KIA&B 2018 Vol. 23 No. 1 | Page 23

Getting the FULL VALUE from Your Agency by Al Diamond, CEO of Agency Consulting Group, Inc control - or not) allowing them to cash in the value an agency three times its current size. of An offer for a healthy, profitable agency before an owner is required to sell is like someone offering you 12 golden eggs if you would sell him the goose that lays the eggs with which he will pay you. Your response should be that if I wait twelve days, I’ll have that many eggs and STILL HAVE THE GOOSE, AS WELL! When do you sell an agency? When you lose your health — God’s way of telling you to re-prioritize your life; or When you lose your heart for the game — you no longer enjoy the business, your clients, your employees, etc.; or when you want to turn the ownership and management of the business to the next gen, staying to support and counsel them, or when you are ready to retire, have no perpetrators and want or need the cash out of the agency to help support your future. Don’t be tempted by the offers that abound for the Goose that Lays Golden Eggs. Deeply involved in all facets of agency and company operations, the author of this article, Al Diamond, has spent over four decades in the insurance industry working for both stock and direct writing insurance companies and as an independent businessman. He has been Operations Manager of a major insurance company, Chief Operating Officer of three insurance agencies and currently has been President of Agency Consulting Group, Inc, a national consulting firm for insurance agencies, since 1985. | January - February 2018 | KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER 21