Acquisitions can prove fantastic for growing a business, but they take some extra care to get right. In this blog, we’ll carefully look at five insider tips designed to boost your own success.
- Form the perfect team
You’ll need a ‘dream team’ to make an acquisition successful, so carefully analyse the skillsets and personalities of each individual who will be taking part. Acquiring a business is an inherently collaborative activity, so they’ll need to be team players with a solid background in the role they fulfil.
Look for people who are willing to take the lead on their own department but also able to return and discuss each goal with the rest of the team.
- Create your ideal plan
It’s critical you know not only what you are doing, but why. Define the objectives and milestones which you wish to achieve at every stage and communicate them clearly to all relevant parties. Acquisitions need not be messy or confusing, but they all too often are.
Firstly, begin by drafting your initial plan and organise a timeline which you want to work towards. This can be refined at a later stage, but you need a working document to guide you at this stage.
- Evaluate the assets
There is a great deal to consider when you are buying a business, including any legal or taxation issues which you may encounter throughout the process. For this reason, it is recommended to seek outside guidance and look closely at ways you can evaluate everything you are acquiring with greater clarity.
You should also take the same care over analysing your own funds, which will help define how much can be invested in this new acquisition.
- Be clear and transparent
Acquisitions are all too often confusing times for existing employees, including both those who may end up out of work, and anyone who is continuing during the transition. For this reason, it is critical that management and all relevant parties communicate clearly with those who are arguably the most effected by the outcomes of the acquisition.
This can be accomplished in both formal meetings, memos and more informal settings.
- Acknowledge the company culture
The culture of the business which is being acquired is critical. If this culture does not match your existing business, then it does not have to be the end of the world. In fact, the two could prove complementary to one another, and when integrated with care, this is particularly possible.
However, this is something which needs to be thought about and discussed openly with the relevant individuals. In some respect, this is merely an extension of the need for transparency, but it actually stretches far beyond that.
For a successful shift, always be willing to assess the business being acquired on its own distinct merits and keep in mind the company culture which has already been developed there.
