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Frequently Asked Questions

An “agency group” is a business arrangement in which independent insurance agencies band together for mutual benefit. By combining premium, members gain the scale and advantages that are usually only available to the largest agencies. Typically, these advantages include increased market access and enhanced profit sharing, but some groups provide many other additional benefits and services. An agency group can be as small as a handful of agencies or as large as a network of several thousand members.

No. Agency groups and the services they provide vary widely – that’s why it’s critical to research the group’s scope of services before joining. Many groups are little more than “commission clubs” offering no more than enhanced profit sharing and market access. Some are loose alliances of peers; others provide group management services and operations and technology support.

In addition to understanding the benefits of an agency group, it’s equally important to understand the commitment you are making. Some groups take ownership of a portion of your book of business; others make it nearly impossible to leave the group if things don’t work out. We don’t. You must thoroughly review and understand all the group’s legal documents and contracts before signing. It’s also important to understand how the group vets its members. You should ask about the group’s long-term loss ratio: that will have a significant impact on your ultimate financial results.

Most agency groups share two common denominators – they provide market access and increase profit sharing. While we do those two things – we see those as table stakes. What makes us different is that we help our members to grow their premium, revenue and the resulting value of their agency. Our members overall have grown at more than twice the local and national rates every year over the last 5 years (6% vs 3%). Our top quartile members have grown more than 4 times the average (12% vs 3%). How? We have a 7 key Agency Growth Accelerator process that guides that growth. At a high level, our members are able to outsource non-revenue generating activities to the 90+ staff at Renaissance to free up the time of the owners and their staff to focus on revenue generation and growth. In the last year, we’ve introduced a number of new member benefits. Now each of our members receives their own Agency Growth Partner to help them focus on growth. Our proprietary technology dashboards and reports provide real time analytics to find areas of growth opportunity. Since the introduction of these new capabilities, our member growth has increased even more – to almost 8% average growth in 2019, and over 15% for our top quartile members. Members remain 100% independent, retaining complete ownership of their agency. No entrance fees. No exit fees. Leave for any reason with 180 days notice.

We have a successful track record dating back more than 20 years! Ours is not a new or unproven model – we were a pioneer in agency partnerships, and we set the standard for many of the groups that followed. We continue to be a leader in technology, innovation and, most importantly, consistent results.

Yes! Renaissance Alliance members retain exclusive ownership of their agency and their book of business. You maintain complete and total agency independence. We help you find markets, but we don’t decide where a piece of business is placed – that always remains your decision, in consultation with your client.

Renaissance Alliance members grow at twice the national average rate for independent agencies and our top-quartile members do even better, growing at four to five times the national average.

A relentless focus on growth underpins everything we do. It starts with an Agency Growth Partner and a Marketing and Placing Specialist being assigned to your agency. Their jobs are to help you shift your focus from processing and paperwork to activities that drive sales and client retention. We give agencies the tools, technology, capabilities and support they need to thrive independently in a rapidly evolving industry. Learn more about our services here.

Members have access to 45+ standard markets through either direct appointments or through the Renaissance Alliance Master Code. Members receive the same commission, profit sharing and overrides on both master code and sub-code business. 

Yes! Renaissance Alliance members continue to represent all their current carriers. The carriers and wholesalers available through Renaissance Alliance membership are in addition to your current carriers, they do not replace them.

As a member of Renaissance Alliance, you will be eligible for top-tier profit sharing from all our standard market carriers, regardless of the premium you may have with the carrier. On average, members receive 2.5 times the profit share that they would receive as a stand-alone agency.

Yes! Leveraging our volume and strong carrier relationships, we have negotiated overrides with almost half of our carrier partners. Renaissance Alliance shares a portion of this revenue with member agencies. Unlike profit sharing, which is not guaranteed and can be volatile, overrides provide an additional and more stable source of income.

As a member of Renaissance Alliance, you will grow your agency with the assistance of our team of more than 90 professionals who handle routine agency activities so you can refocus your efforts and redeploy your staff to customer service and new revenue-generating activities. Because every agency is unique, you will have a Growth Partner assigned to your agency who will help you identify and implement priority growth initiatives tailored to your unique goals and needs. We also provide key performance indicators which allow you to monitor and measure results. These are just a few of the ways that we help our members grow – we’d love to tell you more. Contact us to talk about how we can help your agency accelerate growth!

Carriers are attracted to our ease of doing business, our focus on driving organic growth and our data-driven management culture. They benefit from predictable long-term profitability and our streamlined approach to consolidating distribution priorities. They also know that our membership consists of elite, high-performing agencies who’ve delivered quality business and an excellent loss ratio over more than two decades.

Unlike most agency groups, our top-quality infrastructure is second to none, affording our members unparalleled support. Our staff of more than 90 full-time insurance professionals have expertise ranging from business process outsourcing to software engineering. Services include account placement, back-office processing, employee training, marketing support, acquisition support and even software focused on helping agencies measure and manage their businesses. Our Agency Growth Partners, a team of industry veterans focused on driving organic agency growth, help our members discover untapped opportunities and design and execute growth-focused initiatives.

Insurance carriers are increasingly focused on predictive modeling and multivariate rating. With this shift in underwriting focus, the difficulty of finding the right market increases exponentially. Renaissance Alliance excels in marketing and account placement services, enabling our members to focus on what they do best – building relationships and selling insurance. Our Marketing and Account Placement experts work with you to market and place commercial lines risks. We also offer a proprietary system to manage the submission process, with tools to view status, comments and quotes. We also provide expertise and placement for high-value properties and hard-to-place accounts.

Yes. We offer a broad array of discounted and value-added services to our members. We are continually evaluating services that might be beneficial to our members and negotiating discounts for them. Examples include discounted technology services, outsourcing services, agency E&O insurance, loss runs, consulting services, web development, graphic design, and much more. We also offer many other value-added services such as training and help-desk technology support, that are included in your membership benefits.

Renaissance Alliance has a full-time staff of technology professionals who are continuously developing new tools to help provide better insights into your business. We handle the data to get the answers you need. Every agency has their own dashboard displaying their unique agency metrics. You can monitor your data 24/7 from either your desk or from your phone using Arno, our proprietary mobile app for members agency owners. Members work with their Growth Partners to understand where opportunities exist within their book of business, who then help to implement the strategy to realize those opportunities.

No! There are no exit fees or penalties.

Going forward, agency networks must offer a much more robust value proposition than simple market access and profit sharing. Thriving networks will offer sophisticated technology expertise and will provide agencies with access to the skill, scale and capital required to grow and differentiate, all while optimizing revenue opportunities and enabling greater independence.

As one of the pioneers and recognized innovators in agency groups, Renaissance Alliance is geared for the future. Our ongoing commitment to technological advancement is a core strength.

Contact us today!

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155 N Wacker Dr., Suite 820
Chicago, IL 60606
(800) 514-2667

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©2024 All Rights Reserved | Legal Notice
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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.