As many entrepreneurs, he was central to the company operations, and a result, the company was undervalued in terms of its potential. When an owner is the main person that is doing the work, if the owner is the one who is leaving the business, the business can no longer operate. As a result, it has little value beyond the value of its assets. When the owner understood this, he understood that he needed to make changes in the business in order to get himself out of being the primary producer.
Further, there are many, many tax firms in the marketplace. From the product perspective, there is very little differentiation between them. Advertising for firms like this can be quite expensive so as a result, many tax and accounting professionals rely on networking, personal relationships and referrals in order to get more business. So while the business owner might not be the primary producer, he was still the primary business development professional. Like many experts in their field, his interest was not in doing the sales activities, but rather, focusing on the work.