Succession Planning: Valuation and Your Exit via Internal Transfer, Merger/Acquisition
2024-12-03 - 2024-12-04 | Monday Night Garage, 933 Lee St, Atlanta, GA, 30310, United States
Seminar Synopsis

We are thrilled to be able to reprise our Succession Planning seminar on December 3-4 in Atlanta, focused on valuation and your exit via internal transfer, merger, or acquisition. This year’s seminar will maintain an intimate format (limited to 35 agency principals, with plenty of networking opportunities.
We are bringing in an outside perspective to bolster our content in the form of Chris Handy. He has gone through the process of selling his agency and is now helping to build the agency towards another exit. His bio is below.
The content we cover is hard to find elsewhere, particularly for the marketing and creative industry. If you’re even remotely considering a sale at some point, we hope you’ll join us. You’ll walk away with valuable information, contacts, and (hopefully) more direction.

Timing

December 3-4 2024. We will end with lunch on Wednesday. Optional networking and socializing events will be scheduled Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Location

Monday Night Garage in Atlanta, GA

Price

$2,300 per attendee.

Agenda (subject to change)

Tuesday, December 3

08:30a Registration and Coffee

09:00a Introductions
09:30a When and why succession surfaces

10:00a What is your firm worth? Valuation theory and real-time application to your firm

12:00p Networking Lunch

01:00p What are your options? Buyer/seller scenarios

02:00p The typical sales process

03:15p What do buyers look for?
04:00p Q&A and open bar

07:00p Networking Dinner Private dining at local favorite Miller Union

Wednesday, December 4

08:30a Coffee
09:00a How do you navigate a deal? Dealing with that first offer

10:00a Earn outs: the good, the bad, the ugly
11:00a The ins and outs of an internal sale

12:oop Networking Lunch
01:00p Q&A and wrap-up discussion

01:30p Seminar Ends

Speakers

Chris Handy

Jonathan Baker, Punctuation

David C. Baker

Speaking will be split between David C. Baker, Jonathan Baker (bios here) and Chris Handy. Chris Handy is the CEO and co-founder of Engine Shop, the experiential marketing agency for brands needing a breakthrough. Engine Shop, formed in 2012, grew to be one of the more prominent, independent experiential agencies before being acquired in 2015. Chris has remained with the agency post-acquisition, post-earnout and post-pandemic as he works to take the company to another exit. A former CPA, corporate lawyer and sports agent, Chris considers the sale of his agency one of the most rigorous challenges to personal identity, character and values he experienced in his career.
Accommodations

Not included, but suggested booking at Bellyard Hotel, within walking distance of dinner (and stumbling distance back). Note: Lunches, dinner, snacks, and all beverages (alcoholic and otherwise) are included.
Additional Details

A core belief that informs our advisory work with independent, expert marketing firms is this: firms fail or thrive based almost entirely on the quality of their business decisions. However creative you are, unless your business is run on sound principles you’re not going to be around long, and your actual and potential clients won’t benefit from your expertise.

A prime example of this challenge is the fact that very few firms succeed past the original owner group. While we have led 200+ equity transactions of all types, it’s still rare. Do you want to be one of the firms that maximizes your investment? Do you want to know how buying and selling works, where the buyers come from, how they evaluate a firm like yours, and what they’re willing to pay? And would you like to run your firm so that it’s far more likely that you’ll benefit from succession?

If so, this 1.5 day intensive is for you. It’s only for principals or employees who want to buy a firm, but you’ll be amazed at what you can learn in a solid day and a half.

Every firm that attends is not for sale, and few of them will be, but you’ll learn as much from fellow attendees–their struggles and triumphs–as you do from the material.

We’ll talk about when and why you are most likely to begin thinking about this. Oddly enough, it’s not tied directly to your age but one particular financial obligation and two challenges that tend to wear principals out.

We’ll then put our science hats on and walk through valuation theory and application. You’ll learn about weighting, multiples, EBITDA adjustments, normalizing principal compensation, inverse multiples, equity vs. goodwill, client concentration penalties, and standard deviation. You’ll be able to play with the formulas and get a rough idea of your firm’s value as we build a valuation from scratch together.

Then we’ll put a buyer’s hat on and look at your firm like they will. What’s important and what isn’t. You’ll be surprised by a few things, like how unimportant (to them) your employee base is and how important other things are.

Then you’ll craft your own plan for dealing with that inevitable offer that will come your way. What do you tell them and when, and what’s should you do on your own before bringing a professional into the picture? We’ll describe the story (only in part financial) that you’ll craft to maximize the value of your firm.

A significant amount of time will reveal the major buyer/seller scenarios, like holding companies, equal mergers, acqui-hires, non-traditional buyers, strategic purchases, buying capacity, selling only the accounts, and of course the intricacies of transitioning the firm to one or more key employees.

We hope you can join us in Atlanta. Feel free to bring a significant other with you to join for dinner.

Pipeline Kickstarter (2025)
2025-01-09 08:30 - 2025-01-10 14:30 (America/New_York) | Monday Night Garage, 933 Lee St, Atlanta, GA, 30310, United States
Okay, 2024 hasn’t shaped up exactly like you were hoping it would. You could hire those Punctuation folks to work with you individually in a New Business Audit for $18k, but you need quicker and cheaper answers. Plus, you want to do it with peers.
Join us for a pop-up seminar, then, and explore the same three things: positioning, service offering design, and lead gen. You may very well get everything you need to make 2025 kick ass. If you need some individualized help, you can tack on some individual help, after the event, where we’ll apply this specifically to you. But only if you need it.
Timing
Starts at 8:30a on Thursday, January 9. If that’s too early, you aren’t serious about solving this. So arrive the night before. We’ll facilitate attendees getting together for drinks/dinner (via a WhatsApp group). We’ll meet through 3:30p the first day and then have an open bar before open groups gather for dinner and celebrate or commiserate or both.
Second day (Friday, January 10) will go from 8:30 to 2:30p, and then you’re free to fly back home and put some distance between your firm and any competitors who didn’t come.
Detailed agenda to come, but essentially we’ll work through the topics below.
Agenda

Quick Assessment of Your Current Positioning
Tests We’ll Use to Evaluate Your New One
Vertical vs. Horizontal: the Pros/Cons
Defining a Qualified Client: Keeping ICP as a North Star
How to Articulate Your New Positioning
What Your New Positioning Does (and Does Not) Mean for Current Clients
The Three Eternal Principles of Service Offering Design
Starting Relationships w/ Diagnostics or Roadmaps
Aligning Your Offerings As a Fixed Prix Menu Rather than a Cafeteria
Sticking Around Forever Without the Client Resenting It
How Many New Clients Do You Need
Crafting the Right Mix of the Four Big Options to Surface Opportunity
Arriving At a Simple, Specific Plan that Fits Your Personality

What To Expect
Expect no more than 32 people, all principals (i.e., decision makers). Less lecture and more useful, guided discussion. As much relationship-building as you want, or time to think without interruptions. Fearless raising of all the critical decisions, honest feedback on your courage or wimpiness, and “glass half full” encouragement to solve this.
Fine Print
You’ll get as much out of this as you put in it. There will be a few things for you to do beforehand, and you’ll get lots of questions answered at the event. But no follow-up or personalized advice/feedback is included. That will be available if you need it, but this isn’t designed as a “hold your hand at every turn” sort of event, but rather a kickstarter from someone who has most of the answers and who loves you.

Responding to the Current Business Climate
2025-03-26 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85223475863
Some firms are doing very well and a few are closing, but many firms are in the middle and wondering when the new business pipeline will open up and work will be a bit easier to land. In a new style of webinar, David C. Baker will share 20 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.
This is the first of a seven-part webinar series.

The Essential Performance Benchmarks to Watch
2025-04-16 13:00 - 14:00
We’ll list all the major ones, but we’ll concentrate on the eight core benchmarks to watch at all times, and then show you how to modify those a bit for tougher times and where to focus instead so that your actions are appropriate. In a new style of webinar, David C. Baker will share 15 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.
This is the second of a seven-part webinar series.

Doing Staff Reductions Thoughtfully
2025-04-30 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86124305953
Nobody has ever said “I’d wish I’d waited longer,” so there’s that. But WHEN (not IF) you need to do them at some point in your firm’s life, there are a half dozen principles that are core to navigating this with as much dignity and as little damage as possible. In a new style of webinar, David C. Baker will share 15 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.
This is the third of a seven-part webinar series.

London Meet & Greet
2025-05-07 10:00 - 12:00 | Matter of Form, 168 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6HU, United Kingdom
Join us across the pond for a casual meet and greet. David and Jonathan Baker will be on hand to sign books, give a short talk, and answer any questions. We are hoping to be helpful and make a few in-person connections, so we are limiting registrants to 25.

What Leadership Looks Like in Uncertainty
2025-05-21 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82249919831
Leadership vacuums are never left vacant, so let’s be sure that you lead, even when you aren’t certain how to do it. We’ll cover the best ways to process those decisions in the heat of the battle. In a new style of webinar, David C. Baker will share 15 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.
This is the fourth of a seven-part webinar series.

Your Merger/Acquisition Options
2025-06-04 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86747614395
There’s more M&A activity now than there’s been in decades. What’s driving it? What are your options? Should you pay attention or stay the course? What can you do to increase your odds of success? In a new style of webinar, Jonathan Baker will share 20 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.
This is the fifth of a seven-part webinar series. To watch, please fill in the form below.

Some Quick New Business Wins
2025-06-25 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86747614395
Ideally you have a reasonable, efficient plan that’s always working to drip opportunity into the top of the funnel. But sometimes you need some quicker wins. Here are some options, concentrating especially on the ones that won’t hurt your reputation in the long run. In a new style of webinar, David C. Baker will share 15 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.

Building Flexibility Into Your Staffing Model
2025-07-16 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86747614395
Nothing has changed more in this industry than how you staff your work for clients. There’s the Hollywood Model, near shoring, far shoring, staff aug, and a half dozen others. Let’s talk about the pros and cons when managing your largest expenditure. In a new style of webinar, David C. Baker will share 15 mins of thoughts on this… and then spend the remainder of the time answering YOUR questions (asked publicly or anonymously, during or beforehand), live.
This is the last of a seven-part webinar series.

Reset and Reinvention: A Self-Guided TBR Experience
2025-09-08 18:00 - 2025-09-10 16:00 | Monday Night Grove, 1500 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30318, United States
The current uncertain times call for a seminar experiment. We still do a combined 25+ Total Business Resets ($25k+) and New Business Audits ($18k) every year, but some of you could probably benefit from a more affordable, self-guided version of the larger of the two programs, and so we’re going to do that! And as a bonus, our friend Karl Sakas will be joining as a guest facilitator and coaching expert.
This will be a two-day intensive for a limited audience. The pros are these:

2 days rather than 3 months+
80% cost savings over the full program
You get to learn from and build relationships with other principals.

The compromises:

Not as personalized
We won’t be able to survey all your people (though we will do personality profiles, for a small extra fee)
The implementation follow-up will be somewhat limited.

But honestly, I can’t imagine another seminar like this. And that’s because there isn’t one.
This will be held in Atlanta in a brand new, intimate facility and will be limited to a small number of firms, so please let us know if you have any questions and then grab a spot if you think it’ll be a fit. To dig a little deeper into what our flagship service looks like, read this.
We’ll have two very full days that look like this:
Sept 8, Monday

6:30p Group dinner, provided.

Sept 9, Tuesday

9:00—Benchmarking your financial performance. We’ll walk you through every important metric and help you understand how they are related and what levers to pull to improve them.
11:00—Positioning your firm to give you leverage in the marketplace and to enable a more efficient and effective marketing plan. Each firm will receive specific feedback on their best options.
1:00—Lunch, provided.
2:00—Positioning Workshop to give you a chance to pitch your idea and get feedback.
3:00—Service Offering Design. Here we’ll look at the best way to start relationships, how you need to lead clients with a Prix Fixe sort of menu rather than a buffet of choices, and how to grow those accounts but also step down to a lesser level of engagement, when appropriate, to be a valued member over a long time, but still stay around to be ready for the next project.
4:00—End/break.
6:00—Group dinner.

Sept 10, Wednesday

9:00—Lead Gen. How to drop opportunity into the drop of the funnel, consistently, but built around your personality, tied to your positioning, and simple enough to execute. We’ll present the options, make specific recommendations, have you build a one-page plan right then, and have you share it with the group.
11:00—Role | Structure | Processes | Staffing. Who should do what. Which role(s) are appropriate for you. What level of staffing do you need for each role. How do the departments work together. Here we present the findings from $300k+ of proprietary research, applied to your firm, weaving in the personality profiles which overlap specific roles.
1:00—Lunch, provided.
2:00—Future Proofing your firm. What are your best options? In addition to crafting an executable list of the things to fix first, and in what order, how do you make the firm both fun to run…and more sellable in the market? What can you expect?
4:00—End/go home with a lot of answers and some lifetime friends.

Cost: $5,000, payable by check or credit card. A second person from the same firm is $3,000. Principals only (or trusted leaders to which there’s full transparency to everything in the firm). If sending multiple people, please email us ahead of time so that we can coordinate discounts.
Personality Profiles: We also highly recommend that your entire team participate in a personality profile exercise ahead of time, which adds $100/person. If you already have a DiSC-like product (or PI), no need to repeat the exercise (just bring them with you). This is not required, but it will make the second section on Wednesday a tad more helpful.
We will have a little preparation work for you to complete ahead of time, and we’ll also get on the phone with you, individually, during the month after the event, to go deeper and answer any questions that you have.

Leading Your Firm's Growth With Account and Project Management
2025-09-23 08:00 - 2025-09-24 12:00 | Monday Night Garage, 933 Lee St, Atlanta, GA, 30310, United States
Group Pricing Available, Just Ask!
Seminar Synopsis
We have further focused and expanded our popular Account and Project Management seminar this year, adding content and bringing in experts Jenny Plant and Brett Harned as speakers. The result is an intensive two-day crash course on all things account and project management. Those just starting to explore the subject and those who have been steeped in it will both benefit greatly.
This seminar is designed for the account management team and the project management team that works alongside them. Strong client and project management is no substitute for great work, but it is key to the success of growing client relationships, and therefore growing a successful practice.
Agenda (subject to change)
Tuesday

9:00: Introduction
9:30: History and Context of the AM/PM World
10:30: Essential Principles of Great Account Management
12:00: Essential Principles of Great Project Management
1:00: Lunch (provided)
1:45: How to Grow Accounts
3:00: Leading Through Project Management
4:00: Networking and Happy Hour

Wednesday

9:00: Interplay of AMs and PMs, and Personality Profile Fits
10:15: How AMs and PMs Work Together Effectively
11:15: Modeling Conversations
12:30: Break

“I went to the seminar with the goal of being able to find where the line is between AM and PM role. What I got out of it was so much more! Most importantly I realized exactly how much money we’re leaving on the table by not continually engaging our clients and actively building those relationships.”

Speakers

Jenny Plant

David C. Baker, Punctuation

Brett Harned

Jenny Plant

Jenny Plant is the owner of Account Management Skills. She has 30 years of experience working mostly in account management, and has worked as a consultant for over 10 years. Jenny now coaches agency account managers to keep and grow business through her account accelerator program, providing a step-by-step process to help them adopt the right mindset and skill to create a client-centric plan to increase revenue. Jenny comes to us from London.
Brett Harned
Brett Harned is a consultant, coach, and author with 20+ years of experience leading digital and creative teams. He helps organizations solve people, process, and culture challenges with a strategic, human-centered approach. A longtime voice in the PM community, Brett founded the Digital PM Summit, wrote Project Management for Humans, and shares practical insights at BrettHarned.com.
David C. Baker

David C. Baker is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written 5 books, advised 900+ firms, and keynoted conferences in 30+ countries. His work has been discussed in dozens of international publications. The NY Times referred to him as the expert’s expert. He co-hosts the most listened to podcast in the creative services field (2bobs).

Accommodations
Not included, but suggested booking at Bellyard Hotel.
Detail

Savvy firms know that clients are far more likely to notice poor customer service long before they notice subpar effectiveness. It’s no excuse for sloppy work, of course, but if you can wrap great work inside strong client management, you’ll have the best of both worlds.
Here’s a simple three-part test for effective account managers. These three scenarios—if handled well— point to a strong account executive who can effectively do what may be the most difficult in an agency: straddle the fence between advocating for the client and advocating for the agency.

How early can the new business department hand off a warm lead to an account manager to close the first project in a long and prosperous relationship?
How effectively do the account people grow their accounts over time?
How well do account managers manage tense situations with presence and grace?

This two-day seminar will change how you see the account management role. We’ll start with understanding the overall structure of the role and how to interface effectively with other departments, noting the nuances that help build cooperation.

We’ll examine personality profiles and how they map to effective account managers – and project managers. Many firms are leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars and the table and letting things slip through the cracks, simply by not having the right people in the right seats. There are best practices related to this that are helpful to understand.

Then we’ll flip to the other side and review the specific elements of treating clients the way they say that want to be treated. This data is based on thousands of client interviews, compiling the clearest signals for top-performing firms.
Following on that theme, and based against a background of fully satisfied clients, we’ll look at a few key strategies to grow your best accounts. Qualified account people do grow accounts effectively, and that’s part of what makes them so valuable to creative firms.
And as both account and project management roles become increasingly AI-enabled, we’ll also explore how AI can enhance your efficiency, decision-making, and client impact. You’ll leave with fresh ideas and practical ways to apply AI to your day-to-day work – helping you stay ahead in a fast-evolving landscape.

Finally, we’ll look very specifically at how to manage tension—healthy and otherwise—to maneuver personnel roadblocks and enhance your personal effectiveness.
This is a completely reworked seminar only offered once per year. It is also limited to 130 attendees to improve the quality of the interaction and leave as much time for discussion and questions as possible.

Small Acquisitions as a Growth Strategy
2026-03-04 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83386035902
We tend to think of M&A in terms of selling our firms, but there is plenty of opportunity to grow via acquisition as well. The benefits are numerous, and it might not cost as much as you think to bring a small firm into the fold. We’ll talk through the ins and outs of this under-utilized strategy and answer any questions you might have.

Write The Damn Book Already
2026-04-07 18:30 - 2026-04-08 16:30 | Monday Night Grove, 1500 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30318, United States
I hesitate to use the word “seminar” for this, because it’s not going to be a bunch of lectures, but more of a hands on workshop where I’ll work through:

When and why to write a book.
Developing the concept.
Rounding out the research.
How to write it.
Three options for getting it published.
Technicalities: copyright, cover, design, illustrations, trim size, editing, proofreading, etc.
Print and Kindle and Audible considerations.
What promotion avenues work (and what don’t).
Cost and revenue expectations.
Making sure it impacts your firm and your personal career.

But it’ll be a small group (capped at 20, but probably 12 there), and each of us will help shape every person’s concept, we’ll start a small group to stay in touch, and will move this forward.
Many of you have a book in you, and there’s nothing quite like spending deep time with a subject to learn more than you could ever dream. It’ll change you, first; forget about the rest of it, because that’s all gravy.
Atlanta, 6:30p dinner on Tuesday night, April 7, and then 8:30a-4:00p on Wednesday, April 8. Previous authors welcome.

Build an Ownable Data Model
2026-08-18 18:30 - 2026-08-19 16:30 | Monday Night Grove, 1500 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30318, United States
This is a combined seminar and workshop where together we’ll work through:

How it relates to your positioning.
Five origin stories: cost, time, impact.
Eleven real life examples from clients
Building your own “Two-Day Data Sprint”.
Individual exercise and group feedback.
Productizing your data in a diagnostic roadmapping.
Critical features: numerical, intern-proof, comparison mapping.
Protecting the IP.

But it’ll be a small group (capped at 12), and each of us will help shape every person’s concept, we’ll start a small group to stay in touch, and will move this forward.
Many of you have had your own inklings of a proprietary data model. Let’s pull on those threads, create a simple framework, and give you a big head start on your competition.
Join us, regardless of where you are on this data journey, but being well-positioned or being open to it will make your experience better, whether it’s a vertical or a horizontal positioning.
Atlanta, 6:30p dinner on Tues night, August 18, and then 8:30a-4:00p on Wed, August 19. $2,500.
