Learn how other CEPAs, including our President & CEO Chris Snider, position their practices for increased lead capture, new client onboarding, and client delivery efficiency.
Scott Snider stated in his recent article, “As the need for exit planning becomes more prevalent to business owners, the need for high caliber advisors rises as well. Over the past three years, the exit planning marketplace has experienced growth and change as it responds to the business owner’s needs. Those needs, in part, call for advisors to reinvent themselves into something more: The Advisor of the Future. A holistic business advisor. A true and trusted advisor that an owner can turn to for high-quality business advice, regardless of specialty (accountant, wealth manager, investment banker, etc.).”
Not all exit planning advisors provide the same kind of service or advice (just like not every CEO operates the same type of business). CEPAs operate within the exit planning ecosystem with common philosophy, but harnessing unique skills, services, and products. And every CEPA has an individual goal as to how using their exit planning knowledge will help them achieve better results (even if they aren’t billing for exit planning at all). Regardless of who you are in this industry, you need to be prepared to help owners succeed at transition when they are ready.
As Sean Hutchinson, 2015 Exit Planner of the Year, would say, “Don’t be the dog that caught the car.”
And he’s right. The best CEPAs don’t wait to land their first exit planning engagement and then bank on luck. They prepare. They know the numbers. They have the tools. They have a plan. They have the right conversations and ask the hard questions.
Here are a couple things advisors are doing to prepare for ‘luck.’
Owners are approaching transition, succession, and exit and the market demand continues to increase. We see CEPAs from across the nation forming collaboratives (with as many as 10 CEPAs per team) to address the project demands and fulfill the work.
Many CEPAs operate in firms that serve main street to upper middle market businesses. This can pose a “billable hour issue” as many smaller businesses may struggle to afford exit planning services and advisors will struggle with the pressure to discount their advice, thereby creating a dysfunctional working relationship between client and advisor. Rather than fall into this trap, CEPAs have become wise to creating structured products for how they manage an exit planning engagement, so that an owner can easily understand how it will work, how much it will cost, and what success metrics will be. This product structure has helped CEPAs serve “Main Street” while maintaining their competitive billing rate. [request a copy of Best Practices Mastermind Roundtable: Main Street Exits (Billable Hours & Streamlining) recording]
It is a good time to be an exit planning advisor. Whether you are an advisor who runs a standalone practice or has added exit planning services into your existing firm’s offerings, you are surely interested in effectively attracting good clients, managing engagements, and growing your impact in your target market.
At EPI, we aim to provide you the best content in the industry to enable you to be prepared when the opportunity arrives. Reach out to our team or explore our national, regional, and virtual programs to explore how to leverage the expertise, advice, and lessons-learned from the experts so you can reach and exceed your goals. Visit www.EPISeminars.com or the full event calendar.
Join us for the new Exit Planning Practice Launch (Virtual) Workshop with EPI CEO and award-winning author, Chris Snider, who not only created the Value Acceleration Methodology in his own practice as a product to streamline communication and outputs, but managed to go from startup to major influencer by adopting certain strategies, tactics, and relationships that helped keep his private exit planning practice top of mind.
*Free for Full Mastermind & Owner Engagement Program Membership
March ‘Lucky’ Flash Bundle: Register by Monday, March 19 for the 2018 Exit Planning Summit at the discounted rate of $925 (lower than the earlybird rate!) and receive a free registration to the new Exit Planning Practice Launch Virtual Workshop on March 22 with Chris Snider, CEPA, EPI CEO, and renowned practitioner who knows how to launch, build, and grow a thriving practice.
**The ‘Lucky’ Flash Bundle is limited to the first 20 advisors and must be redeemed before Tuesday, March 20. If you have questions about the Summit or Virtual Workshop, click the program title hyperlinks above or contact Josh Koza at JKoza@Exit-Planning-Institute.org.
The Exit Planning Institute (EPI) is an education company that provides exit planning education to advisors and middle market business owners. We view exit planning as a strategy, not an event.
EPI leads the professional services profession with the best industry content, ongoing support, and owner education platform, all of which align with our mission: Change the outcome.
Only 2 out of every 10 businesses that come to market actually sell. We want to increase the number of saleable businesses.
Only 30% of family businesses successfully transition to the second generation, only 12% transfer to the third, and the success rates diminish from there. We want to improve those intergenerational transitions.
Of those that succeed in the sale of their business, 75% experience “profound regret” within one year of exiting their business. We want to understand why and create strategies that achieve profound success, wealth, and satisfaction.
EPI is an education company, powered by an elite community of top advisors and owners, all focused toward creating a valuable, transferable future for the business marketplace.