What Should You Expect from Your Business Intermediary?

By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · Updated September 2026 · 759 words

Expect your business intermediary to run a disciplined, confidential sale process and to tell you the truth about price, timing and weaknesses, and expect to do real work yourself. A sale is a joint effort. The advisor leads the process, but the owner supplies the information, the time for buyer meetings and the decisions that only an owner can make.

Knowing what each side owes the other before you sign an engagement letter avoids most of the friction that slows sales down.

What a good intermediary should deliver

For a fuller picture of the role, see what an M&A advisor does in a company sale.

• A value opinion with its reasoning shown, based on recast earnings (profit adjusted for owner perks and one-off costs) and on what buyers pay for comparable companies.
• A written plan: who the likely buyers are, how they will be approached, what goes into the marketing package, and the steps through closing.
• Real confidentiality controls: a blind profile, signed agreements and financial checks before any buyer learns your name.
• Regular reporting: how many buyers were contacted, who signed, who asked for meetings, and why others passed.
• Negotiation by someone senior, with every offer brought to you and explained, including the terms beyond the headline price.
• Management of due diligence and closing, working alongside your own attorney and CPA.

What your intermediary will expect from you

An advisor cannot sell what they cannot explain. Plan to provide three years of financial statements and tax returns, current year-to-date figures, customer and supplier information, leases, key contracts and a list of equipment. Expect questions about add-backs, customer concentration and why you want to sell, and answer them straight. A problem your advisor learns about in month five, from a buyer's accountant, is far harder to handle than one disclosed in week one.

You will also need to make time for buyer meetings, usually held after hours or away from the business, and to keep the company performing while it is on the market. Tell your advisor quickly about anything material: a lost customer, a new contract, a key employee resigning, a lawsuit. Bad news shared early can be framed; bad news found late becomes a price reduction.

Plan for months, not weeks

Most sales of established companies take several months from engagement to closing, and the relationship with your intermediary lasts that whole time. At MDR & Associates the typical range is three to nine months; the firm has closed in eight days and has taken eighteen months when the situation called for it. Due diligence, lender approval and legal drafting all take time, and part of the pace is set by the buyer. Owners who expect a thirty-day sale tend to accept weak terms just to end the waiting, so set expectations at the start.

A rough shape helps. There are a few weeks of preparation for the marketing package, a period of buyer outreach and meetings, then offers, then due diligence and legal documents, which often take as long as everything before them. Keep the company's results steady through all of it, because the buyer's accountants will test the latest months as closely as the older years.

Listen to advice even when you do not take it

You hired an intermediary for judgment built on many earlier sales. You do not have to follow every recommendation, and a good advisor will not want you to, but hear the reasoning before deciding. The suggestions that sting are often the most valuable: a price that is too high for the market, a buyer type you had not considered, or a change that would make the company easier to buy, such as documenting processes or moving a key customer onto a longer contract. If the fix needs a year, pre-exit consulting exists for exactly that window.

The relationship works in both directions. Owners who are open with their advisor get franker advice back, and franker advice is what protects the price.

What working with MDR & Associates looks like

A principal of MDR & Associates is in every negotiation, and a VP of Client Engagement is your main contact while the company is marketed, so you always know who to call. The work follows a ten-step process, from the discovery meeting to funds wired, and you can meet the people who run it on our team page. The firm takes a limited number of engagements at a time and declines those it does not believe it can sell for full value. To start with a confidential conversation, contact us.

Where this fitsTexas M&A advisors and business brokers →

Questions owners ask next

How often should my intermediary update me?

Agree on a rhythm at the start. Weekly updates during active marketing are common, with a call whenever something changes, such as a buyer signing an agreement, asking for a meeting or dropping out. You should always know how many buyers are engaged and what stage each one has reached.

Can I talk to buyers directly?

You will meet serious buyers, usually with your advisor present or briefed beforehand. What you should avoid is negotiating price or terms on your own in those conversations. Let the advisor carry the numbers so you remain the person who knows the business, not the person haggling over it.

What if I disagree with my advisor's pricing?

Ask for the reasoning: the earnings figure used, the comparable sales, and what buyers are likely to discount. If you still disagree, agree to test the market at a price you both accept for a set period. A price far above the market usually attracts fewer buyers and weaker offers, not better ones.