Successful deals depend on an accurate understanding of future cash flow generated by the customer base. You conduct financial due diligence as key component of your acquisition process but this due diligence is historical, “rear view,” and is not accurately predictive of the company’s future and potential revenue.

There is only one way to accurately assess the customers’ likelihood to continue generating and growing future cash flow – ask the company’s customers about their level of satisfaction with the company and their future business needs and plans.

After the Letter of Intent is signed, ci360 interviews a representative and targeted group of decision makers within the target company’s customer base, as part of a strategic customer satisfaction study. This is all done without mentioning the potential deal to the customers and conducted within the compressed timelines associated with a deal. What you learn (by product, company size and geography):

• How loyal are the target company’s customers?
• What are the possible barriers to a successful post-acquisition integration?
• How likely are customers to generate the projected cash flow?
• Who are the competitors and what are their relative strengths and weaknesses?
• Which issues negatively and positively impact customer loyalty and growth?

Traditional” surveys are commonly conducted using written questionnaires, with predominately closed-ended questions and a limited number of open-ended questions. The issue of employee anonymity is a significant issue that must be overcome to provide a forum for employees to feel comfortable to speak freely and openly. ci360 believes that the “traditional” goals are fine but limited relative to the true potential of a properly designed study. It is possible, with a well thought out methodology and survey questionnaire, to take the Employee Survey far beyond these limitations.

The ci360 Employee Study takes a more strategic and fully integrated approach to the collection and use of the information from an Employee Study. In addition to the “traditional” goals, ci360 also seeks to understand:

• Employee values and attitudes about their work and opportunities to improve effectiveness
• How employees believe established workflow processes enable or hinder them from achieving the strategic and operational goals of the company
• What do employees believe are the most important changes that can be made to promote a strong culture of delivering maximum value to customers
• How poor communication between departments hinder the quality and speed of delivering products and services to customers