investment activities
Business Relationship Diligence provides a potential acquirer or investor with authentic intelligence on the current state of a company’s commercial relationships with clients as well as the future security of those key relationships.
Our clients have identified multiple benefits of a Diligence audit examining the key commercial partnerships of a potential acquisition or investment opportunity.
- Saves the expense of legal and accountancy fees on deals that are not worth taking beyond Heads of Agreement
- Business relationship client referencing provides detailed intelligence on each relationship, including key client commitment strength
- Measures the Vendor’s commercial relationship performance against our industry benchmarks
- Identifies, from the perspective of the Vendor’s clients, the people on their business that are crucial to retaining and growing the business
- Assesses the cross-selling opportunities with the Acquirer’s business
- Provides critical commercial relationship intelligence which can be used to frame and influence final negotiations
Methodologies that are fit for purpose
We have two proven intelligence gathering methods that can be applied to any proposed deal, both of which, crucially, provide an analysis of the commitment rather than satisfaction of the Vendor’s clients.
Depth interviews
When time allows, in depth, one-on-one interviews with key clients offer an effective way to deliver accurate and trustworthy client referencing, whether for acquisitions or investment purposes. They identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relating to the Vendor’s key client relationships, both current and potential.
Critically, such deep-dive interviews allow us to plot and illustrate – via our proprietary Client Commitment Index® (CCI) – the level of commitment to the Vendor. It covers both commitment from individual business contacts and from their company overall.
Online
Where there are large numbers of Vendor client contacts and/or accurate and trustworthy business relationship intelligence is needed very quickly, we deploy our award-winning Relationship RADAR® client feedback system, which can also deliver a picture of client commitment.
Typically, this is used with non-key-decision-makers of the key clients that are to be interviewed, as well as the Vendor’s smaller or lower value clients.
Results are available to you in real-time from our interactive dashboard.
The Relationship RADAR®-generated client commitment data can be used to amplify on the data gathered by face-to-face interviews.
Reporting
- We have the resources and experience to quickly deliver accurate and detailed business relationship diligence intelligence
- Typically, we report scores/themes on three levels: Vendor overall, client company and by individual participant
- Areas where clients think the Vendor is performing well
- Areas where clients think the Vendor needs to improve
- A summary of each client company relationship as a whole
- Individual client and overall positions on the Client Commitment Index®
- Business development opportunities
- Potential threats to the Vendor’s business from business relationship breakdowns
- Recommendations on how to resolve identified areas of under-delivery, as well as how to build on the positive aspects of the relationship with each client company