HIRING THE RIGHT BUSINESS BROKER TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS

The Smart Way To Find The Right Broker


Use the UK's largest knowledge base of brokers (& other intermediaries) to find the best one to sell your business for the highest price, in the shortest time, with the least fuss.

And avoid costly or embarrassing leaks by making all your enquiries without disclosing your identity to brokers.

This is for businesses with turnover of £5m+.  Smaller businesses, please see our other options.


the EXIT firm


As featured in almost every major UK business magazine including...

Various business magazines that our advice has been featured in



The Right Business Brokers vs The Wrong Ones


Selling Price (as multiple of earnings)

Time Taken To Sell 

Probability Of Achieving Sale



So what makes for the right business brokers?



The Right Business Brokers

  • are the ones you choose after careful due diligence;
  • typically charge 2% - 4% of the sale price as their fee;
  • are matched to the size and sector of your business;
  • take on a few businesses & give individual attention;
  • proactively hunt down strategic buyers;
  • sell more than 90% of businesses they take on;
  • (+ other factors on which we advise our clients)

The Wrong Business Brokers

  • choose you (via cold calls, spam, mailshots);
  • charge 8% - 10% of the sale price as their fee;
  • are sector / size agnostic as they provide no added value;
  • take on all businesses - pile 'em high & sell 'em cheap;
  • list your business on an online portal and just sit back;
  • sell less than 5% of businesses they take on;
  • (+ other factors on which we advise our clients).



But Google can't give you access to the information you need to choose your broker wisely. We can.




Take advantage of the UK's most comprehensive knowledge base of firms that assist in the sale of businesses. These include business transfer agents, business brokers, corporate brokers, M&A boutiques, business disposal advisers and consultants, corporate finance firms, commercial real estate brokers, deal advisory firms etc. They all sell businesses but you cannot find the right partner simply by using Google. 

Do you even need a professional to take your business to market? Which one? Quite often the best option is a legal, accounting or professional services firm that has a business brokerage arm - they can advise on not just outright sales but divestitures, recapitalisations, management buyouts (MBOs) and other equity events that many brokers can't advise on! Get impartial advice on your intermediary options.




Business brokers, business transfer agents and other intermediaries operating at the lower end of the market attract clients by cold calling, offering 'free' (but often worthless) business valuations and claiming to have legions of eager buyers on their books. 

Learn why you should avoid falling into the trap and what you need to do instead.



Get the condensed wisdom from hundreds of M&A transactions including:

  • The 12 critical functions your 'intermediary' needs to be able to provide and the 14 key questions you need to ask before you sign up.
  • The Expensive Mistakes to avoid when signing a business broker contract.
  • Everything you wanted to know about charges in this industry and how you can negotiate your way to tens of thousands of pounds in reduced fees.
  • What's the better choice, advance fee or contingency fee (payment on results)? The answer is not as simple as it seems.
  • How to extend your broker's reach to buyers he would not normally be able to access.
  • How to get far more for your business than the broker's valuation.




When I wanted to sell my 3rd business I hired Clinton to use his vast network and his intimate understanding of the industry to help me find the right partner / broker. It was worth every penny.

Clinton opened doors for me, introduced me to the top investment bankers and business brokers who wouldn't normally have taken my call and, when I decided on a firm, Clinton, saved me £20,000+ of their advance fees. Most importantly, he matched me with a broker I would not have found myself, someone who I am confident is the spot-on right firm to successfully sell my business at the target price.

Clinton operates with 100% integrity. He provided astute advice, insights, cautions and tips all through the process of finding and signing a broker which I found invaluable. I would certainly use his services again.

Ajeet is an experienced angel investor and in addition to being chair of SINE, lectures and speaks on entrepreneurship and early stage investing
Bal MattuFounder, IdeasCast
Serial entrepreneur who has sold multi-million pound businesses

After attending a free seminar organised by the “World leading” broker and their numerous follow up phone calls I finally decided to put my business up for sale early last year but not believing all the too good to be true vague successful sales examples from the seminar I turned to Google for some alternative brokers and came across Clinton and The Exit Firm.

After speaking to Clinton his free and impartial initial advice persuaded me to sign up for his broker filtering and initial negotiation service. This identified six potentially suitable brokers with full details of each brokers strengths and fee structures and even checked their letters of engagement and terms and conditions. After visiting them all it was evident that Clinton had matched five of them to my needs perfectly and I found it very difficult to choose between them. I am sure I would never have found any of them on my own.

His very modest fee is worth every penny and his initial negotiation and attention to detail saved me several thousands of pounds.I would not hesitate to recommend Clinton’s services to anyone..

Ajeet is an experienced angel investor and in addition to being chair of SINE, lectures and speaks on entrepreneurship and early stage investing
Ken M.Business Owner
Richard has sold over two dozen businesses and has published numerous books on buying / selling businesses
Richard ParkerChair, Diomo Corp.

(Clinton offers) incredibly insightful, unbiased and experienced advice


...a killer combination you can use to your advantage - it WILL make a difference.

Geoff is a serial entrepreneur. He sold his last business, Market2Lead, a CRM company to Oracle Corporation
Geoff RegoCEO, Hushly.com
Zane is an experienced investment banker who has sent several clients to our service
Zane TarenceMD, Founders Investment Banking

extremely effective ... always provided my clients with stellar advice and support.

...astute business sense. If you are considering doing business ...do it without any hesitation

Ajeet is an experienced angel investor and in addition to being chair of SINE, lectures and speaks on entrepreneurship and early stage investing
Ajeet KhuranaChair, Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

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