| Details of a deal done in 2023 | |||
| Fees sold | £250,000 | Where | London |
| Qualified | ACA, CTA | Age | 55 |
| Time scale | 4 months | Type of Practice | Sole Practitioner |
| Payment | 3 tranches | How paid | 50%, 25% & 25% |
| Multiple | 1.25 x fees | When paid | Comp, 12 months & 24 months |
| Offers | 3 offers | Office & staff | No office, subcontractor not needed |
| Results | Vendor working part-time then looking to sell up and live abroad somewhere sunny | ||
We first spoke to this vendor five years before we started marketing his practice. We had a long chat about why he wanted to sell up and leave the accountancy profession. He enjoyed the work and had some very good clients, but he was a victim of his own success. Because he gave his clients a lot of his time when talking to them, he became very popular, so they recommended more clients to him. He did not like to say no to any referrals that contacted him, so he took them on and the practice grew.
He had a sub-contractor that worked for him but he did not want to take on any more staff so he personally absorbed the workload. After a period of time he found he was working 6/7 days a week with no let up in the pressure. His days were getting longer too. This was not doing his health any good and eventually he had to take time off work to reduce the stress. He was very fortunate because his father was a retired chartered accountant and he stepped in while his he got the professional help he needed.
Roll the clock on five years. The vendor was back at his desk, working hard, getting more work in, getting swamped with new business, unable to cope and beginning to see the signs of a build-up of stress. He called me again saying this time he was serious and had to sell for the sake of his mental health.
He filled in our paperwork, and we were able to line up a number of potential buyers for him to meet. He decided not to have these meeting with the the buyers face to face and wanted them to be done on Zoom. Bearing in mind his fragile mental health, we arranged for there to be only one Zoom call a day and that I would host each one. The ideal scenario was where the vendor and buyer talked and I remained silent throughout. The vendor said afterwards that he was very grateful that I was there in the background.
We had three firm offers. Each buyer had the funds, the resources to manage the workload and the willingness to make the deal work. I talked through each of the offers with the vendor and he chose one. I let the buyer know that she had been successful and she was over the moon. I let the other buyers down gently telling them that if we had another practice for sale in their area, we would be in touch straight away.
The vendor is in the process of working for the buyer for two years, on a time diminishing contract with a view to moving and living abroad where it is sunny and many miles away from London and HMRC.
We will, and do, go the extra mile for our vendors if they need us to. If you are thinking about selling your practice and are worried about the process, then please get in touch with us. You can book a Zoom meeting with me to have a no obligation, totally confidential, chat any time using this link: https://calendly.com/draper-hinks/q_a
We look forward to hearing from you.