Selling into Private Equity - Talk Tracks, Buzzwords, & Penetration Assistance

Hoping to find bravery in y'all bravado.


I've been given a greenfield vertical to create the Private Equity channel at my company. We have strong success in the VC world and a proven track record. Without giving too much away, my company is an outsourced provider of finance and accounting, HR, tax, etc for their portfolio companies (not the PE firm/fund itself.) We're not PEO but we do the shit that every business needs to do but doesn't want to.


It's a thrilling opportunity and the cake stacking potential is limitless, however, I have as much Private Equity experience as the Cookie Monster.


While our value prop (saving time + money + headcount = more ROI) makes sense to them, I am hoping for some guidance on what VPs, Managing Directors, Operating Partners, etc., want to hear - more importantly, what are they stressed about on a daily basis in their portfolio companies? What KPIs or functions are they responsible for and have difficulty executing? We need to sell the firm on us, and they make the portfolio introductions.


I'm a Pres Club level rep but I've always sold to SMBs and lower middle market. My weakness here is that I can't get inside my prospect's heads because I've never been in their position of only caring about maximizing profits and squeezing out every last dollar. Any help is appreciated. - Ack

๐Ÿ‘‘ Sales Strategy
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6
funcoupons
WR Officer
6
๐Ÿ‘‘
Penetration assistance. ๐Ÿ‘€
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
4
SaaS Eater
Im mad you live on the east coast and beat me to this. There is a great joke in here somewhere....
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
๐ŸฆŠ
Makes me giggle EVERY time ๐Ÿ˜
Ackerman123
Executive
2
Enterprise Sales
Was hoping that would be an attention grabber ๐Ÿ™‚. Canโ€™t get enough help with penetration skills
funcoupons
WR Officer
3
๐Ÿ‘‘
Your mom assists a lot of people in honing their penetration skills.ย 
Ackerman123
Executive
3
Enterprise Sales
Sheโ€™s the best teacher Iโ€™ve ever had.
funcoupons
WR Officer
4
๐Ÿ‘‘
U nasty for that. Wya
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
๐ŸฆŠ
โ˜ โ˜ โ˜ 
Samsamoon
Opinionated
2
Associate
hello
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
๐ŸฆŠ
I'm feeling more along the lines of Oscar the Grouch today. ๐Ÿ˜’
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
hmm I cant be of much help but i am super interested to hear how this goes.ย 

do the PE's really just tell their portfolio companies what software to use? sounds like a nice gig if you can get it to work!ย 
Ackerman123
Executive
4
Enterprise Sales
Occasionally but not always. If nothing else, their introduction + recommendation goes a long way with a portco and earns us immediate trust.

Usually, big changes happen after an investment when the PE firm jumps in to cut costs and streamline things.
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
1
sales
Cost differential. Spending a $1 on you v how much they spend if they donโ€™t use you. Plus youโ€™ll need to offer steep discounts, most holding organizations have 100โ€™ish investments in their portfolios. If theyโ€™re going to tip the scales so everyone uses you, you need to really push the price down. Good luck.
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