On Performing Better Than Your Competitors

January 4, 2010 by ADMIN

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By Greg George, Managing Partner of GTI Advisors

One secret weapon a small professional services firm uses to leverage operations…

Anatomy of an acquisition:

I’m often asked, being a small firm, how do we accomplish such cost effective broad-based enhanced due diligence research given short notice, meeting required deadlines…

The short answer is, by bringing in the best talent available ‘as needed’, and laser focused project management.

And in all honesty, I do have several large (competitor) firms who are clients that call me when their staff is stuck with finding a few pieces of the puzzle – we are always happy to accommodate.

Most recent ‘In Real Life’ Mission; Star-Date 2009NOV12 – given 22 days to accomplish prior to clients scheduled closing.

Acquisition of a company - Scope of work requested:

Full background investigations on 12 principals/key staff of the company being acquired
Verifications of offshore critical supplier abilities, word on the street in-country with search of local venues for criminal records and other adverse filings
On-site inspections and verifications of actual manufacturing processes
Review of DHS, FDA, DOJ – other U.S. Agency data for lookouts, persons/company of interest, alerts, investigations underway on any parties to the transaction
Interpol, U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control, and other international source intelligence information that may be lurking out there regarding parties involved
Is the R&D scientific team, several foreign nationals, working here in the U.S. legally?
Verification of assets, and source of investing funds of second and third parties
Global deep media search on Subjects involved, the company and key suppliers
Research and report on applicable compliance issues

A critical component of the strategic work planning: Now comes… Andrea Cannavina – she is ‘simply the best of the best’ – 10 years plus of law office and business administration management experience, under Andrea’s guidance she assembles and directs select colleagues having the particular acumen for each task I require.

And, each task is completed with the foremost accuracy and professionalism – this is the big league, there is no room for error.

After raw intelligence data from the field is analyzed by my staff and reports completed.

Andrea’s mission is to collate and present - book, chapter and verse; tabbed and indexed reference documentation and reports of all research completed; findings, recommendations and ‘flag’ identifications that may require further research, as well as any subject matter indentified that would cause further discussion prior to closing as a prudent measure.

Note: For some deals the reporting documentation must be prepared in several languages.

The MBA’s and CPA’s on the team do what they do with the numbers, feasibility and valuation recommendations – legal team members take care of the term sheets and other transaction materials.

All information added as addendums completing the full ‘dossier’ to present to the client prior to closing to support an ‘informed’ decision making process.

The ‘team’ is available to the client 24/7 (and yes, those 2am calls are frequent).

Additionally, we are at the table during the negotiation and closing process to answer questions and to further explain and clarify any research submitted.

The deal is closed, Andrea’s invoice is paid, and all is well with the world.

How many client prospects do you have on your radar screen that have been paying large firms for their daily overhead?

There is no question that professional services work must be done. I would suggest that by positioning your firm’s expertise along with value added cost effective performance will bring new clients.

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Greg George is Managing Partner of GTI Advisors; Threat Management Practice Group. A senior advisor to executives, business owners, private equity investors, M&A teams and transaction lawyers, Greg provides guidance on matters of enhanced due diligence research, threat analysis, actionable intelligence, fraud avoidance, and espionage realities. For further information please visit http://gti-advisors.com or contact Greg directly: greg@gti-advisors.com - http://twitter.com/gtiadvisors

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