The performance quality of a newly acquired trucking business is up to the owner. A buyer with excellent transitional capabilities is not the norm. Most of these transactions involve a seller and buyer who have never gone through this process before. After the last signature flourish the real work begins. The next few weeks will hold a mix of merging practices, processes and philosophies and they may not go so well. Here are three things to keep in mind during a business transition.
Too Much Change
The excitement of a buyer during transition is important. However, allowing that energy to overcome the business with brand new changes. Enacting too many too many new ideas into the business could alienate employees and even scare away customers. People crave stability, taking that away will only hinder a business. Listen closely to clients and employees before gradually starting to make changes. Only then will those people feel valued by you and the business, which will increase profits better then a new business strategy.
Employee Cooperation
A business will have many kinds of employees, loosing the less dedicated during transition will do no harm. The crucial player her is the seller. In most cases, keeping a seller through transition will facilitate trust between the buyer, employees and customers. The new owner is at liberty to fire and hire at will. However, destabilizing a business through the loss of a key manager is not worth the perceived value of a new employee. Evaluate the current employees and do not try to fix something that works well already. There is time down the road to hire a new team, but only if the old one does not work well.
Poor Process Evaluation
Now that the business is coping with the few changes and employees settle down because their jobs are not threatened, it is time to look at the true blemishes. During the business sale, many processes could have been assessed poorly due to any number of reasons. Hopefully, financials and management structure were thoroughly examined during the sale. However, the day-to-day inner workings of this business may need some gentle shifting. Does the storefront and advertising represent the new direction of the business? Altering all of this too quickly could damage the business, move ahead slowly and keep an eye on everything, not just the bottom line.
Stability is truly the key to success during business acquisition and transition. Keep that goal in mind and the business will flourish under new ownership. Getting a business valuation or the opinion of a transportation business broker during thing rocky time will increase that stability. Allow the Tenney group to help facilitate a smooth transition and that new business will be grounded in solid transportation industry knowledge.
Leave a Reply