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Seller data guideShort answer: Start with five things: a policy list that includes cancellations, commission and premium by carrier by month, two years of P&Ls and tax returns, and who owns the agency. You don't need customer names, and you don't need everything before you call.
The more of this you can pull together, the more thorough the evaluation — and the less a buyer has to discount for what it can't verify. Complete, clean data is how you get the strongest multiple your book supports. Partial data is still welcome: we'll tell you exactly what's missing.
Retention is the single biggest factor in where an offer lands. Without the cancellations in your policy export, a buyer has to assume retention instead of knowing it — and assumptions are priced conservatively.
If your reported total income is more than roughly 1.5× your commission income, something other than commission is running through that line — usually premium. Tell us what it is and we'll normalize it correctly rather than guess.
Most agencies run one of these. Each guide says what to ask support for — the fields and the period, not click-by-click menus, because those change by version — plus a request you can copy and send.
If you only pull five things, pull these. They're enough for a first, realistic conversation about value.
Period: From January 1 three years ago to the most recent date available.
Must include
Why it matters: This is the single most important document. Without the cancellations there's no denominator, so retention can only be guessed — and retention moves the offer more than anything else.
Period: Carrier commission statements for the 12 months ending with your last closed month, plus a premium-and-commission-by-carrier-by-month report for the two most recent complete years and year to date.
Must include
Why it matters: Commissions and fees are valued differently. Commission is the base a multiple applies to.
Period: The two most recent complete years plus year to date.
Must include
Why it matters: In agencies we've reviewed, reported “Total Income” has often run two to three times true commission revenue, because premium or pass-throughs were running through the income line.
Period: The two most recent filed years.
Must include
Why it matters: Ties the management accounts to a filed document.
Period: Current.
Must include
Why it matters: Deals have reached diligence before anyone learned the book was owned 50/50, or that the named seller couldn't convey title.
You don't need these to start. Tap any item for the detail.
Period: Current.
Why: A book is only worth what can actually move to the new owner.
Period: Current agreements.
Why: In a cluster or aggregator, the seller may not own what they're selling.
Period: Current.
Why: A book that can't be exported can't be migrated.
Period: Current agreements.
Why: This is revenue that never appears on a P&L — and premium finance flows are regularly mistaken for income.
Period: The most recent available from each carrier, plus every historical period each carrier can provide.
Why: Loss ratios live with the carriers, and they drive contingency income and carrier appetite.
Period: Current.
Why: A known, explained problem is priced; an unexplained one stalls a deal.
Period: The current policy plus five years of claims.
Why: Buyers need to know what they could inherit.
Period: Current.
Why: These are part of what's being bought — and some are tied to a personal login or a vendor contract.
Period: Current agreements.
Why: Service costs and notice periods change what the book earns after closing.
Nothing needs to be sent through this website — start gathering now, and after the first conversation we'll arrange a secure way to share, under a confidentiality agreement.
A printable tracker with all 14 items, the fields for each export, and the request email — to work through with your office manager or CPA.
No. Nothing on this list needs customer names. A policy or customer ID is enough — de-identified data is fine.
No — start with what you have. Partial data is better than none, and we'll tell you exactly what's still missing. The policy list with cancellations and your commission by carrier are the two that matter most.
Don't send anything through this website. Start gathering now; after the first conversation we'll arrange a secure way to share them, under a confidentiality agreement.
It's common. Run the same report as of twelve months ago as well — comparing the two shows what lapsed, which is what retention is calculated from.
If reported total income is more than roughly one and a half times commission income, something other than commission is usually running through that line — most often premium. Tell us what it is and it gets normalized correctly instead of guessed.
Either way, start with one conversation about your insurance agency. Five quick fields — no fee, no obligation.
Selling an insurance agency, a book of business or an MGA — directly to buyers who are actively acquiring, with no fee to the seller.
Sell Your Insurance Agency Direct connects agency owners with buyers. No fee to you — not up front, not at closing. There's no retainer and no listing agreement to sign before you know what your insurance agency is worth.
Nothing on this site is an offer to buy, a valuation of your agency, or legal, tax or accounting advice — talk to your own advisers before you sign anything. Market figures are from the sources linked beside them, read 2026-09-28; they describe the market, not your agency.
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