If you’re a practice owner considering retirement and selling your business, you may feel overwhelmed. You want to get the best value for your practice, take care of your staff, and make sure you’re not shortchanging yourself. But it can be hard to know where to start.
We’ll make it easy for you: the first and most crucial step should be choosing a veterinary broker for your practice sale. Because once you have the right broker, they’ll handle all aspects of the process for you, and they’ll do a better job than what you would have done by yourself. With all the research, negotiations, and details off your plate, you can focus on what really matters: your clients and the practice. Here’s how a veterinary broker can help.
Veterinary brokers can save you time and effort.
We know you’re busy and figuring out how to sell your vet practice can feel daunting. It’s hard to know where to start, and you want to make sure you’re not missing anything. Researching and pitching to many potential buyers, negotiating multiple offers, managing the closing process with lawyers, accountants, and landlords, all of which—on top of leading the practice and patient care—is a major, time-consuming effort.
Using a veterinary broker takes the guesswork and heavy lifting off your shoulders. They’re experts in managing the selling process, so you don’t have to worry about organization, time management, or communications. They essentially fill in any gaps—those minor details you wouldn’t have thought of, any long-term strategies you can use to capture more value, and they can help you make decisions based on what they’ve seen play out in other transactions. What’s more, veterinary-specific practice brokers have strong and extensive connections with many corporate buyers, which makes for efficient negotiations. Overall, their market knowledge and experience helps streamline everything, saving you precious time and avoiding unnecessary headaches.
They negotiate for the best deal for your practice sale.
Most practice owners who sell without a veterinary broker will accept the first offer they receive, instead of asking for better terms. And we get why—no one enjoys hard-nosed negotiations and all that back-and-forth, veterinarians included. Not only that, but with 35+ corporate buyers in the veterinary space, it’s complicated to even figure out which buyer is worth negotiating with!
Thankfully, veterinary brokers are expert negotiators and have good working relationships with most corporate buyers. Your practice will be presented to the buyers who will likely mesh well with you and can offer the the right price, terms, and overall fit. By letting a veterinary broker have a hand in your selling process, they’ll help you choose the best options, saving you a ton of time and hassle. Those negotiations don’t go to waste, either. At Ackerman Group, our calculations show brokered deals gain an average increased value of 33 percent when compared to independent sellers.
Brokers know the selling process inside and out.
Just like when selling a home, hiring an experienced professional to manage each aspect of the sale makes for a smooth sailing process. You’ll especially want to use a vet broker for what will likely be the most important financial transaction of your lifetime.
Veterinary brokers will help you understand the exact documents you need for a thorough evaluation of your practice. That process includes data collection, due diligence, and the broker interfacing with all your advisors—accountants, insurance brokers, benefit brokers, and more—to ensure all the data is accurately collected. Veterinary brokers can also explain and measure your normalized EBITDA, risk factors, and how your purchase price multiple is calculated. The breadth and depth of knowledge you’ll receive will put your practice in the best position to receive substantially higher value offers.
Your Veterinary Practice Sale: More Than Just a Business Transaction
As you gear up for this life changing transition, keep in mind that selling your veterinary practice is more than just a business deal—it’s a personal journey. Having a veterinary broker in your corner means you’ve got an expert who not only understands the intricacies of the market, but also appreciates the emotional and practical challenges you face as an owner. They’ll guide you through every step, making sure you get the best outcome while keeping the the integrity and legacy of the practice you’ve built.
In the end, a good veterinary practice broker can make the entire process feel less like a looming, arduous task and more like a well-orchestrated, exciting plan for your future. They will handle the complexities and negotiations so you can focus on what you do best—caring for your patients and leading your team. So, as you think about this next chapter, remember that with the right help, you can make this transition run smoothly and set up a bright future for both you and your practice.