No matter the size of your firm, there’s sure to be many moving pieces to many different deals at any given time. It’s important for the team to meet deadlines and stay focused in order to close these deals before the holiday season. It’s hard for private equity and investment banking leaders to keep track of people and what they’re doing.
To understand everything happening and keep track of important dates and events, we recommend adding a calendar to your CRM system. This technology can help you manage and increase visibility into firmwide business development efforts and travel plans at any time of year. Below, we explore several commonly-asked questions and examine where and how technology can help.
Who’s traveling this week/month, and to where?
While it may seem like a simple suggestion, many private equity and investment banking firms still don’t keep track of each individual’s travel plans. Adding a calendar integration lets everyone see which trade shows, conferences, and events the company will attend. It also shows which geographic regions a person or team of people is traveling to. A calendar in one place helps team members find connections and develop business opportunities faster.
How prepared are we for this month’s activities?
Private equity and investment banking leaders should promote the use of calendars and visible deadlines for planning. We suggest integrating these calendars into Monday morning meetings so that the group can discuss what each person needs. From the need for new marketing collateral to the need for increased diligence resources in the run-up to an LOI, these calendar integrations will help the team become more prepared for all of the upcoming and various business development and deal activities.
What major deadlines are about to hit?
Another use case for creating a firmwide calendar integration is to maintain increased visibility on deadlines and deal milestones. You should customize these to match the business development and deal processes that exist elsewhere in your CRM. So, for example, if your firm is tracking several management meetings and IOIs, those can be seen on the calendar.
Are there any roadblocks? Which team members have bandwidth to assist?
More transparency helps your team find and solve problems faster when trying to finish a task or close a deal. If these impediments are identified, it’s important that you’re able to act quickly.
Using staffing dashboards can help you see which team members can help when needed. The calendar shows if someone will be in the office, working remotely, or unavailable. It also displays the team’s travel plans.
Having this type of transparency will help the firm’s leadership team maintain a view of the staff’s progress towards its goals. It also encourages team members to help one another out when needed. With the New Year quickly approaching, it’s a great time to encourage your team to make new habits – such as calendaring their activities – to help move the needle forward for the entire firm.
To learn more about our best practices for maintaining visibility on firmwide activities and goals through calendar integration, contact us today!