From Tired to Retired: How to Spot Exit Planning Opportunities Before It's Too Late

"Business is great, but I'm a little tired."

As a financial advisor, these words should immediately grab your attention. They're often the first whisper of a business owner's readiness to explore an exit — long before they consciously realize it themselves.

These and other subtle cues are golden opportunities to guide clients toward their next chapter while significantly growing your practice.

The challenge? Many advisors miss the early signals, or don’t ask the right questions at the right time, only to watch their business owner clients make rushed, reactive decisions, like when an unsolicited offer arrives or fatigue finally reaches a breaking point. By then, it's often too late to maximize value or minimize taxes. And you’ve missed your chance to demonstrate the strategic guidance that wins post-sale AUM.

Let me share the proven process we've developed over the last 20+ years, in the trenches, to help you identify these opportunities early, guide your clients toward successful exits, and position yourself as their trusted advisor for the next phase of their journey.

Step 1: Understanding Your Client's Position

It begins with asking the right questions and having proactive conversations about personal and business goals. Listen carefully for subtle cues that might indicate readiness for exit planning: 

• Expressions of fatigue 
• Recent health scares among friends or family
• A sense that they've taken the business as far as they can or want to 

At this stage, they may be ready to move on from growing their business to planning for an exit. This is your opportunity to invite them into deeper strategic discussions and long-term planning.

Need help opening the conversation? Offer clients one or both of these short assessments. A quick, one-minute review could save your client a million dollars.

Step 2: Initial Discovery and Education

When clients show interest in learning more about the sale process, bring in an M&A adviser or investment banker for a comprehensive discovery call. These sessions typically last 60-90 minutes and cover crucial topics like current market conditions, timeline expectations, key value drivers, and exit options.

At this point, this might be all your client needs, and that’s perfectly okay.

Step 3: Fair Market Analysis

Nothing meaningful happens without an accurate Fair Market Analysis (FMA). But be careful! Relying on industry multiples or online calculators can lead to valuations that are significantly off the mark—either too high or too low.

Work with a reputable M&A firm that understands your client's industry and has experience with similar-sized businesses to obtain a reliable valuation.

The FMA process typically takes about three weeks to complete once all necessary information is gathered. While this requires a small investment from the client, we've found this commitment to be a valuable qualifier, distinguishing potential sellers from those who aren't ready to move forward.

At Cornerstone, we update these valuations for up to three years at no extra cost, ensuring current information for clients and advisors.

Step 4: Team Input, Client Decision

With an accurate valuation in hand, guide your client through the next steps. Work alongside a tax professional to determine their net proceeds, considering a worst-case scenario number and strategies to minimize tax impact.

Now, as a financial advisor, you can create detailed models and what-if scenarios. This puts you in position to help your client make informed decisions about timing and next steps.

For instance, if a business valued at $10 million nets $6 million after taxes, but the client needs $8 million for their desired lifestyle, they can either adjust their lifestyle expectations or engage in value enhancement work before selling.

We don’t do value enhancement work, but as part of the Fair Market Analysis we will identify the biggest, fastest opportunities to make the business more valuable and salable. If you don’t want to go it alone, we know of vetted coaches we have seen bring great value and happy to make an introduction.

Helping Clients Avoid Reactive Decision-Making

Too often, business owners face exits driven by circumstance rather than strategy: burnout, family issues, or unsolicited offers. One day they wake up and, without proper planning, make the fateful decision to "take the money and pray" that it will be enough to fund their future.

After dedicating decades to building their business, this reactive approach puts their legacy and their lifestyle at risk. But by proactively engaging with business owners well before they're ready to exit, you can become the architect of their future success. 

When you guide clients through a well-planned exit process, you're doing more than just helping them maximize their business value. You're demonstrating your ability to protect and grow their wealth for the long term. This approach naturally positions you to manage their post-sale assets, as you've already proven your commitment to their complete financial picture.

Because the reality is, we’ve heard multiple stories from financial advisors who weren’t part of that conversation—and ultimately lost their client after a business sale.

The Current Market Opportunity

As we are approaching the mid-point to 2025, Cornerstone is ready to help your clients seize an exceptional market opportunity. The landscape is favorable for many sellers, depending on their industry, characterized by:

• An abundance of buyers eagerly seeking opportunities.
• Record levels of available investment capital.
• Heightened market activity following the election and interest rate drop.
• The wildcard is the on-again/off-again tariffs that started April 2, 2025

In 2024, Cornerstone averaged 10 offers per client – double our historic average. This surge underscores the strong buyer interest in high-quality businesses, making the present an ideal time for your clients to consider their exit strategies.

By partnering with Cornerstone, you ensure that your clients benefit from specialized M&A expertise. We're dedicated to nurturing our alliances with financial advisors, CPAs, and other trusted advisors. As part of our commitment, Cornerstone keeps you fully integrated into the transition team, ensuring ongoing communication and alignment.

Once your client receives a signed LOI on their business, you'll be poised to refine and implement your tax and investment plans. This not only enhances your client's financial outcome but also solidifies your standing as a proactive advisor, opening doors to increased AUM management by seamlessly transitioning their wealth into your care.

Contact us to learn more.

Related Resources:

• Why Your Best Clients are Being Targeted (And What to Do About It) 
• Read Scott's Piece in Mastering the Market Collection 2
• About the EPI Partner Network