Communications advisor

What this seat actually does

A communications advisor plans who hears what, from whom, and in what order, in the days around announcement. This sounds soft and is not: the acquired workforce decides in the first week whether to trust the new owner, and rumours reach them before any plan does if the plan is late.

They also prepare the messages for customers, suppliers and, where relevant, the trade press, and they prepare the people who will deliver them. The single most common failure is an owner who has thought hard about the customers and not at all about what the shop floor will be told on Monday.

When you need one

Before signing, not before closing. The announcement plan should exist while there is still time to change what is being announced.

How they charge

Project fee for a defined announcement, or a day rate for advisory support. Modest relative to the transaction and unusually high leverage for the money.

What to ask before you hire

• What is the sequence in the first forty-eight hours, hour by hour?
• What do we say to someone who asks directly whether there will be redundancies?
• Who delivers each message, and how do we prepare them?
• What do we do if it leaks early?

How to compare candidates

• Prefer people who have handled acquisition announcements specifically, including one that went badly.
• Judge them on the internal plan rather than the press release. The employees matter more than the trade press.

The mistake owners make

Announcing to customers and the market before speaking to employees, so the workforce learns that its employer changed from someone outside the company. It is very hard to recover from and completely avoidable.

What this is not

Not marketing, and not brand strategy. This is a specific, time-boxed job around one event.

The Institute accepts no payment from any advisor, takes no fee tied to any transaction, and does not place or refer professionals for compensation. This entry describes a role, not a recommendation of any firm.