here\u2019s a list of obstacles buyers have cited. not every buyer will consider each one of these issues a turnoff. think of this as a universal checklist. \n<\/p>\n
\nstickiness of the seller\u2019s clients. clients may be overly attached to one of seller\u2019s partners. buyers buy firms with clients that will stay.<\/li>\n too many standalone 1040s and writeup work and not enough business clients.<\/li>\n seller has an equity partner who really is not a partner; no origination or leadership. works like staff.<\/li>\n seller with income in the stratosphere (usually a solo) who is unwilling to take a pay cut; seller doesn\u2019t understand that he\/she can\u2019t make the same income in the buyer\u2019s overhead structure.<\/li>\n seller\u2019s staff is weak; low billable hours, low competence, too old, no upward potential.<\/li>\n if seller\u2019s staff does not have partner potential, they should at least have good client relationships and engagement experience.<\/li>\n seller not a good strategic fit. buyers want sellers with the potential and desire to cross-sell their ancillary services. buyers are most interested in sellers with specific areas of expertise and least interested in sellers with the same generalist practice they already have.<\/li>\n seller wants to work way past retirement age. buyers don\u2019t like old guys hanging on.<\/li>\n work quality gap between seller and buyer too wide. seller\u2019s clients won\u2019t be profitable conforming to the buyer\u2019s work standards.<\/li>\n seller wants ridiculous terms re: sales multiple, high down payment, etc. too many \u201cmust-haves.\u201d<\/li>\n seller has too many partners; buyers reluctant to make all sellers\u2019 partners an equity partner.<\/li>\n seller provides wealth management services but won\u2019t change their broker-dealer to the buyers\u2019. or, seller does not provide wealth management.<\/li>\n seller is retirement-minded, wants out too quickly to properly transition clients. staff too weak.<\/li>\n seller who is slow in responding to buyer\u2019s efforts to move the merger along.<\/li>\n seller office lease has too many years left.<\/li>\n seller has key people who won\u2019t stay or has problem partners whom seller wants buyer to \u201cfix.\u201d<\/li>\n seller woefully behind on technology. will learning curve be too steep?<\/li>\n low billing rates. low realization. low-level clients. concerns over compatibility between buyer and seller.<\/li>\n seller has lots of bank debt, almost always because of partners overpaying themselves. seller often wants buyer to take on the debt, which will never happen.<\/li>\n seller has one or more branch offices that are not successful.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"trying to merge? make sure your firm isn’t guilty of any of these.<\/strong> \nby marc rosenberg<\/em> \nthe rosenberg practice management library<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1339,"featured_media":52068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1363,2371,3120,3002],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mergers-acquisitions","category-pro-member-exclusive","category-special"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nbuyers name 20 big merger turnoffs - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n