I am working on final stages of an acquisition. It had the "owner name Inc" as the legal name with a separate "dba name". The company is known by its "dba name" to its customers. It has been in business for 15 years. We are doing an asset purchase and I was hoping to get the dba name and continue the same dba under my new entity.
Unfortunately, there is a high possibility that I may not be able to get the dba name due to some previously known legal assignment issue (seller was upfront about it). Everything else is pretty good with the company.
All most all their customers are b2b customers many in construction and industrial space. The company has a physical location where customers do walk in. They don't have a good website or internet presence (12 google reviews), so anyway I have to build this online presence from scratch. They do most of their sales through phone, word of mouth and referrals. It is a small company with around 700K SDE.
Since the option to retain the dba name decision is taken out of my hands, I am just getting ready to plan for going with the new name from the start of acquisition. I don't think I need to change the name board etc at location on day 1. Seller is actually retiring and is willing to co-operate as needed.
Any thoughts on how to approach this to minimize the impact.
Company name change after acquisition
by a searcher from Texas Tech University
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1. Together with the seller, create a personalized communications plan to reach out to clients and announce the transition - the goal is to provide reassurance that business will continue as usual, with the same team and quality as before. The old owner should provide a personal introduction - especially for the company’s most important clients. Less important clients can be notified via email.
2. Make sure all forms of communication stay the same (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.) and do your best to keep the old website’s domain.
Try to keep the name as similar as possible, just adding a word or changing the order of the words, etc. - if this is not possible, make sure to work with a professional to change the name to avoid further issues. Get a second domain if necessary, but don’t give up the old one.
3. Gradually update to the new name in signage, stationery, website, etc. and if the name changes by a lot, make sure to include messaging such as “formerly known as…”
I hope this helps! DM me if you have questions, I’m happy to help :)
I'm assuming you are already lined up for financing this late stage, but reach out if still need.