Federation of Small Businesses

Hi Steve

I am the Regional Secretary for the Notts and Derbys FSB and I am sorry your experience has not been good.  I can assure you this is not the usual experience our members get. Where are you based, perhaps if I put you in touch with your local branch you could go along to some of their events and you could see for yourself some of the benefits of being a member without any pressure.

On the question of support it is worth popping along to the FSB webiste, there is a fantastic members section that outlines what support is avaialble.

Feel free to get in touch if you would like any other information.

Thanks for the feedback Virtual PA, and welcome aboard 

It's been about 4 years since we last got pounced on by the sales reps. I think the whole pressure selling ethos has changed for a lot of organisations over years, so hopefully this is now a thing of the past for the FSB. Or maybe it was a simple case of our local branch being a bit over zealous.

But I am a fan and advocate of what they strive to achieve on behalf of businesses, I'm just naturally cynical of membership fees. It would be nice to see some kind of start up incentive, maybe a minimal fee for a businesses first 12 months, a time when just about everyone is trying to get money out of them.

Had a good look round the website, and there certainly seems to be a wealth of member benefits, although struggled to find the actual rate card, other than I can join from £150 a year.

But a quick Google, and found it! FSB Membership Rates

Does anyone else have any feedback, or do we have any other FSB members? It's always nice for a small or new business to be part of a support network. Would you or have you considered the FSB?

I've been a member of the FSB for about 18 months. I joined for a couple of reasons, namely the free banking and the networking opportunities.

To be frank I've found the networking side to be very poor in West Yorkshire where I'm based. Given the number of members, the turnout for the events is shockingly poor.

I have received some good advice and guidance from the FSB employees locally in terms of getting the most out of the membership and will probably continue when it comes to renewing later this year.

Do we have any other FSB members?

Hi Steve,

Yes, I've been a member of the South Wales branch for 5 years - haven't experienced the pressure selling, though. I don't know about meeting/event attendance, as I'm one of the non-attendees. As a sole trader, the meetings never seem to be at a convenient time or place - but that's just me.

Still, I do think it's a significant campaigning organisation when it comes to small business interests, which is the main reason I'm happy to continue my membership. The focus is understandably biased towards the interests of slightly larger SMEs, as these are more complex than sole traderships, but it's better than not having any representation at all.

In terms of more concrete benefits - yes, the member benefits are potentially useful for many, though I had most that I needed covered before I joined. Still, the free legal helpline alone can easily save the cost of membership, as well as saving some worry when a bit of quick, qualified advice is all that's really needed.

As for whether the logo carries much weight with customers - whilst I haven't tried to measure that specifically, just about any form of borrowed authority makes *some* difference. I doubt that many of *my* clients recognise the logo immediately, but then they probably don't know what the UK Web Design Association is either. Still, such associations do tend to build trust, so I'm quite happy to feature the FSB logo on my site.

Great feedback Pete, and welcome aboard 

We encountered the pressure selling of the FSB when we were a new start up business.

We were offered membership when we had only been trading for 6 months even though they advertise that a stipulation of membership is that you have been trading for a minimum of 2 years.

We declined membership purely based on the fact that were willing to 'relax' the rules for us to join.

I don't want to be a part of an organisation that will take anyone, I want to be checked, vetted and recommended on our true merits.

Yes it may have increased our workload, but if I am displaying a membership of a supposedly creditable association, then I expect all members to fulfill the requirements that the public expect.

It takes years to earn a good reputation and seconds to lose it.

If you are a business in profit then the fees are trivual. As someone else said its good to have someone looking out for you. As lobbyists, the Fsb do a lot of good work on all of our behalf and should be applauded.

With Trena 100% on all the above!

I did invite them in to talk to me/us many years ago but at the time i could not see any advantage to the fees or being a member - admit they were pushy but put that down to a passionate salesman rather than over zealousness. They did follow up several times but then i'd expect that of any salesman chasing up a lead.