the Easy Lynx conference, something or other council thing. Do we know where Shane is?

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah, he's at Easy Links Conference, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Yeah, I was right. Okay, and then after that, I know that he is headed to Oklahoma because the University of Kansas softball team, including our two integra team members, the fabulous Emma Tatum and the amazing Campbell Bagshaw, will be playing in the regional this weekend. I know that they play Michigan on Friday afternoon at five o'clock, and they're gonna kick some booty honey there. So wishing them the best of luck. Absolutely. And I don't know if you guys know Campbell got engaged this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Congratulations, Campbell.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

So best wishes to her, the other member of our um agent development team. So excited for her. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. So okay, so our real topic today is what should agents ask when they are thinking of starting an independent agency, when they're thinking of joining an agency network, what should people expect from an agency network? And also what things work in a captive environment, but probably don't work in an independent insurance environment. So that's a lot to cover, but I wanted us to do this topic because we're the ones that are talking to people for the most part at our organization that are thinking about leaving a Comperion or an Allstate or a farmers and starting out um their first independent agency, or they're leaving from being a producer to owning an agency for the first time. So, Robbie, you've been doing this for the longest. So I'm gonna let you kick us off on this.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, sure, sure. So I mean, coming from captive, which, you know, for y'all that don't know, this program, our program, has been around since 2010. And it was really kind of designed for that ex-captive. So we got really familiar with, you know, what what they were where they were coming from to what they were gonna get into. So when we say independent agencies, I mean like you're truly independent. Like you are, I mean, you're you are all you have in regards to, you know, agency uh policies and just things that you got to do and build like workflows and stuff within your agency. You know, when you when you had been in the captive environment, a lot of this stuff is done for you from a uh a back office type of role, you know, like late pays and claims and things like that. So in a in a way, in captive environment, that brand is kind of holding your hand with certain things. You've got you've got one brand that you're selling, and then you're moving to independent where you've got to learn how to do all that back office stuff yourself. Uh, no one's gonna do it for you. Uh and then you're going to multiple carriers. So now you're learning different carriers, and and each carrier's probably got a few products or different levels of products. So it's it's quite an undertaking going from that to independent, but it's more rewarding on this side. I can tell you based on experience talking to different agents. But you know, I think it's important to understand what group you're going into, uh, like really digging into the contract, understanding what uh so many, all the moving parts, ownership, uh exit opportunities, things like that. There's just so many things to really be mindful of uh when you're reviewing contracts.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

I think maybe one thing that we covered before that we'll just go through real quick to start is carriers, carrier appointment. Um especially if you're coming from captive. I'm just gonna I'm gonna boil this down. I know there's some extenuating circumstances, but by and large, captive, you get your carriers from this one place. I know sometimes there's some other deals in place where you can get a little bit from somewhere else, but bottom line is you're getting mostly everything from one place. So just fight the temptation to ask for 50 carriers because you're used to one, and now you just want to you want to 180 this. I just want access to everything. Right, don't do that. Get started with uh, you know, half a dozen, probably somewhere in that six, seven, eight range, and get comfortable with quoting through those, understanding the processes of working through their websites, uh, all the things that are going to make you less productive if you don't hone those in. Start there, and then you can expand out after that. But you you don't need you don't need so 20, 30 carriers to start.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

So the the reasons that people leave the exclusive slash captive world, people don't like it when we call them captives. So um because most people don't even know that they're captive until they're independent, right? Because everyone thinks they own their, you know, they they own their agency, it's their own business, and they don't realize how little control they have until they're on the other side of this. But the reasons that people leave that exclusive captive world tend to be, you know, limited carrier appetite, right? Or losing an account that that you know that should be winnable, um, corporate branding. And I love this one because there are so many times that uh people don't like that corporate brand. They want to be able to create their own brand, and then they come to us and they can create their own brand, and then they're like, we don't know what to do, right? But um being able to brand the way you want. Uh, a lot of times we hear contract frustration. In other words, your contract has always said this, and now it's saying this. So let's talk about why people leave the exclusiveslash captive world. Usually has something to do with compensation or a contract has changed.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

We're seeing that a lot right now. Um, a lot of agents feel as though they're trying to get rid of their more successful long-term agents to be able to bring in newer agents so they don't have to pay them as much. I know I'm hearing that a lot. Are you guys hearing that as well?

SPEAKER_03 12:22

The main thing I'm hearing is contract changes, compensation amounts are changing. Yeah, I can all I obviously don't know that as a fact, but this is what people are telling me. I have to take it at face value.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Sure. Now I hear the same thing with with uh commission reductions, things like that. But the other thing is, depending on where you're located in your state, not having the ability to arrive certain types of of uh product lines, you know, like uh the closer you are to the coast, the you know, you become more of an auto agent, you know, and you're having to do a lot through, like uh in Texas, Twitter and like fair plan things like that. So I know that's that's also I've heard is a big frustration.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

I think for a lot of agents, there's this idea that they have such limited control over their rent or how they do business or what they can sell. I know that for instance, when State Farm decided that they were going to have a huge focus on selling life insurance, that a lot of their agents didn't like it. And now that there's a huge focus on State Farm Bank and trying to get people to open checking accounts with you as an as an insurance agent, that's just not what a lot of agents want to be doing.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Well, yeah, they didn't get into insurance to sell bank accounts, right? I mean it it's it's a diverse, it's a diversification that you weren't really planning on, and you you're getting pushed into something you don't want to, you know, really get into, which I I totally understand that, especially the further you get into your career, the less you really want to do things that are outside of the things that have gotten you to the spot you are currently in.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, you you get into this business because you're a risk manager, right? You're an advisor and you want to stick and you want to stay in that that industry and not have to, you know, I understand the the idea behind it is that one-stop shop type of experience, but it doesn't always work. I mean, it it you you've you've gotta you've gotta do what your passion is, and it's it's hard to it's hard to get out of the box sometimes on that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Look at that. He I bet you Robbie doesn't even listen to the podcast, but he went and pulled advisor. That's the next shirt, insurance advisor. For you, and you're gonna you're gonna get the cricket out again.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

That's what IA stands for, according to to Mike.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

So insurance advisor, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yes, like it's so Shane gave Mike and I a um a challenge two weeks ago that he wanted us to get in our cars and drive around town and walk into random exclusive insurance offices and find someone who would answer the question of you know, why would they ever think about leaving their the their um exclusive agency and coming to the independent side? So I did this, y'all, and I actually got an answer in the first place that I stopped, and that was at an all-state agency. And his answer was they have started making me be open on Saturdays, and I can no longer set my own hours. So, you know, if your if your captive world is starting to say, hey, you have to open at 7 a.m., you have to be open until 7 p.m., and you have to be open on Saturday from 7 till 2, well, now either you're having to work those hours or you're having to pay somebody to work those hours, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Yep, that's exactly right. Yeah, and everybody has their own breaking point, right? Everybody's got that one thing. If this happens, then I'm out of here. If this happens, I'm out of here. But the bottom, it's it's super specific to each person what drives them to the edge and wanting to pull that trigger and go independent. But you just have to be real, you know, there's things you have to get done before you make that choice and actually take the leap of going. I mean, there's ducks you have to get in a row, and there is some differences based on who you're working for, I should say. There's going to be some differences on how you get out and what's going to be involved in you getting out. So you just have to make sure you know all those things going in.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Yeah, and it's also super hard, you know. I mean, if you're a 10, 20, 30 year, you know, exclusive agent, uh, to avoid the word captive, it's hard to it's hard to envision selling that or you know, getting out of that environment and then and going into a route that, yes, you know the insurance industry, but you don't know the independent world, right? Like you you may not understand, know the carriers, understand the structure. And that's a huge decision. And uh, I mean, like I've talked to agents several times that they just they want to do it, they absolutely want to do it, but it's really, really hard to to go from an established book of business, even though it may be less commission and one brand, to like almost starting over.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

No, you really, yeah, you for sure are starting over. Many of those, uh, many of those are gonna have exits where there's some non-compete. So it's gonna be really hard for you to go and you know find that business that you already had and bring it with you. That's probably not happening. So you have to be mindful of that. At some point, you can probably bring that business back uh in the future. Usually it's about two years, it seems like. If um you're right. So that's something you also have to keep in mind is it's gonna be all new business.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Okay, so y'all are really pessimistic. Just want to say that.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

So if I've heard that before.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

So so yes, I get it. I I completely agree with everything that you guys are saying because these are these are conversations that that we have every day, right? So why would someone leave a really successful independent, I mean a really successful exclusive agency and start over?

SPEAKER_02 19:05

You know, we we talk about freedom in our structure and our program, right? I think there is more freedom in the independent world versus the exclusive world. Um, you know, like opening, like to to your point, Mike, open, or I'm sorry, Tanya, opening on Saturday. Like in the independent world, there's not a carrier in the industry that's going to tell you what hours your agency is supposed to be open. So you can do what you want. You know, you you build the agency the way you want to build the agency. We we have you know, uh partners that are in different stages of life that focus on a certain way they want to approach their agency and it works for them. They don't have a brand, they don't have a regional manager or a sales manager telling them what they have to do for this or that, you know. So it truly is an opportunity to have the freedom of building the business you want to build.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Yeah, I think there's definitely a personality type involved. Uh yeah, if you're a real alpha and you prefer have things your way and you don't want people breathing down your neck all the time about are you getting this done or that done or why aren't your numbers at this particular level, hey, go independent. You live exactly the way you want to live. If you only want to be open nine to twelve every day and be a solopreneur, or nine to twelve on Friday, so you can go play golf. Yep, whatever it is you want to do, and you can still generate business and you're gonna have that recurring revenue. Hey, go do it. Nobody's gonna tell you what to do.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

So let's talk about questions to ask a group when you're thinking about going independent and and joining an agency network. The one that I always get is will I own my book? And owning your book means different things in different models because there's so many, so many times I I've heard the I've heard people say, Well, so and so says that I will own my book, but then when I look at the contract that is stair-stepped, and I don't own my book until I've done this for 15, 16 years, or I it says I own my book, but I really don't. I have to buy it out. There's a penalty to exit, all of the things. So let's talk about what owning your book means.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

Yeah. I one other thing that people don't include in do I own my book that I feel like they should is is there some sort of non compete if I leave? Because that's pretty. Important as well. If you can own your book, but if there's some stipulation in there that there's certain carriers that you can't work with, now you're really backed into a corner. Yes, you own the book, but there's nothing you can really do with it.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

So I would put I would lump all of that together along with what you were saying, Tanya. But to me, uh owning the book, and I do know that some other groups say this, and this isn't group bashing. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

There's a mum for everything. But ask questions.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

That's right, exactly. Um, but ask the question like on day one, do I own 100% of my book at all times? And is there a penalty for leaving?

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Right. If I leave, what happens?

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Right. And here's the why from an integra perspective. I know we don't talk about integra a lot, but from our perspective, I think it's important for us to say, well, why don't you have those hooks? Why does someone own their book from day one 100%? There's no exit fees, there's no non-compete. And and you know, Shane's obviously not on this on this podcast today, but I know his answer. And it's that if you're not happy, it's not in anyone's best interest to continue rolling down the road in a relationship that's broken or fractured. It's just like marriage, right? If the if this marriage is broken to the point where it can't be repaired, holding you here is not going to be beneficial to anyone.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yep. Yeah, we want we want you to want to be a partner, right? We don't want to hold you hostage, like Mike said. So it is important for us, and that's the you know, that's when Shane built this program. I mean, it's it's been like that since day one. There have been times where he could have changed it, but he never wanted to go down that road because he he really wants partners to feel the freedom, and and that's why we have such a high success rate with retention with our partners.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Going back to talking about so many exclusive agents want to leave because of contract changes. I've been with Integra for over nine years. Robbie has as well. And in that time, we have had one contract change. I think it's only been one contract change since the beginning of time. I think it took like three years of discussion to come to that one contract change, and it had to do with ENO insurance requirements. And because our group had grown, but that's it. Like, and like I said, it was a long-term discussed over and over and over and over and over again discussion. But we don't change contracts, and I think that's one of the things that makes us special. This converse, you know, that this conversation isn't about, you know, come join the integral partner network. Yes, we would love to play with you, we would love to talk to you. Shameless, um, shameless self plug there. But but really there is a model for everyone, and some people want different things, right? Um, one of the questions that I know that I get asked is are these direct equipments, or do I have access through a master code? Some people want to be able to go out, prospect, send their information in, let somebody else do all of the work. They just want to prospect. That's not our money. Right. And so find out is the group putting you just all under one code, or do you have your own code? Do you have an opportunity to build relationships with your carrier reps? And I think that is so important.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

And that is you go, Mike, yeah, I was just gonna say, and for those out there that maybe don't know the difference between those two things, a house code, what that means, Tanya alluded to it, everything goes in one bucket, and so there is an issue with that that you have to be aware of. I don't know if issue is the right word, but one thing you have to be aware of, I should say, is that just the documentation that comes or goes to the to the insured is going to have the name of Integra or whoever it is, if it's in a house code at the bottom of that. So that's just something you need to be aware of. Where if it's in a subcode environment, or a direct everything is going to have your or direct, it's going to have your agency's information, and that to a lot of people feels better. Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Yeah. I want to piggyback on what Tanya said because I think it's super important for partners to be able to build relationships with carrier reps, be able to contact claims in case they're going to help a client with a claim situation. You know, there are certain groups and environments where the carrier doesn't even know who you are, right? You're you have the ability to quote or have someone quote for you depending on the model, but the care you don't have any um uh any back and forth with the carrier at all. And so I would caution you on that. But yes, I think it's extremely important to know what type of environment you're in to be able to communicate with carriers one-on-one versus going through it, you know, that that third party.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Yeah, I one thing some people coming out of Cactive don't um they don't fully understand yet because they haven't lived it is you know, there's this MGA, there's this MGA carrier that you can work through uh where you send them information, they take care of it, they send you back the quote. There's a some time lapse in there, days, weeks, I don't really know. It probably depends. And if that's what you're looking for, you know, that's not gonna really fit into what we do here. This is more of okay, you're going to work with carrier A, and you will have direct access to their website. You can go in there, you can do what you need to do, and you can generate your quotes, you know, real time as you need them.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

One thing I think is really important to ask is are you eligible for profit sharing, contingency bonus? Where do those dollars go? And even um even carrier contesting, right? There's carrier contesting that that happens. And do you get those bonuses? Does the the company you're getting access through get those bonuses? That's one of those big things for me that I know that makes us different, but different orgs do that different ways. But a lot, a lot of agency organizations don't share those bonuses.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

That's right. They don't. And actually, Tanya, to go back to contract changes, that was actually something that was changed in our contract within the last three years, and it was in the benefit of the partner, in my opinion. Uh, it raised the loss ratio uh ceiling, uh, or floor rather, um, and it put a lot of agents in an opportunity to to qualify. So, yeah, I think that's excellent because there are far too many groups that don't share that with their partners, and uh it is important for them to know where those dollars go.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

And kind of tying into that dollars and cents types of things, obviously you want to know how commission splits work. You know, how is there some amount that you have to get to, and then everything is yours, similar to ours, or is it a flat percentage for every dollar you write? That's all important, and and really that depends on what kind of agency you plan on having, because that will make a difference on which group you may want to go with. If it's a flat percentage, no matter what you write, uh, but you are not planning on writing a ton, and that may work better for you if you plan on going and you know selling to everybody and you're gonna really make it happen. Well, maybe a capped system where there's no dollars taken after a certain amount is better for you.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

I was wondering if Mike was gonna say the word cap because we know exactly how much Mike hates this word, and I noticed that he skirted around it the first time.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

I really did try, I really did try and not use it. It's not I it's not so much that I have a problem with the word, it's just a word, it's fine. But the problem is that I have teenage children, and that word has a different meaning to them than it does to me. So now that is how I think of this word, and it doesn't really work in this environment. So now it's got me all twisted up.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

Man, that that pushed a button, your your voice elevated uh talking about that. Because yeah, Christine and I have argued about this.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Is it the same way in your household, Robbie?

SPEAKER_03 32:00

He drove up by me.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

I said, is it the same way in your household?

SPEAKER_02 32:06

Oh, 100%. 13-year-old son. What yeah, I think Mike's got a 13 or 14-year-old son as well, so we hear it all the time. What shane Shane's favorite is the six, seven. Mike said it earlier. Mike said it earlier, but he didn't stop and do this. But no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

I said six or seven or eight or three. I got a just keep rolling and you'll be all right.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So one of the things I think you should ask is how does quoting work? Are you able to quote uh yourself? Um, are your team members allowed to quote, or do you have to send information off to a service center, allow them to quote for you? Um, that's that's one of the, to me, one of the two majorly different types of of agency networks out there. Um, do you have a direct number to talk to a specific person, or are you going to be sitting on an 800 number um getting a different person every time and waiting? And how much do you like the waiting game? I know that though those are big differences in in different types of groups.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Yeah, it's tough. The waiting game is tough uh because you know the the when customers are shopping, they're you're not the only person they're talking to, right? So timing is key in the ability to write that business, win that business. In our program, as y'all know, uh ours is a very hands-on approach. The the the partner has full quoting and binding authority, has full access to carrier reps and relationships and all that good stuff. So you you control the quoting environment versus having to go through a third party.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

But again, some people like not having to do that.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Sure, sure. I can't imagine that, but you're right.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

They're out there, they really are. I talked to one last week. Um, so I think hidden costs are a big thing. Like, um, are they upfront about monthly fees, onboarding fees? Um is there anything hidden? Are you having to pay for people to do your social media for you? Are you having to buy your phone system through them? Like what other costs are there for joining an agency network that you don't see or think about up front?

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Yeah. Uh another big one uh for me is we do have an onboarding fee. Uh, one question people should be asking is okay, I get it. I understand that. Uh, can I is that a lump sum or can I spread that out? For example, we allow people to spread that out over 12 months. I don't know what others do with that, but a lot of people prefer that. And when I tell them about that option, they're like, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

You know, and that depends on the size of the onboarding fee. Um, I know what ours is and it's very affordable. I know that for some, you're talking mid to high uh five figures, right? And so when you're looking at$40,000 or$50,000, and when we say we'll finance it over Utrus Ferry for 12 months, we're not talking about financing$40,000 or$50,000 over 12 months, right? I mean, so keep in mind that there are there are brands that are more expensive and brands that are less expensive, depending on what services they provide. Like if they're doing every bit 100% servicing of your book, all you're doing is selling. Well, then you're probably gonna pay more than you are if it is here's the market. We're gonna help you, we're gonna do all that we can, but it's still your book of business.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

Yeah. That's a good point. Another thing that I think is important is is there something that that particular group specializes in, or are they trying to be everything to everyone? Uh, for example, we get a lot of people that ask the question, Well, I, you know, I just want to be up front. I am just getting licensed. Is that okay? Well, yeah, actually, that that's great. That works out really well because we specialize in people who are new to insurance or new to independent. So you don't have to worry about that. And here are the things that we have to offer to help you down that path.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Yeah, I think I think another thing is like what kind of resources, what kind of support do you get from that group? Um, you know, I don't know what other groups look like in that regard, but I know that we have invested a lot of time and effort in our program from that regard, uh, from onboarding to to having an internal trainer for several months uh of your of you know your your uh startup. And so uh I think that's extremely important. And now, you know, some may not need it, some are coming, you know, maybe an independent sales environment, like an as an executive, and they just really need to learn how to run a business. They they've got the other tools, you know, but then we have so many that that just need to understand, and it's helpful to have someone kind of talk you through what the independent world looks like, especially from a carrier perspective, a quoting rater, easy links, all that stuff, Tana that you mentioned earlier.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

One of the questions I know that we all get asked a lot is how soon can I start writing business?

SPEAKER_02 38:20

No, I've never been asked that. I was waiting. So we've all skirted around the carrier conversation because that's probably the one question we get the most is how quickly can I quote and bind, and how many carriers are you gonna give me? Well, we did touch on that one. Okay, maybe a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Because most groups advertising says you'll have access to a hundred plus carriers. I get so many emails advertising you can get access to a hundred carriers with us, and I'm going, good for you. I'm so glad. And you know, we could probably say that. We probably could, but we don't want to, right? I mean, while and and this is this is another question that I that I want us to touch on, and that is do you have production requirements? Do you have production minimums? But here's the thing you cannot feed a hundred carriers, you can't, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:20

No, you're 100% right. Um, Shane and Tara did an analysis on our orgs book a couple of years ago, and they found that about 80% of the business ridden as a group was in about five carriers. And those carriers happen to be core markets for us that offer profit sharing, and it's very important to feed those carriers for the extra opportunity to earn some additional, you know, bonus dollars. And so uh, so yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, having significant amount of carriers is only going to do you probably more harm than good.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

And the other issue to the point that you just made, Tanya, is the production. There are carriers that in order to get a subcode, you do have to have some minimum production, and you do want to get to that subcode. So if you are spreading out your business over 25, 30 carriers, you're you're making everything more difficult. You really are. I know it may not feel that way. I gotta have them all, but everything is gonna be more complicated. You're not gonna remember how to do things on each carrier's website, it's just going to be so difficult for you, and you're not gonna get the production you need in order to get into profit sharing or get into a subcode. You really do have to stick with your big six, big seven, and roll from there.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

If you have a niche specifically, or uh really, would you just do that?

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Oh, and then we followed that right up with niche. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_03 41:08

I can't even say it. I gotta I gotta stop and like muster up everything inside me to get muster.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

You've got to muster up. You're the one that called me out for saying the word supper, and you just said I've got to muster up.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Right. So what's what's worse by cap or niche?

SPEAKER_03 41:29

Uh I'm I'm gonna say cap is worse. Okay, okay. But it's just like you know, up here in the northeast, you're talking about New York accents and Austin accents. You're just not niche, is not coming out of anybody up here.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

You know, you walk is it just because I add the extra syllables?

SPEAKER_03 41:56

You walk into the deli and you got some guy behind the counter who's 325, you know, you you're gonna expect the word niche to come out of him. No.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

And I just want to say that is something we don't say down south. We don't say you're gonna walk into the deli. I mean, I don't I'm not quite sure that those words have ever come out of my mouth. Robbie, what about you?

SPEAKER_03 42:23

I will no really where you gotta get your supper at. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

But yes, you have access to the care, get make sure that you can get access to the carriers that you need. Be sure that you can feed those carriers. And I, you know, and and like I I hate that phrase, like I hate the word feeding the carriers, right? But you know, get the carriers that you need, and and and I want to know, guys, like, does that change? Like it seems like that there's carriers that you have sometimes and they're great for you, and then over time those carriers evolve.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

It can certainly change. I think, yeah, you know, they could do some sort of internal um, you know, they could look through what they have internally and they're looking at their markets, especially in a state like Texas, and they could say, Well, we're way too saturated in Houston. You know, we've gotta we've got to get out of that a little bit. And then you can see that the rates skyrocket in that area, and now you are having to move business to a different carrier. Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Yeah, it's a cycle, you know. I mean, they all go through it. They can turn the spigot on when they want, they turn it off when they want. And so it just depends on the environment at the time. But yeah, I mean, absolutely. We're not saying get five carriers and stick with those five. We're just saying be strategic about the the carrier. That you do right business with and be flexible with others as you continue to grow.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

So top questions to ask involve access, infrastructure, yeah. Here's another possibility, ownership, what else?

SPEAKER_03 44:18

Uh with to just to go along with carrier access. Especially when you're talking about joining a group that's maybe a little smaller, that isn't national, you will run into situations where those carriers in their portfolio are not all the carriers in your area. There will be regionals that that group does not have access to. There are some regionals that actually will not work with groups at all. Uh so one question you should definitely ask is what happens in those situations? What if I need one of these regional carriers that you do not offer? Do I have any ability to have access to that form to piggyback on that, integrity?

SPEAKER_02 45:07

We do allow market exceptions, which allows you to go direct in some cases. One thing I wanted to just make prospects aware of from a carrier perspective, because a lot of times when you're having the when you're doing your due diligence and you're talking to different networks, and some are saying, Hey, I can get you up and running in in a week, and some are saying, well, it takes us about three to four weeks. I don't necessarily think it's always in your best interest just to go with the network that can get you up and running the quickest. It doesn't necessarily mean that that long term they're the best partner. I think you everything that we've discussed regarding the contract all, in my opinion, has to be weighed uh no matter how long it takes for you to be, you know, quoted or have the opportunity to quote by. Because at the end of the day, you don't need to look at the first three months. You need you need to look at the next 10, 15, 20 years.

SPEAKER_03 46:07

Yeah. If they're telling you that you're gonna have 50 carriers and they're gonna have you up and running in a week to two weeks, that means you are not directly appointed with anyone.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Most likely.

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Yeah, I I can almost guarantee you that.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Well, thank you guys so much. Thank you, Robbie, for filling in for Shane today. Um, you did a fantastic job. We always enjoy having you on the podcast. Welcome home. Come back and play with us some more.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

We'll do. I enjoyed it. Good to see you guys.

SPEAKER_01 46:41

I'm gonna leave us today with this quote from Pat Summit. Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon you can have.

SPEAKER_03 46:54

Robbie, take us out. You do it.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

Uh, attitudes of choice, make it a great one.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Bye, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

At the Integra Partner Network, we understand that carrier access is the key to your agency's success. That's why Integra offers direct access to top rated personal and commercial carriers, ensuring your agency's life in today's intelligent market. And with our comprehensive resources, comment carrying and bonus opportunities to technology and your support of you would say the unfortunate specific ticket. It's ready to post our new and here we can see the five sustained gross, find your place to win tech drive systemarker network dot coming to NegraMarker Network dot com.