Work with clients
LaLonde has no problem picking up the phone and detailing his interests in acquiring the company on the other end of the line. To leverage that conversation, most of the time he has what the person on the other end doesn’t know: client intelligence.
“If you’ve initiated the call, hopefully you have some client intel that more or less you shouldn’t even know about,” LaLonde says. “So something has to tip you — someone’s told you where to go fish. You’re not just going out on a boat and winging it. Use that intelligence to refine a short list of targets.”
Triplefin’s culture involves being obsessively customer-centric, so it’s no surprise that many of its acquisitions are a result of conversations with clients.
“I think that is just good sense on our team’s part to involve them,” LaLonde says.
When you have a chance to get in front of your customers, ask them how things are going, if there are areas where they would like to improve their business, spaces they would like to expand into. LaLonde has found that, by really building relationships, customers have shared their needs along with meaningful industry insight.
For instance, Triplefin recently ventured into reimbursement services, which there wasn’t an answer for in the industry. The initiative started when a client said it was looking for more innovative and cost-effective processes to handle that function. In working together to answer the manufacturing client’s needs, Triplefin acquired a mail-order pharmacy company for its technology. With support and insight from the client, Triplefin has been able to roll out a new solution.
As you focus on the organic growth of your business, you must remain cognizant of your clients’ needs. Ask yourself if an acquisition of some kind may be the answer. Ask clients if they have interest in possible new lines of growth and ask if they know of complementary companies to go after.
“Then it’s, ‘Well, where do we go? Can we do it on our own? Start from scratch? Build versus buy? Or is there someone out there who is similarly situated from a culture perspective?’” LaLonde says.
Your acquisition strategy should highlight the process your clients play in growing your company, LaLonde says. It’s something he’s working to enhance as he updates Triplefin’s written plan to include larger acquisitions. In 2009, one of Triplefin’s operating companies earned $5 million, which will now allow it to do more — and larger — deals.
But even if a deal falls through, you can still learn something in the course of the acquisition process.
“There’s a whole slew of data and intelligence both competitive and client-facing that can be useful to the CEO and leadership organization at large,” LaLonde says. “It has some tangential benefits other than actual deals that get consummated, and that’s the knowledge that comes with running that exercise or running that process.”
How to reach: Triplefin LLC, (513) 794-9870 or www.triplefin.com
