Background - I have bought 2 cleaning businesses over the past 5+ years and am always on the hunt for the next one. But I'm purely opportunistic - inbound inquiry only.

Someone recommended Axial to me earlier this year and after some discussion I signed the contract. They represent themselves as having proprietary deal flow for which a buyer would pay a fee if a transaction originated by Axial were consummated. If they actually delivered quality proprietary deal flow, I'd be happy to pay the fee.

Since I signed up, I have seen very little flow and none that matched my interests.

Then, last month I saw the same deal (janitorial business) 2x in a week, once on BizBuySell and once on Bristol. So imagine my surprise when I also got an email from Axial with this exact same deal in the same week. While that deal is not a fit, I was still curious about this claim of proprietary deal flow. So I emailed my main CR contact at Axial to ask about this - no response.

Then yesterday I got an email from Axial with another cleaning business (this one in Alabama) which is again not a fit. One day later and I got an email from Transworld with exact same deal.

Suffice to say I will not be interacting with Axial at all in the future. But for all you searchers out there, be aware.