Choose an adviser whose process, responsibilities and fee terms you understand. Ask for relevant evidence, a clear confidentiality plan and a realistic explanation of value. Review the engagement with counsel rather than selecting solely on the highest suggested price.
In this guide
Ask what will actually happen
Request a description of preparation, positioning, buyer research, qualification, negotiation, diligence coordination and closing support. Ask who performs the work and how you will receive updates.
A contact list is not a complete sale process. Understand how buyers are selected, how identity and funding are assessed and who controls access to information. Ask how unsolicited inquiries and buyer conflicts are handled.
Ask who produces each part of the sale work
Scroll sideways to compare columns. You can also focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Work to arrange | Question for the proposed team | Evidence of an agreed scope |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation and positioning | Who develops the narrative, document requests and proposed buyer approach? | Named responsibilities, deliverables and what the owner must provide. |
| Financial analysis | Who reconciles records and reviews the earnings adjustments? | The accountant or financial reviewer's actual assignment, separate from a suggested asking price. |
| Buyer work and confidentiality | Who researches, qualifies and communicates with buyers, and who approves access? | An outreach/disclosure process and a reporting format the owner can understand. |
| Contracts and specialist matters | Who handles legal, tax, property, environmental and licensing questions? | The relevant professional, scope, timing and any additional cost. |
| Diligence and handover coordination | Who owns the request log, conditions list and follow-through? | A process for assigning actions and escalating unresolved issues. |
A broker may coordinate several workstreams without supplying every professional opinion. Ask where the engagement ends and what separate help must be arranged. The SBA's sale-planning guidance calls for qualified advice and attorney review of the sales agreement; a broker engagement should not obscure those responsibilities.
Reference for this section: SBA: Manage your business — Close or sell your business
Evaluate evidence and judgment
Request relevant experience that can be discussed without breaching client confidentiality. An adviser should distinguish verified transactions, anonymized illustrations and market observations. Do not treat unsupported claims of hundreds of deals or a guaranteed multiple as proof.
Ask the adviser to explain a difficult aspect of your business: lease transfer, cash reconciliation, a membership trend or deferred maintenance. The quality of the questions and the handling of uncertainty can be more informative than a polished valuation range.
Ask how experience and conflicts can be checked
Ask the person proposing to work with you which parts of any described transaction they personally handled. A firm's activity, a colleague's closing and an individual's own role are different evidence. Request references only where the former client has agreed to be contacted; a responsible adviser should not expose another seller to win your confidence.
Discuss existing relationships with likely buyers, referral arrangements, compensation from other parties and any limits on representation. Ask how a conflict would be disclosed and addressed. These are questions for the engagement and applicable rules, not a claim that one arrangement is permitted everywhere.
Where regulated services are involved, confirm the relevant person, activity and jurisdiction with the appropriate licensing or registration authority. A credential or directory entry should be checked for its actual scope. A national website, association logo or business title alone does not answer who is authorized to do the specific work you need.
Understand every fee trigger
Review the commission basis, minimum fee, retainer, reimbursable expenses, payment timing and treatment of property, debt assumptions, seller notes, earnouts and rollover equity. Fees vary by engagement; this site does not publish a universal commission rate.
Ask for worked examples under a cash sale, a partially financed sale and a transaction with contingent payments. A percentage is incomplete without a definition of the amount to which it applies.
Test fee timing against the cash you actually receive
Consider a purely hypothetical engagement with a fixed $90,000 fee due at closing. In one proposed transaction, a $1.5 million headline is entirely paid at closing. In another, the same headline includes a $300,000 seller note and a maximum $200,000 earnout, leaving $1 million at closing before deductions. The fee terms and figures are invented for this example; they are not our quote or an industry fee schedule.
Scroll sideways to compare columns. You can also focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Assumed transaction | Closing-cash component | Cash after the assumed $90,000 fee |
|---|---|---|
| $1.5 million entirely at closing | $1,500,000 | $1,410,000 |
| $1.5 million including a $300,000 note and $200,000 maximum earnout | $1,000,000 | $910,000 |
The purpose is to ask when the fee becomes payable relative to your proceeds. A different engagement may define the fee base, collection timing or treatment of contingent money differently. Have counsel review the actual language, and include debt, other costs, escrow, adjustments and a tax reserve separately in a complete proceeds model.
Also ask how property-related services, an existing buyer, reimbursable expenses, withdrawal and post-termination protected buyers are treated. Record the written answer. A spoken assurance that a fee is “only on a sale” does not answer every triggering event or surviving obligation.
Read the listing or engagement agreement
Have counsel review exclusivity, term, termination, extension, protected buyers, any post-termination tail and obligations concerning buyers you already know. Clarify what happens if the business does not sell or if you withdraw.
Confirm how real estate work is handled where licensing or specialist participation is required. Do not assume a nationwide website proves authority to perform every regulated activity in every jurisdiction.
Consider selling without a broker
A direct sale can be workable when an owner has a qualified buyer and the capacity to manage the process. The owner still needs valuation analysis, controlled disclosure, negotiation, legal and tax advice, diligence coordination and a closing plan.
Compare the cost and effort of doing those tasks yourself with the engagement scope offered. Avoid assuming that avoiding a commission automatically produces higher net proceeds, or that hiring a broker guarantees a better outcome. Evaluate the actual alternatives.
A practical interview checklist
- Who is accountable for preparation and buyer outreach?
- How is a suggested price supported?
- What will be shared before and after an NDA?
- How are buyers qualified and conflicts addressed?
- What costs apply under different deal structures?
- How can the engagement end, and which obligations survive?
- Which legal, tax, property and environmental tasks need separate specialists?
Use the answers to choose a working relationship you can understand and manage. A first call with Jason can discuss your situation and the next questions; it is not a representation agreement or a commitment to sell.
Sources and scope
These references support the specific topics described below. Recorded source-check dates are shown where available. Our checklists and examples are educational analysis, not transaction or professional opinions.
- SBA: Manage your business — Close or sell your business
General business-sale planning, valuation approaches and attorney-review context. It does not establish a car wash multiple, property value, lease transfer right or transaction-specific conclusion.
Source checked
This guide provides general education. Your documents, jurisdiction and circumstances determine the advice you need. Figures labelled illustrative are examples, not reported transactions or market benchmarks.