Kristen Grau is the Executive Vice President of Succession Resource Group, where she leads the firm's Seller Advocacy program. A CPA, CVA, and CEPA with over a decade of experience as a business appraiser and sell-side adviser in financial services, Kristen has helped sell and transition more than 100 advisory businesses ranging from $40 million to $1 billion in AUM.
David Grau Jr. is the founder and CEO of Succession Resource Group, a succession and M&A consulting firm for financial advisors. A published author, U.S. Navy veteran, and one of the industry's most recognized voices on advisor M&A and next-generation building strategies, David has delivered more than 200 presentations at leading financial services firms nationwide.
Parker Finot is the Director of Transaction Advisory Services at Succession Resource Group. With 13 years in the financial advisory space, Parker has supported more than 300 transactions and helped facilitate over $40 billion in transferred AUM through succession plans, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships.
Ryan Grau is the Director of Valuations at Succession Resource Group. He has been consulting with financial advisors on valuation, deal terms, and M&A strategy since 2011 and holds both the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) designations. Ryan's team completed 316 valuations in the most recent 12-month period.
You can sell your advisory practice on your own, but in our team's experience you will usually leave something on the table: protections, price, terms or all three. That was the message from Episode 33 of the SRG Exchange, where four of SRG's M&A specialists compared do-it-yourself deals with sales that have an advocate on the seller's side.
Kristen Grau, who leads our Seller Advocacy team, opened the conversation with what most sellers are facing right now: emails and letters promising 10 times valuation, aggregators pitching easy roll-ups, broker-dealers pushing in one direction or another, and the option of simply finding a buyer yourself. Here are the biggest takeaways from the discussion.
What goes wrong when advisors sell on their own?
Ryan Grau, our Director of Valuations, said the biggest risk he sees has nothing to do with valuation. It is advisors negotiating deals on their own, usually with one or two people from their immediate circle, and taking shortcuts along the way.
In those deals, he has seen confidential information shared with no NDA in place, due diligence handled loosely on both sides, and one-page sale agreements. A one-page agreement can work when two advisors are simply splitting revenue, but as Ryan pointed out, a bank will not underwrite to it. Deals get right up to the finish line and then stall while proper contracts are drafted.
His comparison: you can sell a house without a realtor, but a good one markets it, brings in interest and coaches you so the house looks show ready instead of lived in. Selling a practice works the same way.
Can you rely on your relationship with the buyer?
Parker Finot, whose team supports peer-to-peer deals where the buyer and seller have already found each other, cautioned against leaning too hard on the relationship. He has seen pairs that looked like a perfect fit at the start discover by the end that they were not aligned at all, and the seller ended up selling elsewhere.
In another deal he described, a fee-only seller's clients were all on single-year contracts that had to be renewed manually. The seller planned only four to six weeks of client communication, and there was no adjustment clause protecting the buyer. Trust had dulled everyone's attention to the details. The deal landed in a good place, Parker said, but only after the team built in real transition support and downside protection.
Should fit come before price?
David Grau Jr., SRG's founder and CEO, put it simply: fit matters, but it is not the only thing that matters. In his words, "It's not fit, fit, fit. It's fit, price, terms, taxes." If you lock in a great fit but have no one else to negotiate with, you have probably given up ground on everything else.
He compared selling to the one peer you trust to hiring a friend's son or daughter as a receptionist. The trust is real, but until you interview the other candidates, you cannot honestly tell your clients this is the best person for them. And even if you end up with the same buyer, competing offers help both sides feel good about the price.
David also noted a shift in what sellers ask for. Fit used to come first; most conversations he hears now lead with price. Kristen explained why fit still cannot drop off the list: many sellers now stay on for two, five or even ten years after the sale, often going from decision maker to employee. A cultural mismatch at that stage, she said, rarely ends well for the seller, the clients or the team.
Ryan sees what happens when it goes wrong. When he is brought in as an expert witness on deals that fell apart, the cause is usually contracts, protections and expectations that were never properly worked out, which opens the door to cherry picking clients, fee changes and lost revenue.
Why don't great offers just show up?
After more than two decades of advisor deals, David's view is that strong offers are built, not received:
"Good offers will show up unexpectedly. Great offers, which is what you likely want and deserve, those do not."
David Grau Jr., Founder & CEO, SRG
He described an offer from a firm with a couple of billion in AUM that looked like one of those rare great ones, until page four or five. The buyer did not have to close unless 95% of clients signed new contracts first. Picture spending weeks telling clients how excited you are about your new partner, reaching 90%, and then watching the deal fall apart.
Kristen shared another: an awesome multiple and a decent down payment, but the back-end payment depended on 20% compound annual growth in new revenue, a pace the firm had never once reached. Buyers are not being deceptive, she said, but they are creative, and the real question is what you are missing. Parker added the follow-ups most sellers would not think to ask: is that growth measured on revenue or on net flows, and what happens if the market pulls back right after closing?
As Kristen put it, sometimes "you just don't even know the questions that you need to ask." That is what an experienced advisor is for. Our guide to deal structure and taxation covers more of the terms that change what you actually take home.
Is listing your practice the same as an auction?
Not according to the panel. Ryan, who recently bought a home with a long line of interested buyers, explained how knowing others were interested pushed him to make his strongest offer. A buyer who sees real value in your market, your services or your clients will do the same when they know they are not the only one at the table.
Parker described the process as closer to a silent auction. Buyers see a redacted profile, not the seller's name, and "it's not the highest price gets the deal. It's the most qualified offers" that the seller then chooses between and meets in person. Kristen was more direct: "We're not auctioneers." The process is there to help both sides make decisions and move forward.
Kristen also shared a telling number from her own experience: across the market listings she has run, she can remember only one where the buyer the seller brought to the table was the one ultimately chosen.
How do you pick the right intermediary?
Start by asking how they get paid. David warned that some firms with an M&A label work with only two or three large aggregators and act more like recruiters, earning a fee for feeding deals to those buyers. Kristen added that some charge sellers a monthly fee while also being paid by buyers, which is why sellers keep seeing the same few buyer names.
Ryan suggested a simple due diligence question for any intermediary: how many times have you transacted with this particular buyer? Parker's advice was to ask for full disclosure of any economic incentives, since firms may not be legally required to offer it.
David also stressed range. Investment bankers focused on very large buyers, mid-tier aggregators and peer buyers all price and structure deals differently, and sellers are best served by seeing offers from each. That breadth is the idea behind our Seller Advocacy program.
Is there ever a reason not to hire an advocate?
Kristen put this question to the panel directly. David's answer: the most understandable case is an advisor who gets a flattering offer, often from private equity, and does not want to rock the boat. Even then, he said, a good advocate will pay for themselves, "sometimes two and three times over," whether it is SRG or one of our peers.
Even an internal succession benefits from someone like Parker's deal support team identifying what needs to be done and in what order, David added. Kristen pointed out that attorneys and CPAs, while valuable, work in isolated lanes and tend to help you paper the deal you already came up with rather than negotiate it. She also noted that even sellers who seem to have little leverage, such as the families of deceased advisors, have often reached above-average multiples and 100% cash at closing with representation.
What should you do before you talk to buyers?
Give the process time. Parker's closing advice was that the more time you invest up front, the lower the stress, the higher the success rate and the fewer last-minute surprises.
Ryan's advice was to get a valuation at least three years before you plan to sell. It shows where you stand and, just as important, forces a hygiene check of your financials and records before buyers start their due diligence. As he put it, "if it matters, it's going to show up in the numbers."
Parker added two practical checks. Know the "as of" date on your valuation, since lenders often want one from within the last year and some within six months. And if you plan to stay on after closing, be realistic about compensation: asking $400,000 a year for work the market pays $150,000 for will show up somewhere in the deal.
David's final word was about order. Do not try selling on your own first and call an intermediary if it does not work out, because once the practice has been exposed to the market, you have cut the intermediary off at the knees. "Your business is by far your most valuable asset," he said. "Just give this the time and attention that it deserves."
To keep going, read our explainer on how RIA valuations work, our take on merger or sale: finding the right path to your exit, and why relying on your broker-dealer to sell your practice is a costly mistake. Or listen to the full conversation in Episode 33 of the SRG Exchange.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell my financial advisory practice without an intermediary?
Yes, but self-negotiated sales often skip key protections such as NDAs, full due diligence and lender-ready purchase agreements, and they give you nothing to compare the offer against. Those gaps tend to surface late in the deal, when they are hardest to fix.
What does a sell-side advisor do when you sell an RIA?
A sell-side advisor works only for the seller. They bring qualified buyers to the table, compare offers side by side, ask the questions a seller may not know to ask, and negotiate price, terms and documents through closing.
Do I need a sell-side advisor if I already have a buyer?
Often, yes. A known buyer may still be the right fit, but competing offers show whether the price and terms are competitive, and an advisor makes sure the contracts, transition plan and protections are in place. If you only need help documenting a deal you have already agreed to, a deal support engagement covers that.
Is a competitive listing the same as an auction?
No. The practice is shown confidentially to qualified buyers, who submit offers. The seller then chooses which buyers to meet based on fit, price, terms and taxes. The highest bid does not automatically win.
What are common red flags in an unsolicited offer?
Watch for closing contingencies tied to client transition rates, earnouts based on growth the practice has never achieved, and vague definitions of how revenue or growth will be measured. These terms can shrink the real value of a strong headline multiple.
How far in advance should I get a valuation before selling my practice?
At least three years. That gives you time to improve value and clean up your financial records before due diligence. Lenders usually also want a valuation dated within the last six to twelve months at closing.
This article is based on Episode 33 of the SRG Exchange podcast and reflects the views and experiences shared by the panelists. It is for general information only and is not legal, tax or investment advice.
