Expanding the Family Business Advisor Practice Excerpts from: Becoming a Wealth Transfer Specialist Learn More

If you currently make your living advising family business owners, you already know that it is a fascinating field of endeavor. Working with family businesses offers exciting opportunities to be of service and be well rewarded in the process. Part of the attraction in working with family owned businesses is the fascinating interplay of personal, tax, financial, legal and business matters. The family business advisor has to be part technician, part salesperson, part planner and part therapist in order to be effective. Business succession planning and estate planning is not as straightforward as some might think.

Consider this true story:

Fred, a California business owner client, came to this country as an immigrant and, over 30 years, had built a multi-million dollar business empire. His son, Ralph, attended some of the best higher educational institutions and had many of the attributes necessary to run the family business. In some areas, Ralph was even better qualified than his father. Nevertheless, Fred was uncomfortable with Ralph taking over the business because he felt that his son lacked humility. The father felt the son had always "had it made" and had never suffered or done without and therefore lacked empathy for the employees of the business. The difference between the values of the two generations was massive. And a generation gap like this is often at the root of family miscommunication - in and out of the business.

The reality is that while the need to blend the personal and the business is easy to observe, it is rarely taken fully into account by advisors who work with family owned businesses.

Traditionally, family business owner advisors have stuck to their particular discipline - be it taxes, insurance, financial or legal advice - and rarely ventured into attempting to understand the whole picture of both family and business. Most advisors see the business owner as the "client" and do everything they can to understand that individual's needs and satisfy those needs with advice and services tailored to the owner alone. Isn't it strange then, that so many family businesses fail to survive beyond one or two generations? If the advice is tailored to suit the business owner, why does the plan so often fail? If the business owner is surrounded by technical experts and knowledgeable advisors, why doesn't the family business continue to benefit succeeding generations? Where's the disconnect?

The problem is that most family business advisors concentrate on the owner and business to the exclusion of the family. However, in the end, it's the family dynamics that ultimately control the future of the business. Meeting the business owner's needs is only a partial solution. In order to assure the successful transfer of the family's personal and business wealth, the family must be involved; and family issues - however emotional or controversial - must be addressed.

The key is to adopt a process that will take you from traditional family business advisor to a Wealth Transfer Specialist. The benefits are many. Helping a business owning family deal with difficult communication issues can be very rewarding personally. I treasure the letters I've received from family members expressing their appreciation for my help. Here's a typical example.

"We want you to know how appreciative we are of the work you have done for our family business. When you started wading through all of the issues and dealing with all of the family members, we could not have imagined that we would be able to resolve some of the difficulties that existed. This would not have been possible if you had not taken the personal interest in our business and in our family that you did."

- A. M.

Not only is there the personal satisfaction of knowing that your solutions will indeed preserve the family and the business for generations to come, but the financial rewards are considerable as well. It's possible to supplement the income you currently receive by working with family businesses by receiving planning fees for work that few are doing. This differentiator will set you apart from your competition and create opportunities you never imagined.

Changing your focus from the business owner to the family is the key to increasing your personal satisfaction and increasing your personal income in the process. Also, moving from a transaction to a process relationship will provide opportunity to increase services and establish greater client trust and loyalty. I know this process works because I personally have built a fee-based family business practice using these principles. The average fee per case has exceeded $30,000 with total fee revenue in excess of $1.5 million over several years. In addition, I was a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) and a Top of the Table member. It can work for you!