Mastering the Exit Gauntlet (Coming May 2026)

What Really Happens When You Try to Sell Your Business

Most business books tell you how to build and grow a company. This one tells you how to sell and what happens after you do.

When I decided to sell my marketing agency after twenty-two years, Ithought the hard part was over. I’d done the work. Built something real. Something that mattered.

I was wrong.

What followed was three years of running a gauntlet while still running the business. Five letters of intent. Over fifty buyer pitch meetings. Mountains of due diligence that made root canals look pleasant. And the special torture of deals dying at the finish line, until I finally closed with private equity.

MASTERING THE EXIT GAUNTLET is my playbook for the part of entrepreneurship no one talks about—the actual mechanics of closing your exit and surviving what comes after.  Implementing my PATH™ framework (Prepare, Align, Transition, Honor) will max your deal value while keeping you sane in the process!

What's Inside

  • The real exit process: From first LOI to wire transfer, including what happens when deals fall apart
  • Due diligence survival: How to protect your business while exposing everything to strangers
  • Deal structure decoded: Why all offers aren’t created equal and how to evaluate what’s actually on the table
  • The emotional aftermath: Identity crisis, relationship changes, and reinventing yourself post-sale
  • Post-close reality: Staying vs. leaving, managing earnouts, navigating team dynamics when you’re no longer the boss, and what to do when you start questioning the whole thing

This is the book I wish I’d had three years into an exit process that almost broke me.

Your business success got you to the exit door. This book gets you through it.

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MASTERING THE EXIT GAUNTLET

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What People Say

"Here's the thing—most agency owners think the perfect exit ends with champagne and a clean handoff. Christine Slocumb learned the truth the hard way: more than fifty buyer meetings, ten letters of intent, three brutal due diligence rounds, and one deal that collapsed a week before close. This book offers you a better way - showing you how to evaluate offers, structure deals that protect you, survive due diligence, and find your next chapter without regrets."

- Drew McLellan, CEO, Agency Management Institute

“Read this book if you truly want to master the art of selling your agency for what it’s worth and more!”

- Carrie Kerpen, CEO, The Whisper Group, and author of The Whisper Way

“Mastering the Exit Gauntlet is a rare blend of strategic clarity and human truth. Agency owners should keep this book as a reference throughout their company's journey.”

- Fred Sheffield, founder of 5 Stones Growth Systems and author of Health Tech Giant Slayer

"Christine walks you through the reality of selling your agency with refreshing candor and full transparency. If you ever plan to sell, this book deserves a permanent place on your desk."

- Stephen Woessner, CEO, Predictive ROI, and co-author of Sell with Authority

"Building an award-winning agency is hard. Selling it without leaving money, peace of mind, or your identity on the table is harder. This is required reading before any exit conversation."

- Janey Casey, Founder/CEO, Marketing Doctor, five-time Inc.5000 recipient
Christine Slocumb

CHRISTINE SLOCUMB is a private equity-backed exit veteran and the founder of Clarity Quest Marketing, which she built over 22 years and sold to Trinity Hunt Partners in 2023. She holds eight U.S. patents and an MBA and MSEE. An independent exit advisor and agency growth expert, her work has been featured in Forbes, MM+M, Digital Health Talks, and on the Jason Swenk and Sell with Authority podcasts.

Let's talk about your exit.

I’ll tell you what’s working, what’s going to hurt your valuation, and whether I’m the right person to help you fix it.