Recapping Roger’s Situation
We’re revisiting Retiring Roger, now in his late 60s, who has been contemplating retirement. In our last update, we saw Roger longing for a lengthy holiday with his wife but struggling to find time to take even a few days off from the office, let alone a month.
With an annual turnover of around $500k and a loyal team, Roger faced a major setback about two years ago. His assumed succession plan walked out the door to set up their own practice. Roger never asked her about taking over his practice; he just assumed. Now, he’s left wondering what to do next.
Turning to Professional Help
So after a long year of the daily grind, doing returns for his clients he has finally decided to pull the pin. With no succession plan in place, he turned to a Business Broker specialising in selling Accounting firms. He reached out to ABC Associates, confident they would know how to achieve a good outcome.
Two weeks later, Roger found himself sitting in front of ABC’s Principal, who assured him he was the best in the business. The Principal claimed to have a database of over 2,000 contacts ready to buy an Accounting practice and promised to list Roger’s practice on their website’s “For Sale” section, which attracted a lot of attention.
Disappointments and Realisations
Roger felt reassured and agreed to a 12-month contract with ABC Associates, negotiating down from their initial 2-year proposal. He then spent the next few weeks sending all the necessary information to ABC Associates, dreaming about the promising price they estimated.
As Roger began meeting potential buyers, he encountered disappointments. After three months, he had only three meetings — one unsuitable due to the buyer’s youth and two that never followed up. The next nine months were no better. Roger realised he didn’t want to sell his practice to someone who wouldn’t fit well with his clients, whom he had known for many years.
Frustrated by the lack of communication and progress, Roger reached out to the Principal of ABC Associates, who eventually called back, admitting the market was turning and promising to send a special email about Roger’s practice to all their contacts. However, such emails often get lost in the flood of daily messages Accountants receive, looking like spam and failing to generate significant responses.
The Proactive Approach
Despite waiting for the results of this email, Roger felt like he was living in ‘Groundhog Day’ with no significant interest from buyers. After 18 months, he was still tirelessly working on his practice, with no retirement in sight.
This experience highlights the difference between proactivity and reactivity.
Over the past five years, many clients have come to us after spending up to two years waiting for firms like ABC Associates to find a buyer through their database. At Abacus, we take a different approach.
Instead of relying on emails, we pick up the phone and persistently contact Principals until we get through.
This direct method ensures we are actively reaching out to potential buyers, rather than passively waiting for them to come to us.
Strategic Scheduling for Success
Another critical aspect of our process is scheduling buyer meetings strategically. By talking to multiple buyers at once, rather than sporadically, we can create competitive pressure, which often leads to better terms and outcomes for sellers. When meetings are spread out over months, there is no urgency, and if a buyer walks away, the seller is left with nothing.
Why Choose Abacus?
At Abacus, we may not know every firm interested in buying your Accounting practice, but we actively seek them out. We focus on the qualitative elements of the seller-buyer relationship, ensuring a good fit for the seller, their staff, and their clients. We don’t waste time with unsuitable buyers.
We specialise in advising Accountants on Mergers, Acquisitions, and the sale of their practice. We proactively find practices that are a great fit and don’t wait for them to come to us. If we are on your side and nothing happens in a month or even a few weeks, we are not doing our job right.
Give us a call and learn more about how we can assist you.
Call us on 1300 121 013.