7 Questions to Ask Any Acquisition Advisor Before You Hire One

Reviewed by the Regalis Capital acquisitions team. Last updated August 2026.

Buying a business is one of the largest purchases most people ever make, and the firm you hire shapes how the search runs. Ask these seven questions on the first call and check the answers against the written agreement before you pay anything.

The other side of the table is often less prepared than you assume. The BizBuySell Q2 2026 Insight Report, reported by Small Business Trends, found that only 14% of owners have had their business professionally valued. A firm with a real process is how you keep that from becoming your problem.

1. What exactly do you charge, and is every fee in writing before I pay?

A firm should be able to state its full fee structure in a sentence or two and point to the page of the agreement where it is written. Ask for every number: the amount due up front, anything due later, whether any part of the up front amount is credited against a later fee, and what triggers each payment. Ask which costs you pay directly to a lender, an accountant, or a valuation provider. If a fee is described only in conversation and never shows up in the paperwork, you already have your answer.

2. Is this a set program or a custom engagement?

Ask which one you are buying, because the price tells you. A set program runs the same process, at the same price, on the same agreement for every client, and that is how it can cost a one-time fee instead of a monthly retainer. A custom engagement, where the scope, the terms and the paperwork are rebuilt for each buyer, is a boutique service and is priced like one, usually tens of thousands of dollars a month. Neither is wrong. What is wrong is paying program pricing and expecting boutique treatment, or the reverse. A good firm tells you plainly which one it is before you ask.

3. What exactly is included, and what is not?

Get the scope as a list, not a paragraph. Included should read like a job description: sourcing, screening against your written criteria, financial review, deal presentations, offers and the letter of intent, working the financing with lenders, and a named cadence for how often you hear from the team. Not included should be equally plain: the buying decision, the loan itself, running the business after closing, and third party costs like your accountant, your attorney and lender fees. A firm that cannot produce both lists has not thought about the second one.

4. Who makes the buying decision, and who owns the business at the end?

You should, and the agreement should say so plainly. This question separates a service firm from a partnership, and the difference drives money, control, and risk. A good answer sounds like this: you choose the business, you sign the loan, you own the company, and the firm does the work of finding, screening, negotiating, and helping finance the deal. A firm that describes itself as sharing ownership with you is offering a different arrangement, and it needs a different contract.

5. Where do the deals come from, and how many do you screen to find mine?

Ask for the sources by name and for the volume behind the search. Most businesses for sale sit on public marketplaces and broker websites, and a firm working from those sources should say so plainly. Ask how many businesses get reviewed each month, how many reach you, and what the screen actually tests for. A firm that cannot give you a number is browsing, not searching.

6. What does the process look like week to week?

Ask who is on your deal team, how often you hear from them, and in what form. A real operation has a rhythm: a weekly cadence call, deal presentations you can watch in a few minutes, a document sequence the team runs with the seller and the lender, and a named point of contact. Ask how many seller documents the team collects before a lender will say yes (a serious answer is in the dozens) and who chases them. The answer tells you whether you are hiring a process or a person who will call you when something turns up.

7. What happens if I cannot get pre-approved for financing?

Ask this before you sign, and get the answer in writing. Financing is decided by a lender, so no advisory firm can promise you an approval. What a firm can tell you is what happens on its side if a lender says no during onboarding: whether the engagement pauses, whether it changes shape, and what happens to money already paid. Vagueness here is expensive.

How Regalis Capital answers these

Fees. Two programs on one workflow, on market and off market, each a set program at a set price. The full fee structure is stated in writing, in the agreement, before you pay anything.

Program, not custom. Regalis Capital is a set program: the same process, the same price, and the same standard agreement for every client. That is how a done-for-you search costs a one-time fee rather than a boutique retainer. The terms are the same for everyone and are not rewritten client by client.

Included and not included. Included: weekly sourcing and screening against your written criteria, financial review, 2 to 5 minute deal presentation videos, offers and the letter of intent, lender coordination, and weekly cadence calls with the team. Not included: the buying decision, the loan, operating the business after closing, and third party costs such as your accountant, your attorney, and lender or closing costs.

Decision and ownership. You are the buyer and the owner. Regalis Capital is the service team. You choose the business, you sign the loan, and you own the company.

Sourcing and screening. The team reviews upwards of 20,000 deals a month and scores live listings against each buyer's written criteria every week, using public marketplaces, individual broker sites, and the firm's broker network. Off market work adds direct outreach to owners who have not listed their business for sale.

Process. A dedicated team, a weekly cadence call, deal presentations as short videos, and a document sequence that collects 30 to 40 seller documents to reach a lender's yes and 60 to 100 to reach closing.

Financing. Regalis Capital is not a lender and does not make credit decisions. Bring the pre-approval question to the agreement walkthrough, where a team member reads every section of the standard agreement with you on a screen share before you pay anything.