When the Sale Isn't Just About the Price

There was a time when a doctor’s office simply shut its doors when the physician retired. Today, many clinics and specialty practices have become valuable, sellable assets. Private equity firms are actively rolling up fragmented healthcare segments, from dental to dermatology, creating a new market where medical practices are acquisition targets. Yet for many clinic owners, the decision to sell is not just financial. They show a disproportionate interest in protecting their legacy, ensuring the community they’ve served and the standards they’ve built won’t be destroyed in the process. That’s where the guidance of an advisor becomes critical.

At Value Builder, more than 80,000 business owners have inquired about the value of their company by requesting a Value Builder Score Report. As part of our intake questionnaire we ask them what their biggest fear is when it comes to selling their business, and giving them options you’ll see in the chart below.

For most owners, legacy barely registers next to price: 55% worry about getting the price they want, while barely 20% fear what happens after they leave — a 34-point gulf. Among healthcare owners, that gulf narrows to 21 points (52% vs. 31%). In other words, legacy sits about 35% closer to price for healthcare providers than it does for other owners, making it a uniquely important factor in their exit decisions.

When speaking with healthcare owners, remember their concerns often extend beyond the sale price. Legacy can be hard for an owner to articulate, so putting it on the table early does more than clear the air, it shows you understand the personal side of the decision (we wrote an eBook on how to structure these types of conversations). That’s where real trust (and opportunity) begins.

Quick Links

📊 Live Research Briefing: On October 23^rd at noon ET, John Warrillow, best selling author of Built to Sell, will reveal brand new insights from our proprietary database of owners showing why $1–10M annual earning businesses are the overlooked sweet spot for advisors. Register Now

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This Issue’s Contributors: Jason Reilly, Editor; Michael Sarkis, Director of Value Builder Analytics; Deanne Kong Ting, Director of Customer Success; Jen Chou, Senior Graphic Designer