Whenever you give advice, it’s easy to fall into the trap of using platitudes or stock phrases. Each of us collects these little nuggets of wisdom throughout our careers as knowledge is passed down the generations. When you’re on the receiving end of one of these classic pieces of advice, it’s easy to roll your eyes. When you’ve heard a certain phrase over and over it tends to lose its meaning.
One such piece of advice is the classic, ‘you get what you pay for’. As tired as that phrase is, it’s also one hundred percent true. As a word of warning for buyers in any situation, it’s a very simple way of pointing out the difference between ‘cheap’ and ‘value’. It works for everything from hiring employees to buying a candy bar.
Turning Well-Worn Advice On Its Head
I’m not going to get into a long-winded retelling of the same old advice. Instead, it’s important to look at the phrase ‘you get what you pay for’ from the other side. As a seller, in any situation, that phrase means you have to provide quality if you want to earn a fair price. If your product or service is of little value, it won’t earn a high price.
That is an important lesson for insurance agency owners considering selling their business for two reasons. Firstly, it serves as an important reminder that your business’ value is only equivalent to how much a buyer is willing to pay. No matter how highly you rate your service or what you think it’s worth, it only attains that valuation when you find a buyer willing to pay it.
Selling Your Insurance Agency
That phrase also highlights the importance of understanding the value in your insurance agency. If your buyer is going to get what he or she pays for, or pay for what he or she is going to get; you need to know exactly what you have to offer. If you are considering selling, try to look at the agency through the eyes of a buyer. Don’t assess your need to sell, or the value in the business in your eyes.
Ask yourself, ‘what does this agency have to offer an objective observer?’ and ‘is it clear how much value we can provide?’ If the answer to that second question is no, you need to find a way to sell the business properly. You need to assess every facet and highlight the areas that really add to your value.
When you meet a buyer, somewhere in the recesses of their mind they will be thinking, ‘you get what you pay for’. Your job is to make sure they see just how much ‘what’ you have to offer.
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