This is a great question. While some agents may see a host with a retail division as competition, we see it as a huge advantage to our agents. We've been in business for 30 years with us operating as a traditional retail agency for the first 15 years. We have two (yes, TWO) inside agents (out of nearly 7000 IC's) that have both been with us for nearly 20 years. We do no retail advertising to speak of and we defer any agent clients that might contact us by accident to their agent. They simply handle past clients. Far more importantly, they give us and our agents insights based on their real-world real-time experience.
So, the biggest advantage to you in joining a hybrid is having access to the hosts retail agents as mentors and coaches. It doesn't get any better!