MRL #086- My Firm Was Just Acquired, Now What? (Part II)

Last week we discussed “what to expect” when your agency gets acquired.

This week, as promised, we’re going to discuss “should I leave or not?”

This may not be the answer you want to hear, but as usual it depends.

It depends on a lot of things, but really it boils down to this:

Do you want to play a bigger game?

If the answer is “yes” then stay put.

If the answer in “no” ask yourself…

“Can I play the same game I’m playing now at another shop and make equal to or more than I’m making now?”

That’s really what it comes down to.

Or at least, that’s what it came down to for me.

Of course, I didn’t like being force fed the corporate BS, and whatever flavor of political correctness was en vouge at the time…

But, that’s not ultimately why I left.

I left because I could play the same game I was playing and get paid more.

I could continue to chase my little niche, get paid a higher percentage, and (based on growth) could earn an opportunity at ownership.

I couldn’t just pass that up.

It helped that I was only four years in too.

Sure, starting over wasn’t going to be fun, but it’s not like I had a multi-million dollar book and a service team of studs built around me.

I could afford to leave, most can’t.

Which brings me to my next point.

This might sting a bit, but…

If you didn’t build your book from scratch the first time, I wouldn’t recommend starting now

Keep riding the gravy train, brother.

Don’t bail now.

It ain’t gonna be fun, I promise.

For example, one Producer I know that recently jumped ship is having a helluva time.

He built his book over 10 years ago, and he didn’t exactly build it all on his own.

Now, ten years older, ten years removed from his gravy train of leads, and ten years removed from busting his balls…

He’s finding this go around to be much much much harder than he expected.

Last I heard, he’s on the chomping block in year three.

Ouch.

I don’t tell you all of this to discourage you.

I’m just trying to shoot you straight.

This industry is a ball buster…

And if you’re not ready to sacrifice it all and get carried out on your shield…

I don’t recommend jumping ship.

I know you probably have beef with management, and you’re salty about your commission getting cut…

But, what I said last week is true.

When you’re at a bigger shop you see what’s truly possible in this business

You’re going to go from sitting in a room with a handful of million dollar Producers to sitting on calls with guys with $5MM-$10MM books and higher.

The impact that this is going to have on you can not be overstated.

You’re ceiling just got way higher, my friend.

And if you’ll just take a step back, realize the opportunity for what it is, and soak up the knowledge in the room around you…

You can make a whole lot more money now, than you ever could with your legacy agency.

That’s probably not the answer you expected...

Or the answer you wanted to hear.

But, again…

Just keeping it real.

Lucky for me, my mentor made the jump a year before I did.

So, admittedly I had the good fortune of still being able to plug-in to his brain whenever I needed.

It was the best of both worlds…

Being able to stay plugged in to a big dawg and still keeping all the up-side of a smaller agency.

Of course, you can have both too if you want.

About a year ago, I finally convinced Micah to sit down and record his process for building a book of business from scratch via cold outbound.

Be warned, there’s no fancy camera angles or editing involved…

But, the info inside is gang busters.

It’s all here if you’re interested.

Ok, that’s enough out of me.

If you find yourself going through acquisition, and want to bounce ideas off of me, I’m game. Feel free to DM me on LinkedIn.

Always happy to help, for what it’s worth.

See you next Sunday.

Kick ass take names,

Maximus F. Revenue IV