How do I find a speech therapy clinic for sale?

Speech therapy clinics are small, and most owners are clinicians first. Owners may not advertise a sale widely, because clients and referral sources may hear of it before the owner has planned the handover. That shapes the search. You will see a few clinics on public listings, but many more are reached through people who know the field. Here are the places worth working, roughly from most visible to least.

Listing sites and brokers

Start with business-for-sale listing sites and with brokers who handle health practices. Listings give you a quick sense of what is on offer and how sellers describe their clinics. A broker may know of a clinic before it is posted. Treat any summary as a starting point and verify it yourself, and ask whom the broker acts for. Tell the broker clearly what kind of clinic you want.

Professional networks and associations

Speech-language pathologists talk to each other: at conferences, in study groups, through regulators and associations, and across referral relationships with audiologists, pediatricians and schools. Tell colleagues you are looking. An owner who is thinking about retirement often mentions it to a peer long before telling a broker. Your regulator’s website is also a useful place to check what it expects of a practice owner.

Owners near retirement and the associate path

If you want a particular area, find the established clinics there and write to the owners, briefly and respectfully. Some will have thought about succession and some will not, and either way you have started a relationship. If you already work as an associate, ask your own employer. Moving from associate to owner lets both sides test the fit before any papers are signed.

• Decide on the area, the size of team and the client mix you want before you start.
• Ask each seller why they are selling and what they plan to do afterwards.
• Keep notes on every clinic you see so you can compare them later.