September 2026
Most comparisons of agency networks are organized around the wrong things: carrier counts, member counts, combined premium. Those are measures of the network's size, and you are not buying the network's size. You are buying what happens to your agency.
Here is a method that survives contact with an actual sales conversation.
Start by writing down what you are solving
Before you look at anybody, finish this sentence: in twelve months, this will have been worth it if ___. Three markets you cannot reach today. A commercial book that is 20% instead of 8%. A producer who is not you. Contingency that is not a rounding error.
Agencies that skip this step end up comparing networks on whichever criterion the last salesperson emphasized.
The six that separate
1. Ownership, in the clause rather than the sentence. Every network says you own your book. What varies is whether that covers expirations and data, whether there is a non-solicit, whether leaving carries a fee, and whether they have a right of first refusal when you sell. Ask to read that clause before you sign.
2. Access method, carrier by carrier. A direct appointment in your name and a sub-code under the network's appointment look identical on a logo wall. They are completely different on the day you leave. Make somebody go down the list with you and say which is which.
3. Total economics, not the headline. Model it: fees in, commission differential out, expected contingency. A no-fee network taking a commission share can cost more than a network charging monthly and taking none. The only way to know is arithmetic on your own premium.
4. Exit. Notice period, cost, what happens to appointments, what happens to the book. Ask for it in writing at the first meeting. The reaction tells you as much as the answer.
5. What exists beyond access. If placement support, producer help or perpetuation advice is part of why you are joining, ask who specifically provides it and how many agencies they cover. "We have a team" is not an answer.
6. Fit with what you write. A network strong in personal lines in the southeast is not much use to a commercial agency in the upper midwest. Ask for carrier detail by your state and your lines, not in total.
The ones that look decisive and are not
Carrier count. "Over 100 carriers" is meaningless if four write your line in your state. Ask the specific question.
Combined written premium. It tells you the network has scale. It does not tell you any of that scale reaches you.
Member count. Larger means more negotiating weight and less individual attention. That is a trade, not a score.
How impressive the pitch is. The networks that are best at selling membership are not reliably the ones that are best at membership.
Do the arithmetic on your own book first
Nearly every agency owner enters these conversations without a current read on their own concentration, retention and mix, which means the network knows more about the shape of the deal than they do. Book Check will give you those numbers in about a minute and asks for nothing.
Then take the twelve questions into every conversation, ours included.
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