Generally speaking, these advisors charge both a retainer and a contingent-based success fee. The retainer, which may be referred to as a work fee or an engagement fee, is intended to provide incentives for both parties to take the process seriously, work hard on the transaction right away, and also (by allowing for roughly half of the payoff to be tied to a success fee) to serve as incentive to close the deal.

There are a number of factors that influence the size of the retainer. These include complexity, transaction size, readiness of the seller (and perceived workload of the intermediary to get the seller ready), number of shareholders involved and perceived alignment across these shareholders), marketability/attractiveness/sellability of the company. That said, the range is typically in the $5,000 per month to $20,000 per month range.

The success fee is typically expressed as a percentage of the transaction value, but the actual percentage amount is determined largely by the size of the deal (the larger the transaction value, the lower the percentage). Mark Carmichael, author of The Intelligent Exit, reports some ranges as follows: Transactions under $5 million in value often involve success fees of about 10 percent. Transactions in the $5 million to $25 million average around 8 percent. Transactions in the $25 million to $50 million range may involve a success fee of 5%. And the percentages decline in larger deals, such that transactions above $100 million decline to about 3%, and larger transactions might involve success fees as low as 1%.