When insurance agency owners decide to sell independently, without the assistance of a mergers and acquisitions broker like Springtree Group, they will encounter a litany of frequently overlooked details throughout the lengthy, complex process. If you are considering whether to sell your insurance agency on your own, you will likely have decided on a rough sale price, organized your business’s financial records, and researched your legal responsibilities with regard to the sale.
Now, ask yourself: have you scratched the surface of the hurdles through which you will have to leap to lock down a profitable offer and close the deal in time without a hiccup in financing? The odds aren’t on your side.
Let’s break down the most frequently overlooked details you as a seller would have discovered along the way.
The Employment Future of Your Staff
More likely than not, you have staff members whose future is highly important to you. These might be your family members, long-term employees, or new hires whose abilities and potential are so impressive that you believe your agency would be less successful if they were to be let go post-acquisition.
If you want to protect these key staff members, you must include this demand in your sale agreement. The language must be legally binding and structured so that your clause does not significantly impede robust offers from qualified buyers.
Are You Willing to Stay On?
No one understands your agency better than you and your co-owners (if any exist). A buyer who is concerned about your agency retaining clients and staff and maintaining a healthy financial footing may ask you to remain involved throughout the transition process.
You may be asked to stay on and work part-time, training the new owners for six months, or you may be asked to stay on full-time for over a year. This dynamic can vary widely and only needs to suit the involved parties to be adopted.
The complexities arise from ensuring that you, as the owner, are fairly compensated for your highly valuable time. As you know, your relationships with your customers, professional network, and employees are irreplaceable. If you are unhappy with the terms of your employment in three months but have signed an agreement to stay on for two years under these parameters, you likely have a hard legal battle ahead of you to renegotiate terms.
Instead, let Springtree Group work alongside you. We will begin advising you a year or more before your intended sale window, assist you in preparing your agency for the best possible sale price, and help you agree to terms that will make both you and the buyer happy with the final agreement.
The Takeaway
Are you planning to sell your agency in 2025 or 2026? If so, contact Springtree Group now to begin working toward that goal. Whether you want to retire, transition into another field, relocate, or purchase/launch a new agency, you simply cannot find a better M&A team than ours.
Our in-house financing, highly experienced team, extensive network of qualified buyers, vast number of industry contacts, and outside-the-box individualized approach to selling insurance agencies allow us to arrange the best possible sales.
We want you to have the best. That’s us.
Contact Springtree Group today.
