One could argue that the open market acquisition process is a bit like online dating. Using a finite amount of fields and characters you must convey to someone–whom you’ve never met and know a limited amount of information about–that you are worth their time. That you are worth their time conversing with, spending time together, and potentially making a binding commitment with.
And like dating, finding the right match isn’t about how much someone is willing to spend on dinner, but how many of your attributes complement each other, how well you get along, and how much you trust each other. These matters are paramount to making a relationship work–whether it’s friendship, love, or business acquisition.
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Topics:
Selling Your Practice,
Acquisition,
M&A,
Deal Structure,
Buying & Selling
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The financial services industry is a personable one. Professional networking and client prospecting depend on your charisma and ability to connect beyond surface pleasantries. But when it comes to selling your business, it’s important to keep your cards close to your chest.
It’s very easy to get excited about the prospect of transitioning your business and moving forward in life–especially, when you’re talking with a colleague you’ve known for years. However, the excitement can cloud your ability to think through details and maintain a healthy level of confidentiality. It’s important to avoid casual negotiations and hashing out deals without proper documentation.
These casual conversations–also referred to as handshake agreements, or napkin negotiations–can lead to a lot of problems, including a loss of realized value.
SHARKS IN THE WATER
The first issue that could arise from the casual mention that you’re even thinking about selling your business is the influx of phone calls or visits from people who want to buy. It’s like blood in the water. And while buyers flocking to you may seem like a boon, it can quickly become overwhelming. Without an efficient screening system, it becomes time consuming and difficult to sift through the phone calls to find serious and qualified candidates, let alone the person who fits your ideal criteria to take over your business. You also make yourself vulnerable to predatory buyers.
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Topics:
Selling Your Practice,
Acquisition,
M&A,
Deal Structure,
Buying & Selling
For a lot of transactions, the tail end of the transaction can be for 3 to 10 years.
That's kind of the new model of M&A right now. It used to be that we only saw transactions when an advisor was ready to exit. Now we're starting to see advisors think about M&A earlier and earlier in their career–whether that’s preparing for a sale or exploring a merger.
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Topics:
Acquisition,
Buying & Selling,
Open Marketplace,
M&A Playbook
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Mergers & Acquisitions – everyone’s favorite topic. Understandably so when one of the fastest ways to grow is to acquire and as such, add exponentially more clients (and assets) to your business in one fell swoop.
But what about mergers? Mergers are often lumped in with conversations and statistics about acquisitions, but their role and effect on an advisor’s future is much different than an outright sale or purchase. In our book, “Buying, Selling, and Valuing Practices – The M&A Guide,” FP Transitions’ president, David Grau Sr., JD, clarifies that mergers are, legally speaking, “the joining together of previously separate companies into a single entity.” Unlike an acquisition or sale, a merger means that some or all of the owners of the previously separate companies become owners of the post-merger entity.
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Topics:
Selling Your Practice,
Acquisition,
Business Growth,
M&A,
Buying & Selling,
Mergers
This Playbook is all about maximizing your M&A efforts and going with the flow of the system for acquisition success. You don't need to do everything all at once from the jump. Winning gold is about taking it one heat at a time.
There are people in the initial phase of inquiring on a practice on the open market who are trying to close the deal in that first inquiry message. And that's just the cart way ahead of the way ahead of the horse.
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Topics:
Acquisition,
Buying & Selling,
Open Marketplace,
M&A Playbook
One of the other things that I see a lot more sellers asking for is multi-generational ownership and multi-gender ownership. I encourage my clients to diversify their ownership group as much as possible.
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Topics:
Succession Planning,
Acquisition,
Multi-Generational Ownership,
Buying & Selling,
Open Marketplace,
M&A Playbook
The biggest mistake that I see people make–the single biggest mistake–when they are in pursuit of an offering that we have on the open market, is they position themselves as a great practice, they don't position themselves as a great fit. Really not understanding what fit is and just thinking I can afford this practice and I'm 50 miles from it. And while those things can be important, there are other things that are critical in what fit is and what goes into us finding the perfect fit.
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Topics:
Acquisition,
Buying & Selling,
Open Marketplace,
M&A Playbook
Ultimately, I think sellers come to us and they want to know what kind of multiple they can get to their business. And the question is really well-intentioned, what I think would be better for sellers to ask is: How do I position my business to get the most value or to achieve my strategic objective?
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Topics:
Acquisition,
Buying & Selling,
Open Marketplace,
M&A Playbook
Whether you’re buying or selling a business, there are a few players that are “must-haves” on your transaction team: personal lawyer, CPA/Tax professional, representative of your IBD/Custodian, personal stakeholders, and a non-advocate, industry-experienced mediator.
The role of each of these players is important to the overall success of your deal, however, the mediator can sometimes be overlooked–often to the disadvantage of your deal. So, why are they so important?
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Topics:
Selling Your Practice,
Acquisition,
Buying & Selling,
Trends in Transactions Study,
Transactions
How has marketplace strength held on throughout 2023?
We've seen a really strong M&A marketplace in 2023. Demand is still really strong. As we've consistently had at least over the last five years, we've got an inverse in terms of there's a really strong demand and not a whole lot of supply. And that trend has continued in through 2023.
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Topics:
Acquisition,
Buying & Selling,
Open Marketplace,
M&A Playbook
