A succession plan sets out how and when you will step back from the practice, and how your clients and team will be looked after.
Every practice owner eventually has to decide what happens to the firm when they want to slow down. Leaving it too late narrows the options and weakens your negotiating position. Planning early, often years before you act, gives you more choices and a better outcome for the clients and staff who trusted you. The three main routes differ in how they are funded and timed, and each needs a plan for protecting what you've built.
| Route | Best for | Main watch-outs |
|---|---|---|
| Internal succession / MBO | Continuity; a ready, willing, capable team | Funding; often paid from future profits; slower; deal certainty lower |
| Merger | Cultural fit; shared overheads; scale | Loss of independence; integration risk; often little upfront cash |
| External sale | Certainty, capital and a clean break | Finding a buyer you trust with your legacy |
The routes differ most in how and when you get paid. An internal buyout is frequently structured over several years and funded partly from the firm's own future profits, which means more of your consideration is deferred and depends on the business continuing to perform after you've reduced your involvement. A merger may involve little cash at all, with value realised through an ongoing profit share or equity in the combined firm. An external sale typically front-loads more cash on completion, with the balance deferred and/or linked to retention. Match the route to how much upfront certainty and cash you need — and to how much post-sale risk you're willing to carry.
A clean break suits owners who are ready to move on completely and don't want their proceeds tied to future performance. A phased step-down lets you hand over gradually — useful to protect relationships, reduce the risk in the transition, and support any retention-based consideration. Neither is better in itself. The choice depends on what you want the next year or two to look like, and how much of the price is contingent on a smooth handover.
You can do all of this on your own. If you would rather work through it with someone who has been on the buying side, our Succession Plan covers it: pre-work, half a day together, and a written plan with the numbers behind every figure.
A practice is years of client relationships and a team who depend on it. A good succession plan states explicitly how clients will be looked after and how staff will be treated (including TUPE obligations on a business transfer), and holds the buyer or successors to those commitments in the heads of terms. This is where the choice of buyer matters as much as the price: an operator-led buyer who intends to run the firm well will treat your clients and staff very differently from a consolidator focused on cost-cutting.
When we buy a practice, we aim to respect its legacy, protect the team, keep clients stable, and improve systems while keeping the culture intact.
The best time to plan is well before you need to. Even if an exit is years away, a short conversation now can map the route — often with a value-uplift plan attached — so you exit stronger and with more choices. If you leave it until you're burnt out or forced by circumstances, you may have to take the first acceptable offer. Compare the two most common routes in detail in MBO vs external sale, and read when to sell. If you already have a date in mind, our succession timeline planner works back from that date to set real dates for each phase of your chosen route, and shows which phases are already short of time.
The three main routes are an internal succession or management buyout (selling to your team), a merger with another firm, and an external sale. They differ mainly on continuity, how much upfront cash you receive, and deal certainty.
Well before you need to — ideally years ahead. Early planning gives you more choices, time to lift value and reduce owner-dependency, and avoids being forced to take the first acceptable offer when you're tired or under pressure.
Set out explicitly, in the heads of terms, how staff will be treated (including TUPE obligations) and how clients will be transitioned — and choose a buyer or successor whose intentions you trust. The choice of buyer matters as much as the price.
It depends on your priorities. A management buyout offers continuity but usually less upfront cash and lower certainty; an external sale offers capital, certainty and a cleaner break. See our dedicated MBO vs external sale guide.
Book a confidential call with the buyer to map out the routes open to you, however far away your exit is.
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Andy Jackson, co-founder