Site visit in hindsight
June 14, 2022
by a searcher from The University of Chicago - Booth School of Business in Chicago, IL, USA
Any examples from searchers not noticing something in the site visit portion of diligence which would have saved major headaches down the road? I’d like to learn from your oversight if you are willing to share.
from Stanford University in Tempe, AZ, USA
1) A chance to see the owner in his/her "element." This will probably be one of the less "stage managed" views of this critical personality. Do they start to loosen up and overshare? What does that tell you?
2) Assuming you're visiting during a work day, how do the employees react to the owner? Example: If the owner claims they're basically retired and the company runs itself, do the employees respond to him as if he hasn't been there in a while? Or do you get the sense that he's actually a day-to-day presence and therefore more critical to the business than you expect?
3) Do the walls tell a story? IE is there anything about the culture that you can piece together based on the built environment? Are there pictures of the team, of company history, key moments as a team, lists of values, etc?
4) How clean are the bathrooms and breakrooms? Do they take care of their employees? Do the employees seem to care about their space? How about any shop/warehouse space? Are you going to have a nightmare inventory organization job on your hands?
from Harvard University in Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Also, does the owner know the names of his team members? If you’re looking for an absentee owner, the might not happen, but I prefer business that have been well led by an owner who cares enough to know everyone’s name and role.
And do the employees smile? Or in someway show they like their job and company or are they just there for the paycheck. If a team is smiling and eager to show you what they do, you will have a lot more fun leading the company than if you acquire a business where everyone hates the place (for whatever reason). It’s a tough thing to change culture!