“Keep your pipeline full,” I often tell clients when speaking about their acquisition prospects. By this I mean that in pursuing M&A you should research 75 to 100 companies. That’s a lot of companies and research, which of course you must record in an appropriate manner.
How can you keep track of all your data? What member of your acquisition team is best qualified to monitor, control, and update the pipeline database?
The short answer is someone who is extremely detail-oriented and organized. Think of this person as the M&A librarian. I recommend the librarian is not the acquisition champion because this role will require a fair amount of work. The librarian will meticulously keep track of all the information gathered by the acquisition team and catalogue it appropriately.
My clients often use tools such as Microsoft Access, Salesforce, Act!, or other data management software to organize all the data. Recording your findings in an orderly, accessible fashion is critical to ensuring your data is useful and meaningful to you during the acquisition process.
