Thought Leadership

Article excerpt About a month ago I read an article about the owner of a large agency in Pennsylvania who decided to perpetuate his agency by establishing an ESOP. What’s surprising to many is that the agency owner chose this route in…

Article excerpt In the insurance brokerage business, the headline for the last three years has been all about the number of transactions that have been done and how many agencies have been purchased. BroadStreet℠ has been at this business for about 15…

Article excerpt As I meet with agency owners some seem hesitant to mention that their agency has an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) in place. When we talk in more detail, the agency owners admit that what started out as a good…

Article excerpt When insurance agencies seek succession for their businesses today, one of the likeliest prospects they face is being acquired by a firm backed by private equity that has a specific date in mind to “flip” the agency for a quick profit…

Article excerpt An insurance reporter recently asked me for advice to give agents for successful sales. This is what I told her: Focus on building deep, life-long relationships. Instead of looking at the margin on an individual sale, think about the value…

Article excerpt As consolidation continues for independent insurance agents, the ability to invest in and partner with high quality agencies requires legal, financial, accounting and other sophisticated expertise. Perhaps more importantly, these transactions require ready access to fairly priced capital. At BroadStreet…

Article excerpt “The dreaded ‘P’ word: Perpetuation” is how a recent article in propertycausualty360.com described independent agents’ reactions to the subject of succession planning. The article detailed the dread of most principals: “It’s the one issue that directly determines the fate of…

Article excerpt When I meet with insurance agency owners about investing in their businesses, one of the most frequent and important concerns they have is about losing control of their operations. It’s a natural concern. When you spend so much of your…