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• The company had a dominant position in a niche software market but competition was eroding market share.
• Management did not understand the profitability of each region.
• Measurement of account management was non existent. Repeat business was treated the same way as new business wins.
• Induction training for new staff was inconsistent and material across regions was incomplete and out of date.
• Competitive analysis was poorly done.
• Marketing and sales hated each other.

• Established competitive cheat sheets for all products and services which armed the sales force with a neat grid outlining the pros and cons of competitive offerings.
• Created a “university” concept recruiting an ex- MIT graduate and teacher to drive the standardization of training worldwide. This included a detailed curriculum of courses for all levels of staff worldwide.
• Revamped the commission structure allowing new business wins to be rewarded at a higher rate from ongoing maintenance renewals. However account managers needed to close both, new and repeat business to get quarterly top up bonuses.
• Established regional VPs to drive regional sales and profitability.
• Changed the structure of sales and marketing meetings.
• Established a new partnership between the regional marketing managers and sales managers.

• Sales and marketing worked together as a team appreciating each others value add
  Marketing campaigns were integrated into sales teams actions.
• Senior account managers were able to discuss the competition knowledgably instead of changing the subject to deflect their ignorance.
• Product road maps were influenced by competitive behavior in a timely and relevant manner.
• Regional profitability was compared at staff meetings and a healthy competition was created resulting in record results in EMEA and APAC.
• All staff became more knowledgeable about the products and the market through improved training.
• Recruitment leaned on the innovative university concept during the interview process.

• The company was experiencing difficulty getting staff to work together.
• Technical staff, inside sales teams, outside sales teams and marketing staff were at war with each other.
• The roles of key support staff were unclear.
• A key customer support role was performed badly by a technician with the wrong profile.

• Established “engagement strategies” for each client, which allowed all key departments including sales, engineering and marketing to shape the approach to key customers.
• Replaced key engineering roles supporting the customer with people friendly solution providers.
• Taught a new diagnostic approach of selling to allow sales teams to understand customer issues.
• Defined on site roles for Sales Directors and Technical Directors to ensure the scripts were seamless.
• Reinforced through training all the relevant business issues affecting customers and how this reconciled to the company’s products and services.
• Taught the sales teams to talk and act like businessmen.

• Products and services were successfully sold to the “C” level suite and not just the developer level.
• Average deal values moved from $5000 in the core business to $30,000 to $100,000 in the new “C” level solutions.
• The quality of technical understanding of customer’s problems increased dramatically as engineers built up intensive relations with key customer contacts.
• Product road maps were influenced by customer site visit feedback.
• Marketing campaigns became tighter, related to real issues that were happening live on customer sites.

• Full service advertising agency, sales $10.5m.
• Owned 50:50 by two brothers.
• One wanted out, one wanted to stay to drive the business to the next level.
• Strong client base.
• Business plans indicated potential to double in size within two years.

• Groom the business for funders, validate the business plan.
• Present to funders, with potential IRRs illustrated and well researched.
• Achieve a shortlist of interested parties and extract term sheets.
• Limited due diligence allowed for both PE players and banks.
• Confirmation of offers.
• Selection of preferred PE player and bank.

Results

• Retiring brother achieved a great exit valuation in cash.
• Private Equity player gained a 25% equity stake.
• Brother staying as CEO, moved his equity stake from 50% to 75% and
  took out a little cash by way of dividend.
  
• Company took on new debt.

• The owners were growing a steady business supplying IT specialists to the large banks in London but there was a dependency on one large client.
• Management accounts were weak and sales forecasts were not tightly reconciled to cash flow forecasts
• A separate subsidiary was developing software but was loss making.
• Factoring used to finance the business was expensive.
• There was a great entrepreneurial spirit between a few top quality managers who owned the business but second tier management was weak.
• Owners were looking for an exit.

• Convinced the owners to delay an exit to allow grooming of the business over the next 2 years
• Software subsidiary sold off to its management generating some cash flow and royalty income.
• Factoring replaced with cheaper money.
• Concerted effort made to dilute the dependency on one client, 35% of sales at the start of the 2 year grooming process.
• Established centers of excellence by software skills and changed the incentive plans for IT contractors to encourage loyalty (not often seen in this sector)
• Recruited new level of young profit hungry executives and gave them streams of income to manage.
• Recruited a CPA with relevant experience and transformed the Board pack to produce a new executive dashboard. This allowed daily and weekly action to affect change.
• Auditors were changed to one of the larger accountancy practices.
• The back office was revamped and all relevant legal documents were brought up to speed in readiness for due diligence one day.

• The company achieved an impressive exit at a significant PE ratio to profits and multiple to sales.
• The buyer, a public company on the London stock market was able to execute due diligence in 2 weeks and commented on how straight forward the exercise had been.
• Both key managers and owners were retained by the buyer for 12 months with further consideration being paid.

• The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• They had failed to close acquisitions to fuel growth.
• Their acquisition processes lacked rigor.
• Their share price was weak.

• Implemented “The Acquisition Approvals Model”, a six phase process map.
• Phase 1, Validated the strategic direction and produced acquisition profiles.
• Phase 2, Identified acquisition targets and for the priority ones, signed off draft post acquisition strategy.
• Phase 3, Contacted key targets and met to review key facts and price aspirations.
• Phase 4, Negotiated price and structure and signed off post acquisition plan.
• Phase 5, Completed due diligence and legal documentation.
• Phase 6, Lessons learned paper and executed post acquisition plan.

• By taking a proactive approach, deal flow improved dramatically.
• The company’s vision was turned into a compelling storyline.
• Exceptional conversations were had with vendor target companies.
• Over a period of 2 years, a number of quality industrial service companies were acquired some with earn-out deals built into the structure.
• Both sales and profits rose significantly.
• Quality senior managers were brought into the business.