What a buyer weighs in a brokerage
- Shipper mix
- How much of your gross margin comes from your top three shippers. Above about 15 to 20% each, buyers start to discount.
- Margin per load
- Net revenue after carrier pay, by lane and by customer, over at least three years.
- Who owns the relationships
- Whether shippers call the company or one rep, and whether agents can leave with their accounts.
- Credit and collections
- Days to collect from shippers versus days to pay carriers, and any factoring line.
- Systems
- Your TMS, load board accounts, carrier vetting steps and how much of it is written down.
Your Value Lives in Relationships
A trucking company sells trucks, terminals and drivers. A brokerage sells something harder to see: contracted and repeat shippers, a carrier base you trust, and the know how to price loads in a moving market.
Buyers will spend most of their diligence testing whether those relationships stay after you leave.
The strongest brokerages have shippers tied to the company through contracts, routing guides and service history, not to one person's cell phone.
If your top accounts are yours personally, plan a longer handoff, and expect part of the price to depend on keeping them.
Gross Revenue Means Little Here
Brokerages can book big revenue on thin margins, because most of every invoice goes straight to the carrier. Buyers look past the top line to net revenue, then to the earnings left after payroll and overhead.
That earnings figure, recast to remove your personal costs, is what gets the multiple. Our page on business valuation before you sell shows how recasting works.
Cycles and Timing
Freight runs in cycles. Spot rates jump, then fall, and margins swing with them. Buyers know this, so they look at several years together rather than one strong or weak year.
A brokerage that held contract business and kept its margin through a soft market tells a better story than one that rode a single hot year. If you can show that, show it plainly.
Agents, Reps and Noncompetes
Many brokerages run on agents or commissioned reps. Buyers will read every agent agreement to see who owns the customer, what happens if the agent leaves, and whether reasonable restrictions are in place.
Your attorney should review these before you go to market, not after a buyer finds the gaps.
Who Buys Brokerages
Buyers range from larger logistics groups adding lanes, to private equity backed platforms, to operators who came up inside a brokerage and want their own.
Smaller buyers often use SBA loans, so lender rules shape the deal. See selling to an SBA financed buyer.
Before closing, make sure your Georgia sales and withholding accounts are clean so the buyer's holdback is released. The TSD-10 tax clearance guide explains it.
To find out what your brokerage could sell for, send the short form or call (404) 555-0139. You can also browse other industries served.