In this 1 Minute Q&A, Todd Doherty, one of our M&A Experts answers the question: How can you spot a successful match between a buyer and seller?

Service Overview

Advisor Legacy: Personal interaction facilitated by technology

Buying or selling a financial planning practice is one of the most complicated decisions that an advisor will make in his/her career. For this reason, we feel that personal interaction with an M&A expert who understands your goals, your preferences, and your vision of success is absolutely critical.

Our Advisor Legacy service is built around our proprietary process for finding, vetting, and negotiating these types of transactions. At KMG, we use cutting-edge technology to augment, rather than replace, the most critical aspects of service which require the person-to-person interaction. Throughout the process, you will be working 1:1 with an expert who will guide you through each step of the way to ensure the highest likelihood for success.

Your M&A Expert will walk you through our website, https://www.advisorlegacy.com. This online platform is used to announce new practice sales, collect expressions of interest for the practices that are for sale, and to share documentation between parties. The website streamlines the process for everyone and allows the quick comparison between deals.

How Practices are Sold on Advisor Legacy

If you sell your practice with KMG, our Advisor Legacy experts walk you through each step to give you the full confidence that you are making the right deal, with the right person, for the right terms, and the right price. Our systematic approach allows you to carefully consider each proposal, conduct due diligence, and negotiate the terms.

Our Advisor Legacy service includes the entire process: from initial introduction, to bidding, to negotiating and vetting, and finally, to transitioning the practice.

1

Free Consultation

Initial Consultation

The process begins with a complimentary consultation with one of our succession planning experts. During this meeting we will discuss your goals and describe how we can assist you in achieving a successful sale of your practice. You likely have many questions, and we are here to provide all of the information that you need.

2

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Gather Data

Once you’ve decided to engage our services, we will enter into an agreement, and begin gathering the important data about your practice and your specific goals. Once complete, a profile of your practice will be listed for sale on Advisor Legacy.

3

Review Profiles

Identify Potential Buyers

Eligible buyers, who are members of Advisor Legacy, will receive notification upon the listing of your practice. Buyers will review your listing and may decide to “express interest” in your practice. We will work with you to screen the list of potential buyers and narrow it down to those who represent the best possible matches.

4

Invite to Bid

Invite Bids

Once the “best match” buyers have been identified, we will send them an invitation to place a bid for your practice. Each potential buyer must submit a bid containing specific terms and conditions so that bids can be easily compared. Those who submit bids are showing that they are serious about the process and willing to move forward.

5

Invite to Bid

Conduct Interviews

This is a very important decision for you, and we want you to have all of the information that you need. Rather than focusing only on the financial data, we help you identify the buyer's qualities. Our primary objective is finding a buyer who is the best fit for your practice. Through our professional interviewing process, we help you really get to know each candidate. We ask the right kinds of questions so that you feel 100% confident in the choice that you make.

6

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Deal Is Made

Our experts will help you analyze the interview results, review the offers, and negotiate the final deal with the best candidate(s). Once you have selected the buyer, we will help you with all aspects of closing the deal and transitioning the practice. We will work with attorneys, accountants, banks, and other professionals to ensure that your succession goes as planned.

 

Selling is Not Just About Price

The process can be an emotional for both the buyer and seller. It also involves a significant commitment of time and resources. At KMG, we prioritize the fit between buyer and seller over all other aspects of the deal because we know that transitions are only successful when client relationships stay in tact.

We have partnered with some of the biggest and the best broker-dealers in the industry to facilitate successful sales between advisors within the same broker-dealer. For advisors who are not affiliated with our partner firms, our platform offers the best opportunity to sell to a highly qualified advisor in one of our partner firms; with the full support of our succession planning experts and the respective partner firm.

Firms

Why we work with partner firms

Generally, the most successful transition occurs when a practice is bought and sold within the same broker-dealer. This arrangement is advantageous for everyone because:

•The SELLER usually finds a better match and receives a premium for their practice because the buyer can more accurately value the practice and is more likely to retain the clients and assets.
•The BUYER worries less about client attrition because there is no need to transfer the book of business to another firm.
•The CLIENTS experience a smooth transition to the new advisor while remaining with a company that they already know and trust.
•The BROKER DEALER supports the process because the assets are maintained within the firm.

Advisors affiliated with partner firms who use our Advisor Legacy service will have the full confidence of knowing that their practice will stay with their existing Broker-Dealer.

Expected Outcomes

A transition that you feel great about

Transition planning is very delicate and requires the careful consideration of many parties. We know from experience that the ultimate judge of success is the clients, and how the clients feel after their advisor's transition has taken place.

We gear all of our services towards what we call the "grocery store test." The "grocery store test" is simply our wish for any advisor - should you run into your clients at a grocery store several years after the transition, that they would express to you how well things are going and how much they appreciate the quality of the transfer between advisors.

How to Purchase This Service

Our Advisor Legacy service works differently for Buyers and Sellers.

Buyers receive access to our Advisor Legacy platform for free. We recommend that those who are serious about buying a practice upgrade to an Elite Buyer Profile. This upgrade can happen at any time.

Sellers also receive free access to Advisor Legacy as part of their service. Sellers sign a contract with us to handle the sale of their practice. Once the sale has been completed, we receive a success fee for the sale of the business which is based upon the sale price and the 12-month trailing GDC of the selling advisor.

For Buyers

Join Advisor Legacy for free. You will be notified of practices listed for sale at your Broker-Dealer. If you are a serious buyer, you can upgrade to our Elite Buyer membership at anytime ($19/month). Only Elite Buyers will be considered for the bidding and interview process.

For Sellers

Work 1:1 with an Advisor Legacy Expert who will help you sell your practice to the most qualified buyer. You will be set up on Advisor Legacy automatically, and your KMG coach will walk you through how to use the tool to keep track of the bids being submitted for your practice.