You’ve built your bank through years of dedication, long hours, and hard work, not to mention sweat and tears. You know your employees, your customers, and your competitors well. With such valuable knowledge and experience, who better than you to sell your bank when the time comes?

Bankers who understand their institutions and industries, along with the value of a hard-earned dollar, can become overeager to conduct the sale of their businesses themselves. Some are reluctant to hire an intermediary, saving those payments instead for potential profits.

While a personally invested perspective is admirable, it may not provide the best advantage when selling. Bias regarding the business’s worth can be a large drawback. It can prevent a seller from recognizing true value based on the current market; moreover, it may also prevent the seller from obtaining actual market information.

Here are the top truths about trying to sell your business yourself.

The old buyers are not necessarily the current buyers.

The market is constantly changing. Regional banks that were historically on the buying trail are not necessarily on that trail today, and the deals they’re pursuing are significantly larger than the community deals conducted in the past.

In additional, they seem to be sellers of branches as well. The new buyers are former executives at regional banks and other community banks such as yours.

Furthermore, an asking price based on what a friend received a couple years ago—or more—isn’t an accurate reflection of today’s market value.

When running operations and acting as a seller, you may find it hard to do either job justice.

Who will run the bank while you’re busy selling it? In the consuming effort to sell, it becomes difficult for you to perform the operational and visionary functions that are needed to maintain margins, mentor employees, generate new business, and deal with a host of other tasks that need attention.

There is a reason many Fortune 500 companies are selling non-core operations. Do what you’re good at, and hire experts when you need them.

You can’t keep the “talk” out of your business when selling is an inside job.

Confidentiality is crucial to the sales transaction. Do-it-yourselfers find they are unable to keep the process adequately confidential from employees, customers, and even competitors.

By hiring an intermediary, all documents are exchanged outside the bank office to avoid internal scrutiny. Confidentiality is further assured through formal, legal agreements with potential buyers.

Relationship outcomes make negotiating a complicated process.

Have you ever negotiated with a future boss? Oftentimes the seller will work for the buyer for a period of time after the sale. This makes upfront negotiations tricky and full of potential pitfalls.

Using an intermediary to help negotiate a deal keeps the seller in a sound, independent position and in good graces with the potential purchaser. What’s more, intermediaries accustomed to negotiations know how to attain additional dollars in the purchase that can benefit the seller’s overall position and most likely justify intermediary fees many times over.