Why Redmans DO NOT accept Commissions

At Redmans, we acknowledge that businesses that stick to their core business are the ones that do the best. We also find that these are the businesses that manage to survive through the face of uncertainty and unprecedented change, just as we are experiencing in the modern day economic climate.

Redmans specialises in advising family businesses. Whether it is business coaching, accounting advice, taxation planning or the structuring of a business, these are the things:

1. We know the best;

2. We do the best; and,

3. We enjoy doing.

We also understand that we don’t know about a whole range of other financial and legal issues that impact on our client’s businesses and the personal positions of the business owners. Redmans has been down the path of the “One Stop Financial Shop” in the past and we’ve come to the realisation it is a concept that doesn’t work for our clients or our firm.

However, we still want to be able to refer our clients to reputable service providers who will look after our client’s interests as good as (and hopefully better than) we can. For Redmans, a referral to another service provider is as good as us doing the work ourselves.

In this day and age, we have questioned the independence of many referral relationships when those relationships are based on the payment of commissions back to the referral source. Is the service being referred to a client because they will look after the client? Or, is the referral made so that commissions will flow back to the referral source? And, again, in times like these, when money is important whilst the business world is undergoing so much change, do people prejudice their independence by accepting commissions rather than aiming to look after the interests of their clients, first and foremost.

Redmans’ policy is to NOT receive commissions from any party to whom we refer business. We want to maintain independence in the eyes of our client. And, we want to refer our clients to service providers who will look after our client’s interests. It’s as simple as that! For us, this is the way business was done in the old days - on the strength of a handshake and the level of trust that existed between business associates. It seems that, sadly, as the “greed is good” element has permeated the business culture over the past two or three decades, those values have been lost.

At the end of the day, we refer our clients to a range of service providers based on:

1. Their skills and technical knowledge.

2. Their ability to help our clients.

3. Our past experience with them – both for our own affairs and for those of our clients.

4. Their level of integrity.

None of this is to say that anyone we don’t refer to doesn’t meet our high standards of expectation. It simply means the businesses that we do refer to meet the highest standard that we set for ourselves and them.

Yes, sometimes, we are taken out to lunch or to a function by those referral sources. Sometimes they are a “thank you” for referring work. Sometimes they are an opportunity to catch up and discuss business ideas. And, sometimes, they are a chance for acquaintances to enjoy each other’s company. For Redmans, this is the way it was done in the old days as it enabled business associates to establish a relationship based on integrity and trust, and not on the size of the commission cheque.

And, one final note. Our position on NOT accepting commissions simply means that if one of our referral sources let us or our clients down, we have the flexibility to seek out an alternate referral source. We’re not worried about losing money from ceasing a business referral relationship simply because we never received any in the first place.

Whilst there is so much to celebrate about the changes that have taken place over the course of our lives, we can’t help but think that, sometimes, the values that people once had in business aren’t as strong as they once were.