Advisors need to be sensitive to the emotional side of selling a business – including how the change of status might affect the business-owner clients personally, says Saul Plener, national private company services leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada.Financial advisors with business-owner clients need to become prolific in helping them navigate their succession plans thanks to the expected increase in the number of entrepreneurs looking to sell or hand over their companies in the coming years.
The first challenge for advisors is getting business owners to start thinking about succession many years in advance, says Ms. Birenbaum.the business,” she says. “One of the most important roles the financial planner can play is motivating the business owner to start taking succession seriously and start planning. ... You need to start well in advance because there will be many distractions.”
Advisors can help clients assemble a team of experts, such as lawyers, accountants and potentially business valuators, which are needed to sell the company. Advisors also add value by gathering the information from these various professionals and then communicating it to the client. “[The business owner] will have less influence as time goes on, and that’s a difficult thing to come to grips with,” says Mr. Plener. “You need to put yourself in your clients’ shoes. ... This is a very difficult and emotional time for them.”
“Nobody likes change, and this change will not only affect what they do every day, but it will also reframe their perception of their position in their community and in their family,” Mr. Delaney says. “That social standing or family standing has to be talked about and maybe coached through.”Although advisors need to respect the emotional side of a sale, it doesn’t mean they should hold back on providing the client with straightforward professional advice.
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