Murphy Business Review

Murphy Business Sales has been operating since 1994, when Roger Murphy founded the company with the goal of raising the professional standard in business brokerage.

Over the next three decades, it grew into a network of more than 140 locally owned franchise locations across the United States and Canada, closing more than $3.9 billion in transactions along the way.

For anyone evaluating whether to use Murphy Business as a broker or invest in a franchise, the picture is layered and worth unpacking carefully.

At its core, Murphy Business connects business owners who want to sell with buyers who want to acquire. That sounds simple. The execution is anything but. 

A broker working under the Murphy brand handles business valuations, buyer qualification, confidential marketing, negotiation management, due diligence coordination, and closing logistics.

For sellers, that's the full arc of what can be a 6-to-18-month process.

The service menu goes beyond straightforward business sales. Murphy franchisees also handle:

• Machinery and equipment appraisals
• Mergers and acquisitions for larger companies
• Franchise sales and resales
• Commercial real estate transfers, leasing, and property management
• Business consulting

That breadth is a practical advantage. A broker who can layer a commercial real estate transaction on top of a business sale has more ways to generate revenue per client relationship.

Not every Murphy franchise exercises all of these capabilities, but the infrastructure is there.

Murphy Business operates as a franchise, meaning the parent company licenses its brand, systems, and training to individual owners who run their own local brokerage offices.

Here's a breakdown of what that investment looks like:

Per Murphy Business franchise disclosure. Individual results vary based on market conditions, experience, and effort.

The lean overhead model is one of the more compelling structural features. Franchisees who start from a home office skip the expenses that sink many new businesses before they gain traction: commercial rent, staff salaries, and equipment costs.

The tradeoff is that income is commission-based and tied directly to deal flow, which can be inconsistent, particularly in the first 12 to 24 months.

Murphy requires no prior business brokerage experience from its franchisees, which means the training program carries real weight.

New owners complete roughly 80 hours of online coursework before attending four to five days of classroom training that walks through a full case study.

The company also runs an annual education conference where franchisees can attend seminars, meet professional partners, and connect with other brokers in the network.

Frank Chebalo, who served as president of the Carolinas-Virginia Business Brokers Association in 2016, described Murphy's training program as "miles ahead of any other training process in the industry."

That kind of third-party endorsement from a regional trade association president carries more weight than a standard customer testimonial.

Beyond initial training, franchisees gain access to a corporate support team, lead generation resources, and co-brokering capabilities within the network.

Co-brokering, where two brokers split a deal, can accelerate closings and improve outcomes for clients.

Murphy's internal data suggests this collaborative approach helps close transactions roughly 60 days faster than brokers who work entirely independently.

Murphy describes its target franchisee as someone between 35 and 60 years old with a background in business management, leadership, or ownership.

The model suits professionals who want to leverage existing expertise in a new context rather than learning an entirely new industry from scratch.

Three profiles tend to perform well in business brokerage:

• Former business owners who understand what sellers are going through emotionally and operationally
• Corporate executives with M&A, finance, or operations backgrounds who can analyze deals with credibility
• Sales professionals who have managed long-cycle, relationship-driven transactions

The home-based structure also makes this a natural fit for people who have left corporate careers and want flexibility without sacrificing income potential.

A sole practitioner who closes three or four mid-market deals per year at Murphy's average transaction size can generate meaningful revenue without building out a full office operation.

Roughly 50% of small business owners in the U.S. report plans to sell within the next 10 years.

That statistic, drawn from ongoing small business ownership surveys, has been consistent for years and is partly demographic: the baby boomer generation, which owns a disproportionate share of private U.S. businesses, is aging through retirement.

With more than 33 million small and mid-sized businesses in the U.S., the pipeline of potential clients is large.

Murphy's positioning in the mid-market, where average transaction values exceed $1 million, separates it from brokers who focus exclusively on smaller Main Street businesses.

Larger transactions generate larger commissions, and mid-market buyers tend to be more sophisticated, which can streamline due diligence when both sides are prepared.

The business brokerage industry generates an estimated $1.8 billion annually.

Murphy, as the largest franchise network in the space, holds brand recognition that individual independent brokers cannot replicate without years of local reputation-building.

Business brokerage is not a passive income model. Income is entirely commission-based, and new franchisees should plan for a ramp-up period where expenses may outpace revenue.

Murphy's own disclosures acknowledge this: individual results vary based on market conditions, effort, and skill.

A few other considerations worth weighing:

• Geographic market saturation can limit deal flow in some territories, particularly where Murphy already has active franchise owners nearby
• Economic downturns historically suppress transaction volume, since sellers may pull listings when valuations drop and buyers become more cautious with capital
• Commission-based income requires strong financial reserves during slow periods, particularly in the first year
• Murphy's broader service menu, from commercial real estate to M&A, requires ongoing education to execute competently beyond basic business sales

Murphy's FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) lists contact information for all current and former franchisees, and the company actively encourages prospects to reach out to them directly.

That transparency is notable. Companies with weaker franchise satisfaction rates tend to discourage direct franchisee contact during the sales process.

Murphy Business has received the Franchise Business Review Franchisee Satisfaction Award for ten consecutive years.

Franchise Business Review is an independent research firm that surveys franchise owners directly, so that recognition reflects franchisee experience rather than corporate marketing.

The company is also ranked in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, a member of the International Franchise Association (IFA), and participates in VetFran, which supports veteran franchisees with discounted entry costs.

Murphy Business has built a defensible position in a large and growing market, with a franchise model that rewards professionals who bring business acumen and relationship skills to the work.

For the right candidate, the combination of low overhead, strong training, and a recognized brand in a supply-constrained industry makes a compelling case on paper and, based on available franchisee feedback, in practice as well.