In this episode, two members of our Outreach team, Sean Cahil & Ashley Battel, join us to talk through their experience and why CEOs/Executives should take an introduction call from an M&A advisor like Revenue Rocket.
Revenue Rocket has been helping business owners buy and sell for over 20 years. Whether you are looking to acquire a business or looking to be represented for sale, here is a sampling of firms we’re representing today. We are also happy to talk about a custom program for you. Check out our current deals: https://www.revenuerocket.com/current-deals/
SPEAKERS
Sean Cahil, Ashley Battel, Mike Harvath, Matt Lockhart, Ryan Barnett
Mike Harvath 00:04
Hello, this is Mike Harvath with this week's Shoot the Moon podcast broadcasting live and direct from revenue rocket headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota. I'm thrilled today to have with us a couple special guests along with my partners, Ryan and Matt. Those special guests are Ashley Battel, and Sean Cahil from our outreach team. You know, you've probably heard from these guys in the past they either on email or calls that are on the phone all the time talking about transactions we're working on and things that are going on, but we're gonna share a little bit of their experience and wisdom of the ages about outreach, and know what's in the, within the heads of some of these folks that are reaching out to you to talk about m&a transactions. So welcome to everyone in the room.
Sean Cahil 00:05
Thank you, It's a pleasure to be here.
Matt Lockhart 00:05
Great to be here. And I'll say special guests, for sure. Very special. Thanks.
Ryan Barnett 00:05
Yeah, again, thanks for everyone for being here today. This really is intended for a CEO who is perhaps receiving a call from an advisor. And what we've heard is that oftentimes the marketplace today, especially if companies are looking to buy their calling sellers, and it's the it's, you're fairly inundated. So it's fairly common that it's conversation starts with your the second or third person that calls that we've heard from today, in this marketplace. And today, I want to talk about why it's important to take that call. And first of all, but I also want to get into the kind of giving others opposite side of the table, why we're reaching out and why it matters. And what happens throughout that process on the back end. And how how CEOs prefer perhaps to that. So I'm going to start with ash and Sean here, there, again, are two guys are that you probably have been called on before. And let's just start out ash, tell me a little, typical person, you're going to talk to who, what's the role? What did they do? And let's say you're calling on a on behalf of one of our, our buyside clients today in which we're trying to acquire another company, suddenly, we took this off to.
Ashley Battel 02:19
Thank you, Ryan. So basically looking for someone at the CEO or owner level of a company has that decision making authority to say ourselves so well, you know, may be open to that possibility of selling our company, just, you know, really trying to talk with them about do they have an exit strategy at this stage? Or have they been looking at the possibility of selling their company, whether that be now or maybe they're looking forward to going a year from now or two years now? And they have they have a thought about all that goes into that particular process? I mean, navigating those m&a waters, and it can be, you know, very challenging for someone to take on, let's say all by themselves. And the benefits of speaking with a broker who has extensive experience in this area can be very helpful for that process.
Ryan Barnett 03:05
Absolutely. And if you talk a little bit more about this, when you're calling on calling and making that first introduction, first of all, we typically end up calling first, right?
Ashley Battel 03:16
Yes, that's correct.
Ryan Barnett 03:17
Now, why do we do that compared to emailing or LinkedIn or some carrier pigeon? I mean, why is it called appropriate for stuff?
Ashley Battel 03:25
I feel that, you know, nothing beats that personal touch, you know, people get emails all the time, they're sometimes inundated with emails. But you know, hearing that human voice, and making that connection has always been a very strong thing, you know, been on for no reason, and has allowed us that opportunity to hear someone the other end of the line here, they're scared to hear their passion, which doesn't always necessarily come across in the words. So that's the best way to make that initial connection there.
Sean Cahil 03:55
Sure, sure. And then when we typically do a program, we build a list of companies that are going after it that you think fits an ideal prospect profile. So if you're a seller, and you're getting a call for the very first time, but we try to aim that you're sure you've been in, in some level of our park, whether it's a geography a size or technology, and we hope that we're matching up our research to the call. I'll put this over to Sean, If you're armed with the right data, what's the what is a appropriate conversation start with and how do you match up the data that you've got to the program? And with appropriate context, just give me a little sense of how do you put someone at ease and again, what should What should a CEO be looking from as the first start of a call? Is that are trying to build a trusted advisor status? Are you trying to just get them to say yes, and what's the first step? ] Yeah, thanks, Ryan good question, kind of all the above, you know, you we put our trust in, obviously the research team, finding the right companies to put on that list with the multiple mandates that are set by our clients. But most importantly, you know, humanizing ourselves to the CEOs, like you said, they get tons of calls, tons of emails per day. And starting with a phone call, you know, we're just humans having conversations, right? You've made a list, we want to talk to you. Here's if they, you know, a lot of times a conversation doesn't necessarily go to why am I on that list? What do you know about us? But we're armed with that. So if that question does come up, you know, we're able to say, well, you check this box. And and this is why this conversation is happening. And it's important to, you know, once see if they have that minute or two to get this out, you know, and let them know, you know, this will be quick. This is why we're calling this is our client. And I think he would like to at least hear this. And I think that's the key, you know, getting getting over this threshold of I'm not just this isn't a sales call. And I think that's a very important aspect.
Ryan Barnett 06:09
So if you're a CEO, and getting this call, perhaps this is for Mike or Matt a little bit more, what value is there a CDL actually picking up the phone and saying, Hey, let's have this initial conversation?
Matt Lockhart 06:22
Well, I think there's a ton of reasons. One, it's always good to be informed in terms of what's happening in the market. And as advisors that are talking to literally hundreds and hundreds of companies, you know, on an ongoing basis, we've got a fair amount of insight. In addition to that, one of the things that we talk about in our bi-sight programs is the very best opportunities that we find are with firms that aren't for sale today, they aren't on the market today. And so by taking a call, you may learn about an opportunity that you would have never had the opportunity to understand if you didn't take that call. In addition to that, you know, one of the things that we say is, at some point, you're going to be involved in a transaction. Now, that could be mean that you want to grow your company inorganically through making an acquisition. Or alternatively, at some point, it may be the appropriate time for you to look at an exit strategy, or a growth strategy with a larger partner. And having an ongoing relationship is is sort of key to enabling understanding all of those opportunities.
Ryan Barnett 07:53
Really well put. I think there there's an opportunity to when you do pick up the phone and talk to so at least a revenue rocket team member, A., there's there is value in just understanding and exploring an option for an exit. Even if there's the ox, the that might be longer term out, understanding what the market looks like, we often talk about EBITA multiples, or we talk about what the marketplace is or speed to market. If if you hear one of our program managers, so there's there is value in simply picking up the phone and saying hello. Which is just kind of the flip side, I'd love to kind of either I have your phone feel free to answer this. But what's a typical call cycle? And what were an outreach cycle look like? And they both take a little bit different approach, I think, Ash, you tend to call them on leave voicemails and build a bit of a trail through verbal communication like a phone calls. Sean, oftentimes, you'll kind of reach around us a little bit more email a little bit more LinkedIn neck and tell me about what should a CEO expect. So you are on our one of our lists. I'll put this this way. Sean and Ash don't have the ability to just say, we typically don't take you off the list until you say yes or no, we firmly believe in a fill it or kill it mentality. What so help us understand what kind of outreach cycle Do you have? What how long does it take? What should a CEO expect, if they're on a list of a potential mandate
Ashley Battel 09:28
Thank you, Ryan. And just to piggyback on that point of the affiliate or kill it, we really try to you just never know. I mean, you want to reach out to that prospect and and get a response of some kind, you know, just to make sure they're not just overlooking the voicemails or so forth. They tend to basically just in terms of the call perspective, tend to go, generally speaking about nine or 10 attempts with calls to see if I can get ahold of a person. I know we've been in very interesting times, particularly last year or two. Whether it be the pandemic, for example, and companies not necessarily being rated their conference at the time and and kind of having a voicemail there to screen afterwards. So just wanting to, you know, establish that familiarity there bits and letting them know, you know, we're very interested in talking to you and even just on the point you mentioned earlier, Ryan, you know, we have specific campaigns that we are generally calling about a particular company that's looking to, you know, to either buy your company or to sell a company to you. So when you take a call from revenue rocket, we're calling you, it's not those generic sales calls, as we've discussed, it's more so we've got a particular opportunity, we feel you'd be a potential match for, and we'd like you to hear this out and see if it's something you think might be a good fit for you. So it's definitely worth picking up that that phone, but just ensures that processes say, you know, nine or 10 voicemails, so if there isn't kind of response at that point, maybe shoot me an email, you know, I'm sure you've heard my voicemails thus far. But you know, we'd just like to reach out to you and see if we've got this opportunity we think might be interested, perhaps we can hold a discussion and share more information, see if it's something you think might be a great fit.
Ryan Barnett 11:10
And I'd say one thing that again, if you're a CEO, we get these calls all the time, even a yes or no, even if it's short and sweet. Even if it's a no helps us understand where you might be guests and having a conversation deeper, there's going to be a lot of value that you're going to get out of that conversation and understanding the market where you stand valuation trends and where what an exit or growth plan could look like. Sean, any thoughts on kind of just in general, if you had a CEO that you're talking to, and maybe you're frustrated, because this is the 15th? Call? What would you like? What would work? What advice could you give that CEO say, hey, well, you know, one, and right to the point is, I'll stop everything if you just give me some kind of answer, right. And my goal, usually, with either a phone call, email or LinkedIn is to put my footprint in their mind. What's happening here? What what is this guy calling me for for 15 times and six emails and LinkedIn. And I understand from their end, they've hit hundreds, dozens of calls and emails day daily. So I want to kind of differentiate myself, by my persistency, by the information that I give them and not giving them too much, but enough to you know, alright, I'll call him back or I'll answer, you know, I'll find and communicate with this person. We'll see where this goes.
Sean Cahil 11:54
Yeah.
Ryan Barnett 12:44
Yeah. But I'm part of this. Mike, when this is a foundational thing that I think you had started a long time ago, which was, in this industry, it's pretty common to see as a bait and switch. Can you just talk about kind of why he's done? How we can differentiate revenue rocket when we call someone? Yeah, and why that's important.
Mike Harvath 13:08
Yeah, for sure. So, you know, There's long been a series of what we'll call unethical m&a advisors and brokers that we'll call with I suppose it by sight mandate, to get a your attention and have a call, and then say, Oh, well, based on our conversation, it's not a fit, but have you thought about having us take you to market to sell. And that is their standard operating procedure, and going to market now, Revenue Rocket, we don't do that. Certainly, we'd like to carry it entertaining selling, we certainly would be happy to talk to you about that. But we never call with a phony mandate. We don't call to be a bait and switch kind of firm that says, hey, we have a, we think we have a fit. And we're really just fishing to get a direct, you know, contract. And so I think unfortunately, you know, there's a lot of noise in the marketplace by people who are, you know, far from ethical, or maybe they're using what I'll call under skilled outreach talent, they don't really understand the business. You know, we differentiate in that, you know, Ashley and Sean are pros. They know this business very well. They've done this for a very long time. And they talk to, you know, literally hundreds of IT services business owners every week. So being able to approach the market in a knowledgeable way and supported by our research team, as well as specific mandates, you know, sets us apart from someone who may be just trying to get a sell side contract.
Ryan Barnett 14:53
And it makes a lot of sense and speak to that a little bit. It's Matt, I'll back up a little bit. In our process, what we typically use as a research team is going to help find you and put you on a list, our outreach team is going to help make the initial contact. And really their mandate is to, to, to get you to a point in which you're willing to have a conversation, and a little bit more depth and Matt I'll turn over you this point. And, again, what advice would you give to the CEO of their taking a call? How much information should they divulge? or protect? On that first or second call?
Matt Lockhart 15:36
Well, I think that, you know, we got to put ourselves in the shoes of these CEOs and recognize that they are getting a lot of calls. Yeah. And, and to them, we all may seen the same, right. And so the information to divulge, well, maybe let's turn it around, what are the things that they should ask?From an advisor? To understand whether it's worth their time? To be honest, right? is, you know, where do you specialize? Kind of what size? You know, what is your you know, what is your specialty in terms of an industry for us, as we all know, it's, it's tech enabled services, IT services and, and the like, tell me about your organization, you know, is it is there are they like to have you in a garage? Or, you know, how long have you been around? I mean, I think that it's appropriate for the CEOs, to ask those types of questions to qualify, whether it's worth their time. And then based upon that, and I think that Ashley and Sean do as good a job as anybody. In terms of, you know, building some trust, it's like, well, is is, is this a specific thing that has to happen today? Is this for the long term? You know, what, what is this mean? Right? I think that that all of those, I think it's super appropriate for CEOs to to be super clear in terms of where they're at. Right? Are they in high growth mode? Are they not? You know, kind of what is their timeline, et cetera, et cetera? I think that all of those things are, are appropriate, again, in the context of building trust, rapport, and relationship. And yeah, obviously, no CEO is going to do that with 40 Different advisors. So how do you how do you understand Who do you want to spend your time with?
Ryan Barnett 17:40
Absolutely. That's one thing that we, we conduct a lot of these calls and there is a give and take of information. A lot of our mandates are confidential in nature, especially if we're a representing a seller, there is a if we're talking to a CEO or buyer, we tip of the week, and I'm going to give away the name of the seller, and often in most cases, even when the buyer, so we have a dance of generalities, meaning specifics, where back to Mike's point, we want to be specific enough and have an actual real mandate, but in a generalized way. So there are that being said, we have kind of basic qualification. And if I was to ask the CEO, what they could talk about, we really want to understand your business and where you're, where you've come and gone from. We're looking at what your next stage is. And then some of it's just very basic, your revenue, the how big you are? That's a fairly basic question. Oftentimes, we get stuck, people not just acknowledging that, or just talking about it. For us, it's a it's a number. It's truly just one of those qualification numbers. And especially, we'd love to hear the growth story behind how you got that number, that your foundation story and where you're going. But be prepared to talk a little bit about your size, your scale capabilities, there's a little bit of give and take in those conversations that helps our team out understand are you going to be a good fit or not. And there's also the two the three stages of what we look for in a successful deal, which is strategic fit. Are you the right size and the right capabilities are the right growth modeled cultural fit, so it's very hard but I think ash and Sean you kind of get culture on the first call. And then financial tech comes down the road. With that, Ash, I'll give you a minute. And then Sean, I'll give you a moment. You've got a CEO in front of you, what's one thing that can make your day or what's one thing that you can impress on them or give them advice on the m&a marketplace when dealing with someone who's in your shoes? Yes,
Ashley Battel 20:00
Well, I would say one of the key things that Ryan is we're not, we're not here to harass you, we're here to really feel this a genuine opportunity here in play we feel you might be interested in, I can benefit you, we want both parties to be successful, we're not just representing our clients in that sense, we would like to we feel we have sent that might, you know, make it be a life changer for yourself as well. So we're hoping to inform you of that, and, and really just, you know, also the knowledge that, you know, the m&a world, it's, you know, it's very activated, there's a lot of opportunities out there. And, you know, we all recognize that your your time to CEOs time, your time is valuable, you know, and we want to make the most of that time, but it does, you know, it does, it's a benefit, you know, to yourselves as CEOs to really look at the opportunities out there and say, hey, you know, maybe this one could be a good fit for us, you won't know unless you hear it out. So, you know, just even if we can have a couple minutes of time to just share that information with you? And if the answer is no, the answer is no one you respect that can well, you know, harass you thing, you know, following that, but had just, you know, opening up to that opportunity that, hey, this might be something I it's worth my while. That's really all we can ask for just to you know, have that opportunity to explain and have you listen, right,
Ryan Barnett 21:19
Sean?
Sean Cahil 21:20
Yeah, echo that. Exactly. You know, also adding that, at least I'm here to plant the seed, right to get them thinking. Getting in front of these CEOs is like trying to jump on a moving train sometimes. So I ask, they try to slow down a wee bit and, and take on a trusted adviser that is revenue rocket, and, you know, this is the first step. And I try and keep it pretty simple. And again, plant the seed, get them thinking about it. Because sometimes they don't even see it, you know, and we'd like to kind of clear the fog and give them an idea of the next strategy. Do you have one? Or do you need one?
Ryan Barnett 22:01
Perfect, perfect. Matt And Mike, anything else?
Mike Harvath 22:06
No, I don't think so. Matt, you got anything?
Matt Lockhart 22:08
Well, I don't know. I refer to these guys as you know, the best outreach team in the business. So I say that pretty confidently having the opportunity to see what they do on a day in and day out basis. So I am pretty sure that if you're listening today and you haven't talked either Ashley or Sean, you will be soon so and you'll enjoy it as well.
Mike Harvath 22:35
Thanks, Matt. Yeah, I'll echo those comments. These guys are the best I've seen in 30 years in this business and we certainly are very fortunate to have them here here. So with that will tie ribbon on it for this week Shoot the Moon podcast. Take care and we look forward to having you tune in next week.