SELLING YOUR INSURANCE AGENCY
As an agency owner, you have achieved terrific success building your business. Selling your agency is a time-consuming and detailed process-involving issues that an insurance agency owner can and should “Out-Source”. That’s where Patrick & Associates, Inc. can make a difference.
When it’s time to cash out, we can help you prepare your agency for sale – so you can get the maximum benefit. For most agency owners, it’s your biggest asset – and we are committed to your being rewarded for your life’s work.
Patrick & Associates, Inc. will prepare the agency valuation (a very time-consuming, critical process) and address the laundry list of other issues associated with selling your agency. We work with you to prepare your “Wish List” with respect to timetable, price, payment terms and your people.
Patrick & Associates, Inc. will do what few agency owners have the time to do for themselves-identify and pre-qualify numerous potential buyers, coordinate calendars/arrange meetings, ensure that confidentiality agreements are signed, complete an accurate appraisal/valuation,etc. We compress the timeline and have buyers bidding against each other to buy your agency. We also create a confidential selling memorandum (“Prospectus”) for your agency that will educate potential buyers on the history, operations, book of business, financials, people and your target price, terms and timeline.
Patrick & Associates, Inc. will organize the due diligence phase in advance. We assemble all these pieces together, freeing you to continue running the agency. Buyers appreciate and will pay a premium when they have an agency seller who has all the relevant facts up front.
Qualifying Buyers and Managing Confidentiality
Sellers don’t want to waste time dealing with unqualified buyers. Patrick & Associates, Inc. will commit the buyer to a confidentiality agreement early in the process, while at the same time ensuring that the buyer is financially capable of consummating the deal.
Confidentiality is the most important item of concern when selling an agency. Sellers don't want to alert their employees, customers, suppliers or competitors that their business is for sale and want to be insulated from potential buyers until those buyers are proven to be "real.”
Patrick & Associates, Inc. requires that prospective buyers must provide information on their assets available and how they plan to finance an agency purchase, before the deal goes forward. They must have markets that are compatible with your agency and commit to keeping your people-if that is part of your "Wish List". The result: A lot of time saved for the seller, who doesn’t have to deal with buyers who are a mismatch for the agency.
Controlling Communication
Tensions can get high during the negotiation over the sale of an agency. Both sides can be prone to brinkmanship in negotiations. By acting in the role of intermediary, Patrick & Associates, Inc. takes the edge off the heated moments and communications between buyer and seller. This alone can prevent a lot of deals from collapsing in the heat of the moment – and save the seller from having to start the process from scratch with another counterparty.
Patrick & Associates, Inc. will also diplomatically move the deal forward. A big part of the value we add is in nudging both sides to move the football toward the end zone – before something happens to derail the deal. If the deal is good, all sides benefit from it happening quickly.
You can get a nondisclosure agreement, but that doesn’t protect you-people start talking, and when word gets out that an agency’s for sale, people can start leaving. We pre-qualify buyers-size, capitalization, carriers, specialty, location, post-acquisition plans, etc.This allows us to shop a deal to five buyers – not twenty – who are qualified, serious and will close quickly.
Post-Sale Transition/Integration
In many cases the buyer will require an “Earn-Out” or other conditions on the final sale price. In addition, a key issue is what happens to the seller’s employees after the sale. We work closely with the seller and buyer to ensure that these issues are identified, addressed and documented during the negotiations (including post-sale employment contracts).
Patrick & Associates,Inc.has the knowledge, the relationships and work ethic to go the extra mile for our clients. We offer a FREE initial consultation, the most inexpensive agency appraisal/valuation in the industry and a competitive fee schedule for representing agency owners selling their agency.