A 2018 Wish List

This will mark my final blog post for 2017 and that small bit of news will most likely elicit applause from those of you who are tired of me continually scolding you for procrastinating with regard to succession planning.

Yet many will continue to kick that critical can down the road in 2018 until you contact us in a mild panic about what to do. Trust me, I’ve seen this movie before and I can expect at least half-dozen reruns in the New Year.

So, first and foremost is my hope that those practitioners with no internal bench and no succession strategy will wake up and face north before it gets past the point of no return. Like I tell our clients and in any CPE we teach, succession planning should begin in earnest five to seven years from when an owner or partner decides to slow down. We just didn’t pull that number out of the sky. That’s how long to takes to ensure a proper and efficient transition.

Second. We are not a 501c3 company. We are in business to earn a living just as you are. So don’t contact us and expect to get our 30-plus years of experience solving succession and transition issues in a protracted phone call or a long office visit. How many potential clients do you prepare tax returns or audits for free? I’m guessing not many. Sorry, we’re not the American Heart Association or the Salvation Army.

Third. I know your time is precious and guess what, so is ours. So I respectfully request that you don’t waste either party’s time if you’re just kicking the tires with regard to our services. On too many occasions I’ve worked with folks who suddenly went AWOL when things got serious. You’re either committed or you’re not. You want to “test the waters” as I’ve been told on many occasions, then try swimming in Maine.

Fourth. With the aforementioned three decades of experience in M&A, partnership agreements and firm valuations, you would think that the powers that be at many of the associations and organizations would avail themselves of our pedigree and request more speaking and CPE appearances instead of the plain vanilla and shopworn sessions that proliferated conference agendas in 2017. Here’s hoping the various planners retreat from their usual safe spaces and gain a small fraction of originality.

And lastly, we at Transition Advisors extend our best wishes to all of you for a happy and healthy holiday season. We’ll catch back up again in January.