Organic or inorganic growth? For companies with a historical success of organic growth, looking at acquisitions as a potential growth lever can appear overwhelming. But in the wake of accelerated growth expectations, acquisitions have almost become necessary. CEOs with a solid M&A strategy playbook consider planning for the entire journey from diligence to integration in three sections:
Pre-Acquisition: Risk Mitigation
Arm yourself with a go-to-market diligence checklist to get a view of the target’s revenue engine, its overall health and the levers that will drive a future of measurable improvement and sustainable growth.
During Acquisition: Address the Full Range of GTM Integration Considerations
Thorough GTM integration begins pre-close and flows through operating the combined entity. Do not fail to overlook considerations that many often do. CEOs need to ensure M&A is fully accretive to the business by leading alignment in planning and managing the integration of GTM processes, people and technology. This phase includes customer retention strategies, stakeholder communications, employee retention plans, and actionable synergy estimates.
Post-Acquisition: Keep the Combined Entity Humming
Only after the initial integration phase has passed, initiatives supporting the investment thesis can begin. These initiatives are often tied to the improvement levers identified in diligence such as sales/marketing/customer success org design, account segmentation, account coverage, sales territories and compensation, and activating new routes to market.
Post-pandemic pent-up demand has companies feeling eager to explore an acquisition strategy. While the execution and integration is never easy, by taking a thoughtful approach, you improve your chance of finding the right fit and achieving your goals. And just think, your next acquisition should go even smoother after you have already run the playbook.
Author Mike Hoffman's deeper dive into this topic was recently featured in Forbes here. The article was written prior to SBI’s announcement that Mike will become the CEO of SBI on July 1, 2022.
