It is important for practice owners selling their business to avoid the following mistakes, which could cost them thousands of dollars in the final sale value.
Firstly, let me say it’s easy to make mistakes, especially when you attempt something you have never done before. First-time home renovation, building Ikea furniture, fixing the car and basically learning anything new. I’m not a natural, and after considerable numbers of mistakes and money spent on tradesmen I have improved on some of these skills – however, I’ve far from mastered them.
If you were to apply this thinking to yourself and selling your practice, then there is a reasonable chance you will make a few mistakes. This is particularly relevant if you haven’t bought or sold a business before – an intangible asset and in most cases worth more than the family home. These mistakes can cost time and money when you are making the last and arguably most important sale of your life. In short, it is a lack of experience and often what you don’t know you don’t know, rather than acting incorrectly, that creates the problems.
So, while you may have sold your home as a high-level transaction, it’s important to note that the process of selling your business will be quite different. The sale of a practice is rarely a six-week campaign where the price is paid upfront and the vendor walks away with the cash. In our role as brokers we are fortunate to see both sides of a transaction and we can assure you there is always a portion of the purchase price at risk for the seller, often for a year or two, while the buyer has very little risk over the same period. Read more…
Chris Wrightson. Founder and CEO at Centurion Market Makers, the industry experts in the sale, acquisition and management of financial planning firms. If you’re planning on selling your firm in 2017, we’d love you to call us for a confidential discussion, or continue browsing our website for more tips, tools and info on the steps to take when buying or selling your financial planning firm.
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