Insurance agencies

Selling an insurance agency? License the service desk record first

When you sell a whole agency, the buyer pays for the book, the producers and the carrier appointments. The service desk record behind it, years of certificate requests, endorsements, renewal letters and the notes that explain each one, is priced separately by AI data buyers.

Here is how to tell whether yours qualifies and what has to stay out.

AI Data Offers research deskChecked against our methodology Updated October 28, 2026 2 min read 9 sources

In this guide

Pewter

Your service desk is the richest record

Certificate requests and how they were turned around
Endorsements and policy changes, with the back-and-forth
Renewal prep, remarketing and the reasoning behind choices
Procedures, templates and training material

Is my agency big enough?

Expect a floor of 20 to 30 staff, though a few buyers have none. Agencies with several producers, which acquirers want most, tend to clear it. If you bought smaller agencies over time, add up staff in every location.

Carriers and policyholders come first

Much of an agency's data is governed by carrier contracts or held for policyholders. Buyers say client-held data may be excluded, contact details and names can be stripped or substituted in a secure environment, and full systems or folders can be skipped.

Then there is the acquirer. A license signed before the agency changes hands will show up in diligence, so document the review and the exclusions.

Questions to put to any data buyer

Is this a license of a copy, or a sale of the records outright?
Is it exclusive, and for how long? Can I license the same data elsewhere later?
Which systems and date ranges are in scope, and can I leave folders or whole tools out?
Who removes names and personal details, how, and do I approve a sample before anything leaves?
When does payment arrive, and does the clock start at signing or at your acceptance of the delivery?
Do I pay anything, and does anyone in the chain take a cut?
How long do you keep the copy, and what happens to it if you are acquired?

FAQ

Questions, answered

Will a license change my agency's sale price?

The sale sets agency value. A data license is priced on its own, with published bands mostly at $100K to $2M.

Is my company big enough?

The usual floor is somewhere from 20 to 30 staff. Some buyers publish none at all. Mode accepts law firms with 6 people and accounting firms with 10, and Pewter goes by your highest-ever headcount. Our match quiz sorts it out in two minutes.

What would buyers actually take?

Templates, procedures and the related email, call, ticket and CRM history, with policyholder details scrubbed.

Do I pay anything to license?

Typically no. Direct buyers rarely charge sellers. Middlemen are different: brokers and marketplaces may keep anywhere from 8% to 30%. Have any fee written down before a sample changes hands.

Do carrier agreements restrict licensing?

They may. Have counsel review your carrier and agency agreements before sharing any sample.

Find the buyers that fit your company

Answer a few questions about your size, tools and history. We show which buyers want a company like yours. Free, no files.

Match my company What is my data worth?

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Sources

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