Succession Planning in Professional Service Firms

Note: Running weekly in FromGregsHead.com, PKF Texas – Entrepreneur’s Playbook® is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Sunday evenings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM.

PKFPKF Texas: The Entrepreneur’s Playbook® – E Practice from The Businessmakers on Vimeo.

Greg: This is PKF Texas, the Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Greg Price, Director of Consulting solutions, and I’m here again with Byron Hebert, Director of Entrepreneurial Advisory Services at PKF Texas. Byron, welcome to the Playbook, again.

Byron: Thank you, Greg.

Greg: So, Byron, I’ve heard a lot of success stories originating from the EAS Practice at PKF Texas. Do you have a couple of examples that you think you could share with us?

Byron: You know, I do. We’ve got a lot of interest lately from our professional service clients: lawyers, engineering firms, about taking their business to a different level, going from an eat-what-you-kill model to a perpetual enterprise model, and once the client gets their mind around that and we put a program in place that helps them with that, they start looking at their business a little bit differently. They look at how are they gonna develop a succession plan, develop leaders, and it also gives the younger lawyers in the firm a way to step up and become owners and entrepreneurs in their business.

Greg: I’ve heard some stories today about owners, kind of, cashing out and selling their business. Is that something they should be thinking about, too, or is that something different from what you’re talking about?

Byron: Well, whether they’re gonna cash out and sell or they’re gonna perpetuate the business, having a plan in place like this kinda is the base ground for the negotiations if they do get approached to be sold. So, either way, they’ve got an opportunity to cash out, either selling to the younger owners, the lawyers, or selling to a third party.

Greg: That’s a fantastic story. Thanks, again, for being on the Playbook.

Byron: Thanks, Greg.

Greg: This has been a Thought Leader Production, brought to you by PKF Texas, the Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Tune in next week for another chapter, and remember, debits are on the left, and credits are on the right.