How to vet any advisor who calls about your practice

If you own a dental practice, your cell already rings with brokers, advisors, and buyers who found you on a list. Some of the people calling are excellent. Some are salesmen with a professional vocabulary. The problem is they sound identical on the phone, so here are the questions that separate them, in the order we would ask.

1. “How are you paid, exactly?”

Not roughly: exactly. Who writes the check, when, what percentage or amount, and what happens if no deal closes. Every honest model exists in this industry: seller-paid commissions, buyer-paid success fees like ours in the standard case, hourly consulting. What matters is that the answer is immediate, specific, and offered in writing. An advisor who is vague about their own compensation will not be precise about yours. And whatever the model, ask the follow-up: whose interests does this structure serve, and where could it bend against mine?

2. “What do I owe you if I walk away?”

The right answer is a number, and the best answer is zero. Watch for engagement letters with upfront valuation fees, monthly retainers, tail periods that claim a fee on any sale for years after you part ways, and fees owed even if you decline every offer. All of these exist in circulating agreements. Read before signing, and price the exit before the entrance.

3. “Am I signing exclusivity, and for how long?”

A long exclusive listing means that if the relationship disappoints, your practice is off the market until the clock runs out. Some processes justify a defined exclusive window; an open-ended one mostly protects the advisor from being outworked.

4. “Who actually buys through you?”

Ask how many buyers they realistically bring to a practice like yours, and how they get paid by, or through, those buyers. An advisor with two house buyers is a sales channel; an advisor who can run genuine competition among many is a market. The difference shows up directly in your price.

5. “Walk me through a deal that went wrong.”

Everyone has a highlight reel. Professionals also have scar tissue and talk about it plainly: the diligence that fell apart, the earnout that never paid, what they changed because of it. A caller who has never seen a deal go sideways has not seen many deals.

6. “What will you tell me that I do not want to hear?”

The honest ones have an answer ready, because they deliver bad news for a living: your add-backs will not survive diligence, your timeline is optimistic, this offer you love has a working capital trap in it. An advisor who only agrees with you is an expensive mirror.

7. “Put it in writing.”

Not a contract, just the claims: the fee model, the process, the buyer universe, the references. Professionals write things down because written things can be checked. This entire test costs one email and sorts most of the field.

Related: how the EDC process works, the deal glossary for every term an engagement letter can throw at you, and the offer second read if a caller has already put a number in front of you.