Helping Sales Employees After Acquisitions

In this economy, companies have been acquiring other entities at an historic rate. I have had the opportunity to help work with three clients as they acquired other companies:

• In 2001, Archstone Communities acquisition of Charles E. Smith Residential Realty, leading to the creation of Archstone-Smith.
• In 2007, CertainTeed’s acquisition of Vytec.
• Monster’s recent (2010) acquisition of HotJobs from Yahoo.

In each of these cases, the acquiring company handled the transition with class and dignity, with the sales forces being successfully integrated into the new, larger entities. While confidentiality agreements prohibit me from providing specific information related to any of these acquisitions, there are a few key points that I can offer for how to make such transitions as painless as possible for sales employees:

1. Do the research. Learn as much as you can, within the legal parameters, about each company, its culture, and how it operates. This, of course, depends on what you are legally allowed to learn, which can often be very little with regard to the acquired entity until after the acquisition has been formally completed. When you are restricted from obtaining information, focus on the acquiring company and its culture, so you can pass on that information to employees of the acquired entity as soon as you are allowed to do so.
   
2. Know which questions to defer and to whom. Often, key information is not immediately available related to the internal processes of the newly combined company. The key in those situations is to have a list of contacts to whom you can refer questions about such issues. It’s always best to say, “I don’t know,” and refer the question to someone in the appropriate position, rather than bluffing a response.
   
3. Treat the incoming employees with respect. This is the most important thing you can do. Rather than treating the acquired entity’s employees like conquered partisans, you should make them feel as welcome as possible in the new environment. Ask for and listen to their suggestions, and help them to feel like part of the team, right from the start.
   
4. Recognize former competitive instincts. Salespeople are competitive by nature, and often, the acquiring company formerly competed directly against the acquired entity, with different product sets and value propositions. To ignore this competitiveness would be folly. Instead, you should embrace it and learn from it ways to better the newly combined company’s competitive edge against the remaining competitors within the market.
   
5. Make the customers the key focus. In each of the situations in which I have been involved, I was fortunate to be working with a company whose primary focus was the customer. By doing so, those companies were able to encourage their salespeople, both old and new, to make every decision through the lens of how it affects the customer. As a result, the appropriate course of action was often readily apparent, and potential conflicts were avoided.
   
6. Train both sales forces. It’s not enough to just train the incoming sales force from the acquired entity about their new situation. The existing sales force from the acquiring company must also be prepared to work with their new counterparts, so as to create the best possible environment for the customers.
   
7. Reward teamwork. For these types of situations to work, members of both sales forces have to know and acknowledge that they are part of a team whose primary purpose is to service the customers. This mindset can best be accomplished by rewarding salespeople for teaming, either through compensation, contests, or some other reward structure.

These are a few suggestions to follow when helping sales employees after acquisitions. If you or any of your clients are about to work through an acquisition or a merger, feel free to contact me for assistance in training the employees.