Reviews
This is the business owner’s self-defense manual. Reading it could be the most cost-effective hour or two you’ve ever invested. Don’t dare sign a buy-sell agreement until you’ve read and pondered the questions posed in this book. Your life(’s work) may depend on it!
Stephan R. Leimberg
Chief Executive Officer and Publisher, Leimberg Information Services, Inc.
Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners presents this most important topic in an understandable fashion. The book will assist business owners in getting their ownership affairs in order before the issue of a buy-out erupts, as it often does, at the least opportune time, damaging the business and the relationships among the owners.
Roger J. Grabowski, ASA
Managing Director, Duff & Phelps
For shareholders of closely held businesses, this book presents a comprehensive and understandable discussion of the essential elements of buy-sell agreements and how to correct deficiencies that commonly occur. We have followed the author’s very appropriate advice to make sure you have an ironclad, foolproof system to keep the price current by getting an annual appraisal.
W. J. “Bill” Rankin, CPA
Chief Financial Officer, Blue Bell Creameries, L.P.
Having advised clients on buy-sell agreements for more than 30 years, both from a legal and life insurance funding perspective, I have seen the financially devastating consequences of poor planning. Chris Mercer’s book is the best treatise on this topic and is a must-read for any attorney, financial/insurance planner, or business owner working on buy-sell agreements.
Kelly Finnell, J.D., CLU, AIF®
Author, The ESOP Coach: Using ESOPs in Ownership Succession Planning
President, Executive Financial Services, Inc.
As a lawyer who works mostly with closely held and family-owned businesses, I’ve seen many buy-sell agreements, and I’ve drafted my share of them. I can say unequivocally that this is the most useful analysis of the subject I’ve encountered. The book is relatively compact, but it’s not in the least superficial or truncated. On the contrary, Chris Mercer has produced a uniquely practical handbook for business owners and their advisors which is thorough and comprehensive, but at the same time is clear, straightforward, and understandable. In direct and non-technical terms, Mercer thoughtfully explores the pros and cons of competing approaches, and unflinchingly expresses his specific recommendations. Anyone who owns or advises a privately owned business needs to read this book.
Jared Kaplan
Senior Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery
A must-read for business owners and their advisors. The book identifies and explains all the issues of buy-sell agreements in clear, understandable terms.
Gerald A. Shanker, CPA/ABV
Founding Member, Kreinces Rollins & Shanker, LLC
This book is very well-researched, easy to understand, and contains numerous helpful examples. It reminds us in great detail how many of the components of a buy-sell agreement cause more problems than they solve. I particularly liked the charts that succinctly presented the advantages and disadvantages of the important elements of a good buy-sell agreement. Also, this book is not just for valuation analysts. Business owners should read it too. It is also a must-read for CPAs, financial planners, attorneys, and anyone else who advises business owners.
James R. Hitchner, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA
Managing Director, Financial Valuation Advisors
Chief Executive Officer, Valuation Products and Services
President, Financial Consulting Group
The biggest problem with a buy-sell agreement is it is never looked at once it is signed. Based on today’s circumstances, will it act the way you expected? Most don’t. Chris Mercer’s book will give you big picture ideas without legal mumbo jumbo.
Larry H. Colin
Author/Producer, FAMILY, Inc.
Your buy-sell agreement is the most important business document you are likely to ever create. It is in every owner’s direct interest to make certain it works exactly as intended – before it is intended to be triggered. Chris Mercer’s previous book on buy-sell agreements is the “industry standard,” and we recommend it to the hundreds of business advisors who belong to our exit planning organization. This new book is likewise destined to be a “standard” for business owners. It is premised on the criticality of establishing an accurate business valuation regardless of the circumstances which trigger an owner’s departure. In a straightforward and easily understood style, it describes what owners need to do today to prevent unintended, and perhaps financially ruinous, consequences tomorrow.
John Brown
Author, How To Run Your Business So You Can Leave It In Style
President, Business Executives International
As the founder of one successful business and current participant in a family-owned bank, I thought I was something of a veteran when it comes to business. When I read Chris Mercer’s Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners, I realized that there is still a great deal to learn. The book is an in-depth and candid look at buy-sell agreements, which we all have and seldom think about. What I realized in reading the book is that the things that we don’t think about naturally, without help like in Chris’ new book, are the things that can really go wrong.
Kenneth B. Lenoir
Executive Vice President, Evolve Bank & Trust Company
(former Founder, Chairman, and CEO of First Mercantile Trust Company)
As a “recovering” tax attorney and a current advisor to many family businesses, I found myself chuckling as I read Chris Mercer’s book, Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners. The chuckles were a bit rueful, however, for Chris Mercer says straight out what I seldom could say to my clients – that they were letting themselves be intimidated by the complexities of buy-sell planning into passivity on the single most important agreement they may ever sign. I imagine many lawyers will buy copies of this book and use it as homework for their clients.
Not only is it accurate and amazingly readable, but it also places the focus exactly where it should be – on the owner and his or her willingness to address tough issues head on. Many business owners would rather talk about a prenuptial agreement with a fiancée than a buy-sell agreement with his partner. After all, discussing the future dissolution of a successful working relationship requires talking about death, disability, divorce, and, toughest of all, whether we will be able to afford to buy the other out at a “fair” price.
My advice to professionals is to give the owners of a closely held business this book and several days to read it. The next meeting will be more productive, more realistic, and there will be no talk about “just” preparing a “standard” buy-sell agreement. The book imparts two great lessons. First, there is no such thing as a “standard” buy-sell agreement. Second, and even more striking, defining a “fair price” to govern far into the future is far more challenging than the owners ever imagined. This last lesson comes home with a vengeance since Chris Mercer is a skilled business appraiser and his writing shines a light into the murk of valuation language and options. Indeed, the most illuminating parts of the book deal with the logical quagmire amateurs can sink into when trying to define “value” without the (very necessary) aid of a qualified appraiser to lead the discussion and calculation of valuation throughout the life of the agreement.
Stephen G. Salley
Senior Partner, GenSpring Family Offices
Chris Mercer has seen the world of valuation through many eyes. His experience and broad insights to the process of valuation adds a dimension that few can compare. He brings knowledge from a combination of multi-business landscapes and industries. This is a must-read for family-owned and closely held business entities. No one is more qualified to write on these subjects than Chris Mercer.
Alan Hughes
President, Clear Processes, LLC
(Retired Division Manager, Dealer Development, John Deere Co.)
A buy-sell agreement is one of the most critical agreements in any closely held business. It must be done right to avoid serious disputes among business owners when one of the owners dies, quits or is terminated, becomes disabled or divorced, or gets into financial trouble. Chris Mercer does a masterful job in Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners of discussing the key issues in a thoughtful and easy-to-read manner. With more than 30 years of expertise in the field, Chris explains why the failure to have a solid buy-sell agreement may be devastating to a business and its owners, and provides very practical tips on how you can greatly improve your buy-sell agreement.
Nathaniel L. Doliner
Shareholder, Carlton Fields, P.A.
In a word, “Wow!” Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners contains the most in-depth discussion of the “whys” of buy-sell agreements that I’ve ever read. Chris Mercer has focused his laser beam mind upon probably the hardest and most under-served area of business planning: buy-sell agreements. Read this book!
L. Paul Hood, Jr.
Attorney at Law
Chris Mercer has the unparalleled capacity and intellectual capital to drill deeper on this topic than anyone. His perspective and premises are sound and the sub-topics covered on buy-sell agreements will give you the entire spectrum. I would not think about going into buy-sell agreement negotiations without reading this book again, cover-to-cover, the night before. Don’t miss this one – it will only cost you if you don’t read it!
Don Hutson
Speaker and Co-author of the
Wall Street Journal and New York Times #1 Best-Seller,
The One Minute Entrepreneur
Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Learning
The concept of regular (annual) valuations to update buy-sell agreements is really useful. As a consultant helping businesses focus on strategy and growth and having been involved in a buy-sell agreement dispute as a business owner, I can attest to the great value of incorporating this concept into the governance of the business. Not only does it help business owners focus on business value creation, but when used regularly as part of buy-sell agreement updates, it helps the business keep these essential agreements updated and current. This has the benefit of increasing owner/partner alignment by avoiding unpleasant disappointments or disagreements about business value in the future.
Dr. Brian Cassell, DVM
Founder and Managing Partner, Dynamic Veterinary Concepts
Executive Director, MOON, An Innovation Veterinary Collaborative
Chris Mercer’s book on buy-sell agreements is a grand slam. Because it uses plain language to explain complex terminology related to buy-sell agreements, attorneys and CPAs will find it to be a very helpful resource when advising their clients about buy-sell agreements, especially the pitfalls of various agreements. I was so impressed with the book that I ordered additional copies and sent them to tax attorneys who we work with on a regular basis.
Jim Koerber, CPA/ABV, CVA, CFE, CFF
The Koerber Company, PA
About Chris Mercer
Z. Christopher Mercer, ASA, CFA, ABAR, author of Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners, is a nationally known business valuation expert, writer, and speaker.
Preview the Book
Written for owners of closely held and family businesses, this book provides a road map for you to develop or improve your buy-sell agreement. Selected excerpts, a full table of contents, and selected reviews are available to preview.
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