By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

The best CRM for exit planning advisors is usually the one your home practice already requires: Redtail or Wealthbox if you are a financial advisor, HubSpot or Attio if you are a consultant or CPA. Exit planning adds one job none of them does well: telling you which owner or referral partner to reach out to this week.

Full disclosure: I built FRONT OF MIND, the last tool on this list. I will be straight about where the others win.

Here is the scene. Three years ago an owner took your assessment and said “after the big contract.” You logged it in the CRM you use for your wealth clients, next to 400 households. The contract landed last spring. You did not see it. His CPA did, and she introduced him to the advisor she had coffee with last month.

Why does a CRM for exit planning advisors depend on your home practice?

Because exit planning is a second hat. The Exit Planning Institute describes its CEPA program as “for professional advisors who want to effectively engage more business owners,” and says the methodology is executed by “a team of advisors, including financial advisors, CPA, consultants, and others.”

So the question is not which CRM is best for exit planning in a vacuum. It is which record your day job already locks in, and what that record misses.

I compared the firm platforms for sell side advisors in the best CRM for M&A advisors. This page is for the CEPA who is not running auctions.

Which CRM fits which kind of exit planner?

Here is the decision table I would use. Prices are from each vendor’s pricing page as of October 2026.

Your home practice	Record to keep	Price to start	What it misses
Financial advisor at a broker dealer	Redtail, or the CRM your firm requires	Redtail from $39 per user a month, billed yearly	Owner and partner timing
Independent RIA	Wealthbox or Redtail	Wealthbox from $59 per user a month	Same
CPA or consultant, solo	HubSpot free	$0 for 2 users and 1,000 contacts	Owner stages, you build them yourself
Consulting firm with a few planners	Attio	Free up to 3 seats, Plus at $35 per user a month billed annually	You design and feed it
Any of the above, for owner engagement	Value Builder, alongside the CRM	Not listed, demo	Not a full record of people
Any of the above, for who to text today	FRONT OF MIND, alongside the CRM	Free for 25 contacts, then $29 a month	Not a system of record

Redtail and Wealthbox

For whom. CEPAs who are also financial advisors.

Cost. Per Redtail’s pricing, Launch is $39 per user a month billed yearly for up to 5 users, and Growth is $59 billed yearly with Redtail Speak compliant texting and archiving, “subject to broker dealer approval.” Per Wealthbox’s pricing, Basic is $59 per user a month and Pro is $75 with workflows and two way email sync.

Where they strain. They are built around households. An owner who has not engaged yet, and the attorney beside him, sit in the same list as 400 clients with no prompt to call.

HubSpot

For whom. CPAs and consultants who run exit planning as a service line.

Cost. HubSpot’s free CRM covers up to two users and 1,000 contacts, with contact management, deal pipelines and reporting dashboards. Starter begins at $15 per seat a month.

Where it strains. A five year owner relationship does not fit a sales pipeline. Deals sit in “Discover” for 18 months and you stop looking at them.

Attio

For whom. Planning firms that want owners, partners and engagements as separate linked records.

Cost. Per Attio’s pricing: Free for up to 3 seats, Plus at $35 per user a month billed annually or $44 monthly, Pro at $79 or $99.

Where it strains. You build the structure, and you keep it fed.

Value Builder

What it is. An exit readiness platform, not a CRM. Its advisor page lists the Value Builder Score, PREScore and Freedom Score assessments, a scenario planner, a branded owner portal, growth planner roadmaps and a white labeled email program.

Cost. Not listed on the advisor page.

Best for. Starting the owner conversation and giving them a score to improve.

Where it strains. A newsletter keeps you visible to everyone at once. It does not tell you that one owner’s contract just landed.

What should an exit planner track on every owner?

Five fields, whatever tool you use. This is the checklist I would run, and it is the part most CRMs never ask for.

1. Stage. Discover, Prepare or Decide, from EPI’s Value Acceleration Methodology.
2. The reason for not yet, in the owner’s words. “Son might take over.” “After the contract.”
3. The trigger that would change it. The contract, the son’s decision, a competitor selling.
4. The circle. CPA, estate attorney, banker, wealth manager. Who would they call first?
5. Last real conversation, with a date. Not the last newsletter.

For the rhythm that sits on top of these fields, year by year, read the five year exit planning touch calendar. For the owner who keeps saying later, see the 18 month seller.

A compliance note. If you are a registered rep, FINRA Regulatory Notice 17-18 says firms must retain business communications sent by text. Use your firm’s approved channel. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.

FRONT OF MIND

What it is. The daily layer next to whatever record you keep. It opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each person comes with a one line reason why today: their company was in the news, they posted, a follow up is due, you met at an event and never followed up, or the relationship is going cold. Posts only show if they are confirmed to belong to that person.

Every draft reads like a text, 40 words max. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. Ask Liala “who do I know that is an estate attorney in Denver” and get the right people with why. It also surfaces intros to make this week, with dated proof on both sides.

There is no native iPhone app yet. It runs in your phone’s browser, and you can save it to your home screen.

Cost. Free for your first 25 contacts and 1 intro, then $29 a month. Concierge setup is $500. Contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them. Export and delete anytime.

If FRONT OF MIND doesn’t surface people in your network worth reaching out to within 72 hours, we’ll refund you. No questions asked.

Where it strains. No assessments, no owner portal, no households, no compliance archive. Keep client records and communication where your firm requires. Check your firm’s policy before importing anything.

How would I choose?

• Financial advisor CEPA: stay on Redtail, Wealthbox or your firm’s CRM.
• CPA or consultant CEPA: HubSpot free, or Attio if you want your own structure.
• You want a score to start the owner conversation: Value Builder, beside the CRM.
• You want to know which owner or CPA to text today: FRONT OF MIND, beside the CRM.

More side by side reviews live in the personal CRM comparisons hub.

The CRM holds the engagement. The engagement goes to whoever the owner and the CPA heard from last. Start free with your first 25 contacts and see which owner comes up first.

See how it works