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M&A Advisor, Business Broker, or Investment Bank: Who Actually Sells Your Business?

These three titles get used almost interchangeably, but they typically serve different deal sizes, run different processes, and get paid differently — picking the wrong one for your size of business is a common, costly mistake.

Where each one typically operates

Business brokers most commonly handle Main Street transactions — generally businesses valued under a few million dollars — using a fairly standardized listing-and-marketing process similar to real estate, often representing both buyers and sellers across many simultaneous listings. M&A advisors (also called M&A intermediaries or, at scale, boutique investment banks) typically work the lower middle market and middle market, running a more customized, confidential process built around a specific business rather than a listing.

Investment banks, in the traditional sense, generally focus on larger transactions where the process involves institutional buyers, more complex financing, and dedicated deal teams. The lines blur in practice — many firms use "M&A advisor" and "investment bank" interchangeably at the lower end of the middle market — but the deal size a firm is built around says more about fit than its title does.

How they're paid, and why it matters

Business brokers commonly charge a percentage commission (often 10%+ at smaller deal sizes) similar to a real estate transaction. M&A advisors typically charge a smaller success-fee percentage on larger transactions, sometimes alongside a retainer, reflecting a more involved, longer process — competitive buyer outreach, financial packaging, negotiation support, and diligence management rather than a listing.

The fee structure is worth understanding upfront: a pure success fee aligns the advisor's incentive with actually closing a deal at the best terms, while retainers can fund work that happens regardless of outcome. Neither is inherently wrong, but a seller should know which they're agreeing to and why.

What actually determines the right fit

The best match usually comes down to three things: whether the advisor has closed deals in your size range and industry recently, whether they run a competitive process (multiple qualified buyers) rather than shopping to a single contact, and whether they'll be personally involved in your deal rather than handing it to a junior team once engaged.

It's reasonable to ask any advisor for recent, comparable closed transactions before engaging — deal size, industry, and how the process actually went are far more informative than a firm's general marketing.

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