Professional Advisors

Professional Advisers who aim to deliver effective solutions for their clients and as a consequence build long lasting, productive commercial relationships with them are more likely to achieve that if they fully understand their clients needs/problems.

Where the client is a family business that should mean understanding the emotional, family related and technical issues impacting on the business.

In the past, this understanding was often a by-product of a long standing connection between families and locally based “Trusted Advisors” (the bank manager, the family lawyer /accountant) and often augmented informally over time through social connections. 

The trend in recent years towards specialisation has lessened the likelihood of a family having a long standing relationship with one individual. In fact, more and more these days,  family enterprises tend to be dealing with a number of specialists, often in different firms. The advice given will be high quality but, as it  will tend to  be the  best solution from a technical standpoint only, will either not be acted upon or, if it is, cause unforeseen problems, often years down the line.

While I see to the children, you and your dad could talk through our plan to appoint me to the boardA growing number of professional advisers have recognised the added value to be had (by both parties ) by becoming once again the Trusted Advisor to their Family Business clients to make sure that the advice offered is based on a full understanding of all the issues. Of course the traditional route to get there described above is no longer a realistic  option – specialisation is here to stay. However after 15 years of  multidisciplinary working ( warmly welcomed by families!) with Professional Advisors and their clients, FBS have developed a training course that provides  an alternative “fast track” route to Trusted Adviser status.

Understanding your Family Business Clients

An intensive 1 day course to enable  professional firms to develop  the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to allow them to

  • Increase their understanding of all the issues that can arise within family business systems and how they impact on both the business and the family.
  • Identify where and how they can provide a more effective service  to family business clients (which normally generates more business)
  • Regain the position of “Trusted Adviser” to existing and new family business clients
  • Assist their clients to identify the issues likely to be facing them now and in the future 
  • Direct the client/family towards specialist help when required.

The course is highly interactive, hugely enlightening and delivers practical skills that can be put into use immediately. Fixed price for up to 20 delegates.

For more details of the course and costs,  simply fill in the form in the sidebar to register your interest

What Next?

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Our Client Feedback

  • Our planning for the future had become stuck in lots of technical detail and it felt that we were not making enough progress. The way FBS went about their work guided the family firmly but sensitively through the process of making key decisions; the big picture ones that then make it easier to deal with the detail. Their process for doing this kind of work is markedly different from the way other advisers operate and we can vouch for the advantages of getting both generations involved in the process.

    Morris Hamburger Searchlight Electric Ltd

  • FBS worked with both generations of our family and the board of directors to help us develop a Family Constitution. This now helps guide us in many areas of importance to the family and the business. There’s a lot of work involved in creating a constitution and it was essential for us to have the right information and advice to ensure that ours would last for a long time.

    The work FBS did with the next generation of our family was hugely helpful.

    Jim Walker – Walkers Shortbread Ltd

  • I have known FBS since their inception and have watched them develop and hone their expertise for over a decade. Aside from their outstanding consulting services, they have an amazing depth of knowledge and experience that they share generously with the family business world through training and publishing.

    FBS is a world-class resource.

    Martin Stepek, Chief Executive, Scottish Family Business Association

  • Family Business Solutions was asked to advise on constituting the family interests in a much-loved landed business. The prospect of greater financial success, and the passing of interest through the generations, required a more formal structure. It was a long, detailed and sometimes tense process -but FBS guided us through it with great skill, patience and discretion. Without that guidance, it would not have happened. And now the family governance is on a completely different level.

    Artordinsh Estate company Ltd and Raven family

  • Family Businesses are complex and emotional organisations. It is amazing how many professional advisors try and separate the business from the family and fail to comprehend the many layers of power and control involved. It is refreshing and comforting to know that there is a truly world class expert available in the FBS team who can understand and deal with the complexities of family businesses and also calmly and logically work out solutions . Their knowledge of family business is outstanding and enlightening and their approach is very professional, amiable and ultimately achieves outcomes. They are able to keep the process on track and that is important. I have a great deal to thank the FBS team for and will be back to see them when it is time for the succession planning in the future.

    Jane Wylie-Roberts
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