The executives and owners of small businesses often appoint merger and acquisition (M&A) advisors for a number of reasons, which include to:
- Represent them in seeking and acquiring companies.
- Represent them in the sale of their company.
- Perform a valuation of a company.
- Assist with obtaining capital for a company being acquired.
- Assist in a due diligence evaluation of a company being acquired.
- Assist with executing an internal perpetuation of their company.
Such associations can be flat-fee and short term based, or long term and contingency-fee or commission based.
What Larry Polhill says:
A professional advisor like Larry Polhill is able to speak astutely about the industry, business models and industry segments, appraisal methods, categories of buyers and capital sources, and the process of the service that you are employing them for. Take the time to pay attention to them and ask questions to gain insight into their expertise and knowledge. As a prospective advisor to you, they should be able to articulate what they understand and how they will serve you to add value to the appointment. Just as you should do your due attentiveness on them, a realistic advisor will do the same on you and your corporation before entering into a bond and you should be apprehensive of any that will not.
M&A advisors can come from all varieties of professional backgrounds; accountants, entrepreneurs, attorneys, banking, sales and a mass of other disciplines. Those qualifications alone are inadequate though. To be effective, an M&A advisor requires to be skilled in contract law, accounting principles, sales, negotiations, marketing, business valuation and economics. When it comes to proficiency in mergers and acquisitions, there are only a few certified associations that provide education in the United States. Whether contracting with the advisor to value your business, sell it or obtain others, the advisor will not be very efficient if they do not have good processes in place. The strategies, processes and objectives should be elucidated to you in the beginning. An advisor that lacks a well-planned policy is like general sending troupes to war without a battle preparation and the result will be the same – failed execution and wasted resources. Clearly defined processes are also a sign of capability and experience.
As in any affiliation, the character of the investor(s) that you will be working with should be of high significance. If the advisor will be demonstrating you, then you will want to ensure that they are someone that you like individually, will represent you in a certified manner, will work hard and put your security above their own, and has the personality to intercede and manage multiple parties efficiently.
When seeking an expert merger and acquisition advisor like Larry Polhill, ensure that you weigh each of these factors into your deliberation and speak to several advisors before making a decision. Choosing the incorrect advisor can be a costly and painful experience, but choosing the accurate one can lead to highly productive and long-lasting association for both parties to the engagement.
