How Do 5 Partners Lead a Successful Digital Agency?

<p>How do you make decisions when there are multiple agency partners? Can you truly grow without second-guessing the big decisions? How do you grow an agency with multiple partners? Should you build from within or use acquisition as a growth strategy? When there are many decision-makers at an agency it can be a challenge to agree on the best way to grow. But with mutual respect and a yin-yang of strengths, it can work.</p> <p>In today’s episode, we’ll cover:</p> <ul> <li>Can things really work with multiple agency partners?</li> <li>Using acquisition as an agency growth strategy.</li> <li>Deciding on when and which agency to acquire.</li> <li>How to get through an economic recession.</li> </ul> <p>I chatted with Peter Bishop, Partner and Director at <a href= "https://zgm.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ZGM Marketing Partners</a> in Canada. He has been in digital marketing for over 20+ years and, as it turns out, we share a ton of old-school experience on the evolution of design software. But, now as a partner at ZGM, he is on the show to share what he’s learned about sharing partnership with four others as well as how they use acquisition as a growth strategy.</p> <h2>Can Things Really Work with Multiple Agency Partners?</h2> <p>Having one owner can be great or it can be awful. We all have biases but when it comes to agencies, they are led by creative souls and that is usually the backbone of an agency. As Peter points out, creatives aren’t usually awesome at finance or other business skills. Having a <a href= "https://jasonswenk.com/successful-agency-partnership/%20%E2%80%8E" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-wplink-url-error= "true">partnership that balances each other out</a> is usually beneficial.</p> <p>Peter’s agency partnerships include a creative person, financial person, an accounts person... so everyone brings something different to the table. There are rarely problems among them, but when there is a problem it’s a big problem.</p> <h2>How To Get Through Partner Disagreements</h2> <p>Peter says th