93. Growth by Acquisition
What’s Inside
Growth by Acquisition
Schedule Your Spring Retreat
1. Growth by Acquisition
Lately, we've focused on grounding a firm's growth strategy across 6 pillars.
You can review thoughts on the first two pillars via the links below.
Today, we'll discuss one way to grow your firm's services — Acquisition.
Products & Services
Marketing & Communications
People & Culture
Finance
One law firm client recently acquired another law firm to grow a practice area.
Yes, opportunities for growth abound.
But several challenges emerged as well.
Different ways of doing business
Different tools and technologies
Different terms for similar concepts
And this firm isn't alone.
Most growth-by-acquisition faces these 3 common challenges:
Challenge 1: Culture
There's a well-known saying that "culture eats strategy for breakfast."
You can have the best strategy in the world but if the culture doesn’t exist to support implementation then it’s likely to fail, or at least cause a lot of frustration.
That's why Leadership – a strong executive to champion the strategy and articulate the “why” is critical.
Ensure other senior leaders understand and believe in the strategy to cascade it across the business.
Include the right stakeholders with diverse perspectives throughout.
Implement clear, concise, and consistent communications.
Challenge 2: Systems Integration
One firm used a different CRM than the other.
They're aligned now, but it took time.
For a strategy to "stick" – it needs to Anchor within the business.
Account for "switching costs" (time, energy, and resources) to align on common tools and technologies.
Focus on training to spin up quickly.
Ensure the technology roadmap accounts for this growth and beyond.
Challenge 3: Common Language
The two firms used different terminology during business development.
One of the first things I do during a strategy engagement is define terms.
It's hard to be on the same page if we're all defining the baseline differently.
Once terms are defined and a strategy is in place, it's critical to Manage, Measure, and Mature towards this strategy.
As always, what gets measured gets done.
Create a visible dashboard to ensure everyone is aligned.
Tie individual goals to the overarching business goals.
Ensure leadership consistently works towards the articulated strategy.
How can your firm fuel growth via a merger or acquisition?
2. Schedule Your Spring Retreat
Position for 2026 and beyond.
Schedule a call to discuss your team’s spring leadership retreat now.
Here’s a sampling of topics we can cover:
Define/refine Vision, Mission, & Values
Develop 3-year strategy
Create clear 1-year & 90-day plan
Clarify roles & responsibilities
Improve cross-team communication
Streamline processes to save time & money
Make time to work ON, not just IN, your business.
It’s key to driving revenue, engagement, & impact.
Schedule a call for help with your company’s spring leadership retreat.
3. Working Together in 2026
Here are a few ways we can partner this spring -
Leadership Offsite: Define your growth strategy & priorities, clarify your go-to market plan, & improve your team's communication. (Learn More)
Fractional Executive: Embed strategic advisory services within your C-Suite as part of your leadership team. (Learn More)
Strategy with Susan: 45 mins to "pick my brain,” brainstorm go-to-market strategy, & chat about business-related questions. (Schedule)
Big Business to Small Business: Explore 10 Strategies to grow your company and find work you love. (Order Here)
As always, thanks for reading.
To your strategic success,
Susan
