Emily Sweillam
How do pilots successfully fly airplanes? How do doctors perform complicated surgeries without making mistakes? How is it possible to build huge, massive skyscrapers, successfully?
Checklists. Beautiful, glorious checklists.
In today’s highly complicated world, all experts need them. Literally—written guides that walk through the key steps of any complex procedure. The proof in the Checklist Manifesto (a must read!) shows us that without them, mistakes of one kind or another are virtually inevitable—for doctors, pilots, anyone. For example, the Checklist Manifesto cites a study of a checklist used in John Hopkins Hospital ICU that prevented forty-three infections, eight deaths and saved two millions dollars in costs—in one year!
Put simply, it’s just too easy for an otherwise competent person to miss a step, forget to ask a key question or, in the stress and pressure of a moment, fail to plan properly for every possibility.
Converting the branch after a merger or acquisition is no different. Most know all too well that these projects don't end when the transaction closes. Oftentimes, the conversion process can be just as stressful as the process leading up to the M&A. With so many moving parts, it would be impossible to capture everything without a checklist mapping out every last detail. Dates, times, people, vendors, tasks, functions, roles — everything needs to be remembered, acted on, and capably managed.
If that doesn't cause you enough stress, getting the process right has more than just the brand at stake. Ensuring a clients’ first experience when they walk into a converting branch is everything. Gallup shows us 8% of customers leave a financial institution after being acquired, much higher than the typical 5% annual attrition rate.
As a company that performs these types of projects frequently, our internal checklist is something of a manual/bible – the details are insane. To help you start planning your journey, we're sharing just a little slice of our process in this Simple Guide to Merger & Acquisition Branch Conversions Checklist right here.
Of course, if you want to chat about our demerchandising/remerchandising services, feel free to reach out directly here.
