Acquisition Priority One: Build Trust

Our company recently closed on our 5th location, 6th foundry, and 7th business.

Everyone asks: what does the next month look like for you?

Are you going to move them to your ERP? Make operational adjustments? Invest in machines or equipment?

The answer to all of these is no.

My priorities are always first to build trust. That is the bedrock for anything we do in the future. I need to build trust with the previous owner, with managers, with each employee, with customers and vendors, and any other stakeholders.

Why Trust Comes First

Most acquisitions fail not because of bad strategy, but because of broken trust. The moment you announce new ownership, everyone is asking the same silent question: “What does this mean for me?”

• Employees worry about layoffs
• Managers wonder if they’ll keep their authority
• The previous owner fears their legacy will be destroyed
• Customers worry about service changes
• Vendors question whether terms will be honored

If you rush to “fix” things before addressing these fears, you’ll destroy the very value you paid for. The best operators in an acquired company will leave first—they have options. The institutional knowledge walks out the door.

The Trust-Building Framework: First 90 Days

Days 1-30: Listen and Stabilize

Week 1: The Team Talk

We start with giving talks to the team. My main points center around:

1. Stability — No immediate changes to jobs, pay, or benefits
2. Openness — My door is always open, ask anything
3. Enablement — My job is not to tell them how to do theirs, but to remove friction so they can leave on time with energy for family and hobbies

This last point matters more than people realize. Most employees have been operating with frustrations—broken processes, missing tools, unclear expectations. They’ve adapted, but they’re tired. Promising to remove friction speaks directly to their daily experience.

Week 2-3: Customer Conversations

We move to customers, starting with the largest. In each conversation:

• Share how proud we are of the current company and what the previous owner built
• Explain why we bought it (specific strengths, not generic praise)
• Outline where we want to take it and the resources in our network
• Discuss key changes that may be needed (transparency, not surprises)
• Allow an open forum for questions

The goal isn’t to sell them on new ownership—it’s to demonstrate that competent, thoughtful people are now in charge. Most customers have been through bad acquisitions. They’re watching for signs of trouble.

Week 3-4: Owner Transition

Time with the owner is often overlooked. They have hundreds of things running through their mind: credit cards, side deals (the employee who cuts the grass), verbal agreements with vendors, customer quirks that never got documented.

The day is filled with emotion for everyone. Some feel anxious, others excited. The previous owner will go through periods of relief, joy, feeling lost, sad, and nostalgia—sometimes all in one afternoon.

Your job: calm the negative emotions, build trust, and set a foundation for working together through the transition period.

Days 30-60: Understand and Document

Now that initial fears are addressed, you can start learning:

• Map every process (even the broken ones)
• Understand why things are done the way they’re done
• Document institutional knowledge before it disappears
• Identify the informal leaders (they’re rarely the managers)
• Find the quick wins that have been ignored

Critical: Don’t fix anything yet. Just understand. The moment you start changing things, people stop telling you the truth.

Days 60-90: Small Wins and Planning

Now you can act—but carefully:

• Fix one or two obvious problems that everyone hates
• Involve the team in planning larger changes
• Announce a clear 6-month roadmap
• Celebrate the existing culture (don’t import your culture wholesale)

The Power of Stories

Building trust is done more with stories and anecdotes than sharing facts. I’m lucky to have been on both sides—I’ve been purchased and done the purchasing. I have many stories that make workers laugh, the owner feel proud, and customers excited for the future.

The key is sharing them with the underlying message: “I hear you, I understand you, I am you.”

When I tell the story of how nervous I was on my first Day One as an employee under new ownership, people relax. When I describe the stupid mistakes I made as a first-time acquirer, managers stop being defensive. Stories create connection in ways that PowerPoint slides never will.

Red Flags: When Trust Is Breaking

Watch for these signs that trust-building isn’t working:

• Key employees updating LinkedIn profiles
• Customers asking for “everything in writing”
• Managers withholding information or sandbagging problems
• The previous owner becoming distant or defensive
• Hallway conversations stopping when you walk by

If you see these signs, slow down. Go back to listening. Something was missed.

Success Metrics for the First 90 Days

How do you know trust-building is working?

Metric	Target
Voluntary turnover	0% in first 90 days
Customer retention	100% (no notice of intent to leave)
Employee 1:1s completed	100% of team
Customer visits completed	Top 80% of revenue
Process documentation	Core processes mapped

The financial metrics come later. In the first 90 days, the only metric that matters is: are people staying?

The 90-Day Checklist

Days 1-7:

• All-hands meeting with stability message
• Meet every direct report 1:1
• Call top 5 customers
• Call key vendors
• Debrief with previous owner

Days 8-30:

• Meet every employee (even briefly)
• Visit every customer representing >5% of revenue
• Document org structure and informal power
• Identify top 3 employee frustrations
• Map cash flow cycle

Days 30-60:

• Complete process documentation
• Identify quick wins (don’t execute yet)
• Develop integration roadmap
• Check in with previous owner
• Assess management team strengths

Days 60-90:

• Execute 1-2 quick wins
• Share 6-month roadmap with team
• Transition previous owner (if applicable)
• Celebrate first milestone
• Begin integration planning

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The one goal of the first 90 days is to calm the negative emotions of all parties, build trust, and set a foundation for working together in the future. Everything else—the ERP migration, the process improvements, the synergies—can wait.

Trust can’t.

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Related Reading:

• Mastering Your Day One
• The RIP Framework: First 90 Days in Leadership
• The Cultural Gravity Framework