Having the right communications plan is important to seller and buyer
In working with our clients, the final stage of preparation for achieving a euphoric exit event includes knowing when and what to communicate with their employees. Doing so too soon, too late and/or having the wrong messaging can negatively impact the final days of you owning your business and your acquirer getting off on the right foot.
Although with each company there are nuances as to how employee communications should be handled related to a sale, there is a general rule of thumb to have in mind. Do not communicate too early. The reason for this is as soon as you communicate that you’re selling your company, your employees may feel unsettled and will have many questions, many of which you may not be able to answer. Questions like; who will the acquirer be, will we keep our jobs, will they make any big changes and a host of other questions will arise. Early in the exit process of courting potential suitors, you won’t have the answers to these questions and your inability to answer them for employees will only cause more concern and uncertainty for them. While you think you’re doing your employees a favor by being transparent about your exit plans, you’re potentially doing them a disservice by queuing up a topic that will naturally cause them to become uncomfortable and your inability to comfort them will only cause more issues.
Don’t reinvent the wheel on this topic of selling your company and ensuring effective communications with employees. There are many aspects to when you communicate, how to communicate, who to communicate to and what the message should be. And this even extends beyond employees and moves to effective communications with customers and suppliers. Reach out for guidance from those that have developed and implemented these types of communications plans before. As part of our overarching help to clients to achieve their euphoric exit event one day, this communication planning is part of the guidance we provide. Give us a call and we can help you give quality thought and action to this important part of your exit event.
