LeadJen Acquisition Acquisition Update with Joe Flanagan

Q: Joe, can you give us an update on the LeadJen acquisition?

Joe Flanagan: The LeadJen acquisition has exceeded even our high expectations! When we acquired the company in September of this year, we were confident that the capabilities of both companies made for a great fit, and we were right. For years, we’ve been in the situation of having to turn away business opportunities from smaller companies who reached out to Acquirent for help with their sales. Because of the cost associated with our big staffing solution, we weren’t always the best fit for some prospects. LeadJen has more than filled that gap, giving us a great solution to support sales at smaller companies. Geoff Winthrop has stepped up to really lead the transition, spending a lot of time in Indianapolis with LeadJen and getting to know their amazing team. Everyone is just very excited about the volume of new business that has come through the door.

Q: So, even though it’s been a short amount of time you are seeing the results you were hoping to see with this acquisition?

JF: Absolutely! We found through our due diligence that the LeadJen team was genuinely excited to have the opportunity to grow the business again, after a few wobbly years of inconsistent growth. Our team in Indianapolis is beyond pleased with the new business flowing in that direction. As is always the case, it is exciting to be part of a company where there is strong, rapid growth.

Q: How has the acquisition expanded the services of Acquirent?

JF: Because LeadJen is such a great fit for smaller companies, we’ve been able to grow the delivery of our revenue generation services to an underserved market and increase our overall market penetration.  Everybody wants to grow their business, but the best practices and exceptional results of the Acquirent staffing solution has been out of reach for some of the companies that really could gain the most. We’re thrilled to be able to make our model available and affordable for smaller, growing businesses.

Q: What about some of the data and marketing services?

JF: The data services that we acquired from LeadJen have definitely had an impact on the success of our business. Several of our clients here in Evanston have taken advantage of the offering, and they’ve been very pleased with the results. Access to the data services has allowed us to create more efficiencies, not only for our clients with doing some independent data analysis, but also for our own reps who are becoming more productive as they’re picking up the phones and making calls. LeadJen’s team was also traditionally more active and aggressive in a digital marketing capacity. Through the acquisition, we now have the expertise to deliver services in digital marketing for clients who are interested in that type of support. Adding data and digital marketing services to our solution suite has made our offering more robust and will help us attract new business.

Q: What does the forecast look like for the future?

JF: We’re taking a pretty aggressive and ambitious view of the future. We hope to double the LeadJen business in 2018. There’s no doubt in my mind that this level of growth is achievable. There is a tremendous need for lead generation for smaller businesses and for the data and marketing services as well.

Q: Why are you operating under two names?

JF: Both Acquirent and LeadJen have had strong, excellent reputations and enjoy high brand visibility within this space, so at this point we have no plans to make any changes to the LeadJen name. It works, they’ve got good recognition and an effective digital marketing program that is driving traffic and opportunities to that site and company name. Our plan is to maintain the status quo as long as it makes sense.