For sellers
The questions owners actually ask first
Almost nobody opens with valuation. They open with what happens to the people.
Straight answers
- What happens to my staff?
- They keep their jobs. This is not a cost-synergy deal — there is no second agency to merge them into, and the book is serviced by the people who already service it. If you have someone you are worried about, tell me early and I will be direct about it.
- Do my clients find out before closing?
- No. Nothing is announced until you are ready, and the timing of that conversation is yours. Confidentiality is a practical requirement, not a courtesy — a leaked process costs you accounts.
- Does the name change?
- Not unless you want it to. Decades of local recognition is one of the assets being bought; removing it would be an odd thing to pay for and then discard.
- Do I have to leave immediately?
- No, and usually you should not. A clean break on day one is the version most likely to lose accounts. A phased handover over one to three years is what I would propose, and staying on as a producer with none of the ownership headaches is a structure I am happy to write.
- How do you pay for it?
- My own cash for the down payment, an SBA acquisition loan for the balance, and usually a seller note in the structure. To be straight with you: I have had one conversation with a lender and I do not have a pre-qualification letter — that step happens once there is a specific business and a specific number. I will walk you through the structure before asking for anything sensitive, because you should understand how you get paid before you open your books.
- What if I am not ready?
- Then I stay in touch. Most useful conversations start two to five years before a sale, because that is the window where the things that move the number can still be changed.
- Are you a broker?
- No. I am the buyer. There is no fee, no listing, and no third party in the middle taking a percentage of your outcome.