What you are buying is not a PDF. You are buying a recast, a nameless teaser, a mixed list, and a peg that does not donate cash.
What should you read in the engagement before you argue about “the rate”?
The definition of a transaction. Whether the fee attaches to enterprise value or to a cash-free debt-free number. Whether a related-party sale, a recap, or a building-only close counts. The tail after termination. Who pays appraisal, Phase I, and counsel if the process dies. Whether a retainer is credited. The exclusivity you are giving the broker — which is not the exclusive you will later give a buyer.
Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 establishments, 68.4% under twenty employees (Source: Census CBP). Most files are Main Street. Main Street fees are not investment-bank fees. Do not borrow a tombstone to argue your invoice.
| Cost you see | What it is | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Success fee | Paid if a defined transaction closes | A promised multiple |
| Minimum fee | Floor on small EV files | A hidden extra turn |
| Retainer | Working capital for the process; often credited | A secret commission if the letter says it credits |
| Third-party costs | Appraisal, Phase I, legal, QoE | Broker profit if they are pass-through |
| FSBO “savings” | No success fee | Leakage and single-buyer pricing |
IBBA Market Pulse Q1 2026 found 83% of deals over $5 million drew three or more offers (Source: IBBA). That is an argument for a process. It is not a promised bid count on a thin SDE shop.
How do you judge whether the fee earned itself?
Did more than one qualified party see a file that could support it? Did the teaser avoid identifying the shop? Did the peg match job-cost inventory? Did someone notice that OLV already beat the earnings story? Those are manufacturing hours. A generalist who says “businesses trade at 5x” has already missed the room.
BizBuySell’s 223-day 2025 manufacturing median (Source: BizBuySell) is a long exclusive to spend with someone who does not speak WIP. Time is part of the fee.
What licensing facts belong next to the invoice?
Illinois registers business brokers under the Business Brokers Act of 1995 unless an exemption applies (Source: Illinois SOS). Conveying the plant requires a licensed real-estate broker for that piece in every state. Other states differ. Counsel confirms. A cheap unlicensed “finder” is not a bargain if the close is later attacked.
Why a specialist is the skill argument. Broker versus investment bank versus FSBO is the channel argument. Do I need a broker is the sister FAQ. How it works is the sequence. The FAQ index is only the map.
How do dual-agency and buyer-side fees change the conversation?
Read whether the broker can represent both sides. Read whether a buyer-side fee is credited against the seller success fee or stacked. Read whether an introduced party that closes after termination still carries a tail. Those sentences change the economics more than a hallway percentage.
A modest credited retainer can be rational on a file that needs a quarter of recast work before a teaser is honest. Watch the other two shapes. A fat retainer that never credits against the success fee can pay the firm before the CIM is honest. A success-only mandate can starve a hard recast if the shop is not already clean. Read the written incentives. Do not grade the structure by hallway reputation.
Ask how the firm will staff manufacturing-specific work: machine-list hygiene, nameless concentration, certificate files, environmental history, and peg language. If the answer is “we send a flyer to our buyer database,” you are buying a PDF. How it works is more than a PDF.
Illinois registration is not a fee schedule. It is a permission fact. Other states differ. Confirm before you pay a finder who is “just making introductions.”
What should you bring to an intro if the only question is “what do you charge?”
The size band. The sub-sector. Whether the building sells. Whether you want a marketed process or already have one party. Whether you can staff FSBO. Whether you expect an IB because a neighbor used the phrase.
A fee conversation that starts with “what percent” and never reaches “what is a transaction” is unfinished. Read the engagement. Then judge the hours. A cheap flyer that leaks the hero customer is not cheap. The owner page refuses a fake schedule for the same reason this FAQ does.
Jason Taken is a business broker with HedgeStone Business Advisors. He will not quote a hallway percentage as if it were a published schedule. Read the tail, the transaction definition, and whether the retainer credits. Those three sentences move money more than a hallway percent.
Judge the fee by whether the teaser stayed nameless and the peg stayed written. That is the product. A flyer that names the hero customer is not a cheaper path. It is a leaked file.
Educational information only. Read the owner URL, then the engagement. The conversion path is a confidential intro call.