Business brokers in Australia: who does what, and how to choose

Search for business brokers in Australia and every result is a broker. Each one is the leading, the best, the most trusted. None of them can tell you about the others, because they are all competing for the same job.

We are not a broker and we do not sell businesses, so this is the guide we can write and they cannot. What a broker does, what they charge, when one is worth engaging, and how to pick between them.

What exactly does a business broker do?

A broker manages the sale of your business from listing to settlement. In practice that means valuing it or arranging a valuation, preparing an information memorandum, marketing it confidentially, finding and screening buyers, running the negotiation, and holding the process together through due diligence to contract.

The part owners underestimate is buyer access. A good broker has a list of people actively looking, which is the difference between advertising a business and taking it to a market. They also act as the buffer, so you are not negotiating directly with someone who is about to spend months examining your business.

What a broker does not do is prepare the business. They work with what you bring them.

How much do business brokers charge in Australia?

Fee structures vary and are worth asking about directly, because the total cost depends on the mix rather than the headline rate.

Most brokers charge a commission on the sale price, and many also charge an upfront or engagement fee that covers marketing and preparation of the information memorandum. Some structure the commission on a sliding scale, others as a flat percentage. A few work on a success-only basis.

Rather than quote a number that varies by state, deal size and firm, the practical approach is to ask any broker you meet four questions and compare the answers.

What is your fee structure, and what is payable regardless of whether the business sells? What is included in the marketing spend? Is the commission a flat rate or a scale, and how does it change with price? And what is the term of the agency agreement, and how do I exit it?

Get all four in writing before signing anything. The variation between firms is significant, and the exclusive term matters as much as the rate.

Is it worth using a business broker?

For most owner-led businesses, yes, though the answer depends on what you are bringing.

A broker earns their fee through buyer access, through running a competitive process rather than a single conversation, and through absorbing the volume of work that due diligence generates. If you have never sold a business and you are still running one, that last point is worth more than it sounds.

Where the value is thinner is when the business is small enough that the commission outweighs the benefit, when you already have a buyer identified, or when the business is not ready and the broker will simply take it to market anyway.

That last case is the one to watch, and it is not the broker's fault. Their engagement starts at listing. Nobody is paid to tell you to wait a year.

How do you choose a business broker?

Six things to check, and they are all answerable in a first meeting.

Do they sell businesses like yours? Sector and deal size matter more than geography. A broker who moves cafés is not the right fit for a $6 million engineering firm, and the reverse is also true.

What has that meant recently? Ask what they have sold in your sector and size range in the past year, and how long each took.

Are they licensed and accredited? Business broking is regulated at state level and requirements differ, so check the licence that applies where you are. business.gov.au points owners to the Australian Institute of Business Brokers for professional credentials (business.gov.au).

Who does the work day to day? In larger firms the person who wins the listing is not always the person who runs the sale. Ask who your day-to-day contact will be.

How do they qualify buyers? A long buyer list is only useful if the people on it are real, funded and screened.

What do they say about readiness? The best answer is an honest one. A broker who tells you the business needs work before it goes to market is giving you information at a cost to themselves.

What are the main types of brokers in Australia?

The market sorts roughly into four groups, and the right one depends on your size.

National franchise networks operate through offices in most states with a shared buyer database and a standard process. Useful reach, and the individual broker matters as much as the brand.

Independent state and regional firms tend to be strongest in local market knowledge and specific sectors, and are often where owners of trades and services businesses land.

Corporate advisory and M&A firms handle larger transactions, typically above a few million, and run a more structured process with a heavier fee to match.

Marketplaces and listing platforms are not brokers. They give you visibility and leave the process to you, which suits owners doing a private sale.

If your business turns over between $2 million and $15 million, you are usually choosing between the second and third groups, and the crossover point is where the deal becomes complex enough to need advisory rather than agency.

The thing to sort out before you call anyone

A broker is a route to market. The price they achieve is largely set by what you hand them.

Two businesses in the same sector, with the same profit, listed by the same broker, will attract different offers depending on how much of the operation depends on the owner. One has documented processes, a team that decides things, and customer relationships held by the business. The other has all of that living in one person, and every buyer works it out during due diligence.

The broker cannot change that in the six months they have you. It is the work of the year or two before you ring them, which is why the useful order is to prepare the business first and choose the broker second. our guide to preparing a business for sale sets out what that looks like quarter by quarter, and our guide to key person risk covers what buyers look for.

Choose well, hand over something worth selling, and the relationship works the way it is supposed to.

Frequently asked questions