Turn Your Financial Planning Skills into AUM Growth Opportunities

According to the Exit Planning Institute, 75% of small business owners lack a formal succession plan, yet most plan to transition within the next decade. Millions of business owners are moving toward exits without proper guidance. Advisors who step in to provide that guidance will earn trust and be trusted to manage the owner’s liquidity from exit.

Many advisors assume succession and exit planning services belong to specialists, requiring expertise they don't have. So they stay on the sidelines while their clients fumble through one of the biggest financial decisions they'll ever make.

You’re Closer Than  You Think

As a financial advisor, you already have the skills you need to guide owners through meaningful exit conversations. Think about what you do every day in the average comprehensive planning engagement: 

• You ask meaningful questions. 
• You listen deeply to understand what really matters. 
• You help clients clarify competing priorities through trade-off exercises. 
• You compare scenarios and establish a clear direction forward. 
• You create tangible plans that document decisions and maintain accountability.

That's succession planning.

The business owner sitting across from you needs someone to ask: "What would an ideal exit look like for you?" They need someone to help them think through whether maximizing proceeds matters more than maintaining control over timing. They need someone to help them weigh family transition against third-party sale. They need someone to coordinate the attorneys, CPAs, and other specialists who will handle the technical execution.

You already do this with retirement planning, estate planning, and investment strategy. Succession planning applies the same principles to a different context.

The Technology Gap

It’s your execution tools, not your capabilities, that are falling short.

You need a way to collect business data and estimate business value without overwhelming your clients. You need insights that give you credibility and talking points when discussing their exit plan and readiness, and you need deliverables that anchor your planning services and justify your fees. 

Without these tools, even skilled advisors struggle to translate their expertise into actionable and repeatable succession planning services.

We built RISR's Succession and Exit Planning tool to fill this gap for advisors. The comprehensive solution:

• Handles the succession & exit discovery through simple surveys
• Uncovers client priorities during a future exit and ranks exit paths based on alignment
• Generates exit timelines and exit readiness scores that make complex decisions clearer
• Creates client-ready succession & exit deliverables that anchor your services in tangible value
• Allows you to coordinate with other professionals relevant to the succession planning process while maintaining your role as quarterback

Starting the Succession Planning Conversation

Business owners in your book are waiting for someone to guide them through the succession planning process. If you don’t act now, you risk giving up your position as the advisor they trust to manage those assets after the exit.

Stop hesitating – you don’t need to become a business valuation expert or M&A specialist to add value. Apply the planning skills you already possess to the succession conversation: 

• Ask the right questions. 
• Clarify what matters most. 
• Create a plan. 
• Coordinate the team. 
• Maintain accountability.

Do what you already know how to do, and you'll be the natural choice to manage the proceeds when the exit happens.

Ready to start having these conversations with confidence? Download our free Succession Planning Starter Kit for step-by-step guidance, email templates, and conversation starters you can use immediately.

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