Mission
Mission of GillAgency is to find the right buyer for the best fit seller so that the highest premiums can be realized by all parties through an efficient and transparent transaction in a shortest time frame possible.
Vision
Vision of GillAgency is to bring transparency into the M&A advisory industry with an aim to simplify the buying and selling of businesses, saving time, money and resources for all processes so that business owners can always realize their best premiums.
Values
We focus on strong values in our organization. It is the only way we are able to deliver consistent results to our customers. You will see this in everything you do or touch at GillAgency. We hope to bring our values to your business so that you can have the best outcome from the sale of your business. Here they are.
We always strive to aggressively market, negotiate and project manage all our acquisition opportunities. We constantly focus on closing the sale of your business – the longer a business sits, the harder it gets to sell “at a high premium”.
The perfect balance between being aggressive to sell fast BUT never-settle to sell lower than the highest value a business can get, is extremely important. The best way to achieve that is to ensure very good exit planning prior to listing a business. We always take the time to plan the sale before we list the business.
Right from the start we work with you, the business owner to see if we are a good fit to achieve the “results” we both want. If we feel confident, we can achieve the results in the fastest time possible with the best result possible, we partner with you to sell your business. A results-oriented approach ensures that there are no surprises once the business decides to get listed with the right broker.
We are go-getters. Street smarts are extremely important while selling a business. While business owners are street smart in their own line of business, they may not have the time or experience in honing on this important skill during a business sale. Although most people are fair in this world, we know there are a few that do not play fair and it is our job to point that out and weed out the bad buyers, brokers, accountants, attorneys, auditors, bankers, lenders – there are several that mar this industry, like any industry. We can spot them very early on and either make them disappear or get them on track to achieve the results we both have signed up for at the onset.
We are pathological follower-uppers – our biggest claim to fame is that we follow-up immediately on anything – that is so important in this business because small delays result in bigger domino effects as it pertains to (a) getting premium values for your business, (b) speed of closing the sale, (c) having no surprises at closing, and (d) making a smooth close to transition.
Cannot be truer in this industry – the devil is in the details. Each number is important, every sentence in a purchase agreement, letter of intent, SBA approval report, bank audit, attorney clause, due diligence checklist, tax planning document, memorandums, marketing package is important. Without being extremely detail-oriented, it is very likely that balls will get dropped and in the end all parties suffer – deals fall through after months of work or value is never realized by all parties, mostly the seller.
We use a lean and agile methodology based on 15+ years of project management experience in banks, brokerage firms, venture capital markets, and running several businesses ourselves. Most brokers will discuss planning, strategy and their commissions. We focus deeply on the methodology. In today’s world the only way we can execute projects, and selling your business is a project we will undertake together, is to go about with an agile approach. We will plan the exit, stage the organization but will prepare to iterate based on the outcomes in case the scope changes. Typically, the scope of a business sale does not change, but unexpected events do occur. While most brokers will force the business owner to settle or compromise, being agile we are able to tackle these situations and still achieve the results we planned early on.
We at GillAgency completely condone ethical behavior. At the outset we want to be clear that we will not take part in anything that is unethical, definitely not illegal. While this seems obvious, there are folks who will want to bend the rules to tilt the odds in their favor – in the end they suffer – ALWAYS. There are no short cuts to a great exit and we only work to get us great exits. Our business runs solely on this 1 outcome – a great exit – one that works for all parties.
We rely on transparency throughout the process. We will have to discuss the skeletons of your business at the outset so we can either fix them quickly, stage them with proper expectations or factor them into the closing agreements. Likewise, we will not bring any buyer into the mix if they are not transparent all throughout. We are in this with you till the end – because unless you have a great exit, we do not get paid anything. So, our impetus is to ensure we get the best outcome.
We believe in “systems thinking” – which, as you may know, means that we look at the overall big picture and include all parties in our joint decision-making. Years of experience and learning from mistakes we have learned that it is always important to take in account all stakeholders of a business sale right at exit planning. This may seem like a lot of hard work upfront, but it ensures and guarantees a smooth, quick, premium outcome for all parties.
Kindness is always undervalued in business. We believe in kindness in everything we do and everyone we interact with. If we cannot feel for something we are working for, we know it will not get our best. So, we need to understand at the outset that we are able to be kind to each other. There could be times of disagreement, but we will resolve them with kindness, logic and discussions. In the end our job is to get you the results we both stamp on early in the process.
This is a business transaction and we need to act professionally. We can guarantee you that we will always act professionally – our emails, correspondences, phone calls, introductions, interviews, screenings, texts and all touches will be 100% professional – while it is another under-valued trait today, it helps us to stay focused on what we are here to do together.
Managers make millions, leaders make millionaires. Enough said.
We are extremely passionate in what we do. WE LOVE OUR JOBS. We love to see business owners have an awesome exit. It totally fuels our brain and gets our blood going. We are going to give our blood, sweat and tears into the project for 3-9 months and you will see that our passion and unrelenting attitude will be an asset for both of us.
While we are aggressive, we remain humble. We learn every day from everyone we interact with. We want to learn from you how you managed to grow a very successful business – one that feeds many, provides great service to many and one that partners with many and now, which will exit for a premium and extend the same to another business owner. We hope to win with kindness and humility and drive with our aggressive spirit and passion.