Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions: The Guide to Market-Focused Planning and Integration

Several months ago, copies of this book were distributed to our executive team in anticipation of an acquisition. We've since bought several more copies. The deal has progressed smoothly and primarily due to the guidance of Messrs. Clemente and Greenspan. It's as if they've read our minds in reference to the challenges we would face. Each time that a major obstacle or uncertainty has presented itself, "Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions" clearly and articulately has delivered the solution. The chapter on their methodology "marketing due diligence" is truly out-of-the-box thinking and has helped to shed new light on even the most mundane aspects of the process. Strategy, acquisition planning, cultural issues, integration implementation, and the like are all addressed with multiple case studies and practical guidance. We have greased the skids for cross-selling and revenue generation as they've instructed and the results speak for themselves. We are clearly ahead of schedule because of this book. Whenever we have balked at one of the book's solutions, we've found ourselves quickly in trouble and have gone back and implemented the guidance to remarkable success. Our gameplan for this amalgamation as well as for future ones is now neatly laid out. I can only imagine that more deals would have succeeded if they had stuck to the guidance so brilliantly imparted on these pages. In fact, I can't quite figure out how we ever had the audacity to make an acquisition before reading this book.

Well written, very relevant, and quite helpful. Chock full of case studies, very specific guidance and especially the "insiders outlooks" where managers who are going through it talk candidly about what works and what doesn't. Good insights on culture and driving revenues. Hundreds of pages of real life experiences. A very good book for those who don't have all the answers. After I read this book, I was a lot smarter.

I'm in the midst of my third acquisition in two years. I have bought virtually every advisory book on M & A to help me get it right -- The Art of ...; Five Frogs...; Joining Forces, etc. While all of those were entertaining, in the final analysis, they were not really helpful in delivering results to my organization. Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions consistently addresses the real issues I've encountered through all the phases of M & A with viable solutions and profound instruction. Again and again, when I've been faced with a due diligence quandary or an integration roadblock, this book has accurately and coherently helped me and my company advance toward M & A success. These gentlemen invented a concept called marketing due diligence which transcends every other discovery mechanism we have used. They also focus on driving revenues which I found we urgently needed to do after our first acquisition failed to live up to its promise. This book has saved my company millions and probably secured my job in the process. If there is one book that will make a difference in the vast sea of M & A literature, it is Winning at Mergers & Acquisitions. Thank you gentlemen.

There are many books on M & A out there. Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions is different...it truly delivers! Clemente and Greenspan share their experiences at each phase of the process - from strategy development through integration implementation. They give specific guidance on overcoming the challenges that every company encounters when it decides to do a deal. Their insights on how to keep customers and employees on board are priceless. They show how to link people, products and processes to top-line growth concerns. And most important, they explain how to accomplish effective integration. Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions is the most valuable acquisition I've made this year!

Finally, a book that covers both sides of the acquisition --the necessary pre-deal planning and the critical post-deal integration. The authors' methodological framework, which stresses marketing due diligence and focuses on revenue synergies, is groundbreaking. Reading this book will increase the odds of success for anyone involved in a merger or acquisition. --Thomas Waimes