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Exit · For Owners Planning Succession or Sale

Build your agency's value before a buyer asks.

Most owners discover what their agency is worth on the day a buyer tells them, and by then the multiple is set. The owners who exit well start years earlier on EBITDA discipline, owner-dependency reduction, and succession structure. OAA runs that plan with you.

Build Your Exit Plan See the Exit Path

The Stakes

The same agency can sell for twice the price.

Two agencies with identical premium can command very different multiples. The difference usually comes from earnings quality, transferability, and whether the owner built the agency to be sold or only to be run, rather than from the book itself.

3–5×1
Typical multiple of agency EBITDA
36 mo
Lead time before exit conversation
5
Layers of OAA income that drive value

What Buyers Actually Pay For

Buyers pay for earnings that will survive the transfer to a new owner.

Premium volume gets a buyer interested, but EBITDA sets the price. A buyer is pricing the earnings that survive your departure: recurring revenue, retention, carrier relationships that belong to the agency rather than to you, and a team that runs the book without the owner in every transaction.

OAA membership works on both sides of that equation. The five income layers raise the earnings that get multiplied. The coaching builds the operational independence that protects the multiple.

The Exit Path

Five steps to take well before a sale.

Each step builds on the last, which is why owners who start 36 months out do better than owners who start six months out.

  1. 01

    Know the Real Number

    An honest read of what your agency is worth today (EBITDA, revenue quality, retention, carrier mix) and what's holding the multiple down.

  2. 02

    EBITDA Discipline

    Buyers pay for provable, recurring earnings. We work the expense structure, the comp model, and the income layers that move the number that gets multiplied.

  3. 03

    Reduce Owner Dependency

    An agency that can't run without you sells at a discount. Staff readiness, process documentation, and producer succession are what make the business transferable.

  4. 04

    Choose the Exit Shape

    Outside sale, internal succession, family transition, or perpetuation inside the network. Each has different math, taxes, and timelines, so the choice is worth making early.

  5. 05

    Run the Timeline

    The best exits start about 36 months before the buyer conversation. OAA frames the plan, the milestones, and the coaching to hit them.

Exit Readiness

What's your agency worth today, and what could it be worth?

Bring your revenue, your renewal rates, and your honest answer about owner dependency. We'll frame the gap between today's number and the exit you actually want.

Start the Exit Conversation

Is Exit Planning Right For You?

OAA is for you if…

  • You're 2–10 years out from wanting an exit and care about the multiple you'll get.
  • You want succession on your terms, whether to family, your team, or a buyer, instead of a fire-sale someday.
  • You suspect your agency is worth less than it should be and want to fix that while there's time.

And probably not the right fit if…

  • You need to sell in the next 90 days. That's a brokerage conversation rather than a value-building one.
  • You're not willing to look honestly at your financials.
  • You want a buyer's number without doing the seller's work.

Take the First Conversation

Start planning your exit on your terms.

A confidential conversation about where your agency stands, what it's worth, and what the next 36 months could do to that number. No obligation, and kept confidential.

Build Your Exit Plan See Member Outcomes
  1. Agency valuation multiples and pre-sale lead times vary widely with size, earnings quality, retention, carrier mix, and buyer. The 3–5× EBITDA range and 36-month lead time are general industry rules of thumb offered for orientation, not an appraisal, and not a projection of any individual agency's value. ↩