Overview
This article walks through setting up a host agency in Tern, inviting direct members and sub agencies, viewing everyone across your agencies in one place, subscription management, and trip/contact sharing.
Setting up your host agency
If you haven't already, first create your agency
Go to Account settings → Under Business, click Agency affiliations, then click Set Up Agency
You'll be prompted to fill out basic details on your agency
If you are bulk purchasing seats for direct members or sub agencies, you can purchase them
You can also "skip for now" and do this later, or add additional seats at any time. For more information on how pricing and subscription management works, please see our team management help center article.
Adding direct members
If you have agents who belong directly to your host agency, or other team members (like admins responsible for reconciling commission), you can add them as 'direct members' of your host.
Direct members are listed on the Direct members tab in Back office → Settings → Team & billing. To search, filter, choose columns, or export this list, see Tern Agency: Team Management.
Pick what role they should be, whether you will cover their seat in Tern, and add their emails in a comma separated list
For other tips on inviting direct members, see our team management help center article.
You'll see their invite status directly in your table
Click on any row to open more details on each member
You can manage their role and set their standard commission split and effective date from here.
Click on the 3-dot menu to take other actions
You can change ownership to any other admin, remove or add the member to a paid seat, or remove them from your agency.
If you've removed them from your agency, you'll see the option to re-invite them from this menu.
If an agency owner hasn't accepted yet, click the three-dot menu (⋮) on their row to resend the invitation or revoke it.
Adding sub agencies
If you have agencies using Tern that have their own agents, you'll want to add them as sub agencies.
If you have existing agency owners who have already joined as a 'direct member', you can re-invite them as an agency owner and remove them as a direct member once they've accepted.
If you choose to pay for their subscription and are already paying for them as a direct member, that subscription will automatically transfer.
Similarly, if you are already paying for sub agents as direct members and they join under a sub agency, their subscription will automatically transfer.
Go to Back office → Team & billing, then open the Agencies tab
Select Invite agency owner to get started.
You'll invite the agency owner first, before inviting any sub agents within their agency
You can choose whether or not to pay for their Tern subscription as a part of this process.
Invited agency owners will show up on your list with an 'invite pending' label
Invited agency owners will receive an email invitation from you
If you're managing their subscription, the email will look like this.
If you aren't, it will look like this.
They'll also see this banner in their 'Agency Details' page, to accept the invitation directly through the product.
Agency owners will be prompted to join with their existing agency, or create a new one to accept your invitation
If they are new to Tern, or haven't set up an agency yet, they'll be prompted to create one to accept.
If they are already an admin of an agency on Tern, they'll see the option to choose their agency to join with, or create a new agency to accept your invitation.
If they choose to affiliate an existing agency, any team members from that agency will be retained, and under that agency within your host agency.
Managing your sub agencies
The Agencies tab in Back office → Settings → Team & billing lists every sub agency under your host. Each row shows the agency name, the agency owner, the number of members, the agency's commission split, and how many seats are assigned.
Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on an agency's row to:
View agency members to see everyone in that sub agency
View details to open the agency's details
Remove the agency from your host
The Agencies tab uses the same search, filters, column settings, and export as the Direct members tab.
Viewing all members across your agencies
The All members tab shows everyone under your host in one table. That includes your direct members, your sub agencies, and every agent inside those sub agencies.
Note: The All members tab only appears if your host agency has at least one sub agency. Agencies without sub agencies see the Direct members and Agencies tabs only.
Go to Back office → Settings → Team & billing, then open the All members tab
Each row shows the member's name, type, agency affiliation, email, role, commission split, ID, payout group, and who pays for their seat.
Narrow the list
Use the Type filter to show only direct members, agencies, or sub agents.
Use the Active / Archived toggle to switch between current members and members who've been removed.
Use the search bar to find someone by name, email, or agency affiliation.
Export everyone in one file
Click Export to download the full list. The export includes the columns currently showing in your table, so set your columns first. This gives you one file with every member and who pays for their seat across your whole host, without exporting each sub agency on its own.
Trip/contact sharing
Your host agency will be automatically set as the "default host" for any sub agencies that accept your invite. This means that by default, any trips or contacts they create will be shared with any host admins, as well as admins of their sub agency.
