You don't need a broker to sell your business.
I've sold four companies, and I've never used one.
But now that I buy agencies, some of them through brokers, I've seen brokers do three jobs really well: distribution, expertise and execution.
The question is whether those jobs are worth the fee for your sale. The fee is real: expect a success fee of roughly 5-15% of the sale price, plus an upfront fee on many deals. The full breakdown is below.
Today I buy and grow web and digital agencies (more on that here). So take everything here with a grain of salt.
If you're earlier in the process, start with how to sell your business.
Marketplace, direct or broker?
You've got three main ways to sell a small business.
List it on a marketplace like Flippa. Sell it direct to a buyer you approach yourself. Or hire a broker to run the sale for you.
Here's when each one makes sense.
Use a marketplace (like Flippa) when... | Go direct when... | Use a broker when... | |
|---|---|---|---|
Size | Your business is worth under about $100,000. | Any size, as long as the buyer is obvious. | Your business is worth about $250,000 or more (local brokers go smaller). |
Buyers | Almost anyone could buy it, so you want lots of eyes on it. | You can name the natural buyers: the bigger strategic players in your space. | You're in a big market and have no idea who the buyer will be. |
Financials | Simple. One payment system, one revenue stream. | Clean enough to walk a buyer through yourself. | Complex. Multiple entities, revenue streams or a team to transfer. |
Your time | You can answer buyer messages every day. | You can prepare properly for every buyer conversation. | You need someone else to herd the cats while you run the business. |
The deal | You want cash up front and a quick close. | You want to shape the deal around one buyer's goals. | You're open to more complex structures, like earn-outs, for a higher price. |
Why I've always sold direct
Early in my career, I sold two small side hustles through Flippa.
Flippa isn't a broker. It's a marketplace. You list the business and do the selling yourself.
The two bigger businesses I sold went direct to the buyer.
I knew who the buyers were because they were the bigger strategic players in that space. Selling to one of them made the most logical sense, because the business was worth more to them than to anyone else. So they could pay the most and get the deal done.
We didn't open with "want to buy us?" The conversations were about exploring strategic opportunities. Each buyer got a presentation built around what they'd want from the business.
Eventually, one of those conversations turned into an LOI. What I said was simple:
"Hey, we're going to an LOI with another competitor in this space. We think it makes the most sense for you. How can we work together?"
Skipping the broker saved us time, fees and complexity. And it built a huge amount of trust directly with the buyer.
If you can name your buyers, you probably don't need to pay someone to find them.
1. Distribution: who can they put you in front of?
Distribution is the easiest part of a broker's job to understand.
Say you're in a big market and you've got no idea who the buyer will be. You want to get in front of hundreds of them.
A broker makes sense here - they've got the list and know the channels to find potential buyers.
That's especially valuable when your business is more of a commodity. Lots of buyers could own it, so more eyes means more offers.
But if your business is niche, it's different.
If you know who the strategic players and natural acquirers are, talk to them directly. It can be far more productive, save you months, and potentially save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.
2. Expertise: the real value
This is where a good broker earns their money.
They're doing deals all year. You're doing one every few years, or once a decade.
That means they've got the reps. They price your business off comparable sales, and they can help you see around corners before you hit them.
But the thing they're best at is setting expectations.
Every business owner (myself included) is guilty of thinking their business is worth more than it really is. A good broker has that tough conversation before the market does.
That matters. If a founder first hears the market reality from a buyer, it can set the whole relationship off on a bad foot.
We say this all the time on our side: founders selling through a broker are far more realistic about what their business is worth than owners we approach cold.
AI can help here too. It's great for feedback on your documents and thinking through options.
But you need someone accountable who's been through it before. Not something that could hallucinate.
More on how buyers think about valuation and timelines.
3. Execution: running the process
Here's what nobody tells you. Running a sale will take about 80% of your time, broker or not.
So don't expect the business to move forward while it's happening. Make sure you've got a team in place who can keep it moving and protect its value.
A good broker takes two big jobs off your plate:
Confidentiality. Buyers sign an NDA and get vetted before they see your name or your numbers. Your team, customers and competitors don't find out from a public listing.
Momentum. They keep things on track and on time, and herd the cats while you run the business.
Even with that help, selling is a real investment of effort and energy. Here's what it feels like to sell your business.
Good brokers vs bad brokers
A good broker keeps the deal moving and keeps everyone pointed at the finish line.
A bad one gets involved and starts acting like it's their business.
On most deals, the broker eventually steps back and the two owners work it out together. Same with the lawyers.
Every deal ends with two owners talking and making the call. The right broker gets you to that conversation faster.
What do business brokers charge?
Most broker fees come in three layers.
An upfront or monthly fee. For marketing, preparing the sales pack, or a retainer for their time.
A success fee. A percentage of the sale price, paid when the deal closes.
Incidentals. Everything else it costs to get the deal done.
Here's roughly what each type charges. The ranges are similar in Australia and the US.
Type | Typical sale size | Upfront or monthly fee | Success fee | Upfront fee credited at close? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Marketplace (Flippa) | Under $100k | Listing fee, from about $29 to a few hundred dollars | About 5-10%, lower on bigger sales | No |
Online business brokers (Empire Flippers, Quiet Light) | $100k to $5M | Usually none | About 10-15% | Nothing to credit |
Business brokers (local and regional firms, like Link Business) | $250k to $10M | About $2,000 to $15,000 for marketing or engagement | About 5-10%, often with a minimum fee | Sometimes. Negotiate it. |
M&A advisors (like Exit Advisory) | $5M to $50M+ | Monthly retainer, about $5,000 to $20,000+ | Lower, often on a sliding scale that steps down as the price goes up | Usually, sometimes with a cap |
Percentages hide how big these numbers get. So do the maths in dollars.
On a $1,000,000 sale, a 10% success fee is $100,000. Add a $10,000 marketing fee and your own legal costs, and you're well past $110,000 before tax.
That can absolutely be worth it. But you should know the number before you commit to the process with them.
The incidentals
Even if you sell direct, you'll pay some of these:
Legal fees. Your own lawyer for the sale agreement. The broker doesn't replace them.
Accounting. Cleaning up your financials, and tax advice on how the sale is structured.
Valuation or appraisal. Some brokers charge separately for this.
Escrow. On marketplaces, usually paid by the buyer, but check.
And two clauses to read twice in any broker agreement:
Exclusivity. How long you're locked in. Six to nine months is common.
The tail. Whether you still owe the success fee if a buyer they introduced buys after the agreement ends. Make sure it doesn't cover buyers you already knew.
When a broker earns their fee (and when they don't)
A broker sells you three things: reach, reps and a process. They earn their fee when you're missing those things.
If you don't know your buyers, you need the reach.
If it's your first sale, you need the reps and the reality check on price.
If you can't run a sale and the business at the same time, you need the process.
But if you already know who'll buy, and you've got good advisors around you, you could be paying a big fee for something you already have.
So here's what I'd do.
Write your buyer list first. Before you call a broker, write down who might buy your agency. If you can name the strategic players, try a direct conversation first.
Work out the fee in dollars. Take your expected price and apply the success fee. Then add the upfront fee and incidentals. Decide if that number is worth what you're getting.
Go direct, but don't go alone. Pay a lawyer who does business sales and an accountant who's seen a few, on a fixed or hourly fee. They'll get the details right that move your payout, like the working capital adjustment and any earn-out.
Negotiate the fine print. Ask for upfront fees to be credited against the success fee. Keep exclusivity short. Agree separate terms for buyers you already know and bring to the table, since they're less work for the broker.
Ask any broker who they'd call. Get them to walk you through their buyer list and recent sales in your space. If it's the same people you'd call yourself, you're paying for reach you already have.
If you're weighing up your options, here's how we buy agencies.