1. Do your research first!

Most mergers and acquisitions fail in the consulting sector because the right synergy between clients, market sectors and skills has not been considered in enough detail at an early enough stage in the acquisition process.

At the earliest stage, work with a firm that has invested in a proprietary database of firms in your industry, which permits the short-listing of targets by skill-set and market sector ensuring a higher chance of optimum synergy between buyer and seller.

2. Do pick a company whose services fully complement yours

Look at the business strategy and where you need to be in five, ten and fifteen years time. Now look at what services your clients will need to grow and improve their businesses and look at the changing landscapes of their industry sectors. Now examine the companies you are considering merging with. Do they have the capability you will need going forward? Will your combined strengths give a service offering that will wow clients in five years time? And ten, and fifteen years time? Ensure that you are both on the same path and share the same dreams.

3. Don’t take your eye off day-to-day business…and make sure your accounts are squeaky clean!

A sure fire 'deal-breaker' in a merger is the sudden decline in profits due to management distraction on the deal going through! Bring in an expert business advisor to ensure your senior team stays on track to deliver its key sales and revenue figures whilst you go through the whole process. When merging you want to be living in an environment of ‘no surprises’ for the bank and partner company…so keep your sales and delivery people focused!

Employ accountants to go through your finances with a fine toothcomb and ensure that there are no 'grey areas' of expense that would hold up or prevent the merge. They’ll highlight any 'skeletons in your cupboard,' and make sure that they don't distract any investor from the real value in the firm. Don’t forget to work with third party advisors to make sure that your tax; VAT, and National Insurance are all up to date too.

4. Do ensure you merge with a business that is the right cultural fit

Their people are all into ski-ing, travel, the FT and a second house in the country…yours love karaoke at the local pub and a night at the dogs. Their community lives and dies by the latest cutting edge technology, yours think a Blackberry can be found in a fruit bowl. It sounds obvious but the right cultural fit is important because if people have fundamentally different backgrounds and approaches this can be hard to get past, and it can mean key business development will fail to take place.

However if you are determined to merge two businesses with different cultures then you’ll need to work hard at it. Make sure you offer plenty of opportunities for people to meet, bond, have a drink, and get to know each other. Try rolling out a mentor and/or buddy system so that people all over the organisation have one person to make friends with, who they can then get to know and introduce to others. A whole network starts to grow and the ice will thaw. Getting the senior team to do a road show of key locations, informal BBQs and away days don’t have to break the bank and are often where important bonding and business relationships begin and evolve.

5. Do communicate, communicate and communicate!

Smart communication is the native language of managing a big change successfully. Keep communications timely, tailored to the audiences, clear and concise. Focus on telling your audience what matters to them about the merger, what it means to their roles personally, will it mean a location change, change in job title, new colleagues, new back office procedures? By all means tell them what it means for the future business but keep the high level stuff brief, simple and powerful. Soon you will start to get feedback that people understand your objectives and are willing to work with you through any change.

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