Selling Your Agency
Buying an Agency
Valuation of Your Agency
Turning Your Agency Around
Executive Recruiting
Digital/Interactive/Mobile/Social
Succession Planning
Start-up Advisory (strategy/funding)
Current Job Postings
"I've Had it!".....................................
"I want it!"........................................
"How much?"..................................
"Business still stinks!"...................
"Get me that guy now!"..................
"We need to get into..."..................
"Hey, when do we get to run it?"..
"Let's start our own firm!"..............
"Show me the jobs!"......................
The time has come: Lets cash out and hit the beach. Or, lets merge. Well there's a bit more to it than that. Like at least 50 things!
Think what you would do to your car or home in preparation for a sale. If you think you are ready to sell your agency, let us know. Well take you through a sensible checklist of getting-ready-to-sell questions and issues. It really gets you organized and thinking through the process.
We can even find you some best-fit buyer-candidates.
Below are examples of turn-key programs we offer:
Remember, due diligence always takes the price down, not up.
Business is good. You're a little flush. You're thinking about putting your agency growth plan on after-burner and accelerating it through an acquisition strategy. Be careful not to get burned! Buying an agency (that pays off) is trickier than selling one. Let us show you a disciplined process to buy for profit. Need some funding? We can check into that too! Below are some programs we offer to help you get ready to make an acquisition (or two):
Post-purchase
integration is the
key to a succesful
acquisition.
How much is your agency worth? Probably not as much as a buyer is willing to pay. But, you will get fair and decent ROI for your life long investment. We can take you through a valuation process and walk you through the typical types of terms most buyers are willing to offer. We can also help you prepare the agency for a sale by recommending low cost (or better yet, no cost) suggestions of how to increase your valuation. Remember, the more organized you are as a seller, the more favorable the valuation and terms at the time of sale.
Always know the
value of your
agency before
getting ready to
sell.
Some agencies have not yet turned the corner from the '08/'09 recession. Its still may be a struggle. We can take you through an extensive checklist of turnaround strategies and tactics that have worked for other firms. It will take some work and time, but you can turn that corner!
You can do it!
You've heard time and again... your employee are your agency's assets. Those intellectual assests can be purchased in groups (acquisition) or individually (recruiting).
With 20 years in the recruiting business we know where the diamonds are (and the diamonds-in-the- rough). The right talent can make a huge difference in your agency's future. The wrong talent can impede an agency's development.
EKA is committed to executing a professionally managed recruitment project and process. Remember, a candidate's impression of your agency is first formed by the way your firm handles the recruitment and interview process. To attract the best candidates, you have to have the best process. We'll help you achieve that goal!
I'm ready to dust
off my resume!
Candidate Registration
Better yet, just
attach your resume
to this this email .
In the "message block" please
include the following:
Name:
Current Employer:
Current Title:
Years at Current Employer:
Cell Phone:
Work Phone:
Date/Time We Can Call You:
Message:
Digital/Interactive/Mobile
In case you haven't noticed...the world is mobile (smartphones). The digital world is rapidly migrating to the mobile platform. If your an interactive agency, you need to "go mobile"! If you a traditional agency with some limited digital/interactive capabilities... don't invest any more in the past. Instead, invest in "mobile" people, resouces, and technology now! In 18 months (or less), most larger marketers will be planning their communications, advertising and promotion (in-store, consumer and trade) programs to fit the mobile platform first. Then it will be re-crafted to fit every other communication channels.
Don't miss the mobile transformation of marketing and communications. It is a "must-have" to be competitive! We can help you find mobile talent: developers, GUI designers and strategic planners. MOBILE FIRST!
Gee, I better buy a smartphone!
This is the most ignored area of owning and running an agency. Planning for a smooth succession for your senior management and an exit strategy for you (and your other owners), requires taking a hard look at who in your firm can take over.
If your not sure... we better talk! Whether you are thinking of selling to your management team or to a third party, you need a succession team in place to run the business. We can take you through the "hit-by-a-bus" scenario of what happens if you, as an owner, really are hit by a bus. How will your business continue to run and prosper? If you think it can't, you're in trouble!
If you do not have the right succession team in place, we can find it for you. If you do have the right team in place, we can set up the succession planning process to include both the owner(s) and the succession team. Having a the right succession team in place enhances agency value and ensures that your agency stays healthy and profitalbe during any post-sale earnout period (which most byers will insist on).
Gee, I better watch out for buses!
Agency Start-up Advisory
OK, so you and some other upstarts are ready to go out on you own. Just remember two things: it takes twice as long and costs twice as much.
Starting an agency is not for the meek or timid. It helps to have some clients and some capital. Starting an agency requires a degree of experience, maturity and entrepreneurialship. We can help you and your start-up team think through the process by running you through a thorough "reality checklist". If you come out of that process with more "pluses" than "minuses", then we can even advise you on how to acquire some start-up capital and hold your hand during the various phases of the start-up period.
Mmmm.. maybe I should hold off buying that Lexus.
Current Position Listings
(last updated 2:51.pm EST on 2/29/12)
If you're interested and qualified for any one of these postions,
just send an email referencing the position to: eric_ekassoc.com
I'd better apply right now!
Wow! I'm impressed!
Just click the 2012 newsletter you want to read. They're all facinating!
Online Ad Spending Eclipses Print Ad Spending
eMarketer just released the 2011 ad spending report (and forecast for 2012). The 2012 forecast suggests that online ad spending ($39.5B) will surpass print's (newspaper/magazine) ad spending of $33.8B. This of course is not surprising given the decline of newspaper/magazine revenues and closings over the past few years.
Behind the Numbers:
eMarketer forecasts that by 2016, online ad spending will be double that of print ($62.0B vs. $32.3B). This illustrates the declining influence of the print as a medium for news, information and entertainment and the continued ascendency of digital. Print media joins the declining "legacy mediums" of film, music and book publishing as these platforms continue to rapidly convert to "on-demand" digital formats.
Handheld digital devices have greatly accelerated this decline and will continue do so in the future (note Apple's record-breaking 4Q 2011 sales/profit report). Marketing services firms that embrace all forms of digital delivery will benefit most (increased revenue, profit and valuation) from this ad spending conversion. Those that fail to adapt/adopt to digital will decline.
The greatest barrier to digital growth and expansion for marketing services firms will be lack of talent experienced in digital strategic planning, development and implementation. The talent shortage is particularly acute in mobile/digital tablet platforms. The effort to find and hire such talent has become fiercely competitive.
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Six Effective Ways to Recruit Senior-level Talent to Your Firm
Your company is thinking about, or in the process, of filling a SVP, EVP or similar-level position. How the candidate during the recruitment and interview process is critically important to assuring you have the best and motivated candidates ready to accept the position on your terms. Below are six essential recommendations that Eric Kercheval & Associates suggests to their clients in order to attract and close on the best-of-class senior-level talent:
1. Clearly communicate the company's vision, mission and goals. This information is vitally important for the candidate to hear and understand. There should be no ambiguity, fuzziness, hype or hyperbole in articulating this. Make sure all team members who are part of the interview loop or hiring decision-making process are all on message. Nothing spooks a candidate more than sensing your senior management team is not on the same page. It is surprising how often this is the case.
2. Clearly communicate the role the candidate will play in achieving the company's, mission and goals and spell this role out in the job description. Make clear the candidate's fit within the senior-management organizational structure. If the person is being brought in to fix problems, be up-front about what the problems are and what caused them. And be up-front about any company weaknesses or problems that the candidate will find out about within the first 30-60 days. Believe me, they certainly will!
3. Clearly communicate the expectations you have of the candidate at the three-, six-, nine- and twelve-month milestones. Also clearly communicate and outline the evaluative criteria that defines success at each milestone. If compensation incentives are attached to such milestones, clearly communicate the formula by which the incentives are derived.
4. Program into the interview process a number of feedback points when the candidate will be required to communicate/respond back to you their thoughts about the interview process, the job description, mission, goals, expectations, etc., so that you are able to evaluate the candidate's critical/strategic thinking, listening skills and communications abilities.
5. At this level of hire, have the CEO or President of the company involved in the initial meet-and-greet process. This strongly communicates to the candidate the importance of the position.
6. Execute a well-orchestrated interview process first by providing the candidate with meeting/interview agenda and/or company info packet ahead of the interview date. When the candidate is in your offices, keep the interview process running on time. Instruct your key interviewers not to take phone calls or check email (or their handheld devices) during the interview. If possible, provide your interviewers with "key evaluative criteria" outline sheets (to guide the interview process) and a means to communicate their evaluation of the candidate back to the primary decision maker(s) promptly.
Always remember that any candidate (regardless of level) will evaluate the company and job opportunity based on how the recruitment/interview process is handled. If handled well, efficiently and professionally, the candidate will be far more inclined to seriously consider, and hopefully accept, the position on your terms. Conversely, if the process is handled poorly, the candidate will likely lose interest quickly and move on to other opportunities with your competitors.
Your recruitment and interview process should be a powerful public relations tool. Every candidate who interviews with your company, regardless of the outcome or position level, should walk away from process impressed casting a favorable halo over your company. Let them spread the good word.
Eric Kercheval & Associates is an executive recruiting and mergers/acquisition advisory firm with over 20 years of providing marketing services and digital development companies with search and M&A services. Please go to our website for more information this subject and to learn more about our recruitment and M&A advisory services or email Eric Kercheval at: eric_ekassoc.com
Unplugging from Legacy Media
First, Landline Phones
The great unplugging movement has begun. The first wave started in the late 2000's when more and more people realized that most of the phone calls they were receiving on their legacy landlines at home were telemarketing calls. At the same time, most folks found that the majority of their phone time was spent on cells or smartphones. So why pay $30 -$40 (or more) per month for the landline? Alas, the landline started to become unplugged. In late 2009, it was estimated that 25% of all households were cell-phone-only (CPO). Today the CPO estimates range from 40%-50%. Traditional landline providers are leaving the business (or have begun spinning it off) in favor of wireless distribution-only. Granted, most of this landline termination has been occurring in the residential/consumer market. Most students graduating from college have never been tethered to landlines. As they enter the real world, their primary "addresses" and communication links will be their wireless phone numbers and SMS text portals. But how far off is the unplugging of corporate landlines? Theoretically, small businesses do not need landline services with a plethora of wireless and ViOP (think Skype) options available.
Second, Cable/Satellite Television
The next unplugging wave is now hitting the cable-television and satellite-service companies. With high-speed broadband now reaching 60% of all US households, video streaming is catching on in a very big way. Monthly cable bills (not including internet services) are reaching the $60-$90 range (even more with premium programming services). Consumers are now pulling the plug with increasing frequency. Roku seems to be the video streaming device of choice. About the size of a deck of cards, the device plugs into your flat-screen TV via an HDMI connection and receives your household WiFi signal. Roku offers up to 100 "channels" free of charge. These channels include popular programming options like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Plus, Crackle, BBC, PBS as well as all four major US networks. The Roku unit retails for $60-$90. Most popular TV programs can be viewed 24 hours after they air on cable or the networks. The quantity of older, archival programming available is amazing. Also, new "streaming-only" content providers are developing original programming. Netflix just announce their first original programming effort last week. Add a high-tech HD over-the-air antenna to receive local stations (UHF/VHF) and you end up with about 70% of the programming you would receive on the cable or satellite services for nominal fees!
The negative impact of video streaming on the cable and satellite providers will be huge over the coming years particularly in terms of lost ad and subscription revenue. Local television affiliate stations may slowly become superfluous as major content providers stream their programming directly to the consumer via the internet/wireless distribution channel. Social media may take on a whole new look and feel as it migrates to the HD television screen. Imagine a streaming Facebook channel. Also, marketers will establish their own streaming channels (or apps) with info commercials and original programming that feature their products. Look for new, streaming-only content providers to grow rapidly in this space. Also, as the baby-boom generation moves into living on a fixed-income during retirement, they will definitely opt for the video streaming as a low-cost alternative to expensive cable and satellite subscriptions.
Third, Broadband Internet Service
The third area of unplugging will affect landline broadband service providers selling internet connection to residential customers. The lower-cost alternative will be a broadband wireless internet connection via the newer 4G LTE wireless platform offered by Verizon, ATT, Sprint, etc. Most android-based smartphones can transmit a wireless high-speed hot spot to other devices (iPads, laptops, video, game consoles and streaming devices, etc.). At the moment, the subscription cost for such a "hot spot" smartphone feature is $30.00 per month ($10-$20 less that a landline broadband connection). The beauty of the hotspot feature is that you can take it with you, anywhere. Your internet connection is not shackled to your home. And, the hot-spot connection often is much faster than your traditional wired connection at home. Look for more broadband wireless frequencies to be sold by the US government allowing for even faster wireless connectivity. This will increase the migration (unplugging) away from traditional "wire-connected" broadband services.
What will unplugging from legacy media mean for marketing services agencies, digital/internet agencies and social media firms... in terms of revenue, strategic planning (internal and for clients) and staffing? More to come on that in the next few updates.
Hiring 50 and Up
Despite the unemployment figures being ballyhooed in the press, an interesting phenomenon is occurring: the increased interest in, and hiring of, candidates 50 years of age and older. This seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom that advertising, digital and marketing services is a "young person's game." Well, the game seems to be shifting a bit in favor of the gray-haired sage with maturity, experience and most importantly, the ability to self-manage.
We are, experiencing an increase in hires at this age. Several of our clients are interested in senior-management candidates "that have been there and done it." The appeal of these more seasoned veterans seems to be:
• Very little start-up time or training they hit the ground running
• They can self-manage effortlessly
• Highly disciplined
• Strong leadership skills
• "C-suite-ready" they can interact with a client's senior-management
team with little coaching
• They don't panic "under fire" or in stressful circumstances/situations
• Strong client management skills
Typically the over-50 candidates we have placed are not out looking for jobs and they are not unemployed, but have been aggressively recruited for specific senior-level skills and experience. There are even a few instances of over-60-year old candidates being recruited and hired for their unique experience.
Today's tougher economy, along with a desire to work longer before retirement, has increased the pool of senior management talent in the 50-65 age range. This candidate pool is typically involved in running departments, subsidiaries or managing/owning companies. They are highly engaged, active, hands-on managers that are not looking to slow down or "hit the beach."
Update: Unplugging From Legacy Media
Two weeks ago we wrote about unplugging from legacy media with an emphasis on consumers cutting the cable TV cord in favor of online video streaming. In this Tuesday's (2/21) Wall Street Journal (Marketplace Section) an article appeared on this very subject: "Over-the-air TV Catches Second Wind, Aided by Web" -- a very interesting corroboration of our view point on this subject.
Super Wi-Fi
Imagine if the interstate highway system were increase by 1,700% over the next three years. No more traffic jams for years! The FCC and Congress laid the ground work last week to do just that on the wi-fi wireless spectrum by opening up unused frequencies for auction. These new frequencies are coming from large "white-air" gaps that exist between TV channel frequencies on the over-the-air television broadcast spectrum. The FCC plans to auction these frequencies off later this year. Likely buyers will be the big wireless providers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc.) who will then re-sell to consumers and businesses. This will create a new 5G LTE network which will be 3-5 times faster than 4G LTE. The footprint will be much larger. One 5G cell tower could cover an entire small town. 3-4 towers would cover a small city. Also, 5G will be much more powerful than 3G or 4G. This means few dropped calls (because of a stronger signal) and much larger/faster data pass-through. Look for 5G to be in the marketplace in 2013. Big users of this network will be large corporations that will move their enterprise data systems on to the handheld/mobile platform. Of course, this will spawn a whole new generation of 5G-capable smartphones and tablets, keeping those manufacturers in business!
Turning Your iPad into a Windows 7 Platform
Finally you can turn your iPad into a serious Windows 7 productivity tool with a very clever app called OnLive Desktop. Just download the app on to your iPad (it's free) and execute a very simple setup and voila, you have a very easy-to-use Windows 7 platform loaded with Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) functionality. You also have a Microsoft Explorer browser which will run flash-based websites. For $4.99/month, you can also connect to OnLive's cloud server and upload your key documents and then edit them (using Word, PowerPoint and Excel).
An alternative to OnLive Desktop is Splashtop . This app recreates the desktop of your laptop or PC by producing a totally functional, real time "mirror" copy. This means that you are actually manipulating your laptop or PC remotely through a wi-fi or wireless connection on your iPad. You have access to all your programs and files (no cloud computing here). With these two apps loaded on to your iPad, you truly will be less dependent on your laptop or PC when away from the office. True mobile/handheld computing!
Mobile World Congress – Barcelona
With all the buzz coming out of Barcelona, the following seems to be observed and noted:
Attendance has tripled. Not just developers attending, but big corporations, marketing services companies and the media. This is becoming bigger than the Las Vegas-based electronics show.
New hardware announcements appear to be about thinner, more powerful (processing speed) smartphones and tablets with better cameras, display screens and audio/video capabilities.
No ground-breaking app development or announcements (yet).
Android-based hardware and apps seem to dominate the conversation.
Your agency has been your life-long investment of time, labor, blood, sweat, and tears. Youve ridden out the highS and lows of the economy and of your clients. Now you may be thinking about how to monetize this life-long investment. There are many steps in preparing an agency for a sale. And the reality is that not many agency owners are fully prepared to initiate a sale.
The first and most important step in contemplating a sale is to understand the value of your agency and the market environment for your agencys specific focus. As you have heard ad nauseam over the years, the most valuable asset an agency has is its people and particularly the owner(s). But how does one really value these intangible assets? Especially if the owner(s) may be looking for an exit strategy?
ValueScope is a valuation process that takes into consideration not only the past and future financial performance of the agency, but as importantly, the key, non-tangible assets of the agency: staff, senior leadership, client relationships/contracts, marketplace reputation and the owners anticipated post-purchase relationship with the agency and its clients.
These non-tangible assets have a major impact on an agencys valuation. Careful evaluation of the non-tangible assets is vital in order to establish a meaningful valuation of the agency.
ValueScope also keeps a pulse on the agency market environment. Who is selling and for what price and type of valuations? Who is buying and why?
ValueScope engagements are easy to execute and require financial data you already have on hand. Also, the engagement process evaluates low-cost ways to increase your agencys valuation. Further, you will acquire a strong understanding of what is required in preparing your agency for a sale and the most common types of sale terms currently being executed in the marketplace.
When participating in a ValueScope engagement, we encourage you to invite other professional advisory team members (legal, accounting, etc.) to participate in order to maximize your advisory teams value and knowledge base.
For a detailed ValueScope proposal, cost and timing, please contact Eric Kercheval for more information.
© 2012 Eric Kercheval & Associates LLC
New York / Minneapolis / 612-670-2278
