More than a rule of thumb suggests, and the range is wider than most owners expect. Revenue is the starting point, not the answer. Buyers look at what the book is made of — commercial or personal, standard or non-standard, renewals or walk-in trade — how reliably it renews, which carriers it sits with, and how much of it depends on you personally. Two agencies writing identical commission can be worth very different money once those things are on the table.

We put together an opinion of value from your own numbers rather than a multiple applied to your revenue. It takes a few weeks and it costs you nothing to find out.

You need to know whether it is a good offer, which is a different question and not one the buyer has any reason to answer for you. An unsolicited approach tells you somebody wants your book. It does not tell you what the market would pay for it.

Sometimes the offer on the table turns out to be fair. More often it is an opening position — and the terms behind the headline number, how much is paid at closing, what is held back, what you are required to do afterwards, matter as much as the number itself.

In practice, yes. Your appointments do not transfer with the business, so a buyer needs their own relationship with the carriers your book sits with. That is why carrier alignment gets checked early: it determines which buyers can genuinely take your book on, and it is a common reason deals collapse when it is left late.

We establish where the overlap is before going to market, so the buyers we approach are ones who can actually complete.

Often, yes. Book-of-business sales are common in this industry and are structured differently from an agency sale — the buyer takes the accounts, and what happens to the entity, the staff and the licence is negotiated separately.

Which route suits you depends on what you want afterwards, what your carriers will allow, and the tax treatment, which is not the same for both. It is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.

Florida agency licences are not transferable, so the buyer must hold their own. Each location also needs a designated agent in charge, and where that person leaves without a replacement being designated, the licence lapses after 90 days.

If you are the agent in charge, your departure needs to be sequenced with the buyer’s licensing rather than assumed to take care of itself. This is a question for your own counsel and for the Department of Financial Services, but it should be on the table early.

Not at the start, and usually not for most of the process. Everything goes out without your agency name on it, buyers sign confidentiality agreements before they learn who you are, and we control what is disclosed and when.

At some point a serious buyer will want to meet key producers, because they are part of what is being bought. That happens late, with your agreement, and by then you know exactly who you are dealing with.

Most agency sales run several months from engagement to closing. Preparing properly — assembling the book detail, the retention history and the carrier picture — takes a few weeks at the front and saves considerably more later.

Agencies that arrive at market with that work already done are the ones that close on the terms they started with. The ones that do not tend to get retraded halfway through due diligence.

We are paid a success fee when your agency sells. On larger engagements there is a work-product fee covering the preparation, financial analysis and marketing materials, credited against the success fee at closing.

All of it is set out in writing before you commit to anything.