Long-term relationships with business families

Watch Harry Martin, a Family Business Advisor and Family Office Expert, explain how a good advisor to a business family must set up an agenda and a process to meet regularly with them and foresee challenges ahead of time.

You do not want to be chasing a client around, telling them they need to see you. Would a doctor say, “You are going to come and see me every 6 months, because this is a serious condition. We are going to watch it, and I am going to leave it up to you.” No. So, I have learned, being a general consultant, “We will get together when we need to” – that does not work. You want a process, so you see them regularly, and usually you do that by either being on the board of the family company or having a family office board but you have a reason to be there every quarter or every second month. Otherwise, you are calling them, “Gee, how is the issue about succession?” “Well, forget it Harry. We are handling it.” “Well, I really think we ought to get together about success,” “Well, Aunt Mini is not feeling well. We are not going to get together next month.” They have not done anything about succession. What happens if the guy dies? So, what you do is you say, “The only way I can work with you is we are going to have these meetings.” So then, instead of begging them, you come, and on the agenda is succession. You do not wait till the client says, “Well, I think we are having a problem in the younger generation.” You unearth the problem and bring it to them and make them feel it is urgent enough, so they want to work on it. So, you give an example. You use the grandchild, “What is going to happen fifteen years from now when this grandchild is thirty?” And you make it ring in their heart, so they want to do something about it. This is a fascinating business, because you are dealing with human beings, and you are dealing with their family, their emotions, and their money.