In order to run an efficient and meticulous business, every private equity partner must be able to clearly answer these questions:

1. What service do you provide?
2. What pain point does your service address for your target client?
3. What alternatives does your target client have?
4. How does your solution stack up to the alternatives, and what does this mean for your TAM?
5. Why would a client work with you, as opposed to a competitor? How does this inform who you should spend time pursuing?

In order to run an efficient and meticulous business, every private equity partner must be able to clearly answer these questions. Same goes for direct lending, co-invest and secondaries.

If you can’t answer these questions, you’re probably wasting a lot of time, and not optimizing your revenue per hour spent.

As a coach, I find a lot of professionals are too caught up in the cycle of reacting to the inbound, or following the way things have been done in the past. These — and other excuses — often prevent investment professionals from stepping back and asking these five basic questions.

Take an hour today, and a blank sheet of paper, and answer these five questions. Get to the root of working smarter, and making your time spent more efficient for both you and your clients.

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