Four handovers in a year teaches you where practice sales actually go wrong, and almost none of it is about price.
Not over the sale. The firms that keep their clients are the ones where the outgoing owner makes the introductions personally, and early.
People notice unfamiliar visitors and closed doors. Planning what you will say, and when, matters more than keeping it secret for another fortnight.
Unbilled work in progress, informal fee arrangements, and clients who have never signed an engagement letter. All fixable, and much easier before you start.
Twenty minutes on the phone. No documents, no NDA, no obligation — and the market hears nothing.