After the deal: Communicating with channels and the sales force

It is easy to suggest that the acquirer should immediately start communicating internally with the sales force and externally with intermediaries. But the cruel truth is that most don’t have detailed plans to communicate.  So it is hard to escape the fear, uncertainty and doubt that lead to defection, demotivation and lost sales. Yet this is vital if sales levels are to be maintained after the merger.

Internal sales forces are particularly prone to outbreaks of low morale and defection after a big acquisition. One manager said: ‘Today sales people work from home. They are only marginally part of a team and they have to go out there every day selling. They can feel very vulnerable.’ 

A manager at a large pharmaceutical company, which recently purchased another major player, said: ‘As soon as an acquisition is concluded everyone assumes that senior management will have worked out everything to the last T. They assume you have some finely tuned Machiavellian plan. In practice, nothing could be further from the truth.  Actually, I think that it is important to tell people that. Tell them there is no plan. I told them I didn’t know whether I would be in a job in six months time either.’

He added: ‘Above all, I only ever told people the truth. That is sometimes an uncomfortable experience, but, if they find you out once in a lie or a half-truth, you are dead.’

The same applies to communications with your routes to market. An HP manager said: ‘Tell them what you are going to do and then do it.  It is vital to deliver. If you say a decision will be given to you in early December, make sure that happens. Partners are watching all the time for any indication of weakness or procrastination.’

Because employees assume that you have worked out a detailed plan in advance, any delays or any administrative hitches are always cast in the worst possible light. The head of a big European IT distributor, which has made half a dozen acquisitions, said: ‘I always try to look at things through the eyes of the acquired company’s sales staff.  Why am I not on the e-mail server?  What will happen to my company car?  It is vitally important to take some simple administrative steps to make people feel included.’

So you have ensured that everyone is on the e-mail server and on the payroll, but you don’t know who is staying and who is going.  What should you do next?  For one manager the answer was simple. ‘We said that anyone who was a good performer had nothing to fear.’ That did send out the message to the poor performers that perhaps they should think about moving on. ‘We also said that this will be a very exciting and dynamic company to work for and that people would be queuing up for jobs here soon. Aren’t you the lucky ones?  You are already here!’

One manager laid huge store by relationships. ‘It is all about credibility. If I meet someone face to face I am much more likely to believe them.  I always aim for the grass-roots.  At sales conferences my eyes are on the sales people, not our senior managers.’

Similar communication issues exist with channels to market.  In this respect, during the interim period, the advice from a manager in a large oil company was to maintain an even keel:  ‘to provide a degree of reassurance.  So no changes in prices and incentives.  We wanted life to stay normal until we had a better view of the future.  We maintained close personal relationships with everyone – particularly those distributors we wanted to retain.’

A helpline that can resolve issues quickly for sales people and intermediaries might be a good idea.  ‘A sales person who is worrying about his or her company car or pension is not selling your product.’