With today’s fundraising environment in the doldrums, it’s critical the private equity firms focus on any and every aspect of the process when going to market. Here’s suggestions for your checklist.

In examining what private equity firms are doing to make the most of their operational success during periods of a slowdown, Brian Jacobsen, a managing partner of West Monroe Capital notes the old-school repeatable approach. Firms need to put up good numbers with a differentiated strategy that is repeatable. Investors are not looking for just a home run or two but instead, a concrete thesis presented based on past successes.

“There’s also consistency in how GPs treat their LPs,” Jacobsen says. “Folks who have great reporting, that are timely with everything that fits in with what their LPs are looking for, are also more successful. So yeah, the numbers can be great, but you have to do everything. If you’ve got LPs that are really focused on ESG then you also need to be able to kind of meet their standards in those categories as well.”

Firms that are the most effective fundraising are those that are checking every box. The way a firm interacts with its limited partners matters. How firms are reporting, how transparent they are, how easy it is to compare them with another private equity firm and how they help their LPs analyze the firm’s performance compared to their other GPs are all critical communications that matter.

What special efforts do you take to service your LPs? Share your thoughts at [email protected].

Cole Lipsky