5 Reasons Advisors Should Use the Fear of Exit Failure to Grow Their Services Business

Every advisor knows the challenge: business owners who feel “fine.” They’re busy, comfortable, and not actively seeking help. They may even believe they’ll figure things out when the time comes. But when it comes to their eventual transition, whether that’s selling, passing it on to family, or stepping back, the numbers are grim:

• 80–90% of an owner’s wealth is tied up in their business.

• 80% of businesses that go to market don’t sell.

• Of those that do, 75% of owners regret the outcome.

That means only 1 in 20 business owners achieve the exit they truly want.

This “exit failure” reality is a wake-up call business owners can’t ignore, and it’s the single most powerful motivator for them to embrace new information, new advice, and real change. For advisors, it’s also the perfect trigger to grow your services business. Here are five reasons why.

1. Exit Fear Creates Urgency Where Growth Alone Doesn’t

Owners may resist coaching, strategic planning, or restructuring when times feel “good enough.” But frame the conversation around their retirement security, legacy, and family’s financial future, suddenly the stakes become real. Exit planning transforms advisory services from “optional improvements” into urgent necessities.

For you: this urgency shortens sales cycles, makes owners more open to change, and positions your expertise as essential rather than discretionary.

2. It Connects Directly to Their Personal Wealth and Legacy

Owners aren’t just protecting a company, they’re protecting their life’s work, their family’s future, and often their identity. Exit planning links directly to personal financial planning, estate planning, succession, and legacy. That’s why accountants, lawyers, bankers, and planners who lean into exit conversations find they can expand their mandate well beyond their original scope.

For you: it’s the most natural way to cross-sell or up-sell services tied to wealth, tax, legal structure, insurance, investments, or governance.

3. It Opens the Door to Multi-Advisor Collaboration

No single advisor can quarterback a successful exit alone. Business owners need two teams: one focused on their personal wealth and goals, and one focused on the business transformation needed to maximize value.

For you: using exit as the trigger allows you to convene and lead an advisory team (your BEAN team). This not only deepens your client relationship but multiplies referrals between professionals who now see you as the quarterback.

4. It Transforms “Future Problems” Into Immediate Opportunities

The #1 reason owners procrastinate is that exit feels far away. But when you explain that it takes 3–5 years of preparation to maximize value and create options, they realize the clock is already ticking.

For you: positioning exit planning as preparation, not departure, keeps you engaged with clients years earlier and creates recurring work streams (valuations, readiness assessments, growth sprints, succession coaching, etc.).

5. It Differentiates You as the Trusted, Strategic Advisor

Most advisors stay in their lane, tax, legal, finance, or operations. But when you initiate the exit conversation, you demonstrate you’re thinking about the whole picture: personal, business, and legacy. That’s what earns you the role of trusted advisor who gets called first, not last.

For you: differentiation means loyalty, referrals, and long-term client retention. Owners don’t forget the advisor who helped secure their life’s work.

Bottom Line

The fear of exit failure is not just a problem for business owners, it’s the golden trigger for advisors. It gives you the leverage to:

• Create urgency where there was complacency,

• Expand your scope of services,

• Build referral-rich advisor teams,

• Secure multi-year engagements, and

• Cement your position as the trusted quarterback of their future.

Every business owner will exit. The only question is whether it will be on their terms, or not.

By using exit failure as the entry point, you can grow your advisory business while giving owners the one thing they value most: a secure, regret-free transition.

Support to Help You

Many of our blogs, articles and shared resources are designed for you to use to better communicate the fear of exit failure business case to your clients. If you’d like to get onto our mailing list or if you'd like to use our Client Acquisition Lifecycle "how-to" playbook to start building the ecosystem where you live to grow your own services, contact us and we'll give you access to our client acquisition lifecycle resources.

Brad Gaulin

Chief Transformation Officer

MExit Inc.

bgaulin@mexit.ca

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