A Successful Succession: An Agency Guide For Getting Ready

• Have you discussed with your senior managers options and requirements for transitioning your “small to midsize” independent agency to new leadership and ownership?
• Do you want to learn more about the current Merger and Acquisition landscape, employee purchase plans and how to determine the value of your agency?
• Per Harry Paster, former EVP, 4As, “Looking to sell the agency? You need to start working on a plan at least 10 years BEFORE departure”.   

Join Any Fletcher, CEO, Windscreen Consulting, as he takes you through the necessary steps and decisions you must make to ensure your agency can attract a buyer (whether it be for an internal or external sale) and succeed without you at the helm. 

This webinar will provide guidelines and plans on the necessary preparations needed for a smooth transition. You’ll learn why multiples used in the past are not relevant in today’s market. The bottom line is the bottom line…it’s all about profit margins. 

Key takeaways:

• Who are the buyers in today’s advertising world
• How important is specialization
• The art of the deal:  terms and structures including current multiples for consideration
• Why profit is king
• Earn out structures 
• The role of Generation II leadership during the transmission period
• Timing for a deal including the suggested timing for the current leaders/owners to depart.

Who should attend:

• Any principal owners of independent agencies from $3MM $25MM Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) who plan to exit their agency in the next three to five years;  
• Generation II agency leaders interested in a possible Management Buyout (MBO) of their current agency
• Agency executives who are considering an acquisition(s) as a growth strategy.

About Andy Fletcher:

Andy Fletcher has been running agencies since he opened a branch office in Chicago for a major multi-national agency when he was just 26 years old.  At 30, he started a Direct Response agency, Fletcher Gampper & Wirth, and at 37 Andy was named president of Barkley, with both agencies located in Kansas City.

He later moved to Atlanta acquiring an ownership position in Tausche Martin Lonsdorf. Andy acquired two additional Atlanta agencies and created Fletcher Martin shortly thereafter.  In 2000 he sold that agency to MDC Partners and remained as CEO until 2010.

A sought after speaker, Andy has been featured at numerous national industry events as well as making eight appearances in Europe and Asia.  He has served on the 4A’s Atlanta Council and served seven years on the 4As National Board of Directors.  

In August, 2016 he founded Windscreen Consulting, LLC.  This firm provides management solutions, succession planning and M/A counsel to independent, forward thinking agencies throughout North America and Europe with a very impressive list of agency clients.