In the purchase of any business, rarely is there any guarantee that the customers or clients will continue to come. If you buy a McDonald’s franchise today, you will not get a warranty from McDonald’s that customers will be there eating hamburgers tomorrow. So why then does anyone buy a business knowing the risk that exists in keeping the customers?

The answer is simple. Businesses are bought because the buyer believes the present owner has been successful and that the same or better income can result with the buyer in control. That can and does happen in any kind of business, and it happens in professional practices all the time. However, buyers and sellers need to be aware that the process does not happen by magic. Several matters must be considered for a successful transition.

1. A good name or “goodwill” is certainly important in client retention but that only goes so far. The buyer must provide the goods or services the customer wants—and the buyer is the only one who can keep the clients happy in the long run. A big mistake buyers sometimes make is that they get in over their heads because they lack either the competence or the experience to run a public practice.
2. People do not like change. In any professional practice sale (assuming the owner is halfway good at what he/she does), the clients will not like the fact that there’s been a change in ownership. They may even complain to the owner; however, most people understand the world never stays the same so, in the end, they will adapt. (If the owner is 55 years of age or older, the clients are already aware the owner will be gone at some point.) But what that means for the buyer is that the more you can keep things the same, the better, at least for a while. Insensitive buyers who immediately change the location, the software, the rates, the employees, etc. are setting themselves up for failure. Patience is the keystone although the temptation to “do it my way” is strong.
3. When a buyer once asked us how he would retain the clients, we answered, “The same way any business keeps customers—treat them right and provide solutions to their problems.” Clients don’t pay the present owner out of charity; they do so because the practice can help fulfill their needs. That said, clients want to feel important and new buyers must work overtime to stroke their feelings. Over and over, studies have shown that the No. 1 reason clients leave any professional is because they feel they weren’t treated right. We were once involved in a sale where the buyer was not very nice to the clients and then later complained to us about losing them!
4. It takes both the buyer and the seller to make a successful transition. The biggest reason transitions fail is because of either a “bad” buyer or a “bad” seller. It is important for the seller to work with the buyer in notifying the clients, and probably more than once. More importantly, the seller must make sure the clients understand he/she is no longer in business. In addition, the seller must repeatedly talk up the buyer and encourage the clients to give the buyer a try. Sellers have a stake not only because they might be financing the deal but also because they have an ethical responsibility to the clients and to the buyer. Sellers who speak poorly of the buyer or are indifferent about the buyer can kill the transition.

These are the foundations for a good transition. If the buyer is competent and treats the clients well and the seller is positive and supports the buyer, then there is every reason to believe that the change of ownership will be positive for everyone. Such successes happen all the time.