Home › Resources › Broker, CPA, coach or advisor
A plain comparison ยท for owners deciding who to callBroker, accountant, coach or advisor: who does what when you leave your business
Five different kinds of professional will tell you they help with succession. They are not interchangeable, they do not do the same job, and hiring the wrong one first is how owners lose a year.
The short answer. A broker sells the business. An accountant handles tax and the numbers. A lawyer handles ownership, contracts and your estate. A coach works on you. A strategic advisor works on the business and the leader together, in the years before any transaction, which is where the price is actually determined. Most owners hire the broker first, which is usually two years too late.
The five, in plain terms
| Who | What they actually do | When to bring them in | How they charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business broker or corporate finance adviser | Finds buyers, runs the sale process, negotiates the deal | 6 to 12 months before going to market | Percentage of sale, often with a retainer |
| Accountant or CPA | Tax structure, clean financials, diligence readiness, the actual numbers | Two years out, and throughout | Hourly or fixed project fee |
| Lawyer | Shareholder agreements, sale contracts, estate and ownership transfer | When structure decisions are being made | Hourly |
| Executive coach | Works on you: how you lead, decide, delegate and handle the transition | Any time | Monthly retainer |
| Strategic advisor | Works on the business and the leader together: leadership team, decision rights, removing the dependencies that cost you price | One to three years before any exit | Monthly retainer |
The gap most owners do not know exists
Here is the sequence that goes wrong, and it is extremely common.
An owner decides to sell. He calls a broker, because that is the obvious call. The broker values the business, and the number is lower than expected. The reasons given are owner dependence, customer concentration and messy accounts.
Every one of those takes twelve to twenty four months to fix. The broker cannot fix them, because a broker's job starts when the business is ready to be sold. So the owner either accepts a lower price or takes the business off the market for two years.
The work that raises the price happens before the broker is hired. That is the gap. It is not a gap anyone in the transaction chain is incentivised to point out to you, because none of them get paid for it.
What a coach does versus what an advisor does
These two get confused constantly, and the distinction is simple.
A coach works on you. How you make decisions, where you avoid conflict, why you keep taking work back, what you will do with yourself after the business. That work is real and for many owners it is the thing that finally unblocks the handover, because the obstacle was never the org chart.
An advisor works on the business as well. Who is on the leadership team, what they are allowed to decide, whether the numbers are trustworthy, how the business performs when you are not in the room. Advisors take a position on your business rather than only asking questions about it.
Roughly: if your problem is "I know what to do and I am not doing it", that is coaching. If it is "I do not know what to do", that is advisory. Most owners approaching an exit have both.
What each one costs
Ranges for a business in the $5M to $50M range. These vary by market and by scope, so treat them as orientation rather than quotes.
- Broker or corporate finance: commonly a percentage of the sale value, with a monthly retainer through the process. On a lower mid-market deal the percentage typically sits in the single digits and rises as deal size falls.
- Accountant: hourly, or a fixed fee for a defined project such as diligence preparation or a tax structuring review.
- Lawyer: hourly. Transaction documents and shareholder agreements are the significant items.
- Executive coach: monthly retainer. Ours starts at $1,200 a month.
- Strategic advisor: monthly retainer. Ours is $4,950 a month, and the 90 day foundational planning project is included.
Any professional who will not give you a straight answer about how they are paid before you engage is telling you something.
How to sequence them
| When | Who | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| Two to three years out | Strategic advisor, accountant | This is when the price is determined. Owner dependence, leadership, clean numbers. |
| Two years out | Lawyer | Ownership structure and estate decisions take time and affect everything downstream. |
| Twelve months out | Independent valuation | So you know your own number before anyone quotes you theirs. |
| Six to twelve months out | Broker or corporate finance | Their job starts when the business is ready to be sold. |
| Throughout | Coach, if the obstacle is you | Many handovers stall on the owner, not the plan. |
Questions worth asking any of them
- How exactly are you paid, and what happens to your fee if I decide not to sell?
- What does the first ninety days look like, specifically?
- Have you done this with a business my size, in a broadly similar situation?
- What is outside your scope, and who should I be talking to about that?
- If this goes well, what will be different in twelve months?
Question four is the most revealing. A professional who claims to cover everything is either inexperienced or selling.
How to choose someone for something this personal
Three things, in order.
Have they operated? Advice about running a company from someone who never has is a different product from advice from someone who has. Both have value. Only you know which you will take seriously at two in the morning.
Will they disagree with you? You are paying for the sentence nobody in your business will say to you. If the first conversation is entirely agreeable, you have hired a mirror.
Is the scope honest? Someone who tells you what they do not do, and hands you a name for it, is more likely to be straight with you about the rest.
Questions owners actually ask
What does a strategic advisor do that a business broker does not?
A broker sells the business and their work starts when it is ready to be sold. A strategic advisor works on the business in the one to three years before that: building a leadership team that runs it without you, transferring decision rights, cleaning up the dependencies that cause buyers to discount the price. The price is largely determined before the broker arrives.
Do I need a coach or an advisor?
If your problem is that you know what to do and are not doing it, that is coaching. If your problem is that you do not know what to do, that is advisory. Owners approaching a handover or exit usually have both, because the obstacle is frequently the owner's own habits rather than the plan.
What does business succession or exit advice cost?
Coaching retainers commonly start around $1,200 a month. Strategic advisory retainers for a $5M to $50M business are typically several thousand a month. Brokers charge a percentage of the sale plus a retainer. Accountants and lawyers charge hourly or by project. Any adviser who will not explain their fee structure before you engage is a warning sign.
Who should I call first if I want to sell my business in three years?
Your accountant and a strategic advisor, not a broker. The three years before a sale are when the price is set, through reducing owner dependence, cleaning the financials, diluting customer concentration and securing key people. Call the broker six to twelve months before you go to market.
Can my accountant handle succession planning?
Your accountant handles the tax structure, the numbers and diligence readiness, and that part is essential. What they typically do not do is prepare the next leader, redistribute decision rights or build a management team that can run the business without you. Those are the parts that determine whether the handover works.
How do I choose someone I can trust with something this personal?
Ask whether they have actually operated a business, whether they will disagree with you, and what they consider outside their scope. A first conversation where everything you say is agreed with is a bad sign. So is a professional who claims to cover all of it.
Where Mind Shift fits
Mind Shift is the strategic advisor row in that table. We work with owners of $5M to $50M businesses on strategic advisory and leadership development, usually in the years before a handover or a sale, on the things that determine whether either goes well.
We are not brokers, accountants or lawyers, and we do not give legal, tax or regulated financial advice. Where you need those, we will say so and you should hire them.
A Clarity Session is free and is a conversation, not a pitch. If the honest answer is that you need someone else first, we will tell you that.
Free. No pitch. Talk through where the business stands and what has to happen next.
Keep reading
© 2026 Mind Impact Ltd trading as Mind Shift. This guide is general leadership guidance, not legal, tax or financial advice. Last reviewed September 2026.