![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/08\/Adam-Smith-e1724645347485-251x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Having commenced in the sector as a risk specialist adviser, Smith repositioned his proposition towards business succession and personal estate planning more than 15 years ago. He says the expanded service offer accompanying this specialised niche is now presenting the business with what he refers to as left-field opportunities to source new clients, particularly through connections with national firms who operate franchise business models or independently-owned co-operative groups.<\/p>\n
In \u2018playing the long game,\u2019 a family succession plan placed by Smith ten years ago and recently implemented for a business client, which is part of a national co-operative network, subsequently led to an invitation for Succession Matters to make a presentation at their client\u2019s co-operative network\u2019s national conference.<\/p>\n
This exposure and subsequent engagement with other firms in the co-operative group has led to the opportunity for Smith and his recently appointed partner, Luke Towers<\/strong>, to expand their business to cater to a national client footprint.<\/p>\n …any risk based advice business or any financial planning firm has the capacity to broaden the scope of their proposition to build in succession planning<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Both Smith and Towers are naturally strong advocates of an advice business model that specialises in personal estate and business succession planning. While they concede the adviser would need to possess the knowledge base fundamentals and competence around providing advice services to business owners, they both agree that any risk based advice business or any financial planning firm has the capacity to broaden the scope of their proposition to build in succession planning and estate planning services.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a holistic planner, the detail involved in delivering business succession and personal estate planning advice may require a more specialist focus,\u201d says Smith, who believes the key ingredient \u2013 the secret sauce \u2013 required for anyone to succeed in this space is the imperative to be empathetic to the needs of the client or to the multiple clients involved in structuring appropriate business or personal estate planning solutions.<\/p>\n He says the conversation between the clients can often get quite personal, due to the nature of the subject matter, and he and Towers regularly need to play the role of mediator. He says the only way to get all the information needed is to keep asking questions until all the information, obstacles and points of view have been disclosed and a shared vision has been reached:<\/p>\n \u201cMost risk advisers I know are very empathetic people,\u201d comments Smith. \u201cThey have that skill set. It\u2019s a natural thing to be able to talk to people about difficult situations and try to get them to meet in the middle. That mediation skill comes more naturally the more empathetic you are.\u201d<\/p>\n …succession planning is a process, not an event<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Smith says advisers and advice businesses involved in succession planning also need to adopt a long-term view, and be mindful of Smith\u2019s own mantra that succession planning is a process, not an event:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be resolved today. But we\u2019re going to start today to try to get you on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds that whether it\u2019s personal estate planning or business succession, \u201c\u2026you cannot move forward until you have a shared vision \u2013 until we\u2019re all on the same page. That\u2019s why we\u2019re very process driven – to get everything out on the table, fleshing out possibilities and options.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of process, Smith and Towers apply a specific format in their business client conversations, within which they position their narrative around the three key risks facing most businesses:<\/p>\n In working through each of these risks and implementing appropriate solutions, Smith and Towers\u2019 role includes coordinating other financial or advice elements: \u201cBringing the right people to the table at the right time is very important,\u201d says Smith. \u201cFor example, the advice business drives the process but requires input from legal firms or accountants to manage the implementation of certain elements of the solution, whether that relates to business or personal.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith and Towers are now actively exploring their expansion options, which they agree is entirely due to a left-field opportunity emerging by virtue of their specialisation in business succession advice services \u2013 and where their lofty goal is to become recognised as the leading business succession specialist firm in the industry.<\/p>\n Bringing it back to basics, Smith says \u201cFundamentally we\u2019re still a risk advice business. Still today. It\u2019s just that we overlay that with some unique services that perhaps other risk specialists don\u2019t or haven\u2019t considered. There\u2019s such an opportunity there to specialise in that space. Not just for us, but across the adviser market.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Perth-based advice practice has entered an expansion phase through leveraging its specialised focus in business succession planning. Succession Matters founder, Adam Smith, told Riskinfo that while life insurance advice remains the core of the business, the key point of differentiation has been the strategic focus of the firm, which is dedicated towards business succession […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-succession-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n