How to Talk to Clients About Market Volatility

How to Talk to Clients About Market Volatility

You don’t hear people talk much about market volatility until stock prices suddenly sell off. But when your clients watch their portfolio value decline unexpectedly, it can be terrifying, leading many to make potentially costly mistakes, such as selling into a steep market decline. Though we’ve experienced many volatile markets over the last 20 years, advisors must help clients understand that volatility is not their enemy.

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Use the Perspective of Time to Move Your Prospects to Action

Use the Perspective of Time to Move Your Prospects to Action

Undoubtedly, you are familiar with the theme: You have a prospect in front of you with a clear objective. After gathering all the facts and probing them on why it’s important to them to achieve the goal, you present an iron-clad solution that checks all their boxes, throughout which they nod in agreement. You lay out the steps to get started and ask them for their approval to move forward. When they shift back in their seats, you know what’s coming—the pause, the hesitancy, and the anxiety over making a decision, leading to the standard, “We’d like to think about it.”

After addressing their concerns, walking them through how your solution helps them achieve their objective, once again with approving nods, they again shift in their seats and confide that they just don’t think it’s a good time to start investing.

That’s a very good sign—a strong indication you’ve done your job—up to this point. But your job is not complete until your prospects take action to improve their situation. All they need now is a reassuring nudge. All they might need is some perspective—some time perspective.

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How to Assure Clients That Volatility Is Part of the Strategy

How to Assure Clients That Volatility Is Part of the Strategy

Unquestionably, the stock market has experienced extreme volatility in the last couple of years, elevating the anxiety levels of investors who grew complacent throughout a historic 11-year bull market. Just as they did throughout the wild gyrations of the 2008-2011 market, investors have grown intolerant of the recent, wild stock market gyrations, resulting in many choosing to make wholesale changes to their portfolio, switch financial advisors, or flee the market entirely.

But, what investors may not understand is that switching between asset classes to avoid volatility can actually have the opposite effect. It is incumbent upon financial advisors to help their clients understand that, with a sound investment strategy and a long-term perspective, volatility can actually be good for a stock portfolio because it has always been the primary force that drives market gains over time.

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Communication in a Post-Pandemic World: How to Connect with Prospective and Current Clients

Communication in a Post-Pandemic World - How to Connect with Prospective and Current Clients

All of us are affected by the coronavirus and the shutdowns. The virus is slowly running its course but social distancing will be with us for a very long time to come.

That means most of us are going to have to change the way we market and sell our services. “Meet and greet” networking events will be out of the picture for a while. When they do come back, they’ll be different. They may look more like ‘show and tells’ with slide shows than mingling sessions.

Even walking into businesses and asking for the owner is going to be fraught. The small ‘handshake’ ritual that has been with us since antiquity will be changed as we figure out our new forms of etiquette and social conventions.

So, what’s the best path forward?

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Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Financial Advisor?

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Financial Advisor

Top financial advisors almost always possess the same traits and skills. Not only do they have a great work ethic and a determination to succeed, but their interpersonal skills are second to none. In particular, elite advisors ooze charisma – a charisma which they use to influence people.

In this post we’ll look at what it takes to be a Financial Advisor and some skills successful advisors share.

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There Are Times When It’s Simply Best to Forgive and Forget

Forgive and Forget - Success Tips for Financial Advisors

To succeed as a Financial Advisor, one has to accept that disappointment is inevitable. We don’t always get what we want. Disappointment breeds frustration. Negative emotions are unavoidable, yet they must be controlled. We’re in the business of controlling the emotions of others. We can’t do that well until we have control of our own emotions.

I think the best way to deal with disappointment is to put it in perspective.

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