I’m a 20 year veteran of the private equity industry. I know what works to generate deal flow. I will always share how the best private equity professionals originate more deal flow. That’s my focus and passion.
I review at least 1,000 private investment opportunities per year. I balance deal turn downs with deploying capital. My days are filled with meeting new prospects, taking care of existing clients, and pushing deals through our pipeline.
So how do I do it? First, private equity professionals need to be very cognizant of their “highest and best use” of time management when sourcing and executing. As many veterans of PE BD know, the worst use of time is getting bogged down with a laundry list of administrative tasks versus being out trying to find new investment opportunities.
How do you reduce the time you spend on admin tasks and focus more on bringing in more deals for your execution team to review?
Know Your Flaws
Do you get distracted with your inbox or your social media feed? Are you constantly switching between your project management tools, your CRM tools, and your email accounts? If so, you’re killing a lot of time. My number one recommendation to BD people is to turn off your email alerts. They are complete distractions. Stay focused on the task at hand. Check email 3 times per day. First thing in the morning. Midday. And lastly, at night.
Little tasks that aren’t compartmentalized are sneaky time wasters. In isolation, none of them seem to take up too much time, but they do. But when compounded, it’s difficult to recover from the loss of productivity.
A report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), says small business owners are spending more than 33 hours a month handling internal admin tasks. 55% say this is causing a lag in business growth. As you might expect, accounting tops the list of major time wasters with up to 14 of the 33 hours. Business banking takes 9 hours, taxes 6 hours, and HR and employee care take 5 hours.
Here’s how I maximize my efficiency:
Schedule Your Entire Life on Your Calendar
I worked in a sales role earlier in my career. One of my bosses used to harp on planning. The mantra was “Plan your Day; and Execute Your Plan.” Trust me. This is the best sales advice I’ve ever learned.
Move your to-do list to your calendar. That’s how you get things done.
Do you still use spreadsheets (or worse yet, a pen and paper) to schedule? In case the schedule changes or someone gets sick, you always have to adjust it manually.
This is a huge amount of work––and it’s unnecessary. It doesn’t have to be like that. Use the great technology of MS Outlook and learn how to automate and create shortcuts. Learn the shortcuts available in MS Outlook. They will make your life easier.
Today anyone can create a robust scheduling solution that ensures you and your staff are working on projects they enjoy instead of wasting time on admin tasks. One way to achieve this is through an enterprise scheduling app. Look for an app that suits your business in terms of size and needs. [Read more…]
We all know the world is increasingly networked and connected. And businesses realize the importance of using compelling content to attract clients and opportunities. Yet business development pros working in PE have been slower adopters of social media marketing. Despite what traditional deal professionals may believe, social media enables private equity firms to more efficiently generate a steady flow of investment opportunities.
Word-of-mouth referrals and direct sales pitches can be effective, but according to the Earnest Agency, 
nsor’s limited partner capital generally comes from four sources: private equity firms, friends and family, hedge funds, and family offices. Depending on the deal, some sources may be more suitable than others. For instance, established private equity firms with capital ready for deployment will be more likely suited for larger deals, play an integral role in the deal closing, and insert a representative of the firm in the acquired company in an operational function. However, most family offices are more likely to participate in smaller deals, permit the independent sponsor to run the deal, and expect the independent sponsor to handle the operational role post-closing.
The team at Axial and I recently collaborated on a research project which examined how private equity firms use technology to enhance their deal sourcing efforts.