Insurance brokerage origination playbook

A research template, not investment advice. Figures are not stated where the public record does not support them.

Sector

Insurance brokerage

2022 U.S. NAICS

524210 · Insurance Agencies and Brokerages

Classification limits

Starting points for discovery, not a complete niche definition. Classify the actual activity and verify scope against the U.S. Census NAICS reference.

Understand the operating model

Insurance agencies and brokerages distribute coverage and provide related account services. Personal lines, commercial lines and employee-benefits practices involve different buyers and service needs. Distinguish the legal agency, individual producers, network affiliations and any separate underwriting role before comparing acquisition candidates.

Revenue may include commissions, client fees and contingent compensation. A renewal pattern does not guarantee retention or transferability. Local relationships, product specialism and carrier access can sustain separate agencies, but aggregator membership and retained branding after acquisitions can obscure actual independence.

A continuity hypothesis asks whether clients and carrier relationships can remain with the business through a change in ownership. Test it with appointments, contracts and producer arrangements later. It weakens where accounts follow one producer, access depends on a fragile intermediary relationship, or public branding overstates ownership of the book.

What makes a target worth investigating?

These are fit hypotheses to test against your mandate. They are not verified attributes of any company or a prediction of acquisition performance.

• Product lines and customer segments consistent with the mandate's distribution capabilities.
• Clear rights and responsibilities concerning the customer book, producers and carrier appointments.
• Account servicing and renewal processes supported by a continuing team beyond the owner.

Tailor these questions before collection. Each accepted answer needs a supporting verbatim excerpt from a retained page. Options describe permitted answers, not default assumptions. When no source supports an answer, leave it unanswered; absence from a website is not a “no.” See screening criteria for defining gates and weights.

Four questions apply to every playbook (ownership category, locations, sale process, exclusions) and are listed once on the playbooks overview.

Match every source to the correct entity, location and collection date. Use the data-source directory to choose discovery paths, and evidence standards to decide what an excerpt actually supports.

Ownership and succession signals

• An owner-producer with concentrated client relationships creates a continuity question distinct from ownership control. Establish servicing responsibility without treating career tenure as an exit signal.
• Compare dated leadership pages with entity records and transaction announcements. A missing management biography is an evidence gap, not proof that the owner lacks a successor.
• These are research signals, not proof of intent to sell. Confirm control, decision rights and succession preferences directly through an approved conversation before treating them as transaction facts.

Read succession and ownership before turning a continuity question into an ownership claim.

Reasons to stop or separate the record

Apply a disqualifier only when supported by evidence and your written mandate. Unresolved facts stay open for review; they do not become negative findings.

• A captive or network arrangement incompatible with the mandate's intended ownership model.
• Product lines or delegated authority outside the buyer's operating perimeter.
• A lead seller without the agency and account rights required by the mandate.

Approach with context and approval

• Address the authorized principal and explain the relevant product or customer fit without implying carrier endorsement.
• Do not ask for policyholder data or assume an agency can freely transfer every account.
• The client approves each target and the messaging before contact. Check suppression records and applicable channel requirements; coordinate email, LinkedIn and phone so the business receives one coherent approach.

Use the outreach compliance guide to define channel requirements and suppression handling before optional outreach begins.

Questions for later diligence

These require direct records, management access and appropriate specialist review. Public screening identifies the questions; it cannot settle them.

• Review retention, commission and fee composition, contingent income and concentration by carrier and producer.
• Assess book ownership, appointments, network agreements and change-of-control requirements with qualified advisers.
• Test producer retention, servicing workload, errors-and-omissions history and customer data controls.