How do we keep the leadership team focused on running the core business and hitting our quarterly targets during the sixty to ninety days between signing an LOI and closing the deal?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The ninety days between signing a letter of intent and closing an acquisition is when most deals blow up. Owners pull their leadership team into endless document requests, diligence calls, and site visits. Operational attention slips, sales pipeline velocity stalls, quarterly margins miss projections, and the buyer immediately demands a price cut or walks away because the trailing twelve-month numbers weakened during exclusivity.

To prevent deal fatigue and protect performance, establish strict role segregation across your Accountability Chart. The Visionary and an external transaction advisor must run the deal track as an insulated, off-line project. The Integrator and the rest of the leadership team must remain one hundred percent focused on core operations, maintaining their weekly Level 10 Meeting pulse and hitting their quarterly Rocks.

Do not inform the broader organization or junior managers about the transaction until definitive agreements are signed. Funnel every due diligence data request through a single point of contact, preferably an outside deal coordinator or fractional CFO who populates the virtual data room. If a diligence task requires input from an operational department head, package the request as an internal process improvement project or routine audit. By keeping your Scorecard metrics green and showing uninterrupted month-over-month revenue growth through closing, you remove any leverage the buyer might use to adjust the multiple.