Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1172746
48 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2019 Feinberg: That company positioning sounds like any one of the 20 messages I receive on LinkedIn every morning, trying to sell me something. O'Neil: Exactly (laughs). Feinberg: But I agree. When you're going through an acquisition, the fun part is the negotiation. Once you've decided, "This would be a good acquisition for us," or, "We might be interested in selling," then the fun begins, and I seriously mean that. I found the acquisition process—even when it would take months and months sometimes—to be quite enjoyable. I made some good friends. I ended up with peo- ple who I had acquaintances with that I did business with later. It's an interesting process to go through and one that many never get the chance to do. O'Neil: It is, and it can be daunting and com- plex. Some people oversimplify it and go alone, which is dangerous. Other people view it as complicated, and, therefore, avoid having conversations because they feel that they're out of their depth. It's something to explore, and it's worth having those conversations, but not on a daily basis. Often, you learn a little about your own business. Even if you don't get to the theoretical starting line of a process, you must explore it a few times before you're ready. Then, it makes all the difference in the world that you have advisors who you trust and who do it for a living. My experience has been from both the buying and selling side that those individuals are well worth the large amounts of money that they do make. That has always been money well-spent because it's a big inflection point from either side. Feinberg: And don't forget that you're also nego- tiating the future of the employees, not just the company; I always considered that to be an important factor. For example, which part of the contract is going to guarantee that you will keep some or all of them, or that you will keep manufacturing? There's just so much to con- sider beyond the price. And when you're going in to negotiate these things, it's so important that you have a team; part of the team's job is to do nothing but watch and listen. You'd be amazed when you come out of these meet- ings, and someone else from your team says, "When you said this, did you notice their reac- tion?" You don't always notice because you're the one talking and concentrating on some- thing else, but those things are so important during negotiation. Johnson: Do you have any words of advice for somebody who might be considering selling? Conversely, do you have any words of advice for somebody who might be considering grow- ing by acquisition? O'Neil: On the selling side, we touched on a lot of different points already. Make sure you do your diligence on what the underlying goals and objectives of the potential acquirers are. Now is a good time; everyone's going through their 2020 business planning process anyway and throwing systems into place that enable you to have intelligence into your customer base. Find out what markets they're in and what value you provide to each of them. That's just good business planning, whether it's pre- paring from a buying or selling side. Part of the benefit of going through it a few times is you get to know what data is critical for M&A, and then you find out that that data is important for running your business any - way. Also, find advisors who can help shepherd you through the process. Different-sized orga- nizations have various types of engagements, whether they're investment bankers or business brokers, an active board of directors, an advi- sory board, or a group of colleagues and friends. It can run anywhere along that gamut, but going it alone is dangerous and potentially costly. From the buying side, make sure when that seller says, "Why are you interested in my busi- ness?" that you have a real reason. A lot of times, it's just, "We were told to put this money to work, so we're going through the list," but that's not a recipe for success. When you can have tens, hundreds, or thousands of employ - ees thriving, I've seen it be successful when