Relationship Audits & Management

Relationship Diligence

Meeting needs

Relationship Diligence has been developed to augment professional due diligence as part of the preparation undertaken by an acquirer, prior to the purchase of another company.

For senior management - how secure is the vendor's client-base as a key indicator of future revenue stability and, ideally, growth?

For financial management - before we invest time and money in legal and financial due diligence, can we be sure that this will be a valuable use of company resources?

Proven process

  • In-depth interviews conducted either face-to-face (ideally) or by telephone.
  • Consistent question set, proven across market sectors.
  • Quantitative core to information gathered, underpinned in detail by qualitative explanation.
  • Information gathered and analysed by RAM's highly experienced relationship management experts.

Multiple benefits

  • When used after the signing of 'Heads' and prior to the engagement of law and accountancy firms, Relationship Diligence can help establish the true viability of an acquisition prior to the deployment of significant professional services fees.
  • Clear focus on the vendor's clients' future commitment - a state in which they will advocate on the vendor's behalf and tend to assign new business to it, rather than on client current or past satisfaction where they will generally be open to a better offer and might prefer to opt for competitive tendering.
  • Intelligence gained can provide important input for the acquirer in conducting negotiations with the vendor and their advisors - for example, is the loyalty of key clients vested in the vendor company or in certain individuals who will need to be 'locked in' to secure client tenure?
  • An independently-conducted evaluation like Relationship Diligence can also contribute to securing finance for the purchase.
  • Questions which unlock important 'back of mind' factors and implications as well as urgent 'front of mind' priorities.
  • Range of reporting options from succinct management tools to more detailed 'at the coalface' guidance.
  • Possibility of tailoring the question set, at the margin, to ensure maximum relevance of the process.
  • Data is stored in such a way that when a comparable process is repeated, e.g. 12 months after successful acquisition, progress can be tracked and potentially used for measuring intra-group performance.
  • As a result, Relationship Diligence delivers 'actionable intelligence', often in the form of business-building opportunities, always providing a powerful basis for effective action plans.

Distinctive output


The Client Commitment Index®
highlights corporate and
individual client commitment
Click here to view
  • RAM's unique Client Commitment Index® which graphically captures the health and security of the vendor's client-base both across and within the participating companies.
  • RAM's proprietary RISCC analysis, which enables the quantitative data to be broken out by broad subject areas.
  • Vendor's clients are categorised into Red/Amber/Green - indicating immediately, for example, those clients where there is a serious (Red) risk to the relationship going forward.
  • In combination, these analyses provide a vivid and colourful management dashboard.
  • In addition, a simple software-generated summary can be created, at the touch of a key, focusing on 'what's going well' , 'areas for development/improvement', 'recommended actions.'

For more detail, subject to access approvals, the data can be 'sliced and diced' to meet all information and reporting needs.