Who should I hire to sell my business: Merger Advisor or Business Broker?

Who you should hire depends on the size and profitability of your business:

Selling a Small business (average annual profit below $100K):

You might be able to sell your business yourself without help. There are a variety of business listing websites on line that cater to small businesses. However, if your business book-keeping and other professional organization is lacking, a business broker can help you organize and prepare for a sale to make your company more attractive. Brokers can usually talk to more buyers more quickly than an owner who doesn't sell businesses for a living.

Medium Business (Annual cash flow between $100K and $250K):

You should strongly consider hiring a business broker. For businesses of this size, most brokers are "generalists" rather than "specialists," and therefore, most can handle your sale. Most important is that you find a competent and skilled broker to help you.

An experienced business broker can help you understand how much a business is worth, market your company to find buyers, negotiate the transaction, and keep your sale confidential to ensure that employees, and customers aren't compromised.

Larger businesses (annual cash flow of $250K and up):

For a sale of this magnitude, you will want to retain a skilled merger professional. Merger Advisors are often highly skilled and seasoned professionals with extensive backgrounds in mergers and acquisitions.Merger professionals also often focus on one or more niches (substantive or geographic) and bring a wealth of knowledge to a transaction.

An M&A advisor will increase your company's value through his marketing efforts. The result of his efforsts will be to create a competitive market for your company, to maximize the value of your business.

The difference between business brokers and M&A professionals is usally two-fold. First, while a broker often handles 20 to 50 or more small listings at a time, an M&A advisor will handle a handful of transactions. Second, brokers often rely on online resources to list businesses, while merger advisors conduct a more thorough, hand-crafted process. The result is that Merger Advisors usually provide more detailed, and personalized service to their clients.