24 min
The reality of selling your PR or marketing agency Agency Leadership Podcast
-
- Marketing
The mental image that many agency owners have when thinking about selling their agencies often differs from the reality that they experience.
In this episode, Chip and Gini share some of the difficult truths that agency owners may end up confronting if they decide to sell to or merge with another agency.
The co-hosts discuss why it is important to build an agency you are happy to own and treat selling as the icing on the cake rather than the primary objective.
If you’re looking for insight into the agency M&A process and don’t want a sugar-coated perspective, this episode is for you.
Key takeaways
Chip Griffin: “Most agencies never sell. Those that do sell rarely sell for life-changing money. And even those that do sell for life-changing money typically come with so many strings attached that the owners aren’t necessarily happy with the deal that they’ve struck in the succeeding years.”
Gini Dietrich: “In the last 10 years, I’ve been involved with boards where the company has sold. And it never goes according to plan.”
Chip Griffin: “If you are betting on the lottery ticket, odds are you’re going to be unhappy.”
Gini Dietrich: “You don’t have to sell your agency. You don’t have to be acquired. You don’t have to merge with another agency. You don’t have to do those things. So go into it with eyes wide open.”
View Transcript
The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.
Chip Griffin: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin,
Gini Dietrich: and I’m Gini Dietrich.
Chip Griffin: And Gini is going to behave herself today. I hope. Right after this.
So do I need to let you get the ridicule out of the way?
Gini Dietrich: I really think I have to get it out of my systerm.
Chip Griffin: And you’ve got like 30 seconds so that we can get it out of the way. And we can move on to topics that actually matter to agency owners.
Gini Dietrich: So Chip is famous in his hometown. And I’m going to quote not because he worked on Capitol Hill, founded companies worked as a CEO and a COO, but because he has a hobby.
And that hobby is the friendly photographer at the town sports games.
Chip Griffin: Yes, as discussed previously on the show, I do take local sports photos and the local newspaper decided to write about it. And Gini thinks nothing could be more entertaining today.
Gini Dietrich: Listen, I am very pleased with this young man’s ability to craft a story about a photographer who goes to the high school’s games and shoots photos for free.
I think that’s amazing. I think your photos are fantastic. I’m not making fun of your hobby. What I think is hilarious is the article itself. And I would very much like to link to it in the show notes so that everybody else can join in my sheer joy in reading about my friend who has done a lot of things professionally, but not what he’s known for.
Chip Griffin: So that’s out of the system. We’re going to move on to topics that actually matter.
Gini Dietrich: Show notes. And if it’s not in the show notes, because he’s in charge of that, let me know. And I’ll send you the article myself.
The mental image that many agency owners have when thinking about selling their agencies often differs from the reality that they experience.
In this episode, Chip and Gini share some of the difficult truths that agency owners may end up confronting if they decide to sell to or merge with another agency.
The co-hosts discuss why it is important to build an agency you are happy to own and treat selling as the icing on the cake rather than the primary objective.
If you’re looking for insight into the agency M&A process and don’t want a sugar-coated perspective, this episode is for you.
Key takeaways
Chip Griffin: “Most agencies never sell. Those that do sell rarely sell for life-changing money. And even those that do sell for life-changing money typically come with so many strings attached that the owners aren’t necessarily happy with the deal that they’ve struck in the succeeding years.”
Gini Dietrich: “In the last 10 years, I’ve been involved with boards where the company has sold. And it never goes according to plan.”
Chip Griffin: “If you are betting on the lottery ticket, odds are you’re going to be unhappy.”
Gini Dietrich: “You don’t have to sell your agency. You don’t have to be acquired. You don’t have to merge with another agency. You don’t have to do those things. So go into it with eyes wide open.”
View Transcript
The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.
Chip Griffin: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin,
Gini Dietrich: and I’m Gini Dietrich.
Chip Griffin: And Gini is going to behave herself today. I hope. Right after this.
So do I need to let you get the ridicule out of the way?
Gini Dietrich: I really think I have to get it out of my systerm.
Chip Griffin: And you’ve got like 30 seconds so that we can get it out of the way. And we can move on to topics that actually matter to agency owners.
Gini Dietrich: So Chip is famous in his hometown. And I’m going to quote not because he worked on Capitol Hill, founded companies worked as a CEO and a COO, but because he has a hobby.
And that hobby is the friendly photographer at the town sports games.
Chip Griffin: Yes, as discussed previously on the show, I do take local sports photos and the local newspaper decided to write about it. And Gini thinks nothing could be more entertaining today.
Gini Dietrich: Listen, I am very pleased with this young man’s ability to craft a story about a photographer who goes to the high school’s games and shoots photos for free.
I think that’s amazing. I think your photos are fantastic. I’m not making fun of your hobby. What I think is hilarious is the article itself. And I would very much like to link to it in the show notes so that everybody else can join in my sheer joy in reading about my friend who has done a lot of things professionally, but not what he’s known for.
Chip Griffin: So that’s out of the system. We’re going to move on to topics that actually matter.
Gini Dietrich: Show notes. And if it’s not in the show notes, because he’s in charge of that, let me know. And I’ll send you the article myself.
24 min