What our clients say about us
We take pride in delivering exceptional results
Rob helped our company make a tremendous turnaround
I especially valued having someone to talk to who understood my industry. Rob was helpful for bouncing ideas and asking me questions to make me think instead of just giving me the answers.
Rob is gifted in communication skills, relationships, and business – and he’s not just “book smart” – he has experience running a $200 million company with 1,000s of employees.
Without Rob to help us overcome our weaknesses, the value of our 50-year-old company would have suffered.
Rob helped our company make a tremendous turnaround. Including changing us to a board run company, with outside members.
~ Randy Gilde, Delray Plants
During the time we worked with Rob we grew to 4X our sales
We initially hired Rob because we wanted to aggressively grow our US operation. We chose him because he had experience in both operating and advising family-owned businesses.
During the time we worked with Rob we grew to 4X our sales. Rob made a big contribution to that growth.
~ Alfonso & Mauricio Garcia, AlEn USA
Since we started working together, profit has doubled each year
We use the systems and tools he taught us EVERY day. We measure everything. We use our mission and vision to obtain alignment throughout the organization.
Since we started working together, profit has doubled each year (and tripled in one particular year) – partially due to Rob’s impact.
What I appreciate most about Rob is his honesty and his unbiased perspective. It’s incredibly valuable to have an experienced business executive to help with day-to-day decision making. Rob points out things I don’t see and asks questions to help me focus.
~ Jeff Maxey, InsurMark
I really appreciated having a straight shooter as a sounding board
When I was thinking about selling the company, I brought Rob in to “clean up the clutter” and get us on a focused path so the business would be ready to be sold.
When I was ready to sell, Rob handled the negotiation, delivered a tremendous valuation, and helped us to get max value for the enterprise.
Rob is experienced, smart, and egoless. As a “Type A” with a strong personality, I really appreciated having a straight shooter as a sounding board. He was candid while being tactful and diplomatic.
~ Steve Kerns, InsurMark
Rob is great at optimizing companies and preparing them for sale
He’s knowledgeable, analytical, and has a broad range of experience. He can work at the higher strategic level, and he can dive into the details.
Rob works hard, is patient, and has great communication skills. He also has an extensive professional network which is invaluable.
Most of all…Rob is a GREAT GUY! He’s fun to work with and has a great sense of humor.
~ Max Lummis, Lummis Consulting Services
Ferguson has helped us align our leadership team and install a system for management.
Rob’s approach to training is excellent. He brings practical and current information from his interactions with other CEOs and executives – not just “ivory tower” thinking or dated ideas. Rob’s training sticks beyond the initial enthusiasm.
He’s given us tools for navigating change where the pressure is taken off people and placed on the process.
~ Jim Summers, Senior Market Sales
OUR STATISTICS
On average, $1 invested in Alliance fees = $9 in value growth*
He helps me analyze issues to figure out what the REAL problem is and he offers great advice
When you’re a small company, there’s no board to turn to and no one to talk to when challenges come up.
Rob acts as my sounding board. He helps me analyze issues to figure out what the REAL problem is and he offers great advice.
What I appreciate most about Rob is that he’s “been there and done that” – he’s a seasoned business leader with direct experience.
He knows how it FEELS to be in the situation, he’s not just regurgitating something from a book.
~Simon Sequeira, Quadvest
Rob’s your guy if you have a family in conflict and you want to save the business
He can quickly get to the root cause of disruption in a family owned business. He brings focus to what should be driving decision making – often with his very first question: do you want to be a business first family or a family first business?
Rob is even-keeled when things get tough, or a situation is difficult. He always has the client’s best interests at heart, and he offers a calm and comforting presence. This work is personal to Rob, you’re not just a transaction, the relationship matters to him.
~ Alison Moss Comstock, Comstock Partners
Running things past someone who has “seen it all before” gives me confidence so I can execute aggressively
I meet with Rob a few times a week as my advisor and sounding board.
Running things past someone who has “seen it all before” gives me confidence that an initiative has “passed the smell test” so I can execute aggressively.
I really appreciate Rob’s deep background and experience in our industry. He has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening currently in business and brings new ideas from outside our industry.
He’s a genuine person who cares for the individuals he coaches and mentors.
~ Brad Abrameit, Magnolia Gardens
Thanks to Rob’s negotiation skills, we ended up selling our company for more than twice what we were originally offered.
Our business lawyer told us that “Rob was the best intermediary he ever worked with."
When I first hired Rob, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I wasn’t even sure what an intermediary is or what they do. Through the potential sale process, I quickly learned the importance and value of what a great intermediary can do. He took much of the work off of our plates, so we were able to continue to successfully run our business while he worked the negotiations.
Thanks to Rob’s negotiation skills, we ended up selling our company for more than twice what we were originally offered.
~ Derek Sunderland, The Sunderland Group
I would recommend Rob to any executive looking for depth of experience and a “done for you” strategic plan
We hired Ferguson to help our executive leadership team develop a strategic plan for the next 5 years.
Over the course of several months, Rob brought our team together to think through the issues and the future of our company. The result was excellent.
He managed to bring together very different perspectives and organize it on a single piece of paper.
Rob knows what he’s doing.
~ Howard Rambin, Moody Rambin
The work was hard, but worth it
Rob’s mentorship helped us weather some really hard times.
This is a tough business with low margins that are constantly being squeezed and high labor requirements with people not always available.
Others in our industry went under, we’re not sure we’d still be here if it hadn’t been for Rob.
~ Neil & Tommy Marek, Magnolia Gardens
Expands the conversation to put things in context and prompts people to think ahead
As an executive search consultant, I often work with family businesses that are making an external senior executive level hire for the very first time.
The process of defining what the new person’s role will be and how to integrate it them into the organization often brings up broader issues like succession, next generation family member roles, compensation parity, participation in ownership of the business. It may also get into governance issues like the need to set up a more formal board.
That’s when I bring Rob in. He brings direct experience and a lot of technical knowledge about how to run a business.
Rob expands the conversation to put things in context and prompts people to think ahead. He has a non-threatening presence that puts people at ease and gets them to open up about their aspirations.
Rob doesn’t bring his own agenda – his focus is always on helping business owners get what they want. He sees the best in people, values what they have to offer, and is an excellent listener.
Due to his high integrity, I trust Rob and have no hesitation introducing him to my closest clients.
~ Thomas Zay, Boyden Executive Search
A pleasure to work with while maintaining the relentless determination that gets deals to closing
Having worked with Rob’s clients on sales and acquisitions, we’ve seen close-up the role he plays in those transactions. His clients are typically closely held and primarily run and managed by the CEO, such that we’re often meeting with only the CEO and Rob as a trusted advisor.
Since Rob has often worked for some time to help the client get to the point of sale or acquisition, he has a deep understanding of the company and its business, and knows and readily conveys that information that helps lead to a favorable legal and business position for the client in a compressed period of time.
When facing the inevitable hurdles and challenges during the negotiation and transaction process, Rob is particularly skilled at asking good, probing questions and at phrasing issues in a way that resonates with the owner/CEO. When Rob asks “why can’t we do it this way?”, he is often intuiting the CEO’s own question.
Lastly, Rob manages to be a pleasure to work with while maintaining the relentless determination that gets deals to closing.
Sabrina A. McTopy, Partner
Jackson Walker LLP