President, Sierra Insurance Associates (sold agency)
I evaluated two firms when researching networks for my agency. They were the dominant forces in the cluster space back then. It was a toss-up on which way to go. On a recommendation with a field consultant and old industry friend, we didn’t choose PIIB the first time around. That worked for a while, but the other network’s incentive payments dropped off the map, and I made a choice to move 100% over to PIIB. If I had to advise an agency owner looking into networks or clusters, I would tell them to go with PIIB and no others. The agency owner should take a look at the historical payout potential if your book is integrated as a sub-code for profit sharing. Compare that estimate to what you’re getting today, and then see if it is more beneficial. For our agency, profit sharing increased from $13,000 with our old network to $75,000 with PIIB.