There are four essential preparatory steps for a successful acquisition: 1 make sure you have a very clear ____________; this will help you understand which other companies in the market will help you ____________; 2 if you find a candidate you'd like to acquire, the next step is to ____________that company, i.e. understand its products/ sales/customers etc. 3 work out how much this company ____________to the current owners and to you; it takes a lot of time to analyse the projections for the company in order to arrive at a ____________; 4 work out ____________as to how you are going to buy this company. Once the acquisition has happened, three things need to be done to ensure it is successful: 1 ____________what you do when you take ownership of the company; 2 ____________the people; 3 make sure that you ____________.