Member Benefits
In addition to being a part of a dedicated community of other professional independent agents, your PIA membership offers an unmatched value in tools and resources specifically tailored to help advance your agency. Learn more below.
Resources - Agency Management & Planning
When a crisis hits, it’s the planning and preparation that really counts. Introducing Ready For Everything – a crisis information hub brought to you by The PIA Partnership. Our Ready For Everything toolkit gives agents resources on planning, remote working, and employee and customer communications. We’ve curated and organized a host of industry articles, videos and podcasts, and provided key takeaways in an effort to make it as easy as possible for insurance agencies to be more prepared – when the next crisis hits.
At PIA, our mission is to help agents, like you, throughout your career. We have developed the PIA Blueprint for Agency Success to provide materials and resources that can take independent insurance agents from start-up to sustained success.
Sections of the Blueprint include:
Business Planning - addresses insurance agency start-up considerations from formation of the business entity to insurance licensing to budgeting and finance to branding
Growth Strategy - outlines agency automation, producer development and operational policies, procedures, and workflows
Agency Continuity - provides templates for business continuity planning, disaster planning, and leadership development
FREE legal consultation is available to all PIAW members. Through a special arrangement between PIAW and Axley Insurance Attorneys, members can speak with an attorney and receive legal information about agency operations, ownership, employment matters, issues with the Insurance Commissioner, contracts, mergers & acquisitions, perpetuation planning, and E&O consulting. These free calls will be limited to 15 minutes in duration. Members may also email their questions and the attorneys will respond as quickly as possible.
A legal team of three experienced attorneys has been established to handle PIAW member calls and emails. Calls or emails which require research will necessitate a return call or email from the attorneys.
This service is for information only. It does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. If your issues require more in-depth legal action or advice, you will be directed to seek private legal counsel.
Phone: 608-200-4221
Email: insurancehotline@axley.com
Our 3-part toolkit will help you make the most of today’s digital solutions. You can use it to: assess your virtual readiness; decide which technologies are right for you; calculate ROI on the solutions you choose; select vendors; apply best practices for maximum results; and learn from other agencies.
This program from the PIA Partnership is designed to help agencies improve their customer service and retention. Winning@Customer Retention's resources will help you track client retention rates, segment, and communicate with your customers.
Winning@Cybersecurity Defense will make you aware of the different cyber risks and provide specific advice on how you can take action to protect yourself.
Whether you are planning for the eventual sale of your agency, planning for the unexpected, or simply want to value your agency, PIA’s Agency Journey Mapping program will put you on the right path. We’ll help you understand the challenges and best practices of agency ownership transfer, so you can create a perpetuation/succession plan for your agency. And you’ll receive access to dozens of tools to help you do it.
But I'm not ready to sell my agency!
You make decisions every day that set the stage for your options long-term. Agency Journey Mapping helps you see the impact of your actions today on your agency’s value, ability to respond to new opportunities, and preparation for the unexpected. The program addresses succession and perpetuation planning. But it’s not only for agents headed for the exit. It’s so much more. It is designed to give agency owners – at every stage – control of their future by investing in a little planning today.
Step 1: Attend live or on-demand seminar.
Step 2: Access a library of resources.
Step 3: Develop a customized plan for YOUR agency.
Resources - Employer
From PIA & Axley Attorneys: Presenting the Sample Employee Handbook!
PIA members have access to the new Sample Employee Handbook included with their membership. Tailor the content to fit the policies of your agency! Review your current handbook utilizing the sample to update current policies in line with recent changes to state and federal law.
Access the Handbook within the PIA Member InfoHub by logging in here. Don't have a Username & Password yet or having trouble logging in? Contact PIAW at 608-274-8188.
IdealTraits is the go-to hiring tool for insurance agencies across America. If you are having trouble finding top talent, or you would like to improve your hiring strategy, IdealTraits may be for you. This new PIA program ensures agents can use a comprehensive tool to hire top performers for their agencies.
Step 1 - Post Jobs: Build the best job postings with versatile templates for ZipRecruiter, Google for Jobs, Indeed, Glassdoor, and 100+ job boards.
Step 2 - Applicant Tracking: View resumes, comment, rate, organize, and move your candidates through hiring stages--all on the IdealTraits platform!
Step 3 - Send Pre-Hire Assessments: Pre-screen candidates to predict job performance, all from within the system!
Step 4 - Identify and Hire: Use assessment results to identify strengths and weaknesses and hire the best candidate.
Post your job openings on the PIAW website. Agency and Company members can take advantage of this free service. Simply fill out the form on our website and it will be displayed for three months.
The PIA of Wisconsin is known nationwide as one of the premier states when it comes to education! Partnering with The National Alliance, the AIMS Society, and FISCE, plus hot topics at the Annual Convention and Winter Get-Away, PIA offers close to 200 options each year, including pre-licensing. Learn more on our Education page.
PIA is pleased to welcome Life & Health agents into the membership. And as a result, we are offering Life & Health FOCUS webinars.
Protect your agency from bad hires and high turnover with the Omnia Assessment!
In just 10 minutes or less, our behavioral assessment tool gives you the insight to take the guesswork out of personnel decisions. Whether you are hiring a new employee, deciding on future roles for current employees, team building or creating a succession plan for your agency, Omnia can help.
You can get FREE sample producer contracts and employee contracts from PIAW.
Developed for PIAW by an employment law attorney, these contracts contain non-compete and non-piracy clauses, as well as other standard employment provisions. We can email these word documents so you can customize them with your agency information.
Access in the PIA Member InfoHub by logging in here. Don't have a Username & Password yet or having trouble logging in? Contact PIAW at 608-274-8188.
Winning@Talent is a 3-part toolkit featuring intuitive tools that take agency employers through a simple journey that starts with determining if their agency is well positioned to attract quality candidates and ends with a happy, productive employee.
Part 1 - Are You Ready to Recruit?, focuses on helping agencies assess whether they are ready to recruit. In this section, we help agency owners and managers assess their employer brand, provide tools to help them build and strengthen it, and offer best practices on how to make it resonate across communication channels and social networks.
Part 2 - Sourcing, Recruiting and Hiring, focuses on sourcing potential hiring prospects, recruiting them into your agency and ultimately hiring them. This section offers resources and best practices to help agency owners and managers find, screen, interview and evaluate candidates in ways that will help them reduce their time to fill key positions, build their talent pipeline and meet long-term recruiting goals.
Part 3 - Retaining Your Best Employees, focuses on how agencies can retain their best employees because employee retention is vital to growing any agency. This section provides best practices and resources that agency owners and managers can share with their employees to help those employees with their own career development.
PIA's Insurance 101 Webinars are designed to give new employees the basics of insurance. They can be used for employees who do not plan to get licensed, as well as for employees before they go through prelicensing. The three webinars are Property & Casualty, Agency Operations, and Life & Health. The links for these webinars can be accessed in the member infohub. If you have any questions, contact Brenda at bsteinbach@piaw.org.
Resources - Agency Marketing
Each summer PIA publishes the PIA Agency Marketing Guide. This annual publication helps PIA members stay ahead of the curve when it comes to marketing their services in the modern insurance marketplace.
PIA has an extensive collection of print advertisements that PIA members can run in local publications, customized with their agency logo and contact information and (optionally) a company logo. Most ads are available in both English and Spanish. Ads can also be printed for use as flyers or as inserts in publications. Ads are available in a variety of sizes, in color as well as black and white.
For more information please contact Heidi Hodel-Faris at hhodel@piaw.org or by phone at 608-274-8188.
PIA members can access direct mail and digital advertising services in the PIA DMV. Customizable postcard templates are available to use with the USPS Every Door Direct Mail Program and Targeted Direct Mail. PIA members can maximize their impact and reach by adding-on targeted digital advertising to their order.
PIA Design & Print offers a collaborative design experience tailored for small businesses, insurance agencies and associations.
Our talented team specializes in print and digital media design that's engaging and effective.
- Logo design
- Ad design
- Flyers
- Magazines
- Brochures
- Trade show displays
- Social media graphics
- Newsletters
The Professional Insurance Agents of Wisconsin has partnered with Insurance Marketing Partners to offer marketing programs that are designed to help independent insurance agents compete with direct writers, captive agents, and other independent agents.
Insurance Products for Your Agency
Every business that uses the Internet, accepts credit cards or uses a system network needs cyber insurance. If you answer yes to any of these questions, you need a cyber insurance policy:
- Does your business accept credit card payments?
- Does your business bank online?
- Does your business use Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn?
- Does your business store sensitive customer or employee data?
PIA cyber insurance is offered through ABA Insurance Services and Great American E&S Insurance Company (rated A+ by
A.M. Best). ABA Insurance Services’ history with cyber insurance dates to 2001. With deep institutional knowledge, ABA
Insurance Services offers the coverage and claims expertise needed to protect against today’s exposures.
The PIAW E&O Program
Every agency needs Errors & Omissions Insurance, and you came to the right place. The Professional Insurance Agents of Wisconsin has entered into an agreement with Utica National Insurance Group to provide comprehensive E&O Insurance at competitive prices.
Group Basic Life and AD&D
Provide Basic Life Insurance of up to $25,000 per eligible employee. Each Active Full‐Time Employee of a participating Employer working 30 or more hours per week, except any person working on a temporary or seasonal basis.
Group Supplemental & Dependent Life
Offer additional Group Supplemental & Dependent Life Insurance. Coverage up to $250,000 per employee.
Group Long Term Disability Insurance
Offer Long Term Disability benefits to your Employees. Benefits up to 60% of covered earnings, up to a maximum benefit of $6,000 per month. 90-day and 150-day Elimination Period Options.
Penn National Insurance Agents Umbrella Program
PIA and Penn National Insurance are proud to offer the most comprehensive and affordable excess insurance protection available, packaged into one easy-to-manage policy.
Written by agents for agents, this policy offers competitive rates and comprehensive coverage, including E&O exposures. Our simplified rate schedule is based upon your agency’s staff size and provides a quick determination of your base policy premium. We also provide versatile pricing options that recognize your agency’s particular qualities and special exposures. And, we offer payment options for policies of any premium size.
Insurance Products to Sell
Cyber Liability Coverage For Your Clients
The same standard coverage that is available to your agency, is also available to your clients. The need for cyber insurance is real. Cyber insurance protects businesses from computer, network and Internet-based risks. The policy covers both first and third-party losses.
Every business that uses the Internet, accepts credit cards or uses a system network needs cyber insurance. If you answer yes to any of these questions, you need a cyber insurance policy:
- Does your business accept credit card payments?
- Does your business bank online?
- Does your business use Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn?
- Does your business store sensitive customer or employee data?
To learn more, please contact Heidi Hodel-Faris at 608-274-8188.
Flood Insurance Through the Hartford
Since 2004, PIA and The Hartford have joined together to provide PIA member agents the opportunity to offer your customers flood insurance through The Hartford, a WYO company. The program is available to PIA members and their policyholders in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. PIA members can earn 20% commission on flood insurance sales with The Hartford and, if they want, have a flood insurance processing center that does most of the heavy lifting for them.
Member Discounts
PIA's agreement with ACORD allows eligible PIA-member agencies to execute their annual license for free, or to particulate in ACORD's Advantage Plus Program at a reduced rate.
AVYST eForms Wizard – Automated Workflow Management
Buy a Gold level subscription for only $50 (regularly $100), or sign up for a Bronze subscription for free!
Pre-Licensing for PIA Members Only
95% of Kaplan students recommend Kaplan to their peers. Why? Because they prepare you to pass the first time. Start your studies today with a method tailored to fit your unique learning style.
What is Your Agency Worth?
PIAW Members, receive a 10% discount off John Dismukes Agency Valuation and other services!
PIAW Members, receive a 10% discount off John Dismukes Agency Valuation and other services!John Dismukes, CIC, CPCU, AAI, AIS, has over 49 years of experience in the insurance industry as an agency owner, and insurance company and association employee.
John conducts insurance education classes nationwide, is an expert witness, and conducts Agency Valuations of all sizes.
John is the CIC Education Consultant for the PIA of Wisconsin and Colorado. New! Automated “RANGE” valuations are available on his website, and the 10% discount to PIAW members is already included!
To learn more, please contact Heidi Hodel-Faris at hhodel@piaw.org or by phone at 608-274-8188.
Publications
Every week we publish and email the PIAW Newsline. This eNewsletter is quick and easy to read, and keeps you updated about what is happening in Wisconsin, as well as national issues.
A digital and print subscription to Wisconsin Professional Agent Magazine
