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It Pays to be Big: How Your Insurance Agency Can Get the Benefits of Scale

It can be hard not to feel slightly annoyed when you see larger agencies with more resources and benefits than you. It sometimes seems like it’s much easier for larger agencies to do, well, everything.

They can invest in the latest technology for sales, marketing, quoting, and customer service. They have more financially beneficial relationships with carriers. They have the managerial bandwidth to solve complex challenges and soar to new heights. And they can offer more competitive salaries and benefits that give them an inside track on hiring the best talent.

You’re probably wondering, “How can I get access to these types of perks?”

Maybe you’ve found that your agency has hit a growth plateau that is difficult to overcome. You know how to grow the business, but as it grows you have to focus less on selling and more on running the business. Eventually, growth slows or stops because you aren’t able to create scalable business processes.

Or maybe you’re a small to medium-sized independent agent, and your time is split between managing your team and serving your customers. You don’t have other senior leadership to lean on, you have less time to sell and build community relationships, and you have less revenue to invest back into the business.

But in truth, those things don’t have to keep you from growing into a larger agency. 

The solution isn’t to suck it up and work harder. The key is to find a partner that will allow you to become more efficient and profitable without sacrificing your independence or selling the business you have already worked so hard to build.

Joining an agency network can be a great tool to help agencies of all sizes gain exclusive benefits and maximize growth. We’ve highlighted these specific advantages below.

Download our free e-book here: The Independent Agent’s Playbook for Success – How to Solve Your Agency’s Five Biggest Challenges 

Placement Services

As an independent agency owner, you wear a lot of hats. You and your team may not have time to develop deep expertise in every offering from every carrier, and you may not have the access you need to write policies for certain business owners or for coastal homeowners, for example. 

With Renaissance, you get access to dozens of standard markets and specialty brokers and a dedicated Placement Specialist to work with you to market and place commercial lines risks. We can also help our members with placement on high-value properties and hard-to-place personal lines.

Members also have access to Portico, a small commercial comparative rater and submission platform. Getting access to multiple carrier options while entering the information only once is a huge time saver.

Whether you use this technology or let your placement specialist do the work for you, you’re able to transfer the transactional work to Renaissance so you and your staff have more time to engage with customers. Access to more markets also means higher retention, more new business, and increased growth – meaning you’ll win more customers, better serve those customers, and retain more customers.

Helpdesk Support

You’re an agent, not an IT professional. Rather than having to troubleshoot technology problems on your own, wouldn’t it be nice if you had a dedicated IT department to help, just like those bigger agencies have?

Renaissance offers dedicated onsite and virtual training services for all supported systems and even provides help desk support to keep things working as they should, saving you time and stress.

Analytics & Intel

You may not have a team of data analysts, but you should still get the data you need to make smart decisions. With Renaissance, you get a series of up-to-date data dashboards and reports giving you the ability to benchmark your agency’s business performance against peers. 

Through added services and technology, you are provided key performance indicators that allow you to monitor and measure growth and opportunities. Use these proprietary data-driven insights and your dedicated Agency Growth Partner to implement strategic action plans to grow your agency and revenue. Our small commercial comparative rater, Portico, will give you multiple quotes quickly to save your staff time and have more options for your customers – a win-win for everyone.

Discounts

Who doesn’t love a good discount? Unfortunately, when you’re a smaller agency, you may not have the volume to earn discounted services, or you may get smaller discounts than a larger organization. As a member of an agency group, your collective influence can earn you discounted services from trusted providers to help you reduce expenses.

Examples of the types of discounts that Renaissance members might earn include technology services, agency management systems,  outsourcing services, agency E&O insurance, loss runs, consulting services, web development, graphic design, and much more. 

Staff Attraction and Retention

Every agency owner wants the best talent on their team. But with so many agencies (and carriers, brokers, direct writers, and new InsurTech companies) out there with varying levels of benefits offered to employees, you need a way to attract and retain the top talent.

Although your team works collectively toward your agency’s goals, your employees will need avenues that help them meet their individual goals as well – and, let’s be real, people typically want to work for businesses that are growing.

Thanks to the large agency perks that come with joining an aggregator like Renaissance, you’re more likely to attract top prospects by providing them with the best opportunities to succeed individually.

Also, by continuously offering education and training for your staff, you can keep them sharp and motivated. With Renaissance, members are offered topical webinars and seminars that everyone within the agency can use to their advantage.

Sales & Marketing Support

Insurance agents need effective marketing strategies to win in today’s increasingly competitive market. Gone are the days where walk-in referrals and advertising in the local yellow pages were sufficient.

You’re not just battling direct writers with billion-dollar marketing budgets, you’re competing for the same business as other local agents who have invested in marketing and are ranking above you in Google and getting great online reviews.

Luckily with Renaissance, you don’t have to bribe your nephew to help you build a website and develop a Twitter strategy. Renaissance offers website design and hosting help, as well as automated email marketing and customer outreach. With these added perks, you can increase your sales and retention, and feel proud of how your brand is represented online. 

Finding A Trusted Partner in Growth

When you can gain access to the perks that larger agencies get, you can better compete with them. And if competing with (and winning against) larger agencies is your goal, then joining an insurance aggregator like Renaissance may be the best option for you. Agency networks offer these and so many other resources that can make your agency feel like a much larger one.

Ultimately, if you decide to join an insurance agency network, it’s essential that you choose one as committed to growth as you are. By viewing an aggregator as a trusted partner in growth rather than as a tool, you’ll achieve your goals more efficiently.

Renaissance Alliance is dedicated to its members and helps them achieve rapid growth and higher profitability through a comprehensive suite of exclusive benefits and services designed to enable their success, including:

  • Individual dedicated Agency Growth Partner assigned to each member agency;
  • Custom strategies to maximize growth;
  • Proprietary agency data dashboards, updated daily to help members find opportunities;
  • Research, development, and deployment of new technology to help members grow;
  • 80+ full-time insurance professionals who are ready and willing to help and advise each member agency.

How much can Renaissance help your agency grow? Calculate your agency’s projected cumulative earnings and valuation here: Calculate Your Growth Potential 

About Renaissance

Powered by a differentiated suite of technology products and services, Renaissance drives organic, profitable revenue growth for your insurance agency.

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NON-DISCLOSURE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

These Non-Disclosure Terms and Conditions (“Agreement”) govern the provision of information by Renaissance Alliance Insurance Services, LLC (“Renaissance”) to a prospective agency member (“Recipient”). Renaissance and Recipient Renaissance and Recipient are hereinafter referred to together as the “Parties,” and each may be referred to separately as a “Party.”

The Parties acknowledge that Renaissance may disclose to Recipient certain of Renaissance’s confidential, sensitive and/or proprietary information including, but not limited to, business, financial or technical information, in connection with the potential establishment and/or conduct of a business relationship or transaction between the Parties (the “Transaction”). In connection therewith, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which consideration are hereby acknowledged by Recipient, and as a condition of the provision of Confidential Information (as defined below) to Recipient, Recipient hereby agrees as follows:

  1. Confidential Information. “Confidential Information” means any and all information provided by Renaissance to Recipient in any form, and at any time (including prior to or following the execution of this Agreement), including but not limited to any such information that (a) is related to Renaissance’s business, finances, financial information, pricing, business plans, profitability, projections, business or financial opportunities, investment strategies, other strategies, data, products, services, concepts, contacts, personnel, customers, vendors, prospects, intentions, formulas, methods, processes, practices, models, tools, computer programs, software, discoveries, inventions, know-how, negative know-how, business relationships, agreements (including this Agreement), intellectual property, trade secrets (whether or not patentable or copyrightable), trade secrets, or other confidential or proprietary information, (b) contains or is related to any communications, negotiations or proposals regarding the Transaction; (c) Recipient has either been informed, or reasonably should know, is confidential in nature; or (d) consists of or contains names, addresses or other information of any description relating to any of Renaissance’ member agencies or any of such member agencies’ customers or clients. Confidential Information shall also include any analyses, compilations, studies or other documents or materials prepared by Recipient or by any of its Representatives, that contain, rely upon, are derivative of or otherwise reflect any Confidential Information as described in the preceding sentence. The foregoing notwithstanding, Confidential Information shall not include any information which, at the time it is provided to Recipient; (i) is already known to Recipient, (ii) is then or later becomes available to the general public without violation of any requirement of confidentiality.
  1. Providing of Confidential Information. Renaissance may provide to Recipient any Confidential Information, in such manner and at such times as Renaissance may determine, to assist Recipient in evaluating, negotiating and carrying out the Transaction, but shall have no obligation to provide any, or any particular, Confidential Information to Recipient. Renaissance makes no, and disclaims any, representations or warranties regarding any Confidential Information it may provide, except as may be provided in any definitive documentation relating to a Transaction.
  1. Non-Use and Non-Disclosure; Representatives. Recipient agrees not to use any of Renaissance’s Confidential Information for any purpose other than for or in connection with the evaluation, negotiation, entering into or carrying out of a Transaction. Recipient agrees not to disclose any of Renaissance’s Confidential Information to any third party other than Recipient’s directors, officers, employees, affiliates, counsel, consultants, advisers, representatives and agents (collectively, “Representatives”) who have a reasonable need for the same in connection with the uses thereof permitted under this Agreement. Any such Representatives who are provided with any Confidential Information shall be instructed to maintain the same in confidence, and not to make any use or disclosure of the same other than as permitted under this Agreement. Recipient shall be responsible for any breach of this Agreement by any of its Representatives, to the same extent as though Recipient had committed such breach personally. Recipient agrees to use the same level of care in protecting the Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure as it uses to protect its own confidential or proprietary information, and in any case will use no less than a commercially reasonable level of care in protecting all Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure. The foregoing notwithstanding, Recipient shall be permitted to disclose so much of the Confidential Information as has been authorized for release by Renaissance in writing, to the persons and upon the conditions so authorized by Renaissance, in connection with the carrying out of the Transaction. Recipient shall not circumvent or seek to circumvent Renaissance’s negotiations with any third party, either by entering into discussions directly with such third party otherwise than on behalf of Renaissance, or otherwise. For purposes of this Section, each Party shall act in good faith and deal fairly with the other Party.
  1. No License; Return of Confidential Information. Recipient will not acquire any license or other rights whatsoever with respect to any of the Confidential Information by virtue of its disclosure to Recipient pursuant to this Agreement, or by virtue of any use thereof permitted hereunder. Recipient agrees to destroy or to return all Confidential Information to Renaissance, including both originals and all copies thereof (other than copies created as part of the routine backup of Recipient’s servers, or copies retained pursuant to a requirement of a governmental or regulatory authority, all of which retained copies shall be held confidential for so long as such materials are so retained), and to confirm the completion of such return or destruction to Renaissance in writing, promptly upon demand by Renaissance within the term of this Agreement. The term of this Agreement shall be for a period of five (5) years, commencing on the Effective Date set forth above. Either Party may terminate this Agreement at any time, upon written notice to the other Party, provided that the obligations of Recipient hereunder shall nevertheless survive for the period above stated, with respect to all Confidential Information provided prior to such termination.
  1. Orders Requiring Production. In the event Recipient receives a court subpoena, request for production of documents, court order or other requirement of a governmental agency to disclose any Confidential Information (a “Disclosure Requirement”), Recipient shall (unless prohibited by law) give prompt written notice to Renaissance thereof so that Renaissance may seek to challenge or limit the Disclosure Requirement. Recipient agrees to cooperate reasonably in any effort of Renaissance to limit or prevent any required disclosure of Confidential Information, provided that Recipient shall: (i) not be required to incur any expense in connection with such cooperation, and (ii) not be required to disobey any Disclosure Requirement. Recipient shall not be deemed in violation of this Agreement if it complies with any such Disclosure Requirement either after having provided Renaissance with notice thereof and a reasonable opportunity to contest the same, or if such notice is not permitted. Recipient agrees to (a) exercise reasonable efforts to disclose only the minimum amount of Confidential Information that Recipient is compelled to disclose, in the opinion of its legal counsel, and (b) request that confidential treatment (if legally permissible) will be accorded to the Confidential Information being disclosed.
  1. Injunctive Relief. Recipient acknowledges that the Confidential Information is confidential, and that disclosure or use of said information in violation of the terms of this Agreement would result in substantial and irreparable harm to Renaissance, the actual dollar amount of which damage would be impossible to determine. Accordingly, Recipient agrees that, in addition to any other remedies that may be available, in law, in equity or otherwise, Renaissance shall be entitled to seek injunctive relief against the actual or threatened breach of this Agreement or the continuation of any such breach by Recipient, without the necessity of proving actual damages and without posting bond. This provision shall not limit the right of Renaissance to seek actual damages or any other legal or equitable remedy for any breach hereof.
  1. Miscellaneous. This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflicts of laws principles. Any action or proceeding against either Party relating in any way to this Agreement shall be brought and enforced only in the Federal (to the extent appropriate jurisdiction exists) and State courts located in Cook County in the State of Illinois, and the Parties irrevocably submit to the jurisdiction of such courts in respect of any such action or proceeding, and irrevocably waive any objection to venue in such courts, including but not limited to any objection that such venue is inconvenient. This Agreement embodies the entire agreement of the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings, oral or written. No amendment to this Agreement and no waiver of any provision hereunder shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by an authorized officer of the Party against whom such amendment or waiver is asserted. No invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this Agreement shall affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining portions hereof. This Agreement shall be binding upon, and shall inure to the benefit of, each of the Parties and their respective successors and assigns. There are no intended third-party beneficiaries of this Agreement. This Agreement does not in any way bind either Party to enter into or continue any type of business relationship with the other. Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent Renaissance from at any time disclosing any of its Confidential Information to others or negotiating with others for any purpose whatsoever. Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to constitute the Parties as partners, joint venturers, co-owners or otherwise as participants in a joint or common undertaking. Recipient’s indication of assent to this Agreement via electronic means shall be equally binding and effective as an original signature hereon, and shall be deemed duly and effectively delivered if so transmitted or provided.