Building Value Through Talent Acquisition – A Case Study for Independent Insurance Agencies
Today’s insurance landscape is facing a “talent desert,” and agencies that want to thrive are shifting their focus from chasing revenue to acquiring growth-minded professionals. These sellers, often younger, ambitious, and hungry for scale, are the oasis in this dry terrain. When you find one, the impact can be transformative. A well-aligned talent acquisition doesn’t […]
Private Equity in Insurance: What Independent Agencies Need to Know
What Drives Agency Valuations in Today’s Private Equity Landscape The insurance brokerage industry has undergone a fundamental transformation over the past decade. Private equity capital has flooded the space, creating approximately 45 institutional buyers actively consolidating the fragmented landscape of about 35,000 independent agencies. For agency owners navigating this market, whether considering a sale, planning […]
Three Keys to an Internal Perpetuation
“What if one of your account managers or producers won the lottery at lunch and didn’t come back that afternoon? How would the agency manage?” asked keynote speaker Kelly Donaue-Piro of Agency Performance Partners at IACON 2024, the annual conference for the Ohio Insurance Agents Association (OIA). Start with a series of questions. What is […]
Navigating Private Equity in the Independent Agent System: Strategic Insights for Agency Owners
The world of independent insurance agencies is undergoing transformational change transformational change as private equity (PE) continues to reshape the industry landscape. In a recent discussion, experts Jeff Smith and Jarod Steed from IA Valuations, along with Dan Girardi from Keystone Agency Partners and James Parker from BroadStreet Partners, explored how private equity’s influence is […]
The Ins and Outs of EBITDA and How to Leverage It
“I bought this book of business for two times 25 years ago; I was just going to do the same when I’m ready to retire.” This is one of the most common quips IA Valuations hears from the generation of agency owners getting ready to retire, and we fear it could leave much on the […]
The Resiliency of the Independent Insurance Agency System and How You Can Leverage It
Why has private equity fallen in love with the independent insurance agent? Many would be quick to tell you that the insurance broker and agent industry is steady. It weathers storms. Thus, private equity interest in this space has remained so high. While this sentiment is true, how do we know it’s true? How do […]
Help! I’m Not Getting Profit-Sharing This Year. What Effect Will It Have on My Agency Value?
Unfortunately, you may be one of the many agencies not receiving profit-sharing due to the inflated loss ratios caused by the hard market. While this will have an impact on your value, the good news is the hard market is likely temporary and should not have a profound impact on the value of your agency […]
Is There an Optimal Age to Sell Your Insurance Agency?
It is hard to say, however, based on our analysis, we believe the optimal age is 58. Whether you are planning to perpetuate internally or sell externally, it is inevitable that you are going to sell your ownership at some point. In this article we explore whether there is an optimal age to transition ownership […]
Narrowly- Vs. Broadly-Held Stock Ownership and the Impact on Agency Value
We have found that many agencies are on one side of the spectrum or the other when it comes to stock ownership. Whether they operate with narrowly-held or broadly-held stock ownership can have quite the impact on their agency’s value. We hope to highlight the major differences between the two in this article. Narrowly-Held Stock […]
Red Flags that Weaken Agency Value
In the 200+ valuations that the IA Valuations team has performed, pinpointing and recognizing the red flags has become an essential step in the process to maximize an agency’s value. In general, agency owners are not aware of the internal factors that are stunting their growth and limiting overall value. In this article, we will […]