Jonathan Baker on Preparing Your Agency for a Successful Acquisition

It’s common for merging and acquisition to be on an agency owner’s mind from the very beginning, even if it is not part of their original goals. Even if you find yourself still wanting to scale your business before selling, it’s never too early to start taking steps that will make the M&A process easier down the road. Jonathan Baker is here today to share how the M&A landscape looks right now, what factors into valuation decisions, the importance of patience in the process, and more. This week, episode 231 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about preparing your agency for a successful acquisition!

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In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Jonathan Baker shares the importance of patience in the M&A process and actionable steps you can take right now to start preparing your agency for acquisition, well before valuation. 

Jonathan Baker is the Practice Lead of the M&A practice at Punctuation, a small consultancy focused exclusively on servicing creative, digital, and marketing services firms. After starting his carrer in marketing strategy and positioning, Jonathan left in 2011 to pursue his own business, Monday Night Brewing. Along with two business partners,he has grown the craft brewery to five locations and nto one of the largest craft breweries in the nation by volume. My focus has been on marketing, sales, and taprooms. Jonathan recently stepped out of the day-to-day at Monday Night to work with his father David to grow Punctuation.

In this episode, Dan and Jonathan discuss the following:

• COVID’s impact on agency goals due to vulnerability.
• Focusing on a few key lead generation activities instead of spreading yourself thin.
• The importance of patience in the M&A process.
• Challenges that can ruin a deal last minute.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and our Video training at http://salesschema.com/takecharge 

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN BAKER:

LinkedIn

Punctuation

Monday Night Brewing

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Chapters

• 0:00 Jonathan Baker on Preparing Your Agency for a Successful Acquisition
• 2:28 The transferable lessons from running a brewery to leading an agency.
• 5:38 COVID’s impact on agency goals.
• 8:11 The importance of project-based work and building long-term relationships with clients.
• 12:33 What influences valuation right now.
• 16:11 Building relationships with potential acquirers.
• 22:50 Challenges that can ruin a deal last minute.
• 23:40 The role of an M&A advisor.
• 25:21 The disconnect between firms thinking they are ready for evaluation and actually being prepared.