Last week, I had the opportunity to participate with Andrew Gluck in a webinar about communicating with your clients during a crisis. During the webinar, I shared two essential coaching skills to help you as you deal with your clients during these troubled times. These skills, acknowledging and validating, are actually communication skills that seem logical and basic – but are actually very powerful and not quite so easy to master.  If you missed the webinar and would like to know more about these, and three other coaching/communication skills, please click here for the document, Communication Skills for Financial Professionals.

During the webinar, I also discussed some ways of acting – and not acting – during this crisis. It’s extremely important, especially now, that your client sees you as someone who is calm, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.  Though you can’t magically put money into their accounts, or rebuild their net worth overnight, you can instill a sense in clients that you are confident, real, and have their best interests in mind as you do the best that you can do under the circumstances. The five tips I talked about are:

Don’t take the blame….Do be real
You didn’t cause this crisis, so don't take the blame or pass it on.  Be real, and realistic. Everyone does well when the market goes up. The great financial advisor is the one who manages when the market does not.

Don’t apologize, or ignore your client’s anger…Do acknowledge and validate
You don't need to apologize, nor should you ignore their anger. Most people just want to be heard and vent.  By showing your clients, through your excellent communication skills, that you understand them, and that they have the right to feel the way they do, you will build rapport and trust.

Don’t explain or justify your past actions…Do share your current and future plan
You did, and will continue to do, the best that you can do under the circumstances. Justifications and explanations aren’t productive or necessary – what will be helpful to your client is to move forward, and for you to be open about your plans for doing so. Though you don't need to explain yourself or your actions, you do need to explain how you care about the people you work with

Don’t panic…Do lead with confidence
Your clients are likely panicked now, and what they need is a voice of reason and calm. You cannot change what has occurred, but you can show them that they are in good hands, and that you will be there by their sides, as a partner to help them weather this storm. Your calm, confident manner and belief that “this too shall pass” will go a long way to making your clients confident as well.

Don’t buy into the fear…Do assess the personal crisis
You don’t want to, nor do you have time to spend hours on the phone discussing the ups and downs of the market, but you do want to help people understand the nature of THEIR crisis. Taking time to talk to your clients and realistically assessing their situations will help your clients understand where they are, and help you develop a plan for getting them to where they want to be.