# Make One Story Fit the New Firm

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/one-story-after-merger · Last updated 2 November 2026

Your two firms are now one, and clients still hear two different pitches depending on who walks into the meeting. Ivanka Menken uses the Unified Story Map inside Private Advisory, a 12-month engagement at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, to turn a merged firm into one clear story and one sales process. You leave with a one-page map of the offer, the proof, the common words both teams use and the date you review it against real new-business conversations.

## One firm on paper, two firms in the meeting

- Each team describes the merged offer in its own words.
- Proposals still quote the old firms’ case studies.
- You paid for a new logo and the pitch stayed the same.

**THE MOMENT:** A prospect meets your firm twice in one week. The first adviser talks about planning and long relationships. The second talks about investment results and scale. Both are right, and both are yours. The prospect asks a simple question: which one are you? Nobody in the firm has a one-line answer both teams would sign.

### THE MERGED FIRM, AS IT STANDS

- Teams: two, now under one roof
- Offer: described two ways
- Proof: each team uses its own old cases
- New brand: in place
- Shared sales language: not written

## A new logo and a new website

In this case, a founder was leading an advisory firm formed from two smaller ones. The obvious fix was the brand: a new name treatment, a new logo and a refreshed website. It looked like one firm. In client conversations it still sounded like two, because each team kept the sales language, the examples and the proof it had always used.

## Different words, different proof

Ivanka noticed that each team described the merged offer with different words and backed it with different proof. Neither was wrong. But a prospect who met both teams heard two firms, and the founder had never asked the teams to agree on one sentence about what the new firm does, for whom, and what shows it works.

## An ununified story, not a brand problem

The diagnosis was not brand design. It was an ununified story and a sales process that still ran on two sets of habits.
The reframe: a merger only reads as one firm when every team tells the same story with the same proof. Write the offer, choose the proof both teams will use, agree the common words, and test the page in real new-business conversations before you reset the sales process around it.

> A client should hear the same firm whichever team walks in.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Every month the firm tells two stories, prospects compare the teams instead of choosing the firm, and the merger’s main promise, one stronger firm, stays invisible in the meeting.

## The tool: Unified Story Map

The Unified Story Map takes two teams’ ways of selling and draws them into one page the whole firm uses. It is one of the big decisions Private Advisory works through, because after a merger the story decides how clients see everything else.

It is a one-page map in four parts: the offer in one sentence, the proof both teams will use, the common words that replace each team’s private vocabulary, and the review point where the map is checked against real new-business conversations.

It replaces a new logo over old pitches, two sets of case studies in one proposal, and the hope that the teams will converge on their own.

### What goes on the page

1. The offer: what the new firm does, for whom, in one sentence
2. The proof: the examples both teams agree to use
3. The common words: the terms that replace each team’s own
4. The sales process: one sequence for every new-business conversation
5. The test: the map used in real conversations
6. The review: what clients repeated back, and what changed

It sits inside Private Advisory, next to the Builder Meeting Rhythm and the quarterly five-number read. Ivanka does not design the brand, write the website or run the campaign. The founder takes the map to the teams and to whoever writes the marketing.

## Two pitches onto one page

In the session, Ivanka asked the founder to write how each team opens a new-business meeting, word for word, side by side. Where the words differed, she asked which version a client would repeat to a colleague. Together they wrote one offer sentence, picked the proof both teams would use and listed the common words. Before the next session, the founder tested the map in new-business conversations and noted what prospects said back.

### The questions

- How does each team describe the firm in its first minute?
- Which sentence would a client repeat to a colleague?
- Which proof will both teams use?
- Which words does each team need to drop?
- When will you check the map against real meetings?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: One firm, described two ways.
2. The numbers: Two teams, two sets of proof, one new logo.
3. The story: Why the new brand did not change the pitch.
4. The commitment: One map tested in real new-business meetings.

Before the next session, the founder used the map in new-business conversations with both teams and brought back what prospects repeated, so the sales process could be reset around it.

## One story in every meeting

Over the engagement, the founder has a unified story map, a sales process both teams run the same way and a review point to keep it honest. The quarterly five-number read shows whether the new-business numbers move with it.

**BEFORE**

- Two pitches for one firm.
- Each team’s own proof in proposals.
- A new logo over old language.
- No shared first sentence.

**BY MONTH 6**

- One story map the firm signs.
- One proof set in every proposal.
- Common words both teams use.
- A sales process reset around the map.

The programme is the container: 12 months, 24 fortnightly 90-minute 1:1 sessions and three Clarity Days.

## Agree the story before you sell the merger

Ivanka Menken runs Private Advisory for founders of A$2M to A$10M businesses facing the decisions that shape the next five years. Bringing two firms together, and making clients see one, is one of the biggest of them.
This fits if you have merged, acquired or combined teams and clients still hear more than one story. It does not fit if you want a brand agency, a website or a marketing campaign. The decision in front of you is simple: write one story both teams will tell.

> Helps founders lead with clarity and integrity by modelling vulnerability, emotional intelligence, and grounded decision-making. Creates an environment where leaders can openly explore challenges and grow without fear of judgement.
>
> R.W., founder

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You have merged with, or acquired, another firm.
- Your teams describe the offer in different words.
- You have refreshed the brand and the pitch did not change.
- You will test one story in real conversations.

### It does not fit

- You want a brand agency or a new logo.
- You want a website or campaign written for you.
- Your teams already sell one story.
- You want a done-for-you sales process.

### Investment

**AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, 12 months.** The Unified Story Map is part of Private Advisory, a 12-month engagement at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, by application. It is not sold separately.

Included:

- 24 fortnightly 90-minute 1:1 sessions
- Three Clarity Days on the year’s biggest decisions
- The quarterly five-number read
- A unified story map for the merged firm

- [Apply for Private Advisory, AUD $5,000/mo, 12 months](mailto:ivanka@ivankamenken.com?subject=Private%20Advisory%20application)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=one-story-after-merger#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Private Advisory programme](https://ivankamenken.com/private-advisory)

## Questions about Unified Story Map

### Why does a new brand not fix a merged firm’s story?

Because clients meet people, not logos. If each team still opens with its own words and its own proof, a prospect hears two firms. Ivanka Menken works on the story first inside Private Advisory, 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, so the brand has one clear message to carry.

### What goes in a Unified Story Map?

Four parts on one page: the offer in one sentence, the proof both teams will use, the common words that replace each team’s own vocabulary, and a review point after real new-business conversations. Ivanka Menken builds the map with you inside Private Advisory, 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST.

### Does Ivanka write our marketing?

No. Ivanka Menken does not design brands, write websites or run campaigns. Her work is the decision underneath: what the merged firm says, with which proof, in whose words. You take the map to your teams and to whoever writes the marketing. It is part of Private Advisory, 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST.

### When should we write the map after a merger?

As early as you can, ideally before the teams build new habits on top of the old pitches. If the merger is already a year old, the map still works: test it in the next new-business conversations. Ivanka Menken works through it inside Private Advisory, 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST.


## Write one story for the new firm

If two teams still pitch two firms, start with Private Advisory. The Unified Story Map is part of it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether it fits.

- [Apply for Private Advisory, AUD $5,000/mo, 12 months](mailto:ivanka@ivankamenken.com?subject=Private%20Advisory%20application)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=one-story-after-merger#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Private Advisory programme](https://ivankamenken.com/private-advisory)
- [Your price is not the competitor’s price](https://ivankamenken.com/premium-price-against-cheap-rivals)
- [Run the meeting rhythm that runs the business](https://ivankamenken.com/builder-meeting-rhythm)
- [Align the board before a CEO hire](https://ivankamenken.com/align-before-ceo-hire)
- [The Private Advisory programme](https://ivankamenken.com/private-advisory)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka