What working with MHA actually costs

The short answer

How much does it cost to hire an M&A advisor to exit or grow your physical therapy business? Paul Martin, Founder and President of Martin Healthcare Advisors, lays out the full fee ladder on camera, with real numbers.

The costs covered in this video:

• Outside-In Assessment: $2,500
• Formal Calculation of Value: $7,500
• Exit, ready now: $7,500 to $15,000 retainer for a competitive process
• Exit, prepare first: $2,500 per month, credited against the success fee
• Grow: $2,500 to $7,500 per month, credited back when you transition
• Success fee: a percentage of the sale, paid at closing from the proceeds, shown in writing before you commit

You never write a check out of pocket for the success fee. We do not get paid unless you get paid. And in 27 years, every owner we represented collected 100% of what they were promised at the closing table.

Full transcript

If we are doing our job, working with Martin Healthcare Advisors really costs you nothing, because you are making an investment and we are giving you a return on that investment. Chances are this is the single biggest financial event of your life. You get one shot at this, and you want to make sure you do it right. So, we are going to be honest about what it costs to have our team come alongside you.

Think about how you price care in your own clinic. You can tell a patient exactly what the evaluation costs. What the plan of care costs comes after the evaluation. Pricing our work is the same. So, let me give you both.

Here's the evaluation. Step one is the same for just about everybody, and that is knowing where you stand. An Outside-In Assessment is $2,500: a planning session, a plan, and a road map that can give you any direction you choose. A formal Calculation of Value, the kind a bank or a partner can rely on, is $7,500.

Then the plan of care says one of two words: exit or grow. If it says exit, expect to pay one of two ways up front. If you are ready now, a $7,500 to $15,000 retainer takes you straight into a competitive market process. If you need time for preparation first, that's $2,500 a month, and every dollar of it gets credited against your success fee.

Then the success fee. That is a percentage of the overall sale, paid at closing out of the proceeds. I will not invent a number on camera, because that percentage really depends on the size and the shape of your transaction. You will see it in writing, next to the return we expect to produce for you, before you commit to anything. And you never write us a check out of your pocket. We do not get paid unless you get paid.

And if it says grow, expect to pay $2,500 to $7,500 a month, depending on what you actually need. Same as in your clinic, the final number moves with your location, your clinic count, and your size. Settling that is exactly what the Outside-In Assessment is for.

Now, the fair way to judge any of this is against what it returns to you. Every case study on our site shows both the full fee and what the owner got back, and you can read them for yourself. And in 27 years, every owner we represented collected 100% of what they were promised at the closing table.

Last thing: without an advisor, the greatest business asset you will ever sell can get shortchanged or go to the wrong partner. That is why we are here, right alongside you. And if you are one of the owners who should do this without us, I'm going to tell you that. So if you are not sure where to start, just start with a conversation, completely confidential, and we will figure it out together.

Transcript lightly edited for readability.