Most experienced business owners understand valuations as an essential tool to assist in making critical decisions for their advisory practice. Unfortunately, many advisors will invest time and effort in getting their practice appraised, only to find out that the underlying analysis is irrelevant to the specific purpose of the valuation.

As a business grows and develops, there may come a time to consider selling it. You might even be approached with an offer. And while plenty of owners decide they are happy to continue forward at full steam, there are good reasons to think through all the options.

There are a wide variety of methods and approaches that can be used when determining the value of a financial services business. There are three business valuation methods that are commonly considered. In many instances, one of these valuation methods may suffice, but depending upon the circumstances, it can be beneficial to use a combination of these valuation methods to achieve a detailed and accurate representation of the firm’s fair market value.

AGE MATTERS

Age matters – we all hope it doesn’t, but the reality is that the age of your clients and their corresponding assets can have a drastic effect on the value of your business. An aging business is a dying business in the eyes of a buyer who is considering the long-term buying potential of the your book of business. One of the most important things to increase the value of your business, and one of the most difficult items to change, is the age of your clients and the amount of multi-generational planning that takes place in your company.

Not All Revenue is the Same

There are many ways to grow your practice – the most obvious being adding more revenue, more assets and/or more clients. However, not all revenue is created equal in the eyes of a buyer, and not all revenue has value. The key is to ensure your revenue is predictable, and this can take place in a variety of ways for both recurring revenue sources (fees, 12b-1s, renewals, and trails) and transactional sources. Regardless of source, buyers will pay a premium for predictable cash inflow.

As an advisor, you provide tremendous value to your clients every day. But, what is often overlooked in the advisor-client dynamic, is the value they provide to you. That is, beyond the fees or commissions they pay you for your service, products or advice, your clients are providing you “value.” By that, I mean that your book of business (your clients) has a very real and tangible value that you can monetize some day when you are ready to exit the industry.

There are many complicated facets to running a service-based business, but the most vital component are the relationships you build every day. These relationships are the basis of value, and, for most, your business is your largest and most valuable asset. The most frequently discussed factors that impact the value of your business are profitability, how consistent your revenue is and the growth rate of the practice.

This article was originally published by the National Ethics Association and E&O for Less on February 26th, 2016 and written by Harry J. Lew, NEA Chief Content Officer.

We recently spoke with an advisor who generated $10.5 million in annual revenue and was contemplating the sale of his business. Like many, he expected a premium sale price/valuation given the size of his operation, his radio show that generated a consistent stream of new business, and being located in a very desirable market. Surely his business was worth the $30 Million he was expecting, right? The unfortunate part of the story is that, even though he had built a large “enterprise” and was the sole owner, he compensated all of his employees on an eat-what-you-kill (EWYK) model paying them a percentage of gross revenue for the book they serviced, leaving only a fraction of the total gross revenue to the owner (approximately $500K annually). Not exactly what you would expect from a $10.5 million business and would make a $30 million asking price seem ludicrous given the free cash flow.

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Growth is King

One of the most important drivers of value in any business is growth. Historical growth, while no guarantor, is a useful proxy/tool for projecting a business or asset’s ability to produce revenue in the future. As a buyer, you will pay more for a practice that is growing each year than one that is getting smaller. One of the biggest mistakes advisors/reps/agents make is waiting too long to sell their businesses, often having contemplated selling for several years before they finally made the decision. By the time many decide to actually sell the business, they have been coasting for a few years, causing their growth to stall or even decline – making it a suboptimal time to sell. For financial service practices, growth of the business can happen in three specific ways. Anyone contemplating selling their business, or a buyer looking at practices to acquire, should pay attention to the following growth metrics.